Which Crystal Edition to use?

[marian_nextdoor]

Hi friends!

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

I'm not sure which version(s) of crystal I require.

I developed the reports in crystal.

I want the end user (other office peers) to be able to access these reports with the latest updated reports (exported in .pdf or other format).However they would not be having crystal reports installed on their system.

Do I require crystal reports enterprise edition to have this capability?
Currently I have crystal reports developer V10 installed on my system.

Thanks
__________________
Regards
Aditya

 

[Mile-O]

If you don't want users to have Crystal Reports, then they are going to need Crystal Enterprise working on a server. This lets them log on, schedule reports to be run as and when they want, and returned in whatever format they require, usually with the minimum effort of just entering some parameters.

Also, you should see about upgrading Crystal Reports, at least to XI, as the features and functionality are much improved.

 

[marian_nextdoor]

Hi, Thanks a lot for your reply. However, I do not have server access in office.The users will be looking at the report offline on there system via a shared drive.I would be updating the database ie an MS Access file.The audience should view the report in .pdf format but a dynamic report instead of a static one.(Static is easy but I want that whenever I update the database and user opens the report he should view latest updated data.) I believe crystal reports enterprise requires interaction with the server. Hence it would not be of any help as in my case.
Also I cannot install any new software on the audience system due to seucity issue.This report is to be viewed within my local office.
Can you please provie me an alternate solution?
I would be really obliged.
Looking forward to hear from you soon.
Regards,
Aditya

 

[Kempes]

Based on your severe constraints, I don't think that's going to be likely.
Why not just give them limited access to your database where they can run reports direct from access.

Other alternatives would be,
Crystal Viewer, which is free but again will not be dynamic. Requires an install on each PC.

Crystal Reports Distributor (scheduling tool, which allows you to set up a schedule to email, save file to location, sms....etc. You can set up to distribute a report automatically at regular intervals to a pre defined audience or location.)
In theory, you could set this up to export a PDF automatically and overwrite the old copy every minute. (probably best to set to at least 5 minutes though. It all depends on how often and how up to date you need this to be. I would probably set it to 15 personally.) This way you could add the report run time on your report, and that is when the report was last updated.

ie, data correct up to (date and time).

Other than Enterprise, the alternatives above would still be static.

 

[marian_nextdoor]

Hi,
Thanks a lot for your reply.
Well yes I was also thinking in terms of crystal reports viewer although the same would be static in the sense that the user won't be able to modiy or update the records, which actually suits my purpose as well.
The viewers of this report would not be much in number and as its a freeware software(dosen't require a license) I think I can use it as an option.

Also I was searching on the similar front.Crystalreports.com is another option I believe where users can post reports and audience can view the same with just internet access. However, the free edition here provides access for upto 3 users and 10 reports.
I think this might be helpful to people who might face similar problems like mine.

Can you please enligten me what other features does the crystal report distributor provide over crystal report viewer? Is it a freeware?The features you enlisted here are quite attractive so I guess I would try and find more information on this as well.

Thanks a ton for your guidance and support.

Regards,
Aditya

 

[Kempes]

Unfortunately it is not free, but has some great features. Here is the website.

http://www.christiansteven.com/main.htm

They have some great demos on there and it comes in different flavours depending what you need.

One of the key features we use is called "event schedule".
Based on a new record being added to the database, it fires off a tailored email to the mail recipient determined in the database table to inform them of an action they need to perform. You can even specify detail from the database in the email and attach a document if required.

We have many databases that use CRD for reporting.

Also, not sure if you already know this but with Crystal Viewer, it will not access the database when users run it. It actually relies on the data saved with the report itself. In other words, it will require someone to run the report and save it down, then the data is only current up to the save time.

You will need Crystal Reports developer edition though to make it work.

Check out the demos.

You can also download a 30 day trial.

Also, not sure if you are aware of this but with crystal viewer, it doesn't access the database when run. It actually relies on data saved with the report. In other words, the data will only be up to the last save time, and will require re-running and saving the report to update it.

 

[marian_nextdoor]

Hi,
Well thanks a lot for the link and great information. The other points that you had mentioned were also new to me so some great info. to add on as well.I am really obliged for your advice.
Regards,
Aditya