OnManualBuild Method of Development
I have a philosophical question. Ive been away from FR for a while and back using it. The way Ive always developed FR reports is to Create/design my bands, place and format Variables and Data fields on my bands.. Then , Inside my OnManualBuild, I build my report by populating and showing my bands. I loop through my data, detail etc.. For me, its easy. I never could get my head around scripting, Calc FR cells etc.. Its easier for me to to just manually build.. Ive never found any limitations to my method..
So, my question is.. Now that Im starting to use FR again.. Am I totally wrong in my approach? Should I force myself to learn the conventional method of report writing? Am I the only one that is using it that way?
Gord
Comments
G'day Gord,
AFAIK it is a case of "Horses for Courses" 🤓
Whichever approach you choose should be driven by:
* maintanability
* reuse
* matching the skills of the folk developing / supporting your Reports
What works for me may be alien to you. The great thing about FastReports is that we have such a range of methods available to us.
Oh and keep your options open, and plan ahead.
FWIW we use a mix of (1) script; (2) in-cell calculation; and (3) Delphi code in all our Apps. The biggest has 30-40 Reports and has evolved easily over 20 years (we started with QuickReports but converted to FR ten years ago).
Cheers, Paul
Good thoughts.. I agree.. Now that Im starting over, I thought that it might be a good time to look at my methods. I have always worked alone, so I dont have anyone to lean on or glean from . As Ive looked at it again, it seems just as easy for me to manually build it, Calc my math/formulas etc in Delphi using conventional loops, detail queries etc. But, i dont know, what I dont know. So thats why I ask. I know that I hate being hidden from the details etc.. So I usually write it myself. I wish there were more tutorials for VCL.