Why are people so crazy about XML publisher?
Why are people so crazy about XML publisher? Maybe there are things I am not aware of, but with the exception of adding the ability to export to Excel from EBS, or having a template for a letter in which a few things will change from copy to copy, I don't see a huge advantage to using it.
Reports is such a powerful tool and creates so much flexibility in creating graphical documents. Things that are so easy to do in reports, from my experience, is extremely difficult to impossible in XML publisher. In publisher, you have to do a lot of logic yourself that reports would do for you just by saying Yes or No to a property.
When I first learned about XML publisher, I was really excited about learning to use it. But when I saw how difficult it is to do simple tasks, and how much you have to reinvent the wheel, I became really disappointed. There are lots of examples on the web about how to do this or how to do that with it, but honestly they seem to show you how to go to a lot of trouble to accomplish something that is easy in reports.
People seem to want to avoid bitmapped reports like the plague, but I think they are extremely underrated.
What do you guys think? Am I missing something? I would like to hear other opinions and perspectives.
Thanks,
Kurz