The Crystal Reports Underground News - October 2002
an independent source for Crystal Reports Information
by Ken Hamady, MS
Contents for October:
** Web Deployment Options for CRv9 and RAS
** Download the SQL designer and the Dictionary Editor for CRv9
** Expert on-site training or consulting
** Broadcast License clarified (some good news)
** "Cloaking" a group in a report
** New third-party products
** Public classes in Leesburg, Baltimore and Philadelphia
** Timberline incompatible with Crystal v9
** Goldmine and Crystal v9 Standard
** My Quick Reference to Crystal Reports in Visual Basic
** Read back issues at http://www.kenhamady.com/news.html
Web Deployment Options for CRv9
I don't feel that Crystal Decisions has done a very good job of documenting the web deployment options for CRv9. This week I had 2 conference calls with several of Crystal's product managers. They were willing to speak to me so that I could clarify some issues for you. Below are the highlights. For the details, see this page on my web site:
http://www.kenhamady.com/cev9.html
CRv9 is not compatible with any version of Crystal Enterprise 8 or 8.5. And Crystal Enterprise Standard or Professional have not been released for version 9. So, CRv9 reports can be deployed on the web with only 2 available engines. One is the v9 Report Design Component (RDC) that comes with the Developer Edition. The other is a scaled-down version of Crystal Enterprise called the Report Application Server (or RAS). Crystal recommends the RDC for client applications and the RAS for web deployment. The RAS comes for free with Crystal Reports Professional, Developer or Advanced Editions.
So now Crystal Enterprise has 5 levels of Deployment, each with it's own set of features.
1)The RAS with CR Professional EditionHere is what you get at each of the 5 levels:
2)The RAS with CR Developer Edition
3)The RAS with the new Advanced Edition
4) Crystal Enterprise 9 Standard
5) Crystal Enterprise 9 Professional
1) RAS with Crystal Reports Professional:
You can deploy reports on the web using a prepackaged interface called ePortfolio lite. This is not the same as the v8.5 ePortfolio. The lite version does not include scheduling, Management Console, stored instances or even caching of report pages. This last item is huge, because it means that clicking forward one page in preview requires that the web server refresh and rerun the entire report. You only get page caching with the Advanced Edition or above.
Also, in the older ePortfolio you could have 5 people connected at once. In the RAS you can connect more users, but only three connections at one time can have an active process called a 'thread'. An active process is any request from your browser including a page change, a drill-down, a refresh, etc. So 20 users can be connected if they are all sitting still and looking at a page in preview. But, if 4 of them change pages at the same time, one of them will be denied and will have to try again. With the Advanced Edition you get a queueing feature so that the user doesn't get denied. The request is held in queue for the next open thread.
2) RAS with Crystal Reports Developer:
The Developer Edition has everything mentioned above with the addition of a limited Software Development Kit (SDK). This allows you to customize or create user interface screens. The SDK supports Java, COM(ASP) or .NET. However, the applications you write cannot make any modifications to the report at runtime. Not even changing the sort or the contents of a formula. The only properties you have access to are the report's parameters and login information. You get more options with the Advanced Edition.
Developer (like Professional) does not have page caching or queueing.
3) RAS with the Advanced Edition.
When you upgrade to the Advanced Edition you are given the full SDK which allows you to make changes to the report at runtime. You can even provide a web based user some limited ad-hoc reporting capabilities.
The Advanced edition is still limited to 3 active threads, but your report pages are now cached for faster retrieval. And, the 4th user is no longer denied, but has his request put into a queue. The request is automatically processed when one of the three threads is free.
If you want to remove the 3 thread limit, you can upgrade to a Processor license for $25,000.
4) Crystal Enterprise Standard:
Later this year Crystal Decisions will release Crystal Enterprise Standard and Crystal Enterprise Professional. No dates have been announced. CE Standard is expected to include all of the same features that you can get now (for free) with CE Standard v8.5. This includes the Management Console, scheduling and the ability to save and manage instances of reports.
5) Crystal Enterprise Professional:
By upgrading to the Professional Edition of Crystal Enterprise you get a full security management process. You can create named users and groups with different levels of access. You can even provide certain users the ability to do ad hoc reporting, called Smart Reporting, in a zero-client environment.
Download the SQL designer and Dictionary Editor for CRv9
Some of you may have noticed that CRv9 did not come with the two "Tools" that were included with CRv8.5. These are the Dictionary Editor and the SQL designer. If you have existing query files (QRY) or dictionary files (DCT, DC5), CRv9 does not provide a way for you to open or modify them.
Now you can download both of these tools from the CD website. There is a link on my links page at:
http://www.kenhamady.com/bookmarks.html
Expert On-Site Training or Consulting:
I have personally taught over 1300 satisfied students in more than 30 states. Training on-location is my specialty, and I charge about half of the "List Price" for Crystal Training.
Do I know my stuff? Check out the Crystal Reports Forum at Tek-Tips.com and you will find me listed as the top Crystal Reports expert out of over 23,000 members:
http://www.tek-tips.com/gthreadminder.cfm/lev2/4/lev3/100/pid/149
Can I teach? Many students have said that my classes are among the best technical classes they have taken. Ask to speak to a recent customer as a reference. Call for more information at (540) 338-0194.
V9 Broadcast License update
This past week I had a long conference call with the Crystal Reports product managers and we discussed the Crystal Reports v9 Broadcast License (CRBL). This was prompted, in part, by the article in my last newsletter.
