Newbie questions

Karl

1. Is FastReport.net a .NET web service (or collection of services)?

2. How's FastReport.Net deployed? I use a popular web hosting company and have restricted accesss. Can I just copy a few DLLs to my web service folder to deploy? (The web services are coded using the .NET 2.0.x framework.)

3. My application does not use a database. Rather, web services calculate data. Communication is via conventional SOAP messages. Does this model work with FastReport.net?

4. If it is a webservice, I assume then that the client (the browser) can initate a report from an HTTP request via a SOAP message (AJAX)?

In other words, can someone give me an idea of how the backend architecture works? (When someone from FastReports gets to it, I think this would be good information to have on your web site. If I missed this. Sorry.)


Thanks!

AlexTZ

Hello,

1) FastReport.Net is a reporting tool for Windows Forms and ASP.NET.
2) Here is an information from Programmer's manual:

You may redistribute the following files along with your application:

?· FastReport.dll - the main FastReport.Net library;
?· FastReport.Dock.dll - the docking windows library;
?· FastReport.Editor.dll - the code editor with syntax highlight. This library is not needed if you don't provide an end-user designer.

You may distribute the User's Manual which is contained in the FRNetUserManual.chm file. This file can be shown from the report designer, if you select the "Help|Contents..." menu item.

If your reports are stored in files, you have to deploy them as well.


In ASP.NET, you need to deploy FastReport.dll only. Just copy it.

3) FastReport may work with DataSet or use any IEnumerable data source. See demo, "Features/Business objects" demo.
4) See Programmer's manual, "Working with ASP.NET" section.

Karl

Thanks for your reply. I'm sorry, I don't know what the FastReport Team is. Are you a volunteer or an employee?

If you are a volunteer, no complaints here and thanks for the help. On the other hand, I'm interested in purchasing a product. (I already own some FastReport products.) The questions I asked are what I consider to be pre-sales type questions. Several can be answered with a simple yes or no. I have no interest (or time) to read a programmer's manual to see if a product will do what I want it to do before I buy it.

Hopefully, someone (or someone else?) from FastReports will answer (or maybe a knowledgeable beta tester).

Karl

AlexTZ

I'm lead developer. If you want to clarify something, ask.

Karl

Thank you.

4. Can a report be initiated from an HTTP request via a SOAP message (AJAX) from the client?

In other words, does the client side have to be written using ASP.NET/C# or can we use Javascript?

AlexTZ

FastReport.Net is not a web service - it's an ASP.NET control. You may create ASP.NET page, place report control on it and add necessary logic (load report, connect to data etc). Then, you may open this page in browser. Using non-web components such as Report, HTMLExport, you may try to create own web-service, but we don't provide such solution.