We have been using Crystal Reports as our report engine for 5 years and we 
aren't happy with this even though they've fixed a lot since version 7.
We think of switching to something else but because the way how we use 
reports is rather complex we need the report engine to be very flexible and 
sophisticated. We keep reports and their subreports information in the 
database (report name, report file name, database query, etc.) and have one 
generic code to take care of all our reports (about 110 altogether).


As I can see there are three major report engines on the market today: Rave, 
Fast Reports and Report Builder.
If some of them was able to do the following we would probably switch to it:


1. use the same generic code for all reports and select report by name (or 
somehow else) at runtime;


2. assign database queries (in some apps BDE, in some other - ADO) to the 
report and its subreports at runtime;


3. embed word, excel, .bmp or .jpg file into the report at runtime;


4. show in the report the image (.bmp, .jpg) taken from BLOB field;


5. export report into .pdf, word, excel, ascii when it is being generated 
and after it was generated;


6. manipulate data in the report during its generation: calculated fields, 
showing/hiding report sections depends on data;


7. spread records from left to right (similar to crosstab in Crystal - 
analogue to excel spread sheet).


8. design report without having actual data ready in the database.




Thanks in advance, I appreciate any comments.


Sincerely,
Valery