We all agreed that the wording of the license did not provide a very clear definition of broadcasting. Crystal Decisions plans to post a clarification on their website. I was told that, despite the unfortunate wording used in the license, only FULLY automated processes are considered broadcasting. If either the generation of the report, or the distribution of the report, requires some human intervention, then no broadcasting has occurred.
We discussed several scenarios to make it clear:
1) A company employee exports an HTML page from Crystal Reports and uploads it to the company web site for 1,000 people to read. This is not broadcasting because exporting and posting the file involves manual intervention.
2) A company employee exports a file to PDF and attaches the PDF to an Email message. The Email message is sent to 1,000 people. This is not broadcasting because exporting the file involves manual intervention.
3) A company has a scheduler program that automatically exports an HTML file every Monday at 2am. The scheduler exports this file directly to a web site folder where 90 people will read it on Monday morning. This is broadcasting because there is no manual intervention.
4) A company has a scheduler program that automatically exports an HTML file every Monday at 2am. The scheduler also initiates an Email program that sends out messages to 90 people on a fixed distribution list. This is broadcasting because there is no manual intervention.
If you eliminate the manual intervention, and fully automate the process, you have violated the Crystal Reports license. You would need to purchase a CRBL to be in compliance. That $35,000 buys a lot of manual intervention.
Cloaking a Group in a report:
There are times when you want a group level to be optional. Maybe you want to give the user a choice between having 1 group level or 2 group levels in a report. It is easy to suppress Group Headers and Group Footers for group 2, but this doesn't make the group level go away. Group 2 will still put the records in order, and will take priority over any sorting you have specified. A group can't be deleted based on a parameter, but you can have the same effect by 'cloaking' the group. Even though it is still there, it has no effect on the report.
To cloak a group you create a parameter with 2 choices. For example, our user has a parameter called {?Group choice}. It allows him to select the number of group levels:
Group by State only
Group by State and City
You set Group 1 to use the field "state". Group 2 is set to use a formula that says:
If {?Group choice} = "Group by State only"
then {table.State}
else {table.City}
So, if the user picks "Group by State and City", then the second group will be the field "city". But, if the user picks "Group by State only", then Group 2 will be the same as Group 1, the state field. Having the 2 groups use the same field allows the details to sort as if there were only one group.
So what do you do with the second Group Header and Group Footer? You suppress these sections with a suppress formula that says:
{?Group choice} = "Group by State only"
Now the second group has no effect on the sort, and it is invisible.
A more complex use is allowing the user to select which subtotal to use for a TopN. For example, the user wants to see the Top 10 customers. But the user also wants to decide if this TopN is based on the Average of the Amount or the SUM of the amount. There is no way to do this directly in Crystal. But you can do this by creating 2 different Customer group levels, each with a different TopN total selected. Then you cloak one or the other. (If you need help with this technique, I can always be rented.)
New Third Party Products:
I have added the following new third party products on my "Links" page this month:
DataLink Viewer by Millet Software ($25)
This is a report viewer that provides users with dynamic parameter values. And best of all you don't have to write any VB code. It does this by allowing a separate report to assemble the parameter values. It then makes these values available to the parameter field. A very clever idea.
Cview Manager by ChelseaTech ($500)
Cview Manager is not a new product, but it has a new feature that allows you to export a report to HTML and have that be the body of the Email, rather than an attachment.
Report Runner Lite by PacificRidge ($30)
Report Runner by Jeff-Net ($20)
Surprisingly, these two products are not related. However they are both inexpensive, stand alone, report viewers that work with Crystal Reports.
Saffron Document Server by Dynalivery ($300 desktop, $1,000 Workgroup Server)
Saffron allows you to combine Crystal Reports with office documents and then output the result to PDF, RTF, HTML or SVG. It can even transfer the document rendering (a memory intensive step) to another PC.
Don't just take a class, learn from a Crystal Expert:
Click the "Public Classes" link above for dates.
Each class is $675 per student.
Or, call for more information at (540) 338-0194.
Timberline and Crystal v9:
According to a recent Timberline notice, Crystal Reports v9 will not work with Timberline (Office) software. The notice also says that you can't use earlier versions of Crystal Reports. According to the notice, the only version of CR that will work is v8.5. If you install v9, and change a report with it, you will no longer be able to run it from Timberline.
Goldmine and Crystal v9
Goldmine can be installed to use 2 different databases: the original Dbase, or the newer, more powerful SQL server. If you are using Goldmine with SQL Server, then you need to use Crystal Reports Professional Edition. The Standard Edition does not support SQL Server.
However, if you have Dbase files, you can use the Standard Edition of Crystal Reports. Not all of the sales reps at Crystal know this. One of my customers was told by his rep that the only way to connect to Dbase was using ODBC, which would require the Professional Edition. This rep probably relied on the 'features' document for CRv9, which only lists Dbase under ODBC. But that same document lists FoxPro as a supported database with the Standard Edition. The DLL for FoxPro also supports dBase, Clipper, and all other Xbase platforms as a direct connection. My customer was able to connect to connect to his Goldmine tables with the Standard Edition.
VB Quick Reference Guide:
If you need to incorporate Crystal Reports into a VB application, you should get my Quick Reference Guide. It gives an overview of the integration methods, with syntax examples for the most important commands. It comes with source code examples, including a sample report viewer. It is only $16 and can be Emailed to you within 24 hours. Follow the link below for more details:
http://www.kenhamady.com/vbref.html
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 2002 by Ken Hamady
All rights reserved - Republishing this material requires written permission