Hello, I am considering buying a license of devexpress control suite (http://www.devexpress.com/Products/NET/WinForms/Index.xml).

I am especially interested in their XtraReport editor because it supports labels / barcodes printing and comes with a redistributable tool which allows end-user editing.

It looks like the people frequenting this forum are mostly professionals, this is why I would be interested if someone could share his experience using that product. Thanks.

stefcl wrote:

Hello, I am considering buying a license of devexpress control suite (http://www.devexpress.com/Products/NET/WinForms/Index.xml).

I am especially interested in their XtraReport editor because it supports labels / barcodes printing and comes with a redistributable tool which allows end-user editing.

It looks like the people frequenting this forum are mostly professionals, this is why I would be interested if someone could share his experience using that product. Thanks.

I am a big fan of DevExpress products - well worth the money.

All the controls are well thought out and designed - if you don't like the way something works, just inherit and then change it (including design-time support if you need it); Regular updates and fixes; New controls appear in each version (a spelling checker was the latest suprise addition); Non obfusticated and full source code is available; Support is second only to this forum.

Just download and run the demos - you will be impressed.

I have 7.2 which is in beta at the moment - they have added Report Merging and Side-by-Side Reports to the XtraReports suite if that is something you are interested in.

Cheers Simon

Indeed like Simon said, they deliver great stuff and the XtraReports suite is pretty good. Only one minor thing though, which definitely got better lately, is that new functionality is some what buggy at first....but their support is pretty good and you can get daily builds for quick fixes.

grtz, Danny

I've used component one for a long time. I've just let my subscription expire. The controls are o.k., but their support (with the one exception of Bernardo) is poor. Also, to my mind, they don't add enhancements and new controls fast enough. Also their subscription is expensive and doesn't provide source code.

I'm switching to dev express. I wrote their customer service. They offer a 20-25% discount for competitive upgrades, you can get source code, and they seem to have really smart developers. I think Mark Miller works for them.

I have no idea how well their components operate with llblGen entities.

Just my two cents.

I use Telerik and their support is awesome. Their reporting tool is brand new and probably not what you need but it is worth a look.

I recently purchased my copy of CodeRush and Refactor Pro from DevExpress. It is awesome and amazingly fast.

This happy experience with CR/R! made me think about moving from Telerik to DevExpress components. But I have a lot invested with telerik and my renewal prices are reduced. Plus they add new items like crazy. The one item they don't have that I want is the scheduling features. DevExpress has this and it looks very cool.

Buying Tip: If you purchase from componentsource.com it is about 8-12% cheaper. I can't remember exactly but I think I paid $218 vs $249 from DevExpress. My CoreLab mysql driver was a little cheaper from componentsource.com as well. I just started using component source so I'm not a fan boy yet, but I did save some money and that's always a plus!

Odd that the prices are lower at componentsource... they want 40% (!) of the price payed by the customer for themselves. Oh, and do the support themselves.

I am a big fan of DevExpress but had to switch away from them because they dont have Right-To-Left in their Controls. My ONLY option was Syncfusion as their suite has full support for Right-To-Left but their design-time experience is not nearly as rich as that of DevExpress.

I have my eye on Telerik's Winforms controls as they have a WPF look and I am a big fan of the company's ASP.NET controls. They do support Right-To-Left in most of their ASP.NET controls but its not clear how committed they are for RTL in their Winforms controls.

Concerning using a 3rd party report tool, the best one so far is DevExpress BUT I choose to standarize on SQL reporting services. Coupled with the Winforms "ReportViewer" control we get both Server-side and Client side reporting (both Winforms and Webforms). I found MS's ReportViewer very functional and covers more than 80% of the functionality I need in my reporting.

I am now recomending to check out SSRS and the "ReportViewer" for anyone shopping around for 3rd party reporting solution.

Omar, can you tell us WHY you chose to standardize on SSRS/ReportViewer for your reporting needs?

First I'd like to thank you all for your replies to this topic.

I have downloaded the devexpress demo and run several tests in the past 3 days. Their components operate with llblgen objects just the way standard winform controls do, with the same design-time databinding capabilities, they just have more functionalities.

It's true that you can save money by buying on componentsource, it ranges from 40 to 60$ depending on which version you choose. Otis said that they do the support themselves, does that mean that componentsource customers don't have direct access to devexpress support? If yes, I think it would be a misplaced saving...

