Presentations/SQL queries

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Presentations/SQL queries

achowe

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Points: 2075
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July 10, 2003 at 7:00 am

#82088

Is there an alternaive way of creating graph/chart presentations based on queries other than using Crystal/Business Objects etc...? maybe VB etc..
Thanks
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If riding in a plane is flying, then riding in a boat must be swimming. To experience the element, get out of the vehicle. Skydive!

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Frank Kalis SSC Guru Points: 111183 More actions · Answer 1

Hi Andrew,

quote:
Is there an alternaive way of creating graph/chart presentations based on queries other than using Crystal/Business Objects etc...? maybe VB etc..

in VB 6 there is a component called M$ Chart Control. Works with OLEDB data sources.

As I have made the experience, that one user like blue charts, another likes red charts...., I don't show charts anymore. Instead of this I provide a link where the user can download the data to Excel. What then he does with it, is his choice. Well, not very user-friendly, but it saves a lot of unnecessary discussions .

Hm,..maybe you can utilize M$ graph objects? I'm pretty sure, I have done this before from VB

Cheers,

Frank

--
Frank Kalis
Microsoft SQL Server MVP
Webmaster: http://www.insidesql.org/blogs
My blog: http://www.insidesql.org/blogs/frankkalis/[/url]

achowe SSCrazy Points: 2075 More actions · Answer 2

Is using VB and chart controls a big task? I have basic/intermediate skills in VB..is it easy to pick up and utlise with SQL server?

Cheers Frank!

If riding in a plane is flying, then riding in a boat must be swimming. To experience the element, get out of the vehicle. Skydive!

Frank Kalis SSC Guru Points: 111183 More actions · Answer 3

quote:
Is using VB and chart controls a big task? I have basic/intermediate skills in VB..is it easy to pick up and utlise with SQL server?

I would say No.

One thing I like about VB is it's ease of use (once you get used to it). The other thing is that there are countless site on the web offering million of free lines of code (more or less advanced). I must say I'm a little bit biased towards this pretty cool site http://vbaccelerator.com/home.htm , which deals with solutions commonly not widely spread such as subclassing, but I'm sure you find a ready to use solution on the web. And I also guess someone else here has already done this or knows one who has done this

Cheers,

Frank

--
Frank Kalis
Microsoft SQL Server MVP
Webmaster: http://www.insidesql.org/blogs
My blog: http://www.insidesql.org/blogs/frankkalis/[/url]

AKShah1 SSC-Addicted Points: 404 More actions · Answer 4

Hi,

I have done a lot of automation work where execs require various charts. I suggest you look at the final deliverable. In my case it was Power Point. The way we tackled it was to have a template based approach where we have the user creating the graphs. Then we used automation to update the charts and some text boxes, the data source could be anything. Works really well, almost like using office as a report writer. With office 2003 the msgraph object model can actually be saved as an XML document hmm...

Hope this helps and gives you an alternative.

I guess this solution works well if your users edit the presentation or document post production.

Regards

Manoj

biz2024 SSC Veteran Points: 298 More actions · Answer 5

There are a million different ways of doing this for a million different programming languages/rendering engines.

The advantage of a pre-packed solution (ie business objects) is that they typically have a application interface so you don't have to "code" to get the output you want.

There is nothing "magical" in any of these packages that you couldn't do as well or better given time and money.