Don't touch my base--it might be loading.
Of all the business cliche's of the past few years, “touch base” is one that I absolutely despise. I can put up with “office” becomming a verb, and I'm usually more concerned with who cut the cheese than who moved it. Despite what one may think, the path from good to great is not a checklist, and you can't be Level 5 because you want (or declare yourself) to be. Warring tribes are a great way to design consumer electronics, until the Japanse can design better products cheaper and quicker, and then get ripped off by the Koreans or Chinese. So maybe skip the tribes, the natives will always restless because they do not suffer fools gladly.
I can cope. I can “bin“, “cubbyhole“ and “cubicle farm“ as well as anyone else. Just please, refrain from touching base. The whole notion feels creepy, like my personal space is being invaded.
This was set off by an e-mail from the SSWUG after I had to register to try and read Kent Tegel's new article (I'd put a link but I haven't paid for the membership since I just bought a new house and still have bills for ankle surgery in March). The founder of SSWUG was just “touching base”. Said do in the subject. Creepy. Maybe I won't join after all.
source of complaint: http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/vbcon/html/vbtskcontrollingtheappearanceofthewebinterface.asp
Bullet point 1 states:
Never use Cascading StyleSheet (CSS) properties for absolute positions. Specifying absolute positions prevents elements from being automatically positioned and sized.
<!-- Do not do this -->
<DIV id = idFindWhatLabel style = "position: absolute; left: 0.98em; top: 1.2168em; width: 4.8em; ... >
And yet, here's part of the sample code for Bullet Point 2, using that thing they just told you not to use:
<div style='position:absolute; left: 0; top: 0; ...
Additionally, nice consistent use of quotes to surround attributes.
Also, it would be really cool if you'd either allow the frame to scroll, or wrap long lines of code. I might want to see the entire line!
It isn't going to happen. There seems to be a common misconception that Crystal Reports .NET is included with the .NET Framework. That is not true. CR .NET is bundled with Visual Studio .NET 2002 or 2003, NOT with the Framework. If you wish to Crystal Reports .NET with the Web Matrix, you'll need to purchase the proper Crystal Reports 10 solution from a reseller. Or, you could purchase VS .NET 2003, but then why would you use Web Matrix?
All is not lost if you don't have to use Crystal Reports. If you just need some reporting controls, there are a number of options. A few of the free ones I know of are listed below. Youc an find others in the ASP.NET Charting Control Gallery. There are plenty of other examples out there besides the ones I have listed below--spending a little time in Google will turn up a lot of options.
Reports Starter Kit
source: http://www.asp.net/Default.aspx?tabindex=8&tabid=47
The Reports Starter Kit demonstrates a simple data reporting solution for displaying multiple views on data, creating charts, and rendering any type of data in a Web application.
Report.NET
source: http://report.sourceforge.net/
Report.NET is a powerful library that will help you to generate PDF documents in a simple and flexible manner. The document can be created with data that have been retrieved from any ADO.NET data set. The Report.NET library is available for free under the LGPL license.
Convert XML To an Excel Spreadsheet Using XSL
source: http://aspalliance.com/471
Use ASP.NET and a generic XSL file to convert any XML data into an Excel spreadsheet. This generic XSL can be used to present XML reports to users in Excel via their web browser.
Charts - represents information to the visitor in an easy-to-digest manner. Charts are essential when we show some statistical information from the available data. With classic ASP it was much difficult to generate charts, going for third party component seems to be the only way. But with the advent of ASP.NET you can create dynamic charts without a third party component, thanks to the .NET technology. This article explains and compares about various options for charting in ASP.NET.
If you want to use PHP to display Crystal Reports, you'll need Visual Studio again, and you can probably use a PHP add-in such as Jcx.Software's VS.Php - The php editor for Visual Studio .Net developers (click the product name to visit the website). I have not tried this solution myself, since I know VB.NET, so if you have experience with this plugin or others, please leave comments for others to learn as well.
<edit 2004-07-29>
Crystal Reports 10 does not have direct PHP support either. You can work with CSP (Crystal Scripting Pages), JAVA, ASP and ASP.NET. Again, with a PHP .NET plugin for Visual Studio, you can use CR 10.
Crystal Reports .NET Programming
If you're new to Crystal Reports, or just to CR .NET, this is the book you need. Part how-to, part programming reference, lots of simple examples in both C# and VB.NET.