Alternative for Document Generation? (Crystal Rep)

[pocketom]

Is there a way to integrate Crystal Reports  by an Add-In directly into EA? Of course I can run CR directly on the EA database (MSSQL), but having it as an out-of-the-box add-in would be much more attractive.

In general we need this because the build in report template manager is a bit cumbersome and error-prone. For example, nobody here gets numbering managed well ^^

Anybody already some experience with EA + CR?

[pocketom]

Other 3rd party alternatives are also desireable.

[Sunshine]

If you use MS SQL Server as the repository you can use SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) for free. Crystal reports usually costs extra dosh $.
To get the numbering working properly you need to set up a base template with all the numbering styles sorted. i.e. Header 1, Header 2 etc to get;
1. Header
1.1 Sub header
1.1.1 sub-sub header
Then use the base template in all the EA templates you create so the numbers flow.
It will be the same for other types of numbering such as lists.
Having used both SSRS and CR in the past I'd prefer SSRS. Mind you I have spent a lot of hours getting reports working in EA and have managed to use the EA native report generator for just about all the documents I need.

[Geert Bellekens]

There is an alternative tool out there: eadocx. It seems promising, but when I reviewed it in the beginning of this year it was fairly immature.

Geert

[pocketom]

Thanks for your answers. I also took a look at SSRS but I'm not experienced with it. CR would be already available (ships with our Visual Studio Edition) and I know the basics. The issue here is (and I guess for SSRS too) how to get the diagrams drawn correctly? Also it seems to be relatively challenging (I'd evaluate my knowledge level to 'intermediate') to recreate the EA build in doc generators templating hierarchy. My goal is to generate a comple Software Requirement Specification (SRS), which is a reusable template that can be applied to several software projects (we have all our different projects on the same database).
The eaDocX looks really promising, the sample one contains lots of details, more than I would need for my SRS on first sight.

Unfortunately I can't find a trial version download or even pricing...?

Another interesting option would be importing existing report generation templates into EA? Perhaps there are some good professional templates available from the EA community? Having a more solid basis here to start would be great, also the documentation on docgeneration seems to be relatively weak...
Could be done over teh project reference data import/export I think.