I got support from DevExpress directly. You may want to ask DevExpress via pre-sales email to confirm though.

jeffreygg wrote:

Omar, can you tell us WHY you chose to standardize on SSRS/ReportViewer for your reporting needs?

I think it the main benefit of using standard MS controls over 3rd party are the wealth of resources and support you get for using such controls. And the case for SSRS is even more prevalent as this product is only getting better. Ofcourse another factor to consider is the price as you get it for free (you get SSRS with the free SQLExpress and the ReportViewer is one of the standard controls that come with VS.NET)

I know that 3rd party report designers offer extras (like bar-codes and complex report designing like side-by-side reports) but there is a wealth of add-ons for SSRS as well as tons of workarounds to acheive alot of what the 3rd party controls give us.

The bottom line, you get 80% of the feature (though I do think even more) for .. well.. 0% of the price.

(edit) one important point for choosing reporting and UI controls that is relevant to our region (Middle East) is support for Right-To-Left which is fully supported in SSRS and not supported in DevExpress controls (Telerik have the best RTL support for the ASP.NET controls and Syncfusion have the most complete RTL support in their Winfroms and ASP.NET suites)

Thanks, Omar.

We use some DevExpress controls and the only complaint I have is a lack of a good, or at least obvious to find, forum for asking questions. Every question I have had has been answered by email by the DevExpress tech support, and they have a searchable bug report system, but I have yet to find a good place to find old questions and answers...ie something like this forum.

Other than that, my experience has been very positive with DevExpress.

Have you tried their forums?

http://community.devexpress.com/forums/

Also I've used experts-exchange.com with some success.

mikeg22 wrote:

We use some DevExpress controls and the only complaint I have is a lack of a good, or at least obvious to find, forum for asking questions. Every question I have had has been answered by email by the DevExpress tech support, and they have a searchable bug report system, but I have yet to find a good place to find old questions and answers...ie something like this forum.

Other than that, my experience has been very positive with DevExpress.

Have you checked out http://www.devexpress.com/Support/Forums.xml ?

They also have active Usenet newsgroups at news.devexpress.com (I think they mirror the forums)

JimHugh wrote:

mikeg22 wrote:

We use some DevExpress controls and the only complaint I have is a lack of a good, or at least obvious to find, forum for asking questions. Every question I have had has been answered by email by the DevExpress tech support, and they have a searchable bug report system, but I have yet to find a good place to find old questions and answers...ie something like this forum.

Other than that, my experience has been very positive with DevExpress.

Have you checked out http://www.devexpress.com/Support/Forums.xml ?

They also have active Usenet newsgroups at news.devexpress.com (I think they mirror the forums)

I guess that was the problem, I couldn't find the Forums from their Support page...How do you navigate to it?

mikeg22 wrote:

I guess that was the problem, I couldn't find the Forums from their Support page...How do you navigate to it?

http://www.devexpress.com/

Support | Community | Forums

Takes you to a guidelines page with a link to http://community.devexpress.com/forums/

JimHugh wrote:

mikeg22 wrote:

I guess that was the problem, I couldn't find the Forums from their Support page...How do you navigate to it?

http://www.devexpress.com/

Support | Community | Forums

Takes you to a guidelines page with a link to http://community.devexpress.com/forums/

I'm an idiot...I was trying to go through "Support Center"

Weighing in here....

I have Telerik, Infragistics and xtraReports, CodeRush/Refactor from DevExpress.

Telerik... support is unbelievably good. Best of the 3 above. Of course they are still 2nd to LLBLGen support. constantly adding products to their suite. I have used them for ASP.NET, they are just now entering WinForms and Reporting. I probably would just have used this for Reporting, but when I needed it, they did not have an offering.

Infragistics.... First guys on the block and I still use them. Their support USED to be great, but now if you find a bug you will get the run-around and they will fix it in the next few months. The # of products they add to their suite has not grown much at all in the past few years. Primarly have their Grid, Menus and Charting in use for ASP.NET.

DevExpress.... Support is good overall. I had some issues with support and made some noise - and they definately fixed the problem where my issues had fallen through the cracks. CodeRush and Refactor - definately a recommended purchase regardless of what you do for reporting. xtraReports - it is really good....however, I am a bit disappointed at what features/changes they have added to this product over the past year or so...seems to not be getting much new - but it is a pretty functional product, I am just waiting on the 'next new version' with a bunch of new features.

Wayne

Thanks Wayne I have had a look at telerik products and found them very interesting too. I think I'm going to give them a try too.

