Liveware Publishing Support Forum

I saw your add in VBExtras.__The price difference has me definitely considering R&R (even though my company standard is Crystal).__Other than price though, how can I convince my boss that R&R is the best value for us?____Is Crystal really twice as good?____Thanks.

Crystal isn^t even half as good in my opinion! R&R has always been the kind of package that "got out of my way" when I needed to do something and Crystal always "gets in the way."

Crystal twice as good? I disagree.____With R&R SQL you have far more control over many aspects of the report and the learning curve in general is better. Performance is also dramatically better in many cases because R&R does not pre-process totals unless necessary, whereas Crystal always does. Since this entails an extra step -- often a lengthy one -- and it is only needed a small percentage of the time, R&R design is superior.____This is just one example. Crystal has some advantages over R&R, and R&R has some over Crystal. R&R SQL is a little bit less money. In general, I think the programs are comparable with R&R a slightly better value. By the way, there^s no reason you could use both -- R&R where it^s better in your mind, and Crystal where it^s better. They are not so much money that it has to be one or the other.____For indexed xBase tables, R&R xBase is far superior -- not even close. R&R linking and other capabilities for xBase tables make it possible to build reports in R&R where Crystal would never get close. R&R xBase is also MUCH less money than Crystal.____Also, beware of cases where Crystal says they do something and R&R doesn^t. Often, the R&R approach is more generalized and flexible -- such as ^cross-tabs^, sub-reports, TopN etc. R&R does all this, but in a different way that also allows alternate methods for slightly different circumstances. For example, R&R^s totalling engine (key for a TopN-type calc) would also support conditional TopN, BottomN, SidewaysN, ConditionalTopN etc. We just don^t call them that. It^s just some techniques combining pre-processed totals and conditional lines. Sub-reports and cross-tabs are similar technique issues, not capability issues.____Download the demo, try it, but don^t give up if the answer isn^t obvious on the first try. Reporting is tricky -- with R&R or Crystal -- so send us an email with questions.

Dan,____You forgot UDF^s in R&R. It^s my understanding that in Crystal you need to write DLL libraries. The nice thing about R&R^s User Defined Functions is that you can add one when you need it in an instant from right inside R&R.____Pat__