What other report options are people using to generate reports out of d3 on
AIX other then the "English" report writer of TCL?.
The old fashion concept of break-on and reading up for detail is bothering
some people.
Currently the three options are:
1. write a basic program.
2. export data to access or mysql ....etc
3. access d3 from other report generators.

What middleware is there to access it with crystal reports or business
objects, is PHP.net or mv.net required?

Are there other options?

Thanks
Bryce Goodwin

You can always start with products like MS-Query, Crystal Reports.

Basically any Report Generator that has ODBC compliance.

D3 comes suppleid with ODBC drivers, and this is probably your best
start. No middleware, just direct links between Report Generator and D3
database.

PDP is around, but cost takes it into a different league and might not
be attractive.

John

Bryce Goodwin wrote:
I would go along with what John said - and add that, afaik, the only
ways to get information from your D3 data is to use English/Access/AQL,
to use SQL via ODBC, or to do something via PickBasic (either write it
yourself or buy a report generation tool). Something on my Wish List is
to be able to enter an AQL query and get a formatted XML/HTML table
out. I can see how it could be done.

Mike.

You don't absolutely need to buy tools, but the less you know about
developing these sorts of things on your own, the more you will
require some tool(s) to help. That's all any of these tools are -
convenience components. We have either time or money - if you want
the convenience of saving time then you need to pay someone money.

I don't want to encourage you to buy any one product or another, but I
will strongly discourage you from writing off products simply because
of some perception of cost. Unfortunately many of our colleagues
think they can do these things on their own: they try, fail, give it
up, then come back looking for another free solution a year later. So
"free" and "do it yourself" can lead to failure to produce desired
results and lack of income generation, while paying for a quality
component can lead to income, ROI, new sales, etc.

In this market you'll find an assortment of tools that are either
Business Intelligence, OR they are reporting tools, OR they are both.
For example, MITS is BI and Entrinsik Informer is Reporting.
Unfortunately Informer isn't yet available for D3 - it's good stuff
but for U2 only. If you want a canned solution, going to a Spectrum
conference can be educational.

For the Do It Yourselfer, yes, you have connectivity options like
PDP.NET and now mv.NET. Some people here say products like this are
expensive but they probably can't tell you exactly how much the
products cost or how they work. Having written code with these
products and being familiar with the pricing models, I'll restate that
the cost is in fact pretty inexpensive, especially considering what
they do and depending on how you use them. I'm tending to side with
mv.NET but PDP.NET is excellent as well. mv.NET is less expensive and
has overcome some issues that PDP has had for a while. Both of these
products can be easily tied into intelligent grids that display data
in more intuitive ways than English.

While people don't think about FlashCONNECT outside of generating web
pages, it's an excellent data transport pipe as well. Then there's
the free D3 Class Library, but you must use it via ODBC for *nix which
IMO can be pretty slow. You also have the %sockets functions, which
are a good option if you know how to manage them. There's something
for every budget - but again, the less you know the more it will
probably cost you, so if you want it for free then be prepared to
spend time getting an education.

On the client side the world is yours, and that's the great thing
about working with these platforms - you can pick and choose what you
want and custom design a solution to suit your needs. Tie into MS
Access, Cognos, Crystal Reports, Excel, etc. Something that no one in
this forum ever mentions is the absolute wealth of reporting tools
available to .NET (mainstream) developers. All MSDN or other .NET
developer magazines have ads for many many report generation tools,
GUI reporting components and widgets, that can become a part of your
toolkit. Some of these are free for developers and only have a cost
to end-users.

HTH
Tony
TG@ removethisNebula-RnD
..com
Development services and complete solutions available using any of the
tools discussed here.


"Bryce Goodwin" <NOSPAMbryce2000 (AT) byu (DOT) edu> wrote:

Bryce,

Option 1) will work, but it IS a lot of ongoing work - every minor
change requires a "real" programmer to get involved - if you are
looking at empowering users, not exactly the best way to travel

As others have suggested, option 2) is probably unnecessary given you
have direct ODBC access to D3, so the tools you were considering using
to produce reports from Access or mySQL will probably work with D3
"natively". Yes, there is work mapping the ODBC tables, but this is a
one-off exercise.

As TonyG has pointed out, you also need to examine & understand WHAT
your real needs are - are you looking for a "traditional"
reporting capability, or Analytic/BI functionality?

The difference between these 2 can be "substantial" in practice.
Visage provides solutions in both of these realms, with Visage.BIT for
OLAP/BI, and Visage.Reporter for a "traditional" Drag'n'Drop
report generator (both products available for D3 - and U2)

By way of example, with our Order Entry environment, we have replaced
(supplanted?) 400+ "traditional" reports with a single Visage.BIT
HiPerCube that allows users to explore & drill through sales
information using a simple Drag'n'Drop interface. The users can now
extract ANY sales report, sorted and totalled ANY way they like, with
no further IT intervention.

There is obviously still a place for "traditional" reporting & hard
copies (even if used just for producing 'forms' like invoices,
statements etc), but I can see an increasing amount of our core
reporting and analytic functionality being provided through BIT cubes

The GOOD news is that you have LOT's of choices, with capabilities
that surpass Pick Access, and yet there is still place for this,
especially as a developer, because I find myself LISTing & SORTing
files on a daily basis


Ross Ferris
Stamina Software
Viage - better by Design!

Ross Ferris wrote:

Did "Viage" generate that signature line? ;-)


--
Kevin Powick

As for an AQL statement generating HTML, I posted this type of utility
to PickSource a few months ago - see IA.Reformat under the general
Pick/Basic programming section. The version on the net is only v1.01
whereas my working version is 1.04 - I'll update the web version shortly.

This utility is written for mvBASE. However, I imagine that the program
should be able to be adapted to other Pick flavours.

Cheers,

Brian Speirs
--
************************************************** *
Brian Speirs
h: (04) 479 9032 c: (021) 265 5906
e: bss59REMOVETHIS (AT) paradise (DOT) net.nz

michael (AT) preece (DOT) net wrote:

Hey, waddaya know, omeone actually read my pot! Would you believe the
problem wa with my wirele moue and keyboard ?

Ah Ro, you're uch a cream. <g>

Luke

Ro Ferri wrote: