Well, Virusim, that's a loaded question. Sometimes, a program is necessary to massage the data prior to spitting out a report. In that case, a VFP report might be best. I usually make the clients' reports which require this through VFP and attach it to the EXE. Then I have them purchase Crystal and I train them on how to link tables and create reports. The call me much less frequently than the ones who do not purchase Crystal, and they tend to be happier clients.

The pro version of Crystal, I believe, does come with Crystal Info, though I've never used it before (I know it's installed because I see it as a choice, but I've never played with it).

ALSO, you may want to look at Smithware's version of Crystal (I think Smithware was recently bought by Pervasive, so you could look at their web site, too). Smithware has the exact same version of Seagate's Crystal, but it adds Btrieve functionality as well. If you think you may want have Btrieve files to read in the future, Smithware's version is only a little more ($30-$50 more for the Pro version). We've found that it comes in handy for some accounting products we support.

JR

>Hi,
>
> Thank for both of your advise.
>
> One final question, does it mean with Crystal Report, I can forget about using vfp report, just use crystal report directly for all my report printing,preview
> In short and simple english, it can do all what vfp report can do and more like
>read and process,calculation, filter all the dbf file data and output it nicely.
>
> By the way, have anyone of your use Crystal Info before ?
>
> Best regards
> Virusim