Hi,
I'm using CR XI with a Teradata database.
I've created a simple interactive list report with about five columns of output. The end users run the report via a browser from CR Enterprise Server then saves the output to Excel and then forwards it to an external company for use.
Steps are as follows:
1)
Run report and view output on screen via CR Enterprise.
2)
Save to Excel. When prompted for format type specify
"Data Only".
3)
Durng the download process when prompted to Open or Save the file. Select save.
4)
Email file as an attachment to an external company for use.
In step three a user can Open the file in Excel and then Save the file or they can just save the file. There is no need for a user to Open the file at this point as they have just viewed it in CR. So they are just saving.
The external company is able to read any file that is first opened (Excel launches automatically and displays the output) then saved. But they can't open files that are saved first (Excel doesn't launch automatically). Difference is the Save is done from Excel in the first case and from CR in the second.
To help them I've done a few tests (all with the same data).
First I created a second version of the report that was built to be used with Excel 97-2000 format (I took more care in field placement to avoid cell merging when downloading to Excel). Then I ran both reports every way that I could via CR Developer and CR Enterprise and downloading to Excel in all formats etc...
Every time I ran a report and now matter what format I specified if I did a Save and without an Open first CR created a 14k file. That makes me think CR is working properly. To check I attempted to load all these Excel files into Microsoft Access via its Get External Data functionality. It read them all. Furthermore I checked each file with a hex editor and they are all identical.
Second I ran all variations again but this time I always Opened the file during the download process (Excel launched automatcally and displayed the file). Got a different file size a few times but I'm sure that's due to specifying different formats. I also loaded these into Access without any problem.
I'm guessing that there must be some standards that Microsoft has for developers to follow when they want to create an Excel file from an application. And I'm guessing that there is a standard for how to read an Excel file.
Anyone have any info?
Thanks.
I'm using CR XI with a Teradata database.
I've created a simple interactive list report with about five columns of output. The end users run the report via a browser from CR Enterprise Server then saves the output to Excel and then forwards it to an external company for use.
Steps are as follows:
1)
Run report and view output on screen via CR Enterprise.
2)
Save to Excel. When prompted for format type specify
"Data Only".
3)
Durng the download process when prompted to Open or Save the file. Select save.
4)
Email file as an attachment to an external company for use.
In step three a user can Open the file in Excel and then Save the file or they can just save the file. There is no need for a user to Open the file at this point as they have just viewed it in CR. So they are just saving.
The external company is able to read any file that is first opened (Excel launches automatically and displays the output) then saved. But they can't open files that are saved first (Excel doesn't launch automatically). Difference is the Save is done from Excel in the first case and from CR in the second.
To help them I've done a few tests (all with the same data).
First I created a second version of the report that was built to be used with Excel 97-2000 format (I took more care in field placement to avoid cell merging when downloading to Excel). Then I ran both reports every way that I could via CR Developer and CR Enterprise and downloading to Excel in all formats etc...
Every time I ran a report and now matter what format I specified if I did a Save and without an Open first CR created a 14k file. That makes me think CR is working properly. To check I attempted to load all these Excel files into Microsoft Access via its Get External Data functionality. It read them all. Furthermore I checked each file with a hex editor and they are all identical.
Second I ran all variations again but this time I always Opened the file during the download process (Excel launched automatcally and displayed the file). Got a different file size a few times but I'm sure that's due to specifying different formats. I also loaded these into Access without any problem.
I'm guessing that there must be some standards that Microsoft has for developers to follow when they want to create an Excel file from an application. And I'm guessing that there is a standard for how to read an Excel file.
Anyone have any info?
Thanks.