The Crystal Reports Underground News - Volume 2003.02 (February 2003)
an independent source for Crystal Reports Information by Ken Hamady
Contents for February, 2003:
** Crystal Enterprise v9 is Released
** Free Download of VB.NET Book
** Expert Training and Consulting
** User Group Meetings in British Columbia
** National CDUGNA conference in British Columbia
** Report on User Group meeting in DC
** February Case Study - CE9 RAS Advanced Edition
** The Expert's Guide to Crystal Reports Formulas
** Free Download of Crystal Passage Scheduler
** Special Offer on Report Scheduler Pro v9
** Public Classes in Leesburg, Philadelphia and Baltimore
** The Complete Reference for Crystal Reports v9
** My Quick Reference to Crystal Reports in Visual Basic
** Read back issues at http://www.kenhamady.com/news.html
Crystal Enterprise v9 is Released:
Crystal has recently released the Standard and Professional Editions of Crystal Enterprise 9. It should be available in a few weeks. Up till now the only web option for CRv9 was the RAS Edition. This was a limited product designed as an interim solution and geared to smaller deployments. It came for free with the CRv9 Professional and CRv9 Developer Editions. To do any serious deployment with RAS you were advised to upgrade to CRV9 Advanced Edition for $1,650. You can read more about the RAS Edition in my CE9 configuration article:
http://www.kenhamady.com/cev9.html
I was told today that everyone who has purchased the Advanced Edition of CRv9 is eligible to get CE Standard Edition for free. So, if you already bought the Advanced Edition, and you have registered your copy, Crystal Decisions will ship you a free copy of CE Standard. These are due to ship out mid to late February.
CEv9 Standard is virtually identical to CEv8.5 Standard, except that it is compatible with CRv9 reports. It allows scheduling, stored instances and some administrative functions. It also comes with the original ePortfolio (as opposed to the ePortfolio "lite" that came with RAS). Unless you buy additional seats, CE Standard allows a maximum of 5 concurrent users. It does NOT have the RAS feature of queueing additional requests, but rejects them. You can add 5 more concurrent users for about $12,500, or you can add unlimited concurrent users on a single processor for $35,000. A dual processor license is roughly twice that.
CEv9 Standard does not have any user security. It also doesn't allow you to split report processing across different machines for scalability. Security features can now be added to Crystal Enterprise Standard using 3rd party products, like those listed on the LINKS page of my web site. Or you can get both of these features by upgrading to CEv9 Professional Edition. With the Professional Edition you get a fully developed security model that supports object, user and group level permissions. You also get the ability to separate the processing across several machines for better performance.
So, how much does it cost to get started with CEv9 Advanced Edition? If you ask a member of the Crystal Decisions sales team, be prepared to explain your business needs in detail, write a short biography, and include your medical history with a small DNA sample. At least that is how it seems to me. You see, Crystal Enterprise isn't a product at all ... it is a *solution*. What is a solution? A solution is a product that is sold as part of a *relationship*. And in my opinion, a relationship is a nice way of saying an annual maintenance contract. Figure on spending an additional 20% of the original purchase price each year for this relationship.
The bottom line is that if you want to use the Crystal Enterprise Professional plan on spending at least $20,000 just to get started. A named user is $695, a concurrent is $3,495, and an unlimited processor license is $55,000. The minimum purchase is 25 named users or 5 concurrent users. Add 20% for annual maintenance which is required in the first year. Educational and Government prices should be about 10% to 25% below these prices.
Free download of VB.NET book:
Brian Bischoff has written a book on using Crystal Reports within Visual Studio .NET. If you register on his web site, you can download the book for free. Visit the link below for more information.
http://www.bischofsystems.com
Expert On-Site Training or Consulting:
I have personally taught 1500 satisfied students in more than 30 states. Training with your data 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.
User Group Meeting in British Columbia:
The Crystal Decisions User Group of British Columbia is having a meeting on Friday, 2/28/03 from 8am - 12pm. It is being held at the Executive Hotel in Burnaby. Highlights include Crystal Enterprise 9 Integration and some useful third party tools. There is no charge to attend, but you must register in advance. To register, please visit:
http://www.cdugbc.org/
National CDUGNA conference in British Columbia
This year's CDUGNA national conference will also be held in British Columbia. It is scheduled for May 21st through May 23rd and will be held at The Westin Bayshore Resort. For more info see the CDUGNA web site at:
http://www.cdugna.org/conferences/2003/2003conference.asp
Report on the User Group Meeting in DC:
It was nice to see some of you at the DC Area User Group meeting a few weeks ago. As the result of some last minute cancellations, I ended up being the only "Tips and Tricks" presenter and so I was given the entire hour to demonstrate my favorite techniques. Those of you who couldn't attend can read the articles that I demonstrated:
http://www.kenhamady.com/tips.html
Those of you who are long time readers of my newsletter will recognize some of these techniques.
