Crystal Reports has had already come up with 12 versions in the past 20 years. Business Objects own the past two versions. On the other hand, the first SSRS version came out in 2004, and currently, there is a third version in the market. SSRS has 75 percent Crystal Reports functionality. However, beyond such similarities, these products vary, especially when it comes to functionality as well as reporting capabilities. Moreover, while comparing Crystal reports and SQL server reporting, the biggest difference is the ease of use and performance.
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Table of Contents
Data Sources
Crystal Reports efficiently stores data source properties within every report. Every data source has its own connection information. Moreover, it gives you immense flexibility for using various servers for generating data. However, suppose you are willing to deploy reports from a development server to a production server. In that case, you will need to remap the reports to a different server for using Crystal Reports Server. Hence you can use Business Views in order to share data sources. However, there are several reports on a single business view. The repository permits storing Command Objects which are shared among the reports.
While comparing Crystal Reports with SSRS, you can analyze that SSRS is designed for sharing a common data source. Hence switching from one development server to another production server is very straightforward, and all reports refer to the new server. Furthermore, you can use Data Sources properties for modification within the report project. Hence you can use Reporting Manager to set the Data Source location. Moreover, by using a shared data source, it is managed by a single tool, due to which the deployment process is significantly simplified.
However, the downside is that the single reports don’t provide you flexibility with data source modification during runtime. For instance, if a report default uses a certain server and database, it occasionally needs to shift from a different server to report it on the historical data. Hence by sharing a mutual data connection, you lose the authority to control individual reports.
Sections and Groups
A vacant Crystal report contains a header and footer. You can add a group by right-clicking on the main body report and clicking insert group from the shortcut menu. Moreover, you can customize the section by right-clicking the section divider and choosing Section Expert.
In this way, it loads the Crystal Section Expert. The hide option permits you to apply drill-down capabilities. In addition, crystal allows you to determine whether a group is based on the present formula, sort order and whether the whole group needs to stay on one page.
While comparing Crystal Reports, you can evaluate that an SSRS report starts with only an empty report by default. However, you can insert a page header or page footer by considering either a table or matrix report controls. Hence you can conveniently build a basic report. After adding either a table or matrix to a report body, you can describe a group by right-clicking on the row selector area and then select an insert group. SSRS will display your Group Options.
However, SSRS provides functionality to keep the whole group on a page. For any grouping specification in the wrong order, you can modify every group number manually in SSRS even if you want to alter the physical group sequences.
Page Control Options
Crystal usually provides you better support for page control by using ‘Keep Together’ options for individual report sections and entire report groups. However, SSRS lets you define a page break at a group’s end. Moreover, it will not conditionally permit you to implement “widow-or
phan” protection, ensuring that the group or section fits on the page. SSRS implements a “Keep Together” property specifically for the rectangle control. It has a certain level of page control through subreports.
Subreports capabilities
A subreport is a report which is found within a report. Normally you build a subreport when you think it is essential to display several levels of data in detail. It can be helpful even when you need to display data from several data sources. However, you will need to create a link between the subreport and parent report in most cases.
While comparing Crystal Reports with SSRS, you might think that subreports in SSRS are the same as Crystal Reports. However, there might be some differences. For example, you can “nest” subreports in SSRS, which you are unable to do in Crystal Reports. In SSRS, you are unable to insert subreport into the Page Header or Page Footer area. Hence it makes things difficult to build with a common header and footer template. However, in some cases, you will require subreports in SSRS in situations where subreports are not necessary. Hence you will see this evidently in the storing procedure.
Formatting and Formula Options
Crystal Reports and SSRS both provide multiple formatting options such as tooltips, watermarks, suppressing duplicates, dynamic formatting, Date Formatting, and Numeric Formatting. However, Crystal Reports support text rotation, CSS, and RTF rendering, which SSRS does not.
In addition to this, SSRS consists of several formatting options which Crystal does not have. Finally, SSRS permits you to add custom code to reports. You can do so by embedding Visual Basic code into the reports or adding compiled .NET assemblies.
Which is a Better Option?
SSRS is a good choice for the modern users whose preference is performance and ease of use. However, Crystal Reports was in existence for a very long time period; hence more people are familiar with it. In addition to this, people who are picky with small details will prefer the low-level features of Crystal Reports. You will need Crystal Reports Hosting for running your Crystal reports.
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