MS Access vs Crystal Reports

[Sheila Nelson]

I need to get a list of some of the most significant reporting features
we would gain with Crystal Reports vice using MS Access for report
generation on MS SQL Server databases. I've checked with the
manufacturer of Crystal Reports and they have a policy of not doing
specific product comparisons. If there's anyone who has experience in
this area and would like to share what they consider the most
significant differences between the two products, I'd really appreciate
it.

Thanks in advance,
Sheila Nelson

[Larry Linson]

Microsoft Access and Crystal Reports are dissimilar products.

Access allows you to create databases and database applications,
including linking tables from server databases, and has far and away
the best report generator that I've used (in 43 years in the computer
business) -- if you are using Access for other purposes, it's a no-
brainer to use Access reports. If you only want to do some reports
against a server database, many people still think Access is best.

Crystal Reports is a report generator that can be run against many
databases, including Access and server databases. It is a very capable
report generator, but generating reports is its prime and sole purpose.
I have seen some impressive reports generated by a web application
using Crystal Reports.

However, most of the people I know who have used both Access and
Crystal seem to prefer Access reporting.

--
L. M. (Larry) Linson
http://www.ntpcug.org - North Texas PC User Group - Visit and Join
http://www.ntmsdevsigs.homestead.com - NTPCUG Developer SIGs
http://homestead.deja.com/user.accdevel - Access examples

Sent via Deja.com
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[Pedro Gil]

Hi,

Well It's been a long time that I don't look at Crystal, I think since
the version that was shipped with VB5.

But I tend to ask one thing to the users of Crystal, does it suport
ActiveX objects, so I can build my own objects if I need some extra
functionality.

On that version UI was really a pitty, I've seen that they did get
better with newer version, they allready have a Size/Aligment
functionality. But I'm not sure if you can build custom functions,
With access you have all the functions that VBA can provid, Crystal I
really don't known.

---------
Pedro Gil
http://www.geocities.com/pmpg98_pt

[Bev Zuck]

I currently use both Access97 and Crystal Reports 8. I was brand new to both
a year ago. I found that Crystal Reports was great for generating an easy
report quickly.

The more I use Access and become familiar with it, I find the less I use
Crystal. As stated in the other posts, there is much more ability to
customize in Access if you are working with Access Databases.

I need both since I work with other databases besides Access. Also, I have
yet to find a way to generate bar-coding using Access (though I should think
it can be done). We also generate some notices and reports on continuous
feed paper that I use Crystal for. Last, but not least, with Crystal, you
don't have to worry about other people inadvertently changing information in
the database.

Bottom line: We couldn't do (very easily) with out both.

Good Luck,
Bev

"Sheila Nelson" <nels...@atgl.spear.navy.mil> wrote in message
news:3A7EA9C5...@atgl.spear.navy.mil...

[Steve Jorgensen]

It appears to me that there are several providers of bar code fonts
that can be used with pretty much any program.

On Mon, 5 Feb 2001 22:54:33 -0500, "Bev Zuck" <yaho...@yahoo.com>
wrote:

[Terry Kreft]

But there is a little bit more to it than just using a font, you have to
know how the encoding works in order to translate the data.

Steve Jorgensen <nos...@nospam.nospam> wrote in message
news:3a7f8435....@news.onemain.com...