I am trying to develop an insurance application and populate it with data using ColdFusion. The application must be of "desktop publishing" standards with appropriate control over lines, positioning of text, check boxes, shading, varying font sizes. All components of the form should print in the same position all the time. The application can be several pages long with specific control over page breaks. Printing has to be consistent across users, all of whom will be using IE.
I have considered three CFMX 7 solutions: 1. Report Builder - can't figure out how to do more than one page or control page breaks. Also no check box control that I could find. If I could make several one page reports and combine them together, that would be fine. 2. Crystal Reports - I don't see anyway to incorporate CFML functions into the report nor can a query be passed in. Since much of our data is stored in a WDDX packet, I'm not sure how best to access it. I haven't spent a lot of time with Crystal but I did like the approach of the Report Builder better. 3. CFDocument - coding the forms in HTML is cumbersome, even with Dreamweaver. Aside from the amount of work to build the HTML, the main problem is that row heights in tables will expand to allow content to be displayed. I think all of these have some potential but offer definite challenges as well. What I'm looking for is some advice as to which of these directions would be the best to pursue or if there are other options which might accomplish what I want more easily. I want to pick a solution and pursue it, but also want to know that it really will work. I can't afford the time to pursue the wrong path. Whatever the solution, it needs to be flexible for making changes in the future. Since we have lots of these different documents to produce which all have common features, something which allows objects to be reused would be a definite plus. That has me leaning toward CFDocument but the client has a strong bias against an HTML based solution, believing it to be inferior with respect to quality of output. An example of a form I'm trying to create can be found at http://www.modotech.com/sampleform.pdf Thanks. Chris ------------------------------------ Christopher P. Maher, FCAS, MAAA Modotech, Inc. [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.modotech.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Logware (www.logware.us): a new and convenient web-based time tracking application. Start tracking and documenting hours spent on a project or with a client with Logware today. Try it for free with a 15 day trial account. http://www.houseoffusion.com/banners/view.cfm?bannerid=67 Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:4:206766 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/4 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:4 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.4 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