The meeting also included a brief introduction (sales pitch) for the new release of Crystal Enterprise 9, and a panel discussion that tried to troubleshoot some sticky user issues. Not a bad meeting, overall.
However, I do have one small complaint. In my September newsletter I describe submitting a meeting handout to the DCUG Board for approval. The handout was not commercial and didn't even mention what I do for a living. But, I was told by the Board that including my website or even my Email address would make my handout "commercial". I had to remove both my web site and Email address before I could distribute the material at the meeting.
Judging by the handout I picked up at this meeting, it seems that commercial handouts are fine for certain vendors. I picked up a board approved handout that advertised classes being sponsored by another local training vendor, including their website. One board member, after looking more closely at the handout, agreed that it was inappropriate. I have asked the board to explain the discrepancy, and will let you know what they say.
February Case Study - CE9 RAS Advanced Edition:
Occasionally I encounter a real-life scenario that cuts through all of the mushy marketing jargon. If you have a problem scenario, or get a confusing answer from Crystal Decisions, I would be happy to take a look at your case. If I think it would be of general interest, I will write it up for my newsletter and ask Crystal Decisions for a response.
This month I have one that helps clarify web performance issues with the RAS Advanced Edition of Crystal Enterprise. Now the RAS is still pretty new and users are just beginning to uncover some of the undocumented 'features'. I am not sure that it is being widely used as a web platform.
The client was deploying the RAS Advanced Edition. His users were getting "rejected request" errors - the kind you get when you exceed the 3 active request limit. The Advanced Edition isn't supposed to reject requests, it is supposed to queue requests that exceed the limit. So, he called CD tech support who couldn't seem to solve the problem. Eventually they told him that he should upgrade to the $25,000 processor license.
After the client called me, I called my contacts at Crystal Decisions who began looking at the case and are still working with the customer to trouble shoot the problem. As of today the issues is still unresolved. I am not sure if we have uncovered a bug or if we have found some unpublished limits in the Advanced Edition. Report complexity has been discussed as a factor. I will follow-up next month with the outcome.
I have already learned one important fact as a result of this case. My Crystal contact pointed out an item in the release notes of CEv9 RAS Edition. Any report that has subreports will NOT be cached, even with the Advanced Edition. This is something to be aware of if you plan on relying on the caching feature, with complex reports.
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 usually have it within an hour. For more details, visit my website at:
http://www.kenhamady.com/form00.html
Shareware "Crystal Passage" Viewer/Scheduler:
Kevin Groff (who says he is more of a hobbyist than a programmer) has written a shareware scheduler for Crystal Reports. You can download it and and use it for free. While Kevin can't make any guarantees, he has tested it with Windows 2000 and Crystal Reports v9. I have tested briefly with Windows XP and Crystal Reports v8.5. It seems to work fine. Even though it is free, it uses the runtime files from Crystal Reports v9. This means that you must accept some Crystal Decisions EULA terms. These, among other things, restrict the use of this tool for automated broadcasting. See the articles on my website regarding the Crystal Broadcast License for v9. You can download the shareware scheduler using a link on the Links page of my web site.
Even though I have told Kevin that the program is good enough to sell, he intends to keep it as shareware and accept donations from those who find it helpful. He has it on a free server now, but he has submitted it to several shareware host sites which will make for a more reliable download in the near future.
Special Offer on Report Scheduler Pro v9:
CrystalDesk Software has just released Report Viewer v9 and Report Scheduler v9. These new releases are both compatible with CRv9 reports. The new Report Scheduler has some added features which include:
Batch Scheduling.
Multiple Parameters
Stored Database Logins
SMTP and MAPI Email support
Scheduler Sorting
Background Operation
A single User/Server License is $259. Current users qualify for upgrade pricing. If you order Report Scheduler in February 2003, and mention the Crystal Reports Underground News in your order, you will receive a free copy of CrystalDesk Report Viewer 9.0, a $48 value.
You can download a time-limited trial version of both products for free. Use the link on my Links page.
Don't just take a Crystal class, learn from a Expert:
I offer public classes in:
Leesburg, VA
Baltimore, MD
Philadelphia, PA
Each class is $675 per student.
Dates, course outlines and registration info are on my website at:
http://www.kenhamady.com/public.html
Or, call for more information at (540) 338-0194.
The Complete Reference to Crystal Reports v9:
George Peck, one of my favorite Crystal Reports authors, has released his "Complete Reference" volume for version 9. I have collected all 4 of the books in this series and find them a great place to get an overview of any Crystal topic. If you are going to buy this book, you should compare the prices on bookpool.com and Amazon.com to any other prices you see.
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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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