Re: OT: Decent GUI-based reportwriter for Linux?

Aha! Someone in the Crystal know! Thanks for the very handy reply!
The reports cannot be static, they need to be dynamic, so unfortunately
cannot be served up as you suggest.

The reasons for going Linux/PG are many. To name a few:
Cost
Security
Reliability
Availability
System administration
Support (you ever try to get through to M$ support?)
Environment control (no forced upgrades)
Availability of source code (i.e. You can see what you are running)

There is the option of running Crystal Reports under WINE but it looks
like Enterprise is out the window as it requires IIS (which is simply not
an option due to the above).

A pity, because it does seem to be a top product! I have been very
impressed with what I have seen. Won't be too long though before market
share forces a port to Linux I guess? Well, one hopes anyway!

Thanks again!

Brad

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Original Message <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

On 1/28/02, 5:34:57 PM, "Chris Dircks" <chrisd(at)informationcourier(dot)com>
wrote regarding RE: [ADMIN] OT: Decent GUI-based reportwriter for Linux?:

> I work in the IT department at Crystal, so I might be able to shed some
> light, but I don't speak for the company.

> You could get away with running scheduled reports on a Windows machine
and
> exporting them to HTML. These HTML files could then be copied to a Linux
> box for serving. This doesn't allow for any kind of parameterized
report,
> unless you are willing to run static reports for every single permutation
of
> inputs.

> I looked at this for a project of my own outside of work, and ended up
> resigning myself to running a Windows Crystal report server.

> A couple of questions: What value is the customer going to get out of
> Postgres over the current Oracle solution? Just asking because it sounds
> like the migration is likely to cause significant disruption for them.

> Also, have you heard about Crystal Enterprise? It's the packaging of a
web
> based report scheduler/server, plus some olap cube stuff as well. Not
sure
> if cubes can be built off of Postgres dbs, but maybe? Anyway, it has to
run
> off IIS, but this would be a different box than the DB server, so it
might
> fit your needs.

> Chris Dircks
> Sr Applications Developer
> Crystal Decisions
> chris(dot)dircks(at)crystaldecisions(dot)com

> -----Original Message-----
> From: pgsql-admin-owner(at)postgresql(dot)org
> [mailto:pgsql-admin-owner(at)postgresql(dot)org]On Behalf Of Bradley Kieser
> Sent: Monday, January 28, 2002 3:49 AM
> To: Pablo Prieto
> Cc: pgsql-admin(at)postgresql(dot)org
> Subject: Re: [ADMIN] OT: Decent GUI-based reportwriter for Linux?

> >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Original Message <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

> On 1/28/02, 12:19:38 PM, "Pablo Prieto" <pablo(dot)prieto(at)dulcesol(dot)es> wrote
> regarding Re: [ADMIN] OT: Decent GUI-based reportwriter for Linux?:

> > >The only problem is that the company is already using reportwriter
> tools
> > like Crystal Reports...

> > Hello.
> > Crystal Reports via ODBC should work, doesn't it?.

> It would, except that I missed out and important bit of info, sorry, your
> posintg just made it clear now:
> The reports will be delivered via the web.

> I.e. They want to DESIGN the reports (and sure, can use ODBC to do this),
> but then they need to be able to plublish the completed reports on the
> web, using the Linux server. Most reporting tools (I am told) now support
> writing reports in the report writing tool, then generating an HTML
> options page (to configure runtime options for the report) and then
> running the thing (on windows) upon activation via a browser (presumably
> by clicking the "submit" button on the options HTML page generated by the
> report writer).

> The user then gets the report either as PDF or in an HTML page (there are
> usually quite few output options).

> It's the "running on the Linux machine from the web" part that I need to
> sort. SO far the only contender is to try and run it via WINE, but that
> isn't really an option as it seems to be far too integrated in the
> WINdows OS.

> Anative Linux solution (even if it is a tool that will import crystal
> reports and convert to Perl or something) is much more preferable.

> Thanks,

> Brad

> > Pablo.

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