Which one is better for reporting tool: open source or charge?

G

gaby

After making reports for a long time, I found something strange
recently. Various reporting tool vendors advertise by all means to
attract users' attentions; however, programmers show great interests
in Jsper report + ireport, the representatives of free and open source
Java tool. You can find that it is discussed in full swing in almost
all the forums with Java report board, and there are always a lot of
questioners.

Why?

Jsper report + ireport are pure Java reporting tools. I believe that
the reasons for users to choose them are as follows:

1. They are free, and this is the most important reason.

2. They are professional reporting tools.

3. They are pure Java.

It means that most people have realized that they should make reports
with professional reporting tools, not coding, and this is a progress.
Now, there are many pure Java reporting tools available, such as
JATOOLS, RAQ Report, and Style report, etc. According to users'
choice, you will find that free is the deciding factor.

Free and chargeable, which one is better?

It is obviously that free Jsper report + ireport bring us a lot,
reporting tool with certain usability, open source code with flexible
customization capability and complete control, and the most important,
low cost.

But is this really the case?

1. In my opinion, the tabling capabilities of Jsper report + ireport
are not very good.

2. Written too minutely, the Help documents of Jsper report + ireport
are hard to read. And more important, all of them are chargeable.

3. The tabling logicalities of Jsper report + ireport are not very
strong. Sometimes, you may find it very hard to make a complex report
with them. For example, if there is a report can not be made directly,
you have to write SQL statements troublesomely or ask your clients
change their requirements unreasonably.

You can find a great number of consultation posts in forums, and the
questioners usually have to wait for answers on line. However, maybe
there is no answer to their questions, or there is no one to answer
their questions by coincidence. You can count the time and labor cost
spent on it. Then, whether it is advisable to buy a chargeable
reporting tool?

The advantages of buying a chargeable reporting tool are as follows:

1. The tabling capability of a chargeable reporting tool must be
better than a free one.

2. The Help documents are free.

3. When you have a question, you can consult the technical support
directly; even ask them to come to help you.

Judging from the social trend, labor division will becomes more and
more detailed, and work will becomes more and more professional. In
report industry, the optimal condition is that professional reporting
tool vendor is the peripheral R&D Center of other companies. Each
company gives some money to the vendor for using the reporting tool,
while the vendor is dedicated to solve the report problems of all the
cooperators.

To sum up, making report is a professional job, and it is advisable
for you to buy a chargeable reporting tool. With it, you can do your
own job better.


This post is from freezea's blog. You are welcomed cc it anywhere,
and
please indicate the source.


If you would like to read more articles about reporting tool, you are
also welcome to refer to his blog at http://freezea.blogspot.com/.
 
L

Larry Linson

Surely appears that you somehow got the idea that this is a "public access"
site about "reports, in general" -- in fact, it is devoted to technical
discussion of, and questions and answers about the Reporting features of
Microsoft Access Database software.

If you want to win converts to a java-based reporting package, free or fee,
this isn't the venue that reaches the audience you should be reaching.

Larry Linson
Microsoft Office Access MVP

gaby said:
After making reports for a long time, I found something strange
recently. Various reporting tool vendors advertise by all means to
attract users' attentions; however, programmers show great interests
in Jsper report + ireport, the representatives of free and open source
Java tool. You can find that it is discussed in full swing in almost
all the forums with Java report board, and there are always a lot of
questioners.

Why?

Jsper report + ireport are pure Java reporting tools. I believe that
the reasons for users to choose them are as follows:

1. They are free, and this is the most important reason.

2. They are professional reporting tools.

3. They are pure Java.

It means that most people have realized that they should make reports
with professional reporting tools, not coding, and this is a progress.
Now, there are many pure Java reporting tools available, such as
JATOOLS, RAQ Report, and Style report, etc. According to users'
choice, you will find that free is the deciding factor.

Free and chargeable, which one is better?

It is obviously that free Jsper report + ireport bring us a lot,
reporting tool with certain usability, open source code with flexible
customization capability and complete control, and the most important,
low cost.

But is this really the case?

1. In my opinion, the tabling capabilities of Jsper report + ireport
are not very good.

2. Written too minutely, the Help documents of Jsper report + ireport
are hard to read. And more important, all of them are chargeable.

3. The tabling logicalities of Jsper report + ireport are not very
strong. Sometimes, you may find it very hard to make a complex report
with them. For example, if there is a report can not be made directly,
you have to write SQL statements troublesomely or ask your clients
change their requirements unreasonably.

You can find a great number of consultation posts in forums, and the
questioners usually have to wait for answers on line. However, maybe
there is no answer to their questions, or there is no one to answer
their questions by coincidence. You can count the time and labor cost
spent on it. Then, whether it is advisable to buy a chargeable
reporting tool?

The advantages of buying a chargeable reporting tool are as follows:

1. The tabling capability of a chargeable reporting tool must be
better than a free one.

2. The Help documents are free.

3. When you have a question, you can consult the technical support
directly; even ask them to come to help you.

Judging from the social trend, labor division will becomes more and
more detailed, and work will becomes more and more professional. In
report industry, the optimal condition is that professional reporting
tool vendor is the peripheral R&D Center of other companies. Each
company gives some money to the vendor for using the reporting tool,
while the vendor is dedicated to solve the report problems of all the
cooperators.

To sum up, making report is a professional job, and it is advisable
for you to buy a chargeable reporting tool. With it, you can do your
own job better.


This post is from freezea's blog. You are welcomed cc it anywhere,
and
please indicate the source.


If you would like to read more articles about reporting tool, you are
also welcome to refer to his blog at http://freezea.blogspot.com/.


__________ Information from ESET Smart Security, version of virus
signature database 4035 (20090425) __________

The message was checked by ESET Smart Security.

http://www.eset.com



__________ Information from ESET Smart Security, version of virus signature database 4035 (20090425) __________

The message was checked by ESET Smart Security.

http://www.eset.com
 

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