Why don't you output XML from the AS/400 and then use XSLT to generate the HTML?

>-----Original Message-----
>From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
>Sent: Friday, June 14, 2002 2:37 PM
>To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Subject: RE: Reporting Solutions
>
>
>
>On this topic...  I have a slew of reports that get generated on our 
>AS/400...  If anyone knows a tool that would do a nice job of 
>scrapping 
>the text output into html it would be a great help.  The 400 FTP's the 
>reports over to an intranet server when it runs them.  The server then 
>parses them in perl to produce nicer HTML pages.  
>
>If I had an easier solution I could move more of them over faster...
>
>If anyone has any ideas let me know!
>
>Thanks
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: brhoads [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
>Sent: Friday, June 14, 2002 3:16 PM
>To: struts-user
>Subject: Reporting Solutions
>
>
>This is a summary of my research and testing of reporting solutions. 
>I've
>gotten a lot of help here. So I hope this information will be useful.
>
>My requirements were to be able to run reports (ideally 
>Crystal Reports) 
>via
>JSP, ideally on a Linux box. If a Crystal Reports solution couldn't be
>found, I needed a cost effective alternative with similar ease of use 
>and
>power as Crystal.
>
>First, the latest version of Crystal Enterprise will under Solaris (not
>Linux) but the license starts at 20-40K.
>
>Sometime ago, I made pretty good progress by building Java wrapper 
>classes
>for the CR COM Object. It was pretty difficult to figure out a lot 
>things
>and at some point I got stuck trying to retrieve & set the report parms
>programmatically. The biggest problem with this was that I had to send 
>the
>Oracle userid & password as part of the query string. And of course I 
>still
>needed the reports running on an NT server. If you're interested in a 
>making
>wrappers for COM Objects, see http://www.infozoom.de.
>
>Another option that also requires an NT server is Parallel 
>Crystal. It's
>also too expensive, but may be a good solution if you need scalability.
>
>Parallel Crystal Pricing:
>http://www.dynalivery.com/products/parallelcrystal/pricing.html
>
>Parallel Crystal Architecture:
>http://www.dynalivery.com/products/parallelcrystal/parallelcrys
>tal2_6.html#a
>rchitecture
>
>I also looked at Actuate 
>(http://www.actuate.com/products/server/index.asp).
>I can't find my pricing notes, but it was expensive. They did an email
>campaign saying "Instantly Convert Crystal Reports". But they 
>don't have 
>a
>converter in their system, it's a manual conversion service.
>
>I considered http://sourceforge.net/projects/jasperreports/, but 
>determined
>that's it's not mature enough to give to our clients. Looks promising
>though.
>
>I found two options that would require writing reports from 
>scratch, as 
>they
>don't support or convert Crystal. The first is JReports. It was quite a
>while ago that I look at JReports, so I don't remember a lot 
>of details 
>to
>pass on. But I do remember that I liked it and it would be option, if I
>abandoned Crystal. Tech support was very good.
>
>Corporate Background:
>http://www.jinfonet.com/corporate.htm
>JReport Overview:
>http://www.jinfonet.com/JReportOverviewWeb.ppt
>JReport Product Brochure:
>http://www.jinfonet.com/JReportFlyer.pdf
>JReport Product Overview:
>http://www.jinfonet.com/products.htm
>JReport Tutorial:
>http://www.jinfonet.com/help/tutorial.htm
>Free Download:
>http://www.jinfonet.com/download.htm
>Other Docs
>http://www.jinfonet.com/docs.htm
>Register for Evaluation:
>http://www.jinfonet.com/JReportRegister.htm
>
>
>JReport Enterprise Server 2 conc. users/reports 1 CPU $3,500
>     Annual Maintenance $700
>JReport Enterprise Server, unlimited for 1 CPU $19,000
>     Annual Maintenance $3,800
>
>You can also choose to license only a specific number of CPUs.
>For example, it is possible to purchase a 2 CPU license
>for a 4 CPU computer.  Likewise, it is also possible
>to purchase a 4 CPU license for a 2 CPU computer to
>anticipate future expansion.
>
>The other alternative to Crystal that I found is FlexReports. It's 
>basically
>a Java-based Crystal knock-off. If you know Crystal, you can use
>FlexReports. The only thing I found that wasn't completely 
>intuitive is 
>that
>parm fields have to be placed on the report, although they are 
>invisible.
>
>The limitations I found with FlexReports are:
>
>    1. No way to programmatically get a list of parameters from a .flx.
>    2. No way to force a page break.
>    3. No way to use the viewer as an applet.
>    4. No PDF support.
>
>Tech support was 1st class.
>
>Pricing is done on a case by case basis. But here's what I 
>found. (BTW - 
>I
>didn't sign any non-disclosure on any of the info I'm providing.)
>
>Development License
>
>
>1 developer license = 459 USD
>
>To avail discount on developer licenses, purchase our team licenses:
>
>4 Team license (4 developer licenses)  = 918 USD
>
>8 Team license (8 developer licenses)  = 1836 USD
>
>
>Maintenance License
>
>The Maintenance License fee is for a period of 6 months. Maintenance 
>license
>is priced at USD 1250 .
>
>Maintenance would include the following benefits for a period of 6 
>months
>
>Free technical support through email and Instant Messaging.
>Hot fixes through email notification.
>Free upgrades of the New Releases, If any
>Please note that this maintenance license is applicable for a 
>period of 
>6
>months only. You would have to purchase the same again for extended 
>support
>beyond this period.
>
>Runtime License
>
>Runtime License price for each sale of your product developed using
>VisualSoft FlexiReports USD 999
>
>
>When I started my research Crystal Clear had to many holes to 
>consider. 
>But
>now with version 3, I have my solution! Crystal Clear 3.0 provides a
>Java-based Crystal Reports compatible engine, well 90% compatible 
>anyway;
>see 
>http://www.inetsoftware.de/English/Produkte/CrystalClear/Default.htm.
>
>Not only did Crystal Clear turn out to be my best solution, it also 
>turned
>out to be the cheapest. How often does that happen?! $1290 for 1 CPU,
>unlimited clients. See
>http://www.inetsoftware.de/English/scripts/FrameSetSub.asp?path
=http://www.i
netsoftware.de/English/Produkte/CrystalClear/Lizenzen/&name=pricing_info
rmat
ion.htm.

Besides missing one feature that one of our reports needs, the only 
other
problem I've found is that it doesn't prompt for parms used in only in
formulas. You can work around that though by putting the parm on the 
report
& setting it's format option to suppressed.

HTH. Feel free to ask questions.

Brad Rhoads
Zethcon Corporation












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