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Would it be OK to add the VFP9 Reporting enhancements to this list as a new column? -- Tod Mckenna
It would be better to modify existing column but mark VFP9 specific features.

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Reporting Mechanisms
Feature	FRX's	Crystal Reports	Win Print	At Say	Microsoft Word	Microsoft Excel	Fox Fire	Visual Rep	Stonefield Query
Report generation Speed	Fast	Fast	Fast	Fast	Slow (OLE/COM limited)	Slow (OLE/COM limited) or Fast (CopyTo Type XL5 command)	Fast	Fast	Fast
Software required on user's computer other than VFP	None	Yes - Redistributable (report editor can also be redistributed but with royalty)	Yes - Fully redistributable	None	Yes - Must have Microsoft Word: Not Redistributable	Yes - Must have Microsoft Excel: Not Redistributable	None	None	None
Print Preview	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Print preview supports "Find" (searching for strings)	No.Yes, with third-party tool such as the FRX2Any	Yes	Yes	N/A	Yes - in WYSIWYG edit mode	Yes - in sort-of - WYSIWYG edit mode	Yes in FF 8.0 (No in earlier versions)	Yes, No search yet, but soon to come.	Yes
Print Preview supports "Zoom"	Yes -- Limited in VFP5, flexible up to 200% in VFP6	Yes -- 25% to 400%	Yes -- 4% to 600%	N/A	Yes	Yes	Yes -- Unlimited in FF 8, Limited in VFP5, flexible up to 200% in VFP6	Yes	Yes -- 10% to 500%
Print Preview supports "Drill Down"	No. Yes, with third-party tool such as the FRX2Any	Yes	No	N/A	No	No	No	No	Yes
Print Preview supports OLE Manipulation	No	??	Yes - In Beta testing	N/A	Yes	Yes	No	No	No
Previewer can load saved report directly off the Web (through HTTP)	No	??	Yes - In Beta testing	N/A	Yes	Yes	No	No	No
Support for UDFs in the report	Yes	Yes - You have to use Crystal's own internal language. Nope. You can call COM DLLs written in VFP.	Yes - reports are generated by VFP code	Yes - reports are generated by VFP code	Yes - reports are generated by VFP code	Yes - reports are generated by VFP code	Yes	Yes	Yes
Absolute Positioning (eg. For filling in forms)	Yes - tricky	Yes	Yes - Same on all printers.	Kind of; Must interpret page location into Foxels, figure out page margins in effect, etc.	Yes - (Difficult: Through COM created text boxes)	No	Yes - tricky	Yes - tricky	Yes
Automatic Label Printing	Yes - Using LABEL command /LBX files, but has bugs (ie first page is usually different)	Yes	Yes - Using LabelX.prg	No	Yes - Good Quality	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Page layout can be changed programmatically	Barely - difficult: hack the FRX file	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes - Only through slow COM	Yes (with VFP code or through Object Model Automation)	Yes (with VFP code)	Yes
Automates 1-to-many reports	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	Yes - CopyTo command with Set Relation and Set Skip	Yes	Yes	Yes
First page can be different than rest of report (ie: combine multiple report formats into one print job).	No	Yes. In fact, you can use subreports on any page or band can be different than the rest	Yes -- Can do anything you can imagine in code	Yes	Yes	No	Partial (By using union and summary/title pages)	Yes - By combining an RTF into the first page. (See RTF Editor).	No
Supports Drawing Figures	Limited - Orthogonal Lines and Rectangles	Yes - Lines, Circles, Ovals, Rectangles filled or clear, any color.	Yes - Lines in any direction, Circles, Ovals, Rectangles, Polygons, filled or clear, any color.	Limited - Orthogonal Lines and Rectangles	Yes - Only through slow COM and is difficult	Yes - Only through slow COM and is difficult	Limited - Orthogonal Lines and Rectangles	Limited - Orthogonal Lines and Rectangles	Limited - Orthogonal Lines and Rectangles
Supports Colors	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes - Only through slow COM	Yes	Yes	Yes
Can produce PDF files using a PDF printer Driver	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Can produce PDF files without a PDF printer Driver	No. Yes, with third-party tool such as the FRX2Any	Yes	Yes - Not all drawing commands supported	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
User can modify a Previewed report before printing	Yes, with third-party tool such as the FRX2Any	No Can export to Word and edit there	Yes	No N/A	Yes	Yes	No	No	No
