Microsoft Visual Studio Code vs. SAP Crystal

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Microsoft Visual Studio Code
Score 9.0 out of 10
N/A
Microsoft offers Visual Studio Code, a text editor that supports code editing, debugging, IntelliSense syntax highlighting, and other features.N/A
SAP Crystal
Score 7.5 out of 10
N/A
SAP Crystal is an analytics and reporting software solution for SMBs. SAP Crystal comprises Crystal Reports for pixel-perfect reporting, and SAP Crystal Server for automated distribution and self-service access to reports, dashboards and data exploration.
$295
per single user license
Pricing
Microsoft Visual Studio CodeSAP Crystal
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
Upgrade Version to SAP Crystal Reports 2020
$295
per single user license
SAP Crystal Reports 2020 64-Bit
$495
per single user license
SAP Crystal Reports 2016 32-Bit
$495
per single user license
SAP Crystal Server 2020 1 NUL
$869
per user license + first year maintenance to be added
SAP Crystal Server 2020 5 CAL
$8,744
5 concurrent users + first year maintenance to be added
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Microsoft Visual Studio CodeSAP Crystal
Free Trial
NoYes
Free/Freemium Version
YesYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeOptional
Additional Details* SAP Crystal Reports 2020 Viewer allows you to view static data within a SAP Crystal Reports file. * SAP Crystal Reports 2020 - Full version allows you to create powerful, richly formatted, and dynamic reports from virtually any data source, delivered in dozens of formats, in up to 28 languages. If you already have an older version of Crystal Reports, buy a license for SAP Crystal Reports 2020 - Upgrade at a discounted, upgrade price. * SAP Crystal Server 2020, 1 NUL includes 1 license of: SAP Crystal Reports 2020 - SAP Crystal Server 2020. * As an add-on to SAP Crystal Server 2020 1 NUL, SAP Crystal Server 2020 5 CAL allows you to support a wider, intermittent audience of end users, up to five logged on at the same time.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Microsoft Visual Studio CodeSAP Crystal
Features
Microsoft Visual Studio CodeSAP Crystal
BI Standard Reporting
Comparison of BI Standard Reporting features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft Visual Studio Code
-
Ratings
SAP Crystal
9.3
Ratings
13% above category average
Pixel Perfect reports00 Ratings8.00 Ratings
Customizable dashboards00 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Report Formatting Templates00 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Ad-hoc Reporting
Comparison of Ad-hoc Reporting features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft Visual Studio Code
-
Ratings
SAP Crystal
9.6
Ratings
18% above category average
Drill-down analysis00 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Formatting capabilities00 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Integration with R or other statistical packages00 Ratings8.60 Ratings
Report sharing and collaboration00 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Report Output and Scheduling
Comparison of Report Output and Scheduling features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft Visual Studio Code
-
Ratings
SAP Crystal
9.4
Ratings
12% above category average
Publish to Web00 Ratings9.20 Ratings
Publish to PDF00 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Report Versioning00 Ratings9.00 Ratings
Report Delivery Scheduling00 Ratings9.00 Ratings
Delivery to Remote Servers00 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Data Discovery and Visualization
Comparison of Data Discovery and Visualization features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft Visual Studio Code
-
Ratings
SAP Crystal
8.0
Ratings
0% above category average
Pre-built visualization formats (heatmaps, scatter plots etc.)00 Ratings7.60 Ratings
Location Analytics / Geographic Visualization00 Ratings8.50 Ratings
Predictive Analytics00 Ratings7.80 Ratings
Access Control and Security
Comparison of Access Control and Security features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft Visual Studio Code
-
Ratings
SAP Crystal
8.6
Ratings
1% above category average
Multi-User Support (named login)00 Ratings7.80 Ratings
Role-Based Security Model00 Ratings7.70 Ratings
Multiple Access Permission Levels (Create, Read, Delete)00 Ratings8.40 Ratings
Report-Level Access Control00 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Single Sign-On (SSO)00 Ratings9.00 Ratings
Mobile Capabilities
