C1 is great for creating custom reports. We have client apps where we've created some fairly complicated reports such as invoices and real estate inspections. We also use the True DBGrid in many of our apps since it is so customizable. Its grouping and filtering features are very nice and can provide summary counts and totals at the bottom or right side of the grid that are very handy.
Angular is our framework of choice for a number of reasons. Business data is almost always displayed in a grid format. It makes sense to start with a strong widget that is powerful and fast when building applications. Ignite UI provides a complete toolset of widgets for other frameworks, but Angular is our focus. Ignite UI is helping us deliver a great UX/UI.
The True DBGrid control is nice for showing parent/child relationships and being able to drill down and show the child data. It also is nice for showing summary totals.
The report engine is great for building custom reports for Win Forms or web apps. It can do everything that Crystal Reports can do.
They have a good selection of controls that can do just about anything you can imagine.
We have been in business since 1992, so we have used many different products over the years. The two other products we've primary used that are similar to ComponentOne, are Infragistics and Crystal Reports. Infragistics has a vast array of controls similar to ComponentOne. We use both to be honest and I'm not sure which one I would pick over the other. I guess that would depend on what you're trying to accomplish and if one had some control or capability that the other didn't. ComponentOne does have the reporting capabilities, where Infragistics does not.
We tried DevExpress when we started a project a couple of years ago. At the time, the documentation and ease of use went to Infragistics. When trying new or updated tools, the documentation and samples are everything. Having minimal documentation or documentation that seems to be written for people that already know how to use the product is just plain frustrating. Samples need to be something close to the real-life usage of the product.
ComponentOne allows us to add additional features to our apps that wouldn't be found in apps written with just Visual Studio itself. That allows our clients to get more creative in their requirements, which in turn, means more work and billable hours for us!
Our apps appear more professional when using ComponentOne which helps us get projects for new clients.
ComponentOne also helps us to save clients some money since we are not having to develop things that it can do from scratch.
