Crystal Reports Training by Ken Hamady, MS, Reporting and Training Nationwide
The
Crystal Reports Underground News - Volume 2003.05 (May 2003)
an independent source
for Crystal Reports Information by Ken Hamady
Contents for May, 2003:
** Surprise Change in Crystal v9 Licensing
** Broadcast Scenarios Update
** "Best Class I've Taken.."
** Microsoft Gets Into Reporting?
** Third Party Product Updates
** The Expert's Guide to Crystal Reports Formulas
** Fax Distribution Tools
** Crystal Partners Opt Out
** My Quick Reference to Crystal Reports in Visual Basic
** Read back issues at http://www.kenhamady.com/news.html
Surprise Change in Crystal v9 Licensing:
Crystal
Decisions has been telling me for several weeks to expect changes to
their
licensing model, and has finally announced them on their web
site. The
main changes revolve around the Advanced Edition which now allows you
to:
1) Deploy an unlimited numbers of individual servers or applications
2) Upgrade to a Web Farm license to support interconnected apps ($5,000)
3) Do "automated distribution" without buying a separate Broadcast
License
I have added a link to the summary of changes on my LINKS page (look
for the
items marked NEW):
http://www.kenhamady.com/bookmarks.html#lic
They have also (finally) provided a detailed description of their
licensing
model. However, there is one part that might mislead application
developers.
The section on "Thick-Client" applications makes it clear that you have
free
and unrestricted rights to distribute client based applications.
Then,
in the section under WEB distribution they have a heading entitled
"Runtime
redistribution" that describes the steps to register and license WEB
applications.
The problem is that the description and heading do not clearly indicate
that
these steps only apply to distributing WEB applications. You
might read
this and think that you have to register a client application before
you
distribute it.
On my links page are 3 links to the License summary, the Licensing.PDF,
and
a description of how RAS licenses are managed (look for the items
marked NEW):
http://www.kenhamady.com/bookmarks.html#lic
Maybe it is a coincidence, but these changes could have been
accelerated by
2 external factors. One is that many of my readers have begun to
press
CD for clarification on broadcast licensing. The second potential
factor
was the recent announcement by Microsoft that they are going to release
something
called "SQL Server Reporting Services". See the article
below
for more info on this.
Broadcast Scenarios Update:
In
my
last newsletter I discussed a user who was told he would need a
Broadcast
license for his web application. He contacted me - I contacted CD
-
and this started a detailed dialogue on broadcast licensing with
CD.
The user has now been officially notified that he will not need a CBL
($100,000)
but will only need the Advanced Edition ($2,000) for his web
application.
This is good news, but it still doesn't answer my the primary
question.
When exactly does a user cross the line into Broadcasting? The
staff
at CD had defined this for me very clearly in the Fall, but they no
longer
want to be held to that definition. To see how far they have
shifted
I have asked them to evaluate a set of written distribution scenarios,
some
of them contributed by my readers. The response should be ready
for
the June newsletter. If you haven't read it already, you
can read
the whole Email dialogue at:
http://www.kenhamady.com/cbl9.html
"BEST class I've taken":
This
week
I taught a public Intro class in Frederick, MD with students coming in
from
MD, VA, NJ and even FL to take the class. More than half of these
students
rated my class the BEST technical class they've taken. All of the
rest
of the class rated it "Better than Most". So, who do you want
teaching
your Crystal classes?
More public classes are scheduled in:
Leesburg, VA
Frederick, MD
Philadelphia, PA
Dates, course outlines and registration info are on my website at:
http://www.kenhamady.com/public.html
Or schedule a private class at your office, using your data. This
is
my favorite way to teach, and I charge about half of what Crystal
charges.
I have taught over 1500 satisfied students so far. Call for more
information
at (540) 338-0194.
Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services:
One
of
my readers pointed me to some very interesting articles about the
upcoming
release of Microsoft SQL Server. It is due to be released within
the
next year, and is supposed to include something called "SQL Server
Reporting
Services" (code named "rosetta"). It has been announced but the
details
are sketchy. It is supposed to provide the foundation for
reporting
applications.
