Ray's Top n SQR Features

Today, n = 13.

What makes SQR so great anyway? We've compiled a list of our favorite SQR features. This isn't meant to be a sales pitch, just an expression of why we use SQR for the work we do.

The list is more-or-less ordered. It's sometimes hard to peg one feature as being more important than another, but the features that we find most useful are near the top of this list.

1. Productivity. SQR allows us to write complex reports much more quickly than if we used other tools that give us equal control over the report output. We don't have to sacrifice control to gain productivity.

2. Performance. SQR is an efficient language and allows you to choose which processing takes place in the database and which takes place in your SQR program.

3. Scalable. SQR programs can run on PCs, servers, or mainframes. Depending on the performance and operational requirements of the report, I have a choice about where a particular program runs.

4. SQL-Based. SQR nicely extends the SQL language for retreiving data from the database. The SQL is accessible to the programmer, not hidden behind a GUI SQL-builder that I have to trick into getting the SQL I want.

5. Ease of Use. You don't have to be a recent computer science graduate to use SQR. If you know SQL and any procedural language (COBOL, C, BASIC, Pascal, etc.), SQR should come very naturally to you.

6. Operating Platform Portability. SQR runs on all major operating platforms (and many minor ones). Many organizations use a number of different operating platforms for a variety of reasons. SQR can be a part of the solution on any of them.

7. RDBMS Platform Portability. SQR runs on all major databases (and several minor ones). Why force programmers to learn a separate reporting tool for each database when one will do?

8. Output Format Portability. SQR includes native drivers to create output for plain text line printers, PostScript printers, HP printers, and HTML. It also provides a printer-independent output format and an online viewer for that format.

9. Web Enabled. SQR makes it very easy to produce reports that can be viewed via the web. Not only does it produce HTML files, but it can "burst" the files into reasonable sized pages with little or no change to the program.

10. Text Based Language. SQR is written using plain text files which can be viewed and modified with any text editor. They can be saved and retreived using any code management system.

11. Bar Codes. SQR can produce barcodes in a wide variety of standard barcode formats and include these on reports, labels, envelopes, even HTML documents if you like.

12. Charts. SQR has an integrated graphing facility. Line, bar, pie, and other charts can be embedded directly in the report or HTML document.

13. Ownership. SQR is not owned by Bill Gates. (Contributed by Sam Spritzer).

Did we leave anything out that you think is an important feature? Give us your feedback.

This article has been translated into Serbo-Croatian by Jovana Milutinovich.