Unhandled Exceptions

As I mentioned earlier, I started my career in technical support at ComponentOne. I have a good bit of experience with a number of their components, including some experience with their reporting stuff. So when I arrived at my new position and found them using C1 Reports for their enterprise application, I was scared.

Not because it’s a bad tool, far from it. It has it’s quirks just like any reporting software, but there is a ton of power buried in the control. While some things (like cross tab reports) aren’t “out of the box” easy, the potential exists to create the desired reports with some knowledge and creativity. No, I was scared because I felt I might get assigned the reporting module because of my slight knowledge of the product.

I walked in to a system that has a TON of background code supporting the C1 reports control, so the framework was there to create some pretty complex items. It just needed a little “shove,” which I happily provided in the form of some UI additions and slight modifications to the business layer. When that was all said and done, I had a functional UI for cross tab reports and the ability for users to define custom formula fields for their reports.

Much is being made of these new features, deservedly or not, and I feel as though I’m becoming the reporting guy. That particular distinction carries with it two distinct traits: job security and pressure. Yes, every major data-storage software application needs some type of reporting to get the information out, so I could potentially do reporting as long as I’m here. The pressure, however, is that reporting must work all the time, because it’s the only way said software applications are useful.

I’ll take the good with the bad, as working with reporting presents some interesting challenges that make my work fun.