Thanks Gary! I've been a DB developer for many years, albeit on the PC side. Report writing was usually part of the tools, or, something easily found elsewhere in the PC world. Not so easily found on the Mac side though, hence my original question.
I know that writing reports is a total *****, so I'm looking for a better way - hopefully one that doesn't mean re-inventing the wheel. There is both a personal and developmental time interest involved in finding a tool with which I could work. Products can't sell if they aren't available and any unnecessary delay can be a deal killer! For Chris' benefit: a report writing tool is one that allows a developer/end-user to construct reports using WYSIWYG controls (like the IB widgets), some sort of macro language (from simple sums/page counts, to extensive page formatting), and can either be called from within or externally linked. This is a parallel to IB, though a wee bit more advanced yet specialized. Programs like FileMaker and Microsoft Access are two examples of such things (though they are also capable of quite a bit more). Crystal Reports is also another example. If one isn't familiar with them, Googling them will yield relevant results. Those types of products are easy to find for the PC, but I started running into walls trying to find something similar for the Mac. I should think that if the Mac is to be better positioned in "line-of-business" (as you state it), these tools should be/have been more readily available. However, that doesn't seem to be the case. Doesn't mean there isn't anything out there, just means they're harder to find or highly specialized. Thanks, guys, for all the answers so far - I appreciate it! Peace, Love, and Light, /s/ Jon C. Munson II P.S. Regarding an Access port to the Mac: my personal opinion is that the disk-based technology that FoxPro used which got bundled in MS Access (after MS purchased FoxPro) is the sole reason it isn't ported. I could be quite wrong on that note though since it really isn't all that important to me other than I wish Access were ported over. -----Original Message----- From: cocoa-dev-bounces+jmunson=his....@lists.apple.com [mailto:cocoa-dev-bounces+jmunson=his....@lists.apple.com] On Behalf Of Gary L. Wade Sent: Friday, January 16, 2009 2:03 AM To: cocoa-dev@lists.apple.com Subject: Re: Report writer for Cocoa? In defense of the original poster, I understood perfectly what he was asking, and the responses he received showed others did, too. Pretty much everyone who has heard of FileMaker and Microsoft Office, two extremely well-known products each available on the Macintosh for well over a decade, as well as heard of them in the same sentence, has most likely heard comparisons between Access and FileMaker (as well as heard comments about why Microsoft hasn't ported Access to the Mac), and can probably surmise they operate similarly. In case you're still not informed about what a report writer tool is, it's typically a subsystem of a software product or a standalone product that allows an end-user to develop reports to be used in an application. Comments by others on the forum have given suggestions that an end-user might just as effectively develop an HTML template (a technology many people on the list understand and may even have used) that the original poster could utilize to produce such a report, while others have suggested utilizing Interface Builder to design one (a technology that people on the list typically get maligned if they don't use). If you are still confused about what a report writer is, try Google. And, getting back to Microsoft Office, keep in mind that a number of its components, which are line-of-business applications, originated on the Macintosh. On 01/15/2009 6:50 PM, "Chris Hanson" <c...@me.com> wrote: > On Jan 14, 2009, at 12:01 PM, Jon C. Munson II wrote: > >> I could be missing the obvious, however, my question is whether a >> report >> writer tool (like Crystal Reports or MS Access, by way of example) >> exists >> for Cocoa? > > In the future, it might make it easier to get help if you explain more > specifically what you're looking for. > > Developers who have been working on the Mac platform exclusively for > quite a while may have no idea how Crystal Reports or MS Access work. > The Mac world has also historically been much less focused on Line-of- > Business applications than the Windows world, so what "report writer > tools" do for the software developer may not be readily apparent to > many experienced Mac developers who might otherwise have suggestions. > > -- Chris > _______________________________________________ Cocoa-dev mailing list (Cocoa-dev@lists.apple.com) Please do not post admin requests or moderator comments to the list. Contact the moderators at cocoa-dev-admins(at)lists.apple.com Help/Unsubscribe/Update your Subscription: http://lists.apple.com/mailman/options/cocoa-dev/jmunson%40his.com This email sent to jmun...@his.com _______________________________________________ Cocoa-dev mailing list (Cocoa-dev@lists.apple.com) Please do not post admin requests or moderator comments to the list. Contact the moderators at cocoa-dev-admins(at)lists.apple.com Help/Unsubscribe/Update your Subscription: http://lists.apple.com/mailman/options/cocoa-dev/archive%40mail-archive.com This email sent to arch...@mail-archive.com