Comparison of Mobile Capabilities features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft Visual Studio Code
-
Ratings
SAP Crystal
8.4
Ratings
8% above category average
Responsive Design for Web Access00 Ratings8.70 Ratings
Mobile Application00 Ratings7.60 Ratings
Dashboard / Report / Visualization Interactivity on Mobile00 Ratings9.00 Ratings
Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding
Comparison of Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft Visual Studio Code
-
Ratings
SAP Crystal
6.9
Ratings
12% below category average
REST API00 Ratings7.40 Ratings
Javascript API00 Ratings6.00 Ratings
iFrames00 Ratings7.10 Ratings
Java API00 Ratings6.00 Ratings
Themeable User Interface (UI)00 Ratings8.30 Ratings
Customizable Platform (Open Source)00 Ratings7.00 Ratings
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User Ratings
Microsoft Visual Studio CodeSAP Crystal
Likelihood to Recommend
8.5
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.4
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Usability
8.5
(0 ratings)
9.5
(0 ratings)
Availability
-
(0 ratings)
8.0
(0 ratings)
Performance
-
(0 ratings)
8.0
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
9.7
(0 ratings)
8.6
(0 ratings)
In-Person Training
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
-
(0 ratings)
8.8
(0 ratings)
Configurability
-
(0 ratings)
8.0
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
-
(0 ratings)
7.0
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
-
(0 ratings)
7.0
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
-
(0 ratings)
8.0
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
-
(0 ratings)
7.0
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Microsoft Visual Studio CodeSAP Crystal
Likelihood to Recommend
If your Source Control Software is Team Foundation Server then skip Visual Studio Code. If you're using GitHub and are creating small projects Visual Studio Code is the way to go. If you need to create a large, enterprise-level application, Visual Studio Code makes it easier to set up interactions between related projects (client & server). If you're interested in getting back to the old way of using the command line to create projects and you know what to enter in the console window then Visual Studio Code is great. Visual Studio Code is a better choice if you don't know the console commands and prefer to make selections from a menu.
Read full review
Generation of templated reports is the strong suit of SAP Crystal. Allows users to change formats in templates bases on requirement with minimal effort. Automated report delivery requires the user to be aware of sql which cannot be expected from all users. Should support more document export formats and improve the UI for SAP B1 Users
Read full review
Pros
  • Robust plugin architecture replete with fantastic add-ons that make developer life delightful.
  • Integrated Terminal window allows you to stay in one application to perform most required tasks.
  • Customization options are robust. It is easy to modify VS Code to your own specifications.
  • It's free! Hard to believe such a well made, well maintained, robust software is a free download.
  • Command+P/Command+Shift+P key commands will improve your workflow dramatically.
Read full review
  • Great visualization for static format & precise tasks: For presentation to senior management /ex-co/vendors where concise decisions need to be made, Crystal is a nice choice to slide data into presentable views.
  • Diverse data source connect: We have used it to write reports using data from DB2, SQL, Progress, Excel spreadsheets, XML data, Access, and Lotus Notes databases. It can also be used to join different database types together in one report.
  • It uses the "recurring bands" structure for page layout which is efficient and fungible for generating different types of reports. Crystal doesn't require that we set up a metadata layer before creating reports and provides direct access to tables and dimensions.
Read full review
Cons
  • Unlike for most languages I have used, Ruby and Rails support available for Code users isn't great. The most popular Ruby extension is unofficial, and leaves much to desire. As an example, code navigation even with language server Solargraph installed isn't as good as IntelliJ's RubyMine.
  • Even there is quite good support for a language or a framework, it is almost never as good as a dedicated IDE for it. In terms of the sheer number of features available, IntelliJ IDEs handily beat Code.
