Having been a DBA and Crystal Reports developer for the past 3 years, I have to say that version 9 is a notable improvement over previous versions (we are using the Advanced Edition). Yes it's quirky and far from perfect - but as far as highly-programmable/distributable/printable reporting goes, it's practically the only game in town.First of all, I like the new "command" object. You can use this to (among other things) actually write data back to the database (which is great for creating "tables of contents" and the like). I also like being able to create custom functions and store objects in a common repository. In addition, I've noticed that formatting tends to be much cleaner when exporting reports to pdf and other file formats. Also, the new compatibility with .NET will help us when we upgrade to that platform.
Another enhancement is greater ease when it comes to changing the datasource location. You can now set the datasource location on both the main report and the subreports from one window - instead of having to open each subreport, as was required on older versions. And the program seems to do a lot better at recognizing when an external app is dynamically setting the datasource location (just make sure the schemas of both datasources are exactly the same when doing this).
The Report Application Server (RAS) component (included with Advanced Edition) is a powerful tool for delivering reports on the web or across one's corporation, without having to pay extra. But be advised that you may need to do some extensive re-coding if you were previously using the RDC. Also, URL reporting is no longer supported - at least not with RAS. And if your corporation has a huge number of users, you might need to buy an additional processor license (which is by no means cheap).
Many of the same Crystal quirks remain: occasional locking up on huge queries or "verify database" operations; kludgey editing/formatting (for example, when you move multiple fields around, they don't retain their original spacing); frequent and cryptic error messages (although this is somewhat improved); hypersensitivity to any change in the underlying data source, resulting in a frequent need to perform a "verify database" (e.g., if a field's datatype on the server changes from a varchar(10) to a varchar(20), it will still truncate at 10 characters unless you do a "verify"). But now it at least allows you to manually map a report field to a database column even if the datatypes don't match.
In short.....until someone else comes out with a fully-customizable, fully-programmable database reporting solution that prints/exports/distributes professional-looking reports over the Internet and integrates with Visual Studio and other development tools.......Crystal Reports is "it".
