Hi Everyone:

I am just about starting to have a requirement <s> to create a report using the relative simplicity of the VFP report writer but output it to something other than paper. Maybe to a Word document or PDF and, additionally, give instructions to the job to e-mail itself someplace.

I think this can be done "out of the box" with MindsEye. I know nothing of eReports but have seen some good comments on it. Also, XFRX appears to have its fans too. I also would like to take advantage of multiple (child) report bands in a single report. It would be nice to have a more OOP method of developing the report and possibly a superior design "canvas" as well.

Bearing in mind I have got this far without these tools (using Codemine's Visual Documents tool for anything more demanding than the VFP report writer offers), is now a good time to consider such third party reporting tools given the fact that Europa appears to promise some of these features? What happens to these tools when their current "killer" features are available in the VFP report writer itself?

I would be very interested to get any views/recommendations on this subject.

Thanks!