  • Microsoft has close-sourced some of the extensions it develops for Code itself, e.g. Pylance for Python, and that has not been perceived as a good move for open-source.
Read full review
  • Crystal Reports charting engine is ok but compared to some other visualization products available it is behind the times.
  • Crystal Reports uses a proprietary format for its data storage, using an open format (like XML) would be much better
  • You cannot add add a structured table object to the page layout, you can only use lines and boxes
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
Solid tool that provides everything you need to develop most types of applications. The only reason not a 10 is that if you are doing large distributed teams on Enterprise level, Professional does provide more tools to support that and would be worth the cost.
Read full review
We have been using this product for so many years and it has truly become a cornerstone to our business processes when it comes to developing and distributing information via reports. We currently have over 500 reports developed to date over about 30 systems and that will continue to grow as user needs change.
Read full review
Usability
Looking at our current implementation, Microsoft Visual Studio Code is perfect for writing code and performing debug operations. Integration with SVN repository is easy and changes can be tracked effectively. Microsoft Visual Studio Code supports developers to write code productively using syntax check and easy customization. Microsoft Visual Studio Code also provides support for IntelliSense which prompts suggestions for code completion. It is easy to step through code using interactive debugger to inspect the root cause of error quickly.
Read full review
Being able to get up and running quickly is a key asset. There's plenty of advanced features to master that are surprisingly difficult in others tools (or just missing from other tools altogether). The UI can feel a bit dated at times but its usability isn't affected. Any issue you have can usually be resolved by searching in the user community
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Support Rating
Active development means filing a bug on the GitHub repo typically gets you a response within 4 days. There are plugins for almost everything you need, whether it be linting, Vim emulation, even language servers (which I use to code in Scala). There is well-maintained official documentation. The only thing missing is forums. The closest thing is GitHub issues, which typically has the answers but is hard to sift through -- there are currently 78k issues.
Read full review
SAP Crystal report is very supportive in daily need of reports or any organization. Basic functionality of operational reports detailing the Sales Order details or PO in a manner which can be used very easily. A readily available solution for delivering any customized need in terms of pixelated reporting can be met easily with the tool
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In-Person Training
No answers on this topic
Trainer was patient and thorough in going through the basics and willing to answer questions by email after the initial training
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Implementation Rating
No answers on this topic
Just like any other implementation: When designing the differing reports, get end users' input, make sure to design the reports so that they display the information that the company requires, in the best and clearest way possible.
Test, test, test, revise when needed, and, particularly, do sufficient training so users are comfortable using Crystal Reports!
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Alternatives Considered
All the previously listed are incredible development environments that perfectly fulfill this function, but [Microsoft] Visual Studio Code goes one step ahead by providing flexibility, customization and adaptability to development environments with its own methodology, for all this productivity. of the work team is greatly increased helping to achieve the objectives set in the organization.
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For standard pixel perfect reporting, our company still uses Crystal Reports. It allows us to continually provide standard reporting to our clients. For dashboards, we are moving towards Microsoft Power BI. Power BI allows similar collaboration, but generally has better features for dashboards. Power BI also allows us to publish multiple reports and dashboards into a single app for our end users.
Read full review
Return on Investment
  • Saves money by replacing suites of tools such as Visual Studio, IntelliJ, etc.
  • Speeds development time and developer environment setup time
  • Strengthens code quality with integrated autoformatting and linting
  • Strengths Git practices by keeping version control tightly connected with the code
Read full review
  • Time and cost savings achieved by automation of report creating across many data sources we maintain.
  • The ability to drill down into granular details of the data leads to a better understanding of the business procedures.
  • Well-presented reports are invaluable for getting new clients on board.
Read full review
ScreenShots

SAP Crystal Screenshots

Screenshot of Pixel-perfect reporting solutionScreenshot of Refresh with a clickScreenshot of Build pixel-perfect documentsScreenshot of Connect to all data sourcesScreenshot of Use drag and dropScreenshot of Build interactive reports