Differences between PawCom and Crystal?

[HappyCamper436]

What are the differences between PawCom and Crystal add on? I have tried to look at the PawCom web page but it won't load correctly. Any feedback/comparisons would be appreciated.
Thanks
John Wilson

[Robert Walraven]

Crystal Reports for Peachtree is a reporting add-on sold by Peachtree. It uses Btrieve DDF files to get at the Peachtree company data and a cut-down version of full Crystal Reports to read and manipulate the data. The DDF files expose the raw records in some, but not all, of Peachtree's data files. The record structure is a bit difficult to learn and Crystal Reports is a bit difficult to learn. For more information, read the comments in the Crystal Reports for Peachtree forum here.

PawCom is a general programmable interface to the Peachtree data. It exposes all the data with a relational view. It offers both read and write capability. The PawCom library can be called from any COM-compatible programming tool and comes with a fairly extensive sample front end in MS Access, where you can build queries forms and reports.

Can you tell me what browser you are using to access the Multiware web site and specifically what the problem is you are having? You can download a demonstration kit for PawCom at http://www.multiwareinc.com/demoinfo.html

[HappyCamper436]

I am using Netscape 4.78.
Are you telling me that Crystal decided to limit the data fields that you have access to? With PawCom do you have acess to all fields? Just by that alone it seem a no brainer. Is PawCom a report writer or does it just "get" the data that you need another program to design the report. Is there a listing of the sample reports contained with PawCom. We currently use Solomon which also uses Crystal and I have used the standard reports and modified to my needs. I think I would have problems designing a report from scratch in Crystal
Thanks for your feed back and I will try to access your web page again.
John Wilson

[dringstrom]

PawCOM is both a report writer and a "get all the data" tool. Since it can dump everything into Microsoft Access, you can have a seamless solution in one package.

More information on PawCOM is available at

www.accountingadvisors.com/pawcom

[Robert Walraven]

I am using Netscape 4.78.
The code on the Multiware pages is very generic HTML. I have not tried accessing with that version of Netscape but I have noticed that Netscape has a lot of problems dealing with pages if there is a missing end tag on some pair whereas IE seems intelligent enough to figure it out. Let me know if you are having problems with a specific page (and which one) or all pages.

Are you telling me that Crystal decided to limit the data fields that you have access to

No. Crystal Reports can read any data fields that are exposed. The problem is with Peachtree - they did not expose everything in their database in their DDF files. For example, you don't have access to the Inventory Cost data, which is useful if you want to know such things as quantity on hand or cost of an item. (They probably don't expose this data because the structure of the records is complex enough to frighten away even the best of Crystal Reports users.

Bob Walraven
Architect of PawCom

[Marka]

HappyCamper436 - Yes, Crystal is a handy tool under normal circumstances and can be very powerful when you have the ability to access all the data files ddf's. Unfortunately as Robert has explained Peachtree has not made access to all data and Inventory On Hand as we all know must be available if needed. Crystal has a learning curve but much more when used with Peachtree. Multiwares' PawCOM will give you much more flexibility in other areas also.

Robert - Yes, Netscape is far less forgiving than MS IE in the way of missing end tags. I have done some sites with MS Front Page 2000 and have noticed this to be a problem with this software. Always have to proof the site in Netscape to see what was left out.



Mark

[Jacky Tse]

I've used both PAWCOM and Crystal Report for Peachtree and are happy with both of them. In essence, PAWCOM extends the functionality of Peachtree with the aid of Access so to suit your specific needs. New functions, fields and reports can be created.

Crystal Report is a powerful reporting tool helps to you generate many complicated reports in a relatively simple way.

So, depends on your requirement.