As a telerik customer for going on 3 years I can tell you, it will not be a dissapointment.

Neither will CodeRush/R! from DevExpress.com

and my latest find is vistadb.net a fully managed .net (T-SQL syntax compatible) embedded database (drop a dll and a data file and you are good). Nice for all these little web projects that I normally use access, mysql, or sql express. I hope Frans will reconsider and add support for VistaDB back to LLBLGen's features soon. It was dropped recently because of time constraints on the 2.5 release.

Some hot news from DevExpress, just to let you know...:

Developer Express is proud to announce the immediate availability of DXperience v2007 vol 2 - Feature-complete visual components and IDE tools for Visual Studio .NET. Our technologies help you build your best, see complex software with greater clarity, increase your productivity and create stunning applications for Windows® and the Web in the shortest possible time. All of our products come with a 60 day unconditional money back guarantee and fully functional evaluation versions are available for download at www.devexpress.com.

With v2007 vol 2, we've introduced an entirely new ASP.NET Data Grid - the ASPxGridView Suite. Lightning fast with the smallest possible memory footprint, the ASPxGridView allows you to create highly responsive web forms without the typical hassles and performance penalties associated with competing third party grid controls.

In addition to the new controls contained within the ASPxGridView Suite, we've extended capabilities across our entire product line. Major new features include:

XtraBars Suite: - Contextual Tabs within Ribbon - Improvements to the Application Menu - Enhanced Design-Time Experience

XtraCharts Suite: - 3D Area Views and Transparency in 3D Charts - Exploded Pie Charts - Scrolling and Zooming in 3D Charts - Radar and Polar Charts - New Chart Wizard Dialog - Office(r) 2007 Look and Feel - Data Management Improvements

XtraReports Suite - Side-by-side Sub-report Printing - Report Merging - Report Scaling within the Preview Window - Ribbon Bar Integration

Other new capabilities within DXperience include a DataLayoutControl which ships as part of the XtraLayoutControl, Spell-As-You-Type support in the XtraSpellChecker, State Holidays & Custom In-place Editors support within the XtraScheduler Suite, a new ZoomTrackBarControl and FontEdit control.

To learn more about this release and experience the Developer Express difference at first hand, feel free to visit:

http://www.devexpress.com/Products/NET/DXperienceEnt/WhatsNew2007v2/index.xml

If you are currently using older versions of our products or are considering switching from competing products, feel free to write to us at clientservices@devexpress.com for upgrade/competitive pricing options. If you have technical questions or require additional pre-sales information, we can be reached at info@devexpress.com.

As always, we welcome your feedback/comments and our support team is ready to help you transition your projects to these new products.

Thank you and best wishes, The Developer Express Team www.devexpress.com

Having used devxpress controls in the demo I'm quite satisfied overall but each form in my app takes 1-2 secondes to show (the first time only), It has nothing to do with database as I haven't set up a connection yet. I have to figure out if it comes from my massive use of visual inheritance (and by the way the fact that vs2005 designer loves duplicating code) or if it's just because of the JIT compilation. Anyhow I hope I'll find a way to optimize that...

I'll install the Telerik suite demo tomorrow.

RE: vistadb Although it is not all managed code, have you tried firebird? Just stick the db file and 2-3 .dll's in the app/web folder, configure the conncetion string in app/web config file and you are done? It is pretty easy to set up, although you have to generate LLBLGen code while the db file is hooked up to the service (minor flaw). Overall, I have had a positive response with this db.

Thanks for the telerik feedback I am going to give them a try.

• Gabe

I tried firebird a while ago and finally gave up. Here are the main reasons:

-No case/accent insensitive collations... When I asked if it was possible on community forums I was answered that I was a n00b, that "Hello" or "hEllo" are not the same... I DO know that but how do I tell my customers that when they are doing a search for a customer they have to type the first letters of his name exactly the way it was entered? The best I found was to use the upper() function but it's not satisfying enough because the indexes are ignored!

-No identity/ auto-increment column type, you have to deal with generators and triggers... It isn't very comfortable.

-I couldn't find decent free managing tools, database designers...

-I couldn't find consistent and up to date SQL reference with all functions and their use explained.

Maybe things are different today, I'll check that because the possibility to choose between server or embedded mode is very interesting in my case. (A good percentage of my customers have both the client app and the database server running in the same weak celeron-based computer.)

But for now, if I had to choose a lightweight DBMS, I think I would go for the lastest SQL server CE.