I'm trying to convert Crystal Reports into SSRS and have pretty much given up on it, as SSRS is just too inflexible to handle the reports I need to convert. I'm looking at alternatives. Was wondering if Crystal Reports can be directly incorporated into a Visual Studio Web project. CR version 14.5.1.1501 and VS 2017.
If not, can anyone suggest an alternative Report Builder tool other than SSRS for this conversion? The alternative would need to :
a) be "free form friendly". My frustration with SSRS is that it is too rigid. My reports I need to convert have a lot of "free form" fields in the page headers and footers, and I cannot get SSRS to have the page headers and footers reflect the data groupings in the detail table. The grouping is on the detail table, and the headers and footers cannot recognize the grouping, thus are only able to display data from the first record in the dataset.
b) be able to retrieve data from stored procedure input.
c) allow groupings on the resulting dataset, and have free form data items in the page headers and footers reflect the values of the grouping in the detail band, i.e. the values in the page headers and footers reflect the detail grouping, NOT the first value it comes across in the resulting dataset (this is my main problem with SSRS).
d) accept report level parameters which have nothing to do with data retrieval, but are used for setting visible properties on and off depending on those parameters.
e) allow subreports
f) have the page headers and footers not be overly limited in size, i.e. allow reasonable expansion of the page headers and footers without adversely affecting the print layout. This is another problem I have with SSRS. Things can look fine on the resulting retrieval in Visual Studio, but values get cut off in the printed page; there's only so much real estate in the headers and footers in the print layout, and it does not reflect the page retrieval.
Crystal Reports handles these criteria without issue, and i need a corresponding alternative tool that i can use in Visual Studio, or be able to pull in the Crystal Reports directly.
Thanks for any input or advice.
To answer your question--yes: Crystal Reports can be "integrated" into a web project that you author/maintain with Visual Studio (I know because I'm using it that way on a project). Armed with that knowledge, you are in the best position to decide whether it's a solution that meets your specific needs (beyond what you mentioned above).
Check out the SAP Crystal Reports site for details: https://www.sap.com/community/topic/crystal-reports-for-visual-studio.html