Any way to specify multiple destinations for a report?

[djmnyc]

Is there any way to specify multiple destinations for a single report via Crystal Enterprise?

In other words, after the report instance has been generated, I want the report e-mailed to a list of interested parties, AND also FTP'd over to a data store server.

Is this possible?

Currently, I have to create two seperate instances of the same report, and have one be FTP'd, while the other is e-mailed. This is not at all ideal, since the report is unnecessarily hitting the DB server for the second report instance.

Any ideas?

Thanks everyone.
Dan

 

[synapsevampire]

You can write code to handle this by opening an instance and then doing an export, but I don't think that ePortfolio has this functionality.

Check to see if the FTP server can place the report in some directory based on an email being received, they may have some rule based email server that will work, or you might use your own email server and have the rule set up so that the file will be FTP'd to the appropriate place upon receipt by your server.

-k

 

[rhinok]

Check out this third-party link from APOS:

http://www.apos.on.ca/sections/07-SoftSol-DistrSvr.shtml

Their Distribution Server add-on might be what you're looking for.


~Kurt

 

[KingfisherINC]

You don't mention which version you're using?

In CE10 you can use Notification to send the email and have FTP as the destination.

In CE9 you would have to use one of the above suggestions.

Kingfisher

 

[djmnyc]

Ah yes. Sorry. I currently am using CE9.

Tell me, does the Notification functionality allow you to e-mail a copy of the report to a distribution list? Or, is this functionality more for notification of the report's success or failure?

If within the Notification settings I can mail the report instance to a distribution list AND then also FTP the report instance in Destination, I would be golden.

Thx,
dan

 

[KingfisherINC]

I'm pretty sure Notification will send a copy of the report if you specify using the Report Job Server's default settings (and that is what you have set on the RJS). So you might need some creative server groups to get exactly what you want.

I have not actually tested this, as you say, primarily Notifications are used to report the jobs status via email (or audit Db.).

Health Warning: Emailing reports can seriously harm your license agreement.

Kingfisher

 

[mdwyer]

Health Warning: Emailing reports can seriously harm your license agreement.

How so?

 

[KingfisherINC]

Well I'm not exactly sure, but depending on you license agreement you may need a RDL (Report Distribution License) there is a pdf somewhere that goes into all the details but it would be better to speak to your account manager because nothing seems black and white.

e.g. I don't think you can have a 20 CAL (Concurrent Access License) or say 10 Named, and then email the reports to thousands of people on a distribution list - this would violate you license AFAIK.

Kingfisher

 

[rhinok]

Basically, you can only distribute reports to as many individuals as your licensing allows. The limits are:[ol][li]Named User Licenses - You can distribute reports to as many users as have valid Named User Licenses[/li][li]Concurrent Access Licenses - You can distribute reports to 10 X the number of valid Concurrent Access Licenses you have. If you have 15 CALs, then you can distribute to 150 individuals.[/li][li]Processor-based License - If you have a Processor-based license and wish to use the 'Set Destination' feature, then you have to purchase a RDL, period.[/li][/ol]


~Kurt

 

[spedi]

For Ver. 9 of CE, the formula given by rhinok is correct and also users upgrading from ver 9 to Ver 10 of CE.

For new Ver.10 users, including users upgrading from Seagate Info to CE 10 the equation is as follows:

1. Named User Licenses - You can distribute reports to as many users as have valid Named User Licenses. (same)

2. Concurrent Access Licenses - You can distribute reports to as many users as have valid as concurrent access liceses, that means you have lost the 10 X factor. (real bad)

3. Processor-based License - If you have a Processor-based license and wish to use the 'Set Destination' feature, then you have to purchase a RDL, period. (same)



Srinath

http://www.nhsonline.org

srinath_p (at) yahoo.com

 

[mdwyer]

Actually, it appears that for the Named User Licenses, it is not the number of users covered by NUL's but the specific users assigned to those NUL's.

There is also the key word "regularly" in the restrictions, with an allowance for "ad hoc" distribution outside the CE environment.

(See license.rtf on the CE9 installation CD, paragraph 4.6.)

 

[rhinok]

2. Concurrent Access Licenses - You can distribute reports to as many users as have valid as concurrent access liceses, that means you have lost the 10 X factor. (real bad)

If you have 100 users assigned to 10 CALs, then you can still distribute to 100 users based on your wording, because each of those users has a valid concurrent access license.

I'm curious as to Crystal's stance.


~Kurt

 

[spedi]

If you are purchasing directly CE ver. 10, as described above, you can assign as many users as you want against those 10 CALS (not limited to 100 users as you mentioned) but only 10 users can receive the reports through email or access through a location.

In version 9 (section 4.6), the RDL for concurrent access was specially mentioned 10X factor where if you look at Version 10, they have dropped the whole conversion factor under the RDL section, section 4.4 (in ver 10). For detail explaination you can check with your Crystal Account Manager.






Srinath

http://www.nhsonline.org

srinath_p (at) yahoo.com

 

[keg3]

Does anyone know if there is an actual limit to the number of email addresses you can specify? Thanks

 

[dedd999]

we've been testing some 3rd party software , BIE , it is basically a file conversion piece of software that can listen on an FTP site and once the specified file is detected can e-mail , convert to XML , or any other action you need . It might be worth a look

http://www.brunswickwdi.com/bie

 

[paulmarr]

Hey,

Has anybody thought of scheduling the same report twice with two a destination on each???

I hope this helps!

paulmarr