I am being asked to evaluate different reporting technologies , currently we are using Crystal Reports 9. I have taken one of our simple reports, and attempted to design it in VS 2005 (SQL 2005 Report). Is there an equivalent to a Report Header and Report Footer?Report Header meaning, the first page displays information only once, regardless of how many pages of data is displayed following. Thanks in advance for any help anyone has. -Vinny Davi

I am attempting to convert Crystal Reportsto SQL. Are you proceding with your transition? Ken Wardwell

No actually, I had evaluated 3 products:SQL Reporting Services (SQL Server 2005) Crystal .NET (in VS2005 (ver. 10.2.??)) ActiveReports for .NET 2.0 SQL Reporting Services, from a design perspective alone, was actually the furthest from maturity. Granted some of our reports are very demanding from a design perspective, so if this is not the case for you, this may be a suitable alternative. We are also using the API's for Crystal 9.0 (current deployment) extenstively. Once again, SQL Reporting Services were not very compatible to those Crystal 9 library calls. Active Reports for .NET 2.0 was actually much closer from a design and API maturity perspective, and as a trial user, their support staff was very courteous , friendly and helpful. Just some issues with the API when it came to a Sort capability. Crystal still had them beat there. I think SQL Reporting Services has enormous potential, but as they entered the reporting game a little behind the other players, the technology is simply behind as well. To actually answer your question, thetransition decision is still on hold. The management has been given all the info, and they've sat on it for quite some time (we are not a software shop, just a small pocket of developers within a large firm, so our mgmt is not software management savvy) I hope this information was helpful. -Vinny Davi

“Despite my past affair with Crystal Reports, I have to report that I’ve thrown over my loyalty to Stonefield Query. The simplicity and depth of the program make it easy for me to recommend. “ Doug Wolf, Author - Crystal Reports for Dummies