| Q1: | There are a lot of cool features in Crystal, but no time seems to have been spent on the help file. Where do I find out more information on creating reports? |
| A1: | The help file that comes with .NET isn't great, but it's pretty good. To get a ton of great help on using Crystal with .NET, go to this link: http://support.crystaldecisions.com/updates/default.asp Search for samples in the .NET version of Crystal Reports. There are 75 to 100 different samples in Visual Basic .NET, C#, and C++ .NET on all aspects of using Crystal in Visual Studio .NET. It's a very helpful Web site. |
| Q2: | Crystal is cool, but are there any other reporting tools that integrate with .NET? |
| A2: | Yes, as a matter of fact, I use ActiveReports from Data Dynamics. It has lots of great features; most notably, the fact that the report object itself has a code-behind class in which you can write code to manipulate report data. In my opinion, ActiveReports gives you more granular control over what the data looks like in a programmatic way, not a wizard-driven way. |