Why should I choose Crystal Report or SSRS over plain HTML table?

I am using ASP.NET MVC. Sometimes I work with ASP.NET Web Forms too. I can pretty much create my queries using stored procs or LINQ and render my report just using a plain HTML table. With proper styling it should come out decent.

I don't know SSRS but I have some experience working with crystal from before. The only advan开发者_如何学Ctage I see from using crystal for my reports against just a simple HTML table is that it can export to PDF. But I could probably get some third-party library that can do that too. Regarding charts like pie and bar graphs there are a lot of javascript tools available out there that does that and they're free.

I guess I'm posting this to see what I'm missing with reporting tools like Crystal and SSRS.

EDIT: With ASP.NET MVC it is not particularly difficult to create the report. Just formulate the correct model, create the controller action and view with scaffolding (Detail) and you will have the code generated for you right away. With ASP.NET Web Forms it is probably easier, just use a GridView and you're done. For both cases all that is left is the CSS. With Crystal you also need to edit the layout you have generated the report, which is work still as well.

The reason we use SSRS for our internal reports is that our database guy can create reports without having any knowledge of how to format output using code.

your points are valid and I have been thinking about such things multiple times.

Personally I used CR in the past and SSRS more recently, but my absolutely best experience was with DevXpress XtraReports, super cool design and royalty free end user designer with or without Ribboned interface.

the difference between using a report engine or plain raw HTML is in the way you design the reports and the overall features.

in XtraReports for example, the lovely thing is that a report is simply a .cs file (C# class) and whatever you design with the UI designer is stored in that file exactly like the windows forms designer does ( or ASP.NET aspx and aspx.cs designer does ). So you see the report you are designing and you Drag & Drop controls and place them where needed. Then you have out of the box formulas, running totals, page breaks, as you mentioned export to pdf, excel, jpg, html, word and so much more.

if I was free to choice again I would go again for XtraReport and forget about plain and raw html table coding, let's focus on the real business of the application we write and not get nuts with page breaks, exporting things and in house implemented formulas or group/running totals... this is my idea and approach at least.

The biggest reason for me to use a reporting engine is for printing and page breaks. You can't always guarantee the way the HTML will format for all the various browsers and it's not great for setting hard page breaks. With a reporting solution, you can group things together to force page breaks to be more predictable.

This is especially important if you're looking for a more professional looking report.

as already stated above using another report generator can have much benefits. I've used very often List & Label. There is a completely different concept behind and depending on your needs it will be easier but still powerfull, especially for .NET reporting. It is worth to do a trial (there is even a free edition available).