? about Crystal Reports

[DrewDog_21]

I am thinking of buying Crystal Reports. Before I do so, I need to know 3 things.

1) does CR support a multiple data hierarchy? If I have one table with foreign key relations with two or more other tables, can CR print the correct data? The piece of
shi-ite Microsoft Data Report won't support this, and I need it!!

2) how easy is it to add functions and mathematical calculations, e.g. calculating row totals or averages? In the Data Report, if I want to display the average or sum of 4 fields in one record, I have to add a fifth field to the database and then calculate it with code. This is very inefficient and a huge waste of space. Can this be done in CR?

3) in general, is the program worth the steep price? I mean, good grief, it costs more than Microsoft Office!
Is it worth what you have to pay for it?

Looking forward to input from the CR wizards.

[HeSaidJoe]

Why buy it...I see in your profile you use VB6.
It comes packaged with vb6..look on your install disk..
I can't remember where exactly but I think under common or tools in vb you will find it...after vb5 it comes on the cd but doesn't install automatically...find it, install it,
check it out.

[Serge]

Just bare in mind that the version that ships with VB is a stripped version. Most of the functionality is not available. The version that ships with VB6 is 4.6, but the latest version from SeagateSoftware is 8.0.

For your question about different datasources, yes it is possible to have two tables (or stored procedures) linked from different databases and create one consolidated report.