Is Client Tool Crystal reports required when accessing from web? 2

[Kingkumar]

Hi I am totally new to crystal reports.
I have been asked to use crystal reports for one of my web reporting projects and i have to clue how to go about it.

First question i have is ihave been told that cyrstal reports is installed on one of our company webservers so to access it during developement do i need a client installed on my machine? (like sql server) Basically i dont know how to access it.

Also if anyone can guide me to a good book or tutorial for it it would be really great.

Thanks in advance for your help.

--King

 

[synapsevampire]

Please post your software version when requesting technical assistance.

SQL Server has nothing to do with Crystal, and depending upon how you are accessing it from the web, you might need a local ODBC/OLE DB connection.

The usual means for browser based viewing is to use a Crystal Report viewer either with an advanced version of Crystal Reports and it's associated report serving engine, or using Crystal Enterprise.

How the former would be implemented is based on the version and edition of Crystal.

-k

 

[Kingkumar]

hi synapsevampire,
the version we are using is 8.5 and 9.0,
I just gave an example of sql server to make my point about the client side tool installation.
Ill repeat what i wanna know is that do we need a client side tool to work with crystal reports or i can directly access it from the web server where its installed.

Also what i exactly need to do is to show the views in asp pages so in that case my asp page would access the crystal report page.

sorry totaly new to crystal reports ( still reading chapter 2 )

thanks

 

[Turkbear]

Hi,
'work with' is a little vague..Do you mean 'run the report' or 'modify the report' from a web access point?

Also, what 'views' are you referring to?

This early in your CR learning, setting up a web distribution system is pretty advanced stuff...You might look into a class..

 

[Kingkumar]

HI Turkbear,
by work with i mean is i am required to generate the reports from the database using crystal reports.
we are still working on the specs.
but i have been told to migrate the current reports which are static asp page reports generated sql queries to interactive reports using crystal reports.

also by views i mean the report currently are based on various months and various users.

I know its pretty advance stuff but i wanna jump onto it asap so would appreciate if you could tell me a link or turorila which would expediate my learning
thanks
--king

 

[ksbigfoot]

Hi Kingreen,
I just implemented Crystal also like you are asking. I am not to sure on what you are asking on some points, but here is what I did.
I installed Crystal Reports on the Server.
I created a View through Sql Server.
When I go and create a report through the wizard, it asks to 'Choose the data you want to report on', I picked an ODBC pointer that points to a SQL Server database.
I then picked the view I just created. Follow the steps of the wizard from this point and it is easy to create a report.
I then took one of the examples that Business Objects supplies for ASP pages calling Crystal reports and implemented it changing the report name to the one I just created.
A plug-in is required to view the crystal report over the web.
Once the user calls this ASP page from the web, if the user doesn't have the Crystal Plugin, the code within the ASP page will ask the user to download the plugin. If the user choses 'Yes', the plug-in downloads automatically and the report will display in the users browser.

If this isn't what you were asking, I apologize.
Take care,
ksbigfoot

 

[synapsevampire]

kinggreen:

A viewer isn't required as was suggested. You can use a generic viewer such as the HTML. For Active-X or Java
you'd need to install something.

As you can tell, your question is still a bit too vague for an intelligent answer. Stating web server doesn't begin to describe your environment any more than stating that you're using a browser. Are you intending to use Java, HTML, ASP? Were you hoping that you could just link to a RPT file and have it display (if only it were that simple...)?

I would suggest that you read:

http://support.businessobjects.com/communityCS/FilesAndUpdates/Aspxmps8.exe.asp

http://support.businessobjects.com/communityCS/FilesAndUpdates/cr_webrefresh.exe.asp

-k

 

[Kingkumar]

hi,
Thanks ksbigfoot.Thats what i what i was kinda looking for ..... Thats what i am exactl supposed to do.
Now the thing is i would like to know is where did u create teh report on the server..?
if yes than does that mean that u directly worked on the server ? ( by this i mean is in for example as its done in sql server that u have ur server and you connect to ur server through ur client tool enterprise manager and work on the server does crystal report works on the same principle ????)



synapsevampire , thanks for your input too I am intending to use html / ASP so do you think still i wont need the plugin?
Thanks guys you were of great help
--kingreen

 

[ksbigfoot]

Hi kingreen,
I developed the report on my local machine and I moved it onto the server. I have the same ODBC pointer on my local machine as I do on my server, so it works great when I move it onto the server.
I hope this answers your question.
Ksbigfoot