Contents for July 2011:
** Update to my comparison of RPT Management Utilities
** New Crystal Server 2011 and BO Edge 4.0 for Small/Medium Businesses
** CR 2011 free developer features vs full developer features
** My library of Crystal Reports materials
** SAP discontinues most prior versions
** Let me create your Crystal Reports
** Generating an Excel pivot table from a Crystal Report
** Price drop on cViewMANAGER
** Open enrollment Crystal classes in Frederick, MD
** Exporting to RPT format
** DataLink Viewer now available with the CR 2011 runtime

Other recent blog articles:
    Date parameter prompt errors
    Free printer drivers solve issue with Zebra printers
    Doing a "distinct count" in Excel
   

 Update to my comparison of RPT Management Utilities 

I have just updated my comparison of RPT management utilities for 2011.  These are tools that allow you to scan, document, compare and update RPT files.

It includes all the same products as last year and adds one new product called Find It EZ by by Bits n' Bytes Software.  This tools can scan your RPT files to find all uses of a particular table or field.  It is designed to help you find all the reports that need to be updated whenever the database structure is modified.  It can also scan application source code, SQL queries, documentation and other application related documents - all in one pass.

The other tools listed in the comparison are:

Report Miner by the Retsel Group
Object Compare by Cortex Systems
Crystal SpellChecker by Redeemed Software.
Search and Replace by Redeemed Software.
Mass Verify by Redeemed Software
.rpt Inspector 3 Professional Suite by Software Forces, LLC
Report Analyzer by Cortex Systems

 New Crystal Server 2011 and BO Edge 4.0 for Small/Medium Businesses 

PC World has a pretty good article describing the soon-to-be-released Crystal Server 2011 and BO Edge 4.0.  It is always nice to see someone write an article that includes product pricing.

SAP is positioning these products for small to medium sized businesses.  The idea is that when they grow the can seamlessly upgrade to the full BO Enterprise product line.  According to the article, that is why Crystal Reports Server no longer has the word "Reports" in the name.  It is seen as an entry level BI platform and more than just "reporting".

Techtarget.com also has an article with a slightly different emphasis.

 CR 2011 free developer features vs full developer features 

Blair Wheadon of SAP has written a helpful article explaining the advantages of upgrading from the free app development tools (Visual Studio and Eclipse) to a full version of Crystal Reports 2011.  The free versions of CR 2011 allow you to design reports in either of these environments. You can also deploy them using a free .NET or Java runtime engine.  But by purchasing CR 2011 you get a more fully featured report designer, the ability to edit in preview and the ability to deploy a 'read only' RPTR file.  Read the article for more details.

 My complete library of Crystal Reports materials

Do you want to really understand Crystal formulas?  Do you know when to use the four different methods to add totals? Why not let me explain these Crystal Topics to you with one of my Expert's Guides.  Each guide comes with clear explanations and sample files to illustrate the concepts.

    Expert's Guide to Formulas  ($36)
    Expert's Guide to Subreports, Parameters and Alerts ($28)
    Expert's Guide to SQL Expressions, Options and Commands ($26)
    Expert's Guide to Totals ($24)
    Expert's Guide to Cross-Tabs ($22)
    Expert Techniques Vol. 1 - 4  ($19 each)
    Quick Reference to Crystal Reports in Visual Basic ($16)
    Quick Reference to Crystal Reports in .NET ($14)

You will find these on the LIBRARY page of my site.

 SAP discontinues most prior versions

One of my readers pointed out a dramatic change in the SAP online store.  Up until mid May you could purchase older versions of Crystal Reports products going back to v8.5.   But that changed suddenly and now their is nothing available prior to CR v11 (XI). There was no announcement or explanation so I asked someone at SAP why the change was made.  I didn't get much of an explanation yet, but apparently there is some issue with all of these older version and open-source software.  It must be serious to merit pulling all these products.

They also had to (temporarily) pull down CR v11 (XIr1 and XIr2) along with their maintenance releases.  These have now been replaced by a new version of XIr2 and a combined maintenance release called XIr2A.   You can read about this on the SAP Blog.  

The impression that you get is that they are simply trying to consolidate the updates.  However, the update probably reflects whatever changes were required to deal with the 'open source issues' that forced SAP to discontinue the older versions.  If anyone gets more details on what the 'open source issue' is please let me know.

And thanks to David Hopaluk at Here2Help Solutions for pointing out the restored maintenance releases.

