SharpShooter Reports is one of the main tools in AppsPlus arsenal
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Download as
PDF
Overview
AppsPlus, is a software development firm specializing in Microsoft Technologies for many industries including Medical, Banking and Software Development Tools.
F. Scott Barker, the owner and Lead Developer for AppsPlus, has written numerous books on Microsoft development languages and products, including his latest for Wrox publishing called Wrox's Visual C# 2005 Express Edition Starter Kit. He is also a trainer for AppDev, where he has help create and presented video training on Advanced .NET Framework Level 3 for both C# and VB.NET. www.appsplus.com
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Challenge |
To be able to include reporting in distributed applications where the reporting tool was:
Flexible for the user to work with.
Was convenient to augment, enabling the additions of new reports without having to recompile and redistribute the whole application when requests were made.
Not be cumbersome to develop with.
Use as a feature in disparate systems, without having to rewrite the code each time.
Two of the main applications that needed a reporting tool had two very different purposes for two different industries. The first application was to be a bridge between Loan Document Origination software, and QuickBooks. The second application is a Clinical Pharmacology application, analyzing and reporting statistics for controlled substances. Using SharpShooter Reports, we were able to come up with a common interface that is easy to work with, yet powerful for the user.
For both applications, we were able to create the solution by adding SharpShooter Reports, and have the base solution up and running within an afternoon. This included having SharpShooter Reports generate reports and convert them into PDFs without user intervention, and providing an awesome print preview form with almost unlimited capabilities including exporting the data out to Excel, XML and various graphic formats. These features were created almost instantly by dropping the ReportManager and various ExportFilter controls onto the form.
Another big win was the capability of creating the report templates, and either; saving them as resources within the application or as we like to use them, as separate report templates (XML) in a folder under the application. That way we can “slip” new ones in and modify current templates, without releasing a new executable. Data can be tied to the report in a number of different was such as part of a database or separate XML files.
In creating reports templates, once we got use the editor, which is based on a combination of banded report generation and XML editing, new reports could be created and online in minutes. Anytime there have been questions they have been answered within 24 hours either directly from a support person or through the very active forums located on the Perpetuum Software web site. SharpShooter Reports has definitely been one of the main tools in our arsenal, and one that we look forward to each time there is a new version announced!
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SharpShooter Reports is one of the main tools in AppsPlus arsenal
|
|
Download as
PDF
Overview
AppsPlus, is a software development firm specializing in Microsoft Technologies for many industries including Medical, Banking and Software Development Tools.
F. Scott Barker, the owner and Lead Developer for AppsPlus, has written numerous books on Microsoft development languages and products, including his latest for Wrox publishing called Wrox's Visual C# 2005 Express Edition Starter Kit. He is also a trainer for AppDev, where he has help create and presented video training on Advanced .NET Framework Level 3 for both C# and VB.NET. www.appsplus.com
|
|
Challenge |
To be able to include reporting in distributed applications where the reporting tool was:
Flexible for the user to work with.
Was convenient to augment, enabling the additions of new reports without having to recompile and redistribute the whole application when requests were made.
Not be cumbersome to develop with.
Use as a feature in disparate systems, without having to rewrite the code each time.
Two of the main applications that needed a reporting tool had two very different purposes for two different industries. The first application was to be a bridge between Loan Document Origination software, and QuickBooks. The second application is a Clinical Pharmacology application, analyzing and reporting statistics for controlled substances. Using SharpShooter Reports, we were able to come up with a common interface that is easy to work with, yet powerful for the user.
For both applications, we were able to create the solution by adding SharpShooter Reports, and have the base solution up and running within an afternoon. This included having SharpShooter Reports generate reports and convert them into PDFs without user intervention, and providing an awesome print preview form with almost unlimited capabilities including exporting the data out to Excel, XML and various graphic formats. These features were created almost instantly by dropping the ReportManager and various ExportFilter controls onto the form.
Another big win was the capability of creating the report templates, and either; saving them as resources within the application or as we like to use them, as separate report templates (XML) in a folder under the application. That way we can “slip” new ones in and modify current templates, without releasing a new executable. Data can be tied to the report in a number of different was such as part of a database or separate XML files.
In creating reports templates, once we got use the editor, which is based on a combination of banded report generation and XML editing, new reports could be created and online
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