Can print rotated fonts	YesIn VFP 9 using custom listener	Yes Limited to 0, 90, 270 degrees	Yes -- Any degree rotation	No	Yes - through COM & drawing objects	Yes - through COM	No	Will be supported in Visual Rep 2.0 (VFP9 based)	Yes
Supports dynamic font name, size, style, and color	YesIn VFP 9 using custom listener	Yes All formatting options (including borders, backgroung colors, date and number formats) can be controlled dynamically	??	??	Yes - through COM	Yes - through COM	Yes	??	Yes
Usable in languages other than VFP	No	Yes -- With its own reporting language and ODBC. It also supports ADO and XML Do you mean you can make a new report from within VB using a Crystal Reports language? CR is a COM Automation server. With additional licensing, you can produce a report from scratch.	Yes -- Any language that can produce an ASCII text file	No	Yes -- Any language that supports COM	Yes -- Any language that supports COM or can produce XLS files	Yes	No	Yes
Can print images / resize images	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes -- with difficulty	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Can produce report files to be saved for later viewing (without using PDF)	No Yes, with third-party tools such as the FRX2Word, FRX2Any class	Yes Can export to Word, Excel, PDF, RTF, HTML, and more. Can also save a snapshot of the data with the report.	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes (RTF,Excel,PDF,RTF,HTML,XML,DBF,Text,Word)	Yes (Word,Text,Excel,PDF,HTML,XML,DBF)	Yes (Word,Text,Excel,PDF,HTML,XML,DBF)
Can produce "live" pivot tables for the user to rearrange/redraw at runtime?	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes (using link to Excel)	No	No
Can create embedded graphs	No Yes, using an ActiveX MSGraph object in general-type field, or FRX2Any Chart Engine	Yes	Yes, by drawing with rectangles	No	Yes, using an ActiveX MSGraph object	Yes	No	Will be supported in Visual Rep 2.0 (VFP9 Based)	Yes
Embedded graphs support Drill Down	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Can access any VFP data (2.6, free tables, DBC tables) natively	Yes	FOX2X files: Yes. Others: No.	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Can access data using ODBC	Yes -- with remote views or Cursor Adapter	Yes	Yes - anything VFP Code can do	Yes - anything VFP Code can do	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Can access data using ADO/OLE DB	Yes -- with remote views or Cursor Adapter	Yes	Yes - anything VFP Code can do	Yes - anything VFP Code can do	Yes - anything VFP Code can do	Yes - anything VFP Code can do	Yes	No	Yes
Can access SQL Server over HTTP using SQLXML	No	??	Yes - anything VFP Code can do	Yes - anything VFP Code can do	No - anything VFP Code can do	No - anything VFP Code can do	Yes	Yes	Yes
Can access data from Web Service (eg. ASP.NET)	No	??	Yes - anything VFP Code can do	Yes - anything VFP Code can do	Yes - anything VFP Code can do	Yes - anything VFP Code can do	Yes	Under Development	Yes
Can access data through proprietary means (eg. API)	No	??	- anything VFP Code can do	- anything VFP Code can do	- anything VFP Code can do	- anything VFP Code can do	Yes	Yes	Yes
Ease-of-use for non-technical users for Generating / Viewing Reports	Easy	??	Easy	Easy	Easy	Easy	Easy	Easy	Easy
Ease-of-use for non-technical users for Authoring Reports	Hard	Hard	Hard	Hard	Medium	Medium	Easy	Easy	Easy
Supports role-based security for reports	No	??	??	??	??	??	Yes	??	Yes
Supports role-based security for tables and fields	No	??	??	??	??	??	Yes	??	Yes
Supports customizable report templates	No	Yes Templates are ordinary reports	??	??	??	??	Yes	??	Yes

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Andrew Coates wrote a couple of articles on VFP Reporting options for Fox Talk. They're available on his site.

Article by Mike Lewis about using Crystal Reports with VFP data

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Contributors: wgcs, Steven Black, Alex Feldstein, Craig Berntson, Andrew MacNeill, Vlad Grynchyshyn, John Koziol, Mike Lewis, Doug Hennig

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Category 3 Star Topics Category VFP Reports Category PDF