 Let me create your Crystal Reports

There aren't many people who know Crystal Reports better than I do. It is what I do all day, every day. So if you need a tough report created why not leave it to an expert?  Let me show you how I can mix and match techniques to create the reports you need - even the ones that "can't be done".  And since I am also a teacher I am happy to explain to you how the techniques work together.

I can also review existing reports that break, or run slowly, or seem overly complex.  Let me have a look at them and see if there is a more elegant solution.

 Generating an Excel pivot table from a Crystal Report

Ido Millet of Millet Software has added another powerful feature to an already feature rich product called Visual Cut.  Users now have the ability to automatically generate an Excel Pivot Table based on an exported (Data Only) excel worksheet.  If you use pivot tables then you might want to see this feature in action.  Ido has produced a video that shows how it works.

If you want to compare the features of Visual Cut to similar products you can read my comparison.

Or, you can try Visual Cut for free by sending an Email request.  Millet Software will respond with a download link and instructions.  Please let them know that you read about Visual Cut in my Newsletter.

 Price drop on cViewMANAGER

If you were considering purchasing cViewMANAGER then you might want to do it soon.  They have dropped the price from $599 to $399 for a limited time.  If you are not familiar with cViewMANAGER you can read about it in my comparison page for scheduling and Emailing engines.

 Open enrollment Crystal classes in Frederick, MD

Stop struggling with Crystal Reports and learn how to use it fully.  Come join me in one of my August classes and learn how to make Crystal work for you.  My Intro class makes sure you know all of the basics.  We even include material on cross-tabs, charts and formulas.  The Advanced class shows you how to solve reporting problems with running totals, subreports, parameters and commands.  The material is good for any version.  See my web site for course outlines and dates.

So what makes my classes different?  I have written my own course materials and have used them to teach over 2,500 satisfied students.  And, I give you a toll-free number so you can call me after class with questions at no charge.

Or, if you want to schedule a class at your office, using your data, that is my specialty.  I have found some stellar instructors in the the US and Canada that deliver my class for a very competitive price.  They are based near Spokane/Seattle, LA, Omaha, Detroit, Tampa, Philadelphia, New York City, Boston, Vancouver and Montreal.  Call for details.

 Exporting to RPT format

Have you ever wondered why Crystal allows an export to "RPT" format?   Since the file is already in RPT format it might seem like a redundant option.  But last week a customer told me that teaching them this export was the most valuable information in the entire consult.

So what do you get when you export to RPT format?  You get an RPT file that is saved with the preview data.  While most of you can easily create an RPT saved with data, some users aren't so lucky.  These are users who can only preview a report within an application like a web or server based application.  For these folks, troubleshooting a report is an endless loop of making a change in design mode, uploading the modified report, running the report to see if the change worked and then going back to design mode.  I have had to do this before and it is a tedious process.

So, if you are one of those who can only preview within your application, your first step is to check to see if the application allows you to export the report once it is in preview mode.  Most apps that use Crystal Reports have an export button.  If you do have export capabilities you should check the list of export formats available.  If you see "Crystal Reports (RPT)" as a format option then you have a way to get out of the cycle described above.  You simply export the report to RPT format and then open that RPT in Crystal.  Now you have both a design and a preview mode with real data.  You can switch back and forth and immediately see the result of any changes that you make.  

A few changes will still require you to upload the report into the application.  These include things like adding a previously unused field, changing a join, or anything else that would normally require a refresh.  But most changes can be tried and previewed without going through the upload process.

Once you are done modifying your RPT you have one more important test to do.  You have to determine if the exported report can be imported directly back into the application.  Often it can, but sometimes the application makes changes to the RPT file at runtime.  Those changes may prevent the exported RPT from working correctly inside the application.  If you find that true in your situation you can still troubleshoot the report using the exported RPT file.  But once testing is finished you will have to make all the same changes to the original RPT and then upload it.

 DataLink Viewer now available with the CR 2011 runtime

Millet Software has just released a new version of their DataLink Viewer using the runtime engine for Crystal Reports 2011. As far as I know this is the first third-party viewer to incorporate the newest runtime engine. With this version of DLV you can export to 2 new file formats supported by CR 2011:

XLSX – which can export more than 65,000 rows - the limit in a classic XLS file.
RPTR- which users can run and refresh, but cannot open/edit in Crystal reports.

You can request a free trial of DataLink Viewer by sending an Email request.  Millet Software will respond with a download link and instructions.  Please let them know that you read about Visual Cut in my Newsletter.

Other recent blog articles:

    Date parameter prompt errors
    Free printer drivers solve issue with Zebra printers
    Doing a "distinct count" in Excel

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