High-efficiency web report design with Excel-like reporting tool

Discussion in 'Databases' started by freezea, Aug 27, 2009.

  1. #1
    Background
    Have you ever seen a web reporting software which has a more suitable interface to design static reports than Excel?

    I believe that those who have made or read a certain number of reports will say no to this question. Exactly, Excel’s interface is the best choice for static report design, as it has incomparable advantages in efficiency, operation and setting.

    Then, drag and drop web reporting tool and Excel-like reporting tool, which is better?

    This dispute has once appeared in the professional reporting tool industry. After all, those senior reporting tools are using the drag and drop style. However, RAQ Report gives a resounding answer by releasing a real Excel-like web reporting tool: Even in professional reporting tools, the efficiency of Excel-like web reporting tool is much higher than that of a drag and drop reporting tool.

    Even for non-professionals, Excel is a reporting tool easy to use. It only needs a little time to grasp the basic knowledge, and everyone can make a table with beautiful interface from scratch quickly.

    Example
    Next, with an example, we will see RAQ Report inherits the characteristic of Excel to what extent.
    [​IMG]
    The main design interface at the left side is the most common Excel-like spreadsheet. If you set format there, you will find that RAQ Report is totally the same with Excel in static style setting.

    1. Cell’s width, height, background, foreground, display format, line break, gridline, etc.
    2. Content’s font, font size, bold, italic, and underline, etc.
    3. Data’s horizontal alignment and vertical alignment.
    4. Format painter.

    In format definition, RAQ Report and Excel have no difference. Moreover, besides these inheritances in static format, RAQ Report also inherits the cell expression of Excel.

    For example, in Excel, if you want to make a summary of the data of A3-D3 in E3, you should write “=SUM(A3:E3)” in E3. Then, if you want to do this in RAQ Report, you will find that it is similar with that in Excel.

    Like Excel, RAQ Report also can automatically adjust the expression in the cell whose position changed. If you insert a new column between B3 and C3 in the table above, then the expression in F3 (original E3) will adjust to “=SUM(A3:E3)” automatically. Similarly, if you insert a new row or column in RAQ Report, corresponding expressions will also adjust automatically. Moreover, flexible expressions, such as “A2+B3-A4″ and “(A1+E2*D4)/C3″, can also be operated correctly.

    Besides inheriting the design style of Excel, RAQ Report realizes dynamic data extension which Excel can not realize. Please look at the report below:
    [​IMG]
    Its design interface is shown below:
    [​IMG]
    In terms of efficiency, RAQ Report is certainly a powerful web reporting software to make reports like the one above. Due to the advanced Excel-like design style, RAQ Report can improve the efficiency by 90%. Compared with traditional reporting tools, RAQ Report exactly can improve the efficiency of Web report design, shorten development cycle, and reduce development cost.

    This post is from freezea's blog. You are welcome to cc it anywhere, and please indicate the source.

    If you would like to read more articles about reporting tool, you are also welcome to refer to my blog.
     
    freezea, Aug 27, 2009 IP