(slightly OT) Reporting tools (Jasper, DataVision, etc.)

Rails
1

We’re evaluating reporting tools right now, both open source and closed.
I saw that a bunch of people on this list have considered Jasper/iReport
– is this coincidence, or is this the best open source report writer
right now? The proprietary tool we’re comparing them to is Crystal
Reports. Reports will need to be editable by end users, and they’re
running Mac OS X.

We’ll be spending a bit of time integrating whatever report writer we
choose, we think, so we don’t expect anything to be fully integrated
with Ruby or Rails … we just want to start with a good base.

So, is Jasper the best? Are there others that look good? Here’s a short
list I’ve compiled:

  • iReport/Jasper
  • DataVision
  • OpenRPT (only works with PosgreSQL currently)

There are others, but I haven’t found any others that work on Mac OS X
and have a designer tool that looks like an end user could learn to use
in relatively little time.

Thanks!

Jen

2

I’m also looking at reporting tools and, while my needs are slightly
different from yours, JasperReports is currently at the top of my
list.

It’s a shame, because I really don’t like having to install and
maintain a Java subsystem just to get occasional reports out - it
feels like taking a sledgehammer to a walnut.

Haven’t found anything better though

Regards

Dave M.

3

David M. wrote:

I’m also looking at reporting tools and, while my needs are slightly
different from yours, JasperReports is currently at the top of my
list.

It’s a shame, because I really don’t like having to install and
maintain a Java subsystem just to get occasional reports out - it
feels like taking a sledgehammer to a walnut.

I know what you mean. I’ve been looking at both open source and
commercial solutions, and none of them is really meeting my requirements
well, with the possible exception of iReport/Jasper. The runs-on-a-Mac
requirement is the main barrier for most of the commercial report
writers I’ve seen.

Does any one have any other suggestions? I’m kind of surprised at the
scarcity of reporting tools (with visual designers that run on a Mac).

Jen