Selim,

Thanks for your review! I'm glad you like what I've been working on. I do plan on adding export to RTF in the future maybe as a DOC directly but for sure as an RTF. XLS could be supported as well since I have inquiries on that one too as well as HTML. The biggest problem with exporting to RTF, XLS and HTML is the inability to give you a true WYSIWYG output from the Report Pages like I can with PDF. The new XDOCS will probably be able to deliver the same Page Layout capabilities as my tool in the future since I believe it is going to be very similar to PDF. Right now the price for the Professional Version is going to be $695. I have been offering it at a discounted price of $495 until I complete some more of the VFP Engine Code optimizations. The Professional Version includes PDF Output, Charts and Barcodes and whatever else I add on for exporting. I also have a Standard Version now which is only $295 and it does not have the PDF Export, Charts or Barcodes, but it does support the appending of multiple VFP Reports into a Single Report Preview like the Professional Version does. This is something that VFP 8 cannot do with Report Chaining. Also, in VFP 8 you must have all pages the same size and orientation which I do not require. I also am implementing support so that every page can be specified what Bin or Tray it should come out of. So you could then specify that the first page is to be printed on Letter Head in Tray 2 and then the following pages are to be printed from the the default output tray. I still have to add a way for VFP Reports to due that automatically. But you can set the properties via the OCX after a VFP Report has been rendered.

I made the tool so it is more like a Desktop Publishing tool where you can do precise layout of objects in a layered fashion on a page anywhere anytime. Then I began adding code to make it run VFP reports which then basically runs like the VFP Report Engine and adds the output to the Report Pages in the control. I'm constantly tweaking and making improvements to closely mimic as much as possible the VFP Report Writer (with the exception of VFP Bugs <bg>).

I am soliciting ideas and thoughts as to how to best approach creating exports to RTF and XLS as far as trying to retain as much of the layout as possible. For some reports and output it is not a problem but for complex multi-layered output it could end up a mess. You can email me directly with your thoughts and comments and I will add them to the Wish List as well as to my design specifications.

Just last week I gave presentations on my control to the Chicago and Dallas Fort Worth User Groups. They all stayed awake as I spoke between 2 1/2 and 3 hours trying to cover everything.


> I really love this tool, i has must of the things every developer dream of,
> except for one thing export to XLS and DOC, so I'm wondering, is there any plan of
> implementing this feature to the ocx? if not, why, if yes when and what is going to be the $$