| Comparison with other black box reporting tools |
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You use the Add Data File Button, to add another database to your report. When you click the Add Data file button, the Choose File dialog box appears. You use this dialog box to select the database file or files you want to add to your report.
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The key concept of Actuate is
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The
Live Report Document |
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Permanent
file on disc |
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Structured
data not text. An object database |
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Can
contain hyperlinks |
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Can
contain ActiveX controls |
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Can
be viewed and printed repeatedly without access to the
database |
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Can
be viewed on Web pages |
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Can
be e-mailed |
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Can
be archived |
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Actuate
can also generate HTML |
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The main difference between Crystal Reports and Actuate is that Actuate is an objected oriented reporting tool. You can create reusable reports (through libraries).
It can be viewed on web pages and can contain hyperlinks also. Actuate is a sophisticated development tool. Developing simple reports is straightforward and does not requires more knowledge and skill, but these are the reports which no other tools could handle.
Actuate looks complex, but it is actually easy.. once you know how. It is extremely powerful .. but simple reports are still quick and easy to build.
Actuate is not a conventional "black box" report generator.
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The architecture of Actuate is
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Crystal Reports enables you to specify the type of join you want it to use when it joins SQL tables. The join types are as follow:
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| Object
Oriented |
Highly
orthogonal |
| Based
on programming language |
Layered
system |
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The Actuate Layers are
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Designer - creates report designs |
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Compiler - converts report designs into report executables |
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Factory - runs a report executable to produce an actual report |
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Viewer - views/prints generated reports, also provides sophisticated navigation, data extraction,
hyper linking, etc. |
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Actuate report is an adaptive report
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Using a single report you can produce multiple output format. The output format is controlled by data and /or parameters. For example, detailed or totals only, selective display of columns, different sort orders.
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The techniques in Actuate reporting is through
§ Controlling selection of the required format
The format can be selected via user-specified parameters
§ Use of Conditional Sections
§ Overriding Actuate's standard content creation methods
All Actuate content is created
dynamically
§ Dynamically modifying SQL queries
§ Can be used to create query dynamically.
The main disadvantage of Actuate is
§ Increased complexity
§ Can be hard to understand how the design works
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