Hi Don
To answer some of your questions...
The reason we have so many subreports is that we have an application that renders many different data driven charts client side in Flex (up to 60). We need the ability to print these charts to PDF in a user defined order. Our solution was to use Crystal Reports (we use it for other reporting needs as well). We have one subreport per chart so that we can load these in the order that the charts are displayed in our application. For each subreport we set the record selection formula for the subreport so that it returns the proper dataset for each chart. This is why we return the subreport in our method, so we can later apply the proper record selection formula for each each and set any required parameters on the reports (like chart caption).
As to the other questions, I'll need to get back to you on those. It'll take a little bit of time to try each one.
Thanks,
Ryan