According to the articles that I have found on the subject (see the
link below)
the announcement has already caused dips in the stock prices for
several publicly
traded Business Intelligence companies like Cognos and Business
Objects.
Crystal Decisions is privately held, so you won't see a stock
dip.
However, you might start to notice changes in Crystal's pricing and
marketing
strategies. Read more about this using the LIBRARY button above.
Third Party Product Updates:
Ido
at
Millet Software keeps adding interesting features to his
products. This
month he has added the ability to export to a PDF and transfer the
Crystal
Reports "group tree" into the PDF. He does this by converting the
Group
Tree entries into Adobe bookmarks at the time of export. This
gives
the user shortcuts to each section of the PDF.
Millet Software has also released a new 'light' version of the CUT UFL
for
generating Email from a report. The light version is essentially
the
same as the original CUT, but without exporting capabilities. It
is
only $50.
Shahrabani and Associates has released Reportal v2.5 which adds a
scheduling
component to their web portal.
On my LINKS page I list the 11 Crystal Reports viewer programs I have
been
able to find. From what I have heard, they all do an adequate job
of
allowing you to view reports without having CR installed. To make
the
comparison easier, I have added the single user price (if sold that
way) for
each viewer. If you have feedback (good or bad) on any of these
viewers,
or any other third party Crystal product, please let me know.
The Expert's Guide to Crystal Reports Formulas:
Learn
to write and understand formulas like a Pro with "The Expert's Guide to
Crystal
Reports Formulas". I take you from the basics all the way through
variables,
arrays and looping logic. I explain HOW, WHY and WHEN to use
these techniques
and provide tips and tricks that are rarely taught in classes.
The guide includes 28 annotated reports and 45 no-nonsense pages of
detailed
explanations. The cost is only $36 and you can download it
immediately
with most Credit Cards. For more details, visit my website at:
http://www.kenhamady.com/form00.html
The Fax Distribution option:
Emailing
100 copies of an exported report each week is considered a 'broadcast',
and
requires a special license. But according to the CRv9 license,
"distribution
of paper copies by facsimile" is exempt. I will add that it says
"paper
copies" and says nothing about the form of the originals. This
seems
to indicate that you can use fax distribution software to fax hard
copies,
without getting into the broadcasting mess. And, faxing is still
the
standard communication method for many businesses. Some of my
customers
have recently been exploring automated FAX distribution methods.
Here
are 2 fax programs that have been successfully used with Crystal
Reports:
Tobit Faxware - a German Fax Server that runs on both Novell and
Windows Networks.
It can send both fax and Email.
http://www.tobit.com/intl/
PDF Blaster - a smart printer driver that can determine the destination
from
the report and deliver a PDF formatted document via both fax and
Email.
http://www.pdfblaster.com/
Key Crystal Partners Opt Out:
Several
key Crystal Decisions partner groups have recently declined to renew
their
partnership agreements with Crystal Decisions. I have been told
that
this was due to lopsided terms in the new partner contract. It
may also
have been due to Crystal's practice of claiming many large corporate
and
government customers as "house" accounts. This change may be good
news
for users, since the partnership "cartel" gave Crystal Decisions a way
to
control product information and (to some extent) prices for
services.
Now that some of the best known partners are independent, I think you
will
find a freer flow of information.
VB Quick Reference Guide, updated for v9:
If
you
use Crystal Reports in VB applications, you should get my Quick
Reference
Guide. It gives an overview of the different integration methods,
syntax
examples for the most common commands and troubleshooting tips.
It
also comes with source code examples including a simple report
viewer.
It is only $16 and you can usually have it within an hour. Follow
the
link below for more details:
http://www.kenhamady.com/vbref.html
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instructions:
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Contact Information
Ken Hamady, MS
525K East Market St. PMB 299
Leesburg, VA 20176
(540) 338-0194
ken@kenhamady.com
http://www.kenhamady.com
Copyright 2003 by Ken Hamady
All rights reserved - Republishing this material requires written
permission