Dynamically sized tabular display

[Edward]

ASP.NET
SQL Server 2k

Our clients need to output a pretty complicated Consignment/Delivery
Note from their system. It is in tabular form, but each row can have
a) a different number of columns, and b) cells of varying width and
height. I can mimic this in both Word and Access, and using either
Access' reporting functions or Word's mailmerge, can output a report
as I require.

However, it is unfeasible to automate either Word or Access from
ASP.NET, and I wondered if anyone had any ideas about how to approach
this in Crystal Reports. Here is a very rough idea of what is needed.

|---------------------------------------------------------------|
| Delivery Number | Copy Number | Bar code |
| ABC123 | 1 | ||| | | || ||| | | | |
|---------------------------------------------------------------|
| Consignor | Stock Number | Part Number |
| Joe Bloggs & Co. | 1234 | 5678969-00-97 |
| 1 Acacia Avenue |----------------------------------------|
| Happytown | Description |
| Loamshire | FORK END ASSEMBLY |
|---------------------------------------------------------------|
| etc. |


A certain amount has to fit on page 1. Pages 2..n contain child data
- for example, a list of Cases and Case number, each of which can
contain 1..n sub-assembly numbers.

Fun eh?

Anyone got any ideas? I really don't want to use GDI for this!

TIA

Edward

 

[Wardeaux]

Edward,
I haven't worked with Crystal, but I have used a lot of ActiveReports by
DataDynamics. Look up www.DataDynamics.com and look at the ActiveReports
for .Net... they have trial versions to download. One of the great things
for you is that you can import MS Access report definitions (some tweaking
needed) so if you can do your report in Access, you should be able to easily
do it in AR... and they have a lot of sample code!
hope this helps!
wardeaux