<div dir="ltr">Something to bear in mind with ReportBuilder is that they do not (or did not used to) provide full source for 100% of their product, even with the highest SKU. As a result, if you are using aspects of ReportBuilder which rely on these components, you are beholden on their releasing a new version with support for new versions of Delphi as they come out.<br>
<br>This is one of the reasons that in previous projects I have been involved with where ReportBuilder has been used particularly extensively, the project source becomes stuck in legacy versions of Delphi as the business of upgrading becomes progressively more difficult as you cannot simply rely on re-building the version of ReportBuilder you are comfortably using in your project but are forced not only to upgrade your license(s) but also deal with any breaking changes that arise from later/newer versions of ReportBuilder itself.<br>
<br>The extent to which this is a problem will depend on your use of ReportBuilder, but one project I was involved in languishes in Delphi 2006, and the tight coupling and high degree of reliance on extensions to core ReportBuilder components on which it relies and the inability to simply rebuild from source for later Delphi versions was a dominant factor in that.<br>
<br>This problem isn't unique to ReportBuilder of course. Any 3rd party component that does not provide full source is subject to the same caveats and risks. ReportBuilder is however fairly unusual - if not unique - in not providing 100% source at even the highest price point for a license.<br>
<br>Also, given the history of reporting technologies in Delphi, this reliance on the vendor is something to bear in mind, should it go the way of previous Delphi reporting technologies....<br><br><br><b>Caveat:</b> This lack of 100% source was the case for the Delphi 2006 Enterprise version and as far as I know remains the case, though it would be worth checking to see if this issue remains in the current version (I had a look on their web site and can't find any confirmation one way or the other).<br>
<div><br></div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On 13 May 2014 10:59, Paul Hectors <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:Paul@powershield.com" target="_blank">Paul@powershield.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d">Hi Gary,<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d">We use ReportBuilder at PowerShield and I am personally not that impressed with it however it is coded into the product and difficult to justify changing.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d">Things I personally do not like about ReportBuilder is the lack of feedback provided when it does not like what you are trying to do. This typically is around
layout issues and as a result causes blank pages or blank areas between sections of the report.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d">If you are doing something wrong the other result is a complete blank report with very little clues as to where it is failing.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d">These kind of problems ruin productivity as you spend a lot of time ‘fighting’ with ReportBuilder until you get the result you want.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d">I am personally not coding but managing the project and over time there have been at least 3 developers doing reports and I believe none of them are a fan of
ReportBuilder.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d">We have found product support to be very good by the makers of ReportBuilder, so all credit to them.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d">So if you are considering ReportBuilder please make sure you move beyond the marketing hype and give it a try with your requirements.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d">Best regards,<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d">Paul<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"">From:</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif""> <a href="mailto:delphi-bounces@listserver.123.net.nz" target="_blank">delphi-bounces@listserver.123.net.nz</a> [mailto:<a href="mailto:delphi-bounces@listserver.123.net.nz" target="_blank">delphi-bounces@listserver.123.net.nz</a>]
<b>On Behalf Of </b>Gary T. Benner<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Tuesday, 13 May 2014 9:45 a.m.<br>
<b>To:</b> <a href="mailto:delphi@delphi.org.nz" target="_blank">delphi@delphi.org.nz</a><br>
<b>Subject:</b> [DUG] Reporting experience<u></u><u></u></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"MS Sans Serif","serif"">HI all,</span>
<u></u><u></u></p>
<p><span style="font-family:"MS Sans Serif","serif"">With recent changes to reporting in Delphi, I was wondering if a few of you could provide some feedback on the effectiveness of the various reporting modules.</span>
<u></u><u></u></p>
<p><span style="font-family:"MS Sans Serif","serif"">With Rave going the way of QuickReports, the territory seems to now be that of ReportBuilder, FastReports etc. Any others?</span>
<u></u><u></u></p>
<p><span style="font-family:"MS Sans Serif","serif"">We recently had major issues with Internationalisation using Rave and the ability to handle the export to PDF, which in our experience is now demanded more than actual printing on to paper, as we move to
a paperless office as norm.</span> <u></u><u></u></p>
<p><span style="font-family:"MS Sans Serif","serif"">So, any comments as to the best tool?</span>
<u></u><u></u></p>
<p><span style="font-family:"MS Sans Serif","serif"">Any horror stories?</span> <u></u>
<u></u></p>
<p><span style="font-family:"MS Sans Serif","serif"">kind regards</span> <u></u><u></u></p>
<p><span style="font-family:"MS Sans Serif","serif"">Gary</span><u></u><u></u></p>
<p style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><span style="font-size:7.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:gray"><br>
</span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:black">Gary Benner
</span><span style="font-size:7.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:gray">MNZCS ITCP<br>
Information Technology Certified Professional <br>
<a href="http://www.onlearn.co.nz" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration:none">Onlearn Limited</span></a> - Online Learning Hosting & Support, Training & Content Development<br>
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<b>Skype:</b> garybenner<br>
</span><span style="font-size:7.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:navy"><br>
<br>
Ref#: 41006</span><u></u><u></u></p>
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