> 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
>