Windward Studios has announced the public availability of Windward Reports 4.1, which introduces a .NET version of the reporting engine. With the .NET engine Windward Reports can be used to create reports in either Java or .NET environments. The .NET engine is a 100 percent managed code product that is built from the same source code base as the Java version. It is built using J# and requires .NET 2.0.

AutoTag has also been upgraded to use the new .NET engine as well as some other capability added in the .NET 2.0 runtime. AutoTag no longer requires any interop DLLs to run and is now also 100 percent managed code. AutoTag also no longer requires a report server to be running - it directly calls the new .NET engine.

Windward Reports 4.1 also now fully supports bi-directional languages (Hebrew & Arabic). With this addition Windward Reports "now supports every language in use on the planet," the company says, adding that  "it should be able to handle Klingon too, making Windward possibly the only reporting product that supports a galatic range of languages."

The new version also provides support for OLE objects. If an OLE object is displayed in the template, that image will be placed in the output report as a bitmap (except for the text format which does not allow images). Now reports can include the output from the Word equation editor, drawing program, or any other OLE enabled application.

In summary, Version 4.1 adds the following significant features to Windward Reports:

* Engine available in a .NET version.
* AutoTag now uses the .NET engine so it no longer needs an instance of the java engine running.
* Full support for metafiles (wmf and emf).
* Will print embedded OLE objects in the report. OLE objects are converted to bitmaps in the output report.
* Full support for bi-directional languages (Hebrew & Arabic).
* Report now has a BaseDirectory property that sets the root directory for imported files that have a relative path.