When I have had to rarely deal with report writers, or heck really any ODBC tool I use the approach you describe. Write a stored procedure that returns EXACTLY what you need, then just let the tool format it.
In this case however, The problem is we want "drill down" capability. Now while Oracle Reports does support this, it requires the Oracle Reports runtime on the desktop. One requirement for the drill down reports is that they be deployed via the web. Our Forms/Reports guy informs us that Oracle Reports only supports Http or pdf output to the web. That is what is making us consider Crystal again. We have gone that route, but decided it was far better to learn Oracle Reports and use lots of common development techniques than it was to go through the painful contortions of the Crystal Reports learning curve. I should also add that while there might be an oracle product that does allow for web deployed drill down reporting, I doubt we will want to license it from Oracle. Their latest round of license interpretations has left a bad taste in managements mouth. Anyhow, someone responded offline that Brio was the product they were using, and that is the exact product I was looking for. Now I am just hoping they support fancy web deployed reports. I will also check into the sourceforge someone else also mentioned. Thanks, Steve -----Original Message----- Kevin M Sent: Thursday, June 20, 2002 1:28 PM To: Multiple recipients of list ORACLE-L My exprience with Crystal is responding to problems like "I can't get Crystal to do this or that". My usual answer is create a packaged function that returns a REF CURSOR that returns the results in a format that Crystal deal with. The more recent the Oracle version, the easier this is to accomplish. -----Original Message----- Sent: Thursday, June 20, 2002 2:17 PM To: Multiple recipients of list ORACLE-L Several times in the past I have seen folks on this list refer people to a reporting product to use as an alternative to Crystal reports. Apparently I didn't think I would need it, cause I usually save posts with information I am likely to forget.(So Yeah, I do save a lot of posts) Well now Crystal is being touted here as a possible solution for a new client's reporting requirements. We have been unable to convince Oracle Reports to perform in the way we would like, so we need an alternative. The good thing is that the new client is a large one, so my company will actually be able to invest in a nicer product. -- Please see the official ORACLE-L FAQ: http://www.orafaq.com -- Author: Steve McClure INET: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Fat City Network Services -- (858) 538-5051 FAX: (858) 538-5051 San Diego, California -- Public Internet access / Mailing Lists -------------------------------------------------------------------- To REMOVE yourself from this mailing list, send an E-Mail message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (note EXACT spelling of 'ListGuru') and in the message BODY, include a line containing: UNSUB ORACLE-L (or the name of mailing list you want to be removed from). You may also send the HELP command for other information (like subscribing). -- Please see the official ORACLE-L FAQ: http://www.orafaq.com -- Author: Toepke, Kevin M INET: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Fat City Network Services -- (858) 538-5051 FAX: (858) 538-5051 San Diego, California -- Public Internet access / Mailing Lists -------------------------------------------------------------------- To REMOVE yourself from this mailing list, send an E-Mail message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (note EXACT spelling of 'ListGuru') and in the message BODY, include a line containing: UNSUB ORACLE-L (or the name of mailing list you want to be removed from). You may also send the HELP command for other information (like subscribing). -- Please see the official ORACLE-L FAQ: http://www.orafaq.com -- Author: Steve McClure INET: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Fat City Network Services -- (858) 538-5051 FAX: (858) 538-5051 San Diego, California -- Public Internet access / Mailing Lists -------------------------------------------------------------------- To REMOVE yourself from this mailing list, send an E-Mail message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (note EXACT spelling of 'ListGuru') and in the message BODY, include a line containing: UNSUB ORACLE-L (or the name of mailing list you want to be removed from). You may also send the HELP command for other information (like subscribing).
