Introducing SoftArtisans OfficeWriter 3.0 Enterprise, with ASP Features - Many Features, But Easy to Use
(Page 2 of 5 )
One of the interesting points to note with regard to the product is that you can easily generate quality documents using just a few lines of code. The documents generated by OfficeWriter are in their respective native formats; they preserve all the features of the original product. Documents can be viewed by thousands of concurrent users without compromising performance. Moreover, you need not worry about licensing issues, because the end web server doesn’t require Microsoft Word or Excel in order for you to work with the product.
With the help of OfficeWriter, you can develop applications in two ways: code based or template. Moreover, according to the vendor, WordWriter and ExcelWriter can generate around 100, 000 documents in an hour. I feel that this is practically not possible unless you have a very high connectivity speed. The documents generated by the product can be saved to the disk, or viewed using a standard web browser. Version 3 of WordWriter comes with lot of features such as the ability to add paragraphs, creation of bulleted and numbered lists, insertion of tables and images, creation of hyperlinks, headers, footers and much more, which will surely enable you to develop robust .NET applications.
One of the notable features of ExcelWriter is that it ships with HotCell Technology, which enables you to update a server side data source directly from the client side. ExcelWriter supports advanced features such as charts, pivot tables, VBA, macros, multiple sheets, image insertion, named ranges and page layouts. Version 6 of ExcelWriter ships with several new features such as Complete API for charting, insertion and deletion of rows and columns, formula support for all built-in Excel functions, and support for 3D ranges. Moreover, the product provides full runtime control of the Microsoft Excel file format.
OfficeWriter also comes with integration for SQL Server Reporting Services. With the help of OfficeWriter’s Reporting Services' integration tool, you can design and deliver reports in native Word or Excel. It is an enhanced version of Microsoft’s SQL Server Reporting Services. The tool comes with an OfficeWriter designer and renderer. The main purpose of the designer is that it helps you to create a report template using Word or Excel instead of traditional Visual Studio .NET. The template makes use of RDL technology for publishing on the reporting server. I found that the OfficeWriter renderer works perfectly with the designer. The main job of the renderer is to interpret the information contained in the template.
The main feature of OfficeWriter’s Reporting Services designer is that it delivers reports directly from Word or Excel. Hence, you need not spend time on learning development tools such as Visual Studio .NET, and also can avoid the huge licensing costs involved with these tools. Moreover, OfficeWriter generates real RDL files which allow you to take full advantage of Reporting Services' report management and security features. Version 3 of the Reporting Services integration ships with many features, such as the ability to open existing RDL files created using Visual Studio .NET and other development tools; the ability to browse the reporting server directly from Word or Excel; support for context sensitive help; support for parameterized reports, queries, number and date formatting, and much more.
You should go through the online documentation in order to understand how the product works. I found that the quick start guides include step-by-step instructions for creating robust applications using the product. You can learn more about the working of the product by going through the sections titled "How to Create Word Reports" and "How to Create Excel Reports." I found that the documentation is very elaborate and contains all the required information in a crisp format. The manual includes a comprehensive reference section for Reporting Services integration. However, when I clicked the menu Reference | Microsoft RDL files on the documentation, it opened up a section covering Excel’s Formula Manager. I hope the vendor will look into this issue and update the manual accordingly.
Next: Generating a Word Document >>
More ASP Articles
More By
/ 32 
