The Flipside of Free Software

I recently noted my excitement at being able to use a free alternative to Microsoft Office to create a database to manage some important information. This weekend, I crashed headlong into the downside of free software (and especially free NEW software). The twin pests of documentation and bugs.

Documentation: "How Do I...." The more popular something is, the more people have written about various tweaks. But not-for-profit things like this don't have as much incentive to release detailed manuals - much of that is generated by end-users. I never did find a way to build the report Iwanted with the default program but, fortunately, the "Sun Report Builder" is a downloadable extension (also free) that gave me the control I needed. But, as it is version 1.0.3, I moved from the Documentation frustration to the Bug frustration.

I have two main issues with the most useful extension. (1) When I create a report with it, I can run the report, but I cannot go back in and edit it. This is fine now, but if reports get more complex, it would be nice not to sit down and re-create it from scratch each time. This is also an issue because (2) for some reason, saving the report doesn't add it to the list of available reports. This bug struck 3 times before I pinned it down, each time after I had carefully laid out the report. My couple-hour project turned into a day-long ordeal. It wasn't until - literally - 12:30 am on Sunday morning that I finally figured out that I had to save, then save a new document, in order for the first save to "show up."

But, at least I got the subtotals I needed. No, if only I could get the Boolean fields to display alternative text. Although, maybe...

I just had a genius idea, well, at least for a workaround. I rock. NOw, I just have to remember it until I get home. And then... I have to recreate the whole report. Because I can't edit the one I made Saturday/Sunday. Whee!