Windward Reports Review
Windward Reports offers a suite of reporting software
packages composed of four products that can work separately or together:
- The Windward Reports Engine. The Windward engine is pure .NET
(there's also a pure Java version) and runs on one or multiple servers as part
of an enterprise's server-based application. Windward Reports is usually called
from Windows Forms or an ASP.NET application, but it can be called from any
Windows program from a command line application to a service.
- AutoTag. AutoTag is a report design tool that allows the
end user to create templates in Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
- AutoTag Max. A complete desktop reporting solution,
AutoTag Max is an enhanced version of AutoTag and includes a server and report
scheduler.
- Arrow for SharePoint. Windward Arrow 3.0 extends
SharePoint to deliver an enterprise reporting, document management, dashboard
and business intelligence system. Arrow 3.0 for SharePoint lets a community of
users design, run and share reports.
We installed and tested the Windward Reports engine and the
report design tool, AutoTag.
Installation
Getting the Windward Reports .NET engine up and running was a simple,
straightforward process. First we downloaded the correct installer. (There are
different installers for Windows and other operating systems). Then we easily
and quickly installed the 35 MB package by following the free online
documentation. We wouldn't have thought free documentation was a big deal until
we discovered some companies charge for their documentation.
The instructions guided us step-by-step through installing
the engine, and WindwardReports.dll and all supporting DLLs. The installer gave
us the option to also have all DLLs installed in the GAC, which is highly
recommended.
We found the test folder especially handy, because it
allowed us to head off problems early (had there been any, which there weren't)
by running an installation verification test. After this we installed AutoTag,
which automatically detected which components were already installed on our
system and installed only what was necessary.
Interface
After the installation we were able to immediately start designing report
templates. Windward Reports' design tool, AutoTag, is an add-in to Microsoft
Word, Excel and PowerPoint, so report creation was a much simpler process than
with the other tools we evaluated. We opened Word and began adding the desired
elements to our template (headers, footers, text blocks, charts, graphs, images,
tables of contents, etc.) using Word's built-in commands. Because we already were
familiar with Word, this interface took us much less time to master than any of
the other report design tools we found. Nearly all the features in Office were
available to us, with the exception of some minor formatting tools.
We also appreciated the fact that AutoTag is a non-banded
design tool. This not only allowed us greater freedom in report design – we
could lay out elements as we wished on the page, rather than stacked across the
page – but it also saved us significant time.
Windward uses Word, Excel and PowerPoint as its design
interface, so we were quickly able to create reports that looked exactly the
way we wanted them to.
One of the features that stood out was charting. Reporting
programs often stumble with charting, but this is another area where Windward
stood strong. We didn't have to go through a lot of additional or complicated
steps such as dummy image insertion or learning obscure beans. The charts were
fairly easy to create, had a wide range of layout and theme options, and were
accompanied by solid examples in the sample templates and written
documentation.
We also designed reports in Excel, which ran as smoothly as
the process in Word. Of particular note was the ability to use Excel's dynamic formulas,
which expanded intuitively with our data. For example, in an invoice table we
set one cell to sum the product subtotals (=SUM(E4)). When we generated the
report, the cell summed all the data in the product subtotals column (cells E4
through E10) instead of a single cell.
Data Connection
Connecting to an SQL database was a simple, guided process. We launched the
connection window and were able to easily choose the appropriate database from
a list of databases Windward handles: SQL Server, Oracle, DB2, MySql,
PostgreSQL, OleDB, ODBC, or any other ADO.NET provider installed. Windward also
handles XML file and Excel spreadsheet data sources, and you can connect to
them in any order. The system searches for matching databases and presents you
with a list, and it saves the most recent connections in a drop-down menu.
After testing our connection with a button click, we were able to begin tagging
our template.
Tags
Windward Reports touts itself as a reporting solution for the business
user, and this claim is true for the large majority of the data insertion process.
The business professional can use the Data Bin's drag-and-drop functionality to
place tags into templates. With user-defined tags (UDTs), we created a template
without creating a single tag by using an existing template's tags and tables.
Programming knowledge is necessary in some cases, but we found it wasn't required
to write complex scripts by hand because Windward's wizards and intuitive
windows walked us through creating a range of select statements. A validate
tool checks tag syntax so we could find and fix errors before running the
report.
AutoTag ships with a large variety of tags:
Out Tag: The most basic and most common tag takes seconds
to insert a piece of data into our templates.
ForEach Tag: There was no complicated process for
iteration over a set of records. Instead of having to manipulate the Group
section and Details section of the development environment, we used a simple
tag that allowed us to loop through our data.
If and Else Tags: To get the effect of conditional
actions, we simply used tags that allowed us to create select statements
without hassle. No complicated sections or tricky fields required.
Chart Tag: The chart tag let us create a series of
selects to define data to be displayed in charts and graphs. The tag interface's
Select Data icon walked us through selects for the chart's rows and columns,
and formatting the chart (selecting color schemes, adding titles and other text,
etc.) was easily done from within the tag.
Matrix, Column and Row Tags: We weren't restricted to
creating rectangular tables. The matrix tag let us create a table with as many
cells as we needed, and the rows or columns expanded automatically depending upon
the data.
Link Tag: Our database contained a number of stored
URLs, and we were able to use the link tag to dynamically generate hyperlinks
when we ran our reports.
Import Tag: Our database also contained a number of
text and PDF files. Rather than manually inserting them, we used the import tag
to insert the content on the fly. We also used the import tag to embed
templates within templates (a really cool feature!).
Query and Set Tags: To save time, we used the query
and set tags to create variables and use them elsewhere in the template. It
saved time not only during report design but was especially noticeable when
running the report, because the template didn't need to repeatedly re-access an
extremely large database.
Output
Windward Reports offered us nine different output formats: HTML, PDF, DOCX,
XML (Word), RTF, XLSX, XLS, PPTX, and direct to a printer. For the most part
the final report rendered as we expected it to, although there were some minor
formatting issues for which we needed to return to the template and make
tweaks. (Namely, tables in Excel needed cells expanded to fit our data and some
line drawings in PDF reports were not completely true to the original image in
the template). Two other products from Windward, AutoTag Max and Arrow for
SharePoint, allowed us to schedule reports to be run as needed, and they also
allowed reports to be emailed directly to third parties and unlimited
iterations stored where we instructed. In addition, Arrow for SharePoint gave
us the ability to set permissions so colleagues and others could view, share
and edit the reports we created.
Support
In our experience, support is where Windward Reports really shines. The
detailed documentation covers everything from installation to program use to
sys admin maintenance, and there are also short "getting started"
guides that helped us get up and running quickly. The website offers written
tutorials, video demonstrations, and paid support.
Summary
Overall, Windward Reports outperformed the other reporting programs we
evaluated. We found only a couple of features that could have been improved
(the XPath and SQL wizards don’t allow for comparison of fields, and there's no
IDE interface), and Windward Reports' robust feature set and ease of use make
this a top-rated reporting solution.
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