Can I save a report and protect the design? 2

[whosoever]

I want to share reports with some users but really only want them to be able to run and input selection criteria. I don't want them to be able to change the design of the report.

 

[Turkbear]

Hi,
Before sending it to the users, try making it a read-only file and set the security so that it prevents users ( other then you) from changing the attributes..





To Paraphrase:"The Help you get is proportional to the Help you give.."

 

[AndyMc]

Whosoever,

For the CASUAL user, you can stop them from "accidently" messing with the report by going into the section expert and checking the read-only box for each section. This locks everything in place on the report (unless they know enough to go in and undo this). This feature is availabe in ver. 10 & 11, but not in 8.5.

Andy

 

[dgillz]

Andy,

What you really need is a crystal reports viewer. The users do not even have crystal reports installed on their machine, just a viewer. They execute the report, and can then export it or print it, but they cannot change any formulas, selection logic, add new fields, change formatting, etc.

There are a ton of these available, just google it up. But my favorite is Datalink viewer by Millet Software.

http://www.milletsoftware.com

Software Sales, Training, Implementation and Support for Macola, eSynergy, and Crystal Reports

http://www.gainfocus.biz

"If the phone doesn't ring, it's me".....Jimmy Buffet

 

[synapsevampire]

Consider saving the report to a folder that you have control over, and then set the attributes to read only for the file.

And be forewarned that with most of the viewers they have the option to export to Crystal Reports format, so they could then take a copy and modify it.

Not sure why you care that they modify it. They can always export to Excel and then tweak any of the numbers anyway.

If you trust the person, hire them, if not, don't.

There are a host of viewers demonstrated here:

http://www.kenhamady.com/bookmarks.html

Ken is one of the local Crystal gurus, and that site should prove a tremendous resource.

Like dgillz, I'm a fam of Ido Millet's work, however there are many fine products out there, even a freebie.

With CR XI Pro and above came Crystal Reports Server, which provides a web delivery portal.

Please remember to post your software version.

-k

 

[Turkbear]

Hi,
k,
your statement

And be forewarned that with most of the viewers they have the option to export to Crystal Reports format, so they could then take a copy and modify it.

does not really apply since XI..Exporting to CR format is not allowed unless the 'advanced' security options are set for the user to have 'Download files ...' permission.





To Paraphrase:"The Help you get is proportional to the Help you give.."

 

[synapsevampire]

Turk:
The new CR Viewer does NOT allow for exporting to RPT so you must be speaking of other viewers.

In the Data Link Viewer, you must be using a RPZ format to protect against exporting to RPT.

From the manual:
Within DataLink Viewer & Visual CUT, rpz files behave just like rpt files except that, in order to protect the report design, exporting rpz files to "rpt" format or to "report definition" format is blocked:

So yes, it exports to RPT.

From Easyviews technical sheet:
Export Reports
Crystal Reports can be exported to many popular formats for distribution to people that don't have Crystal Reports or a Crystal Report Viewer.
Acrobat Format (PDF), MS Word (DOC), MS Excel (XLS), Rich Text Format (RTF), Text (TXT), Comma Separated Values (CSV), Crystal Reports (RPT), Tab-separated text (TTX), HTML, XML

So yes, it exports to RPT.

etc.

For CR Viewers it is indeed an issue, they can export to RPT.

I don't understand your post.

-k

 

[kenhamady]

If you give the user a viewer they don't need to export to RPT format to edit the file because you are giving them the RPT to open in the viewer. Or am I missing something here?

I think the intent of giving them a viewer is instead of giving them full copy of CR designer. That means they don't have the tools to edit the RPT. But they could always install CR as well as the viewer. Anyone who has a copy of Crystal Reports and has your RPT file is going to be able to explore it and change it.

The only method I know for securely preventing the user from tampering with the RPT is to not give them an RPT. Give the user Data Link Viewer and let them run your reports as RPZ files. RPZ Files can be run, but can't be opened in Crystal.

Ken Hamady, On-site Custom Crystal Reports Training & Consulting
Public classes and individual training.
Guides to Formulas, Parameters, Subreports, Cross-tabs, VB, Tips and Tricks

http://www.kenhamady.com/

 

[synapsevampire]

Ken: We often set up automated links that open a viewer and the report file. They cannot directly open the file from within CR if they have it.

So with the ability to export to RPT, they can change the report.

Should be a big deal in any case.

But even in your scenario, in theory they could run a report with saved data and different parasmeters and then overwrite your original.

I wouldn't worry over it as I woulodn't allow a user access to a production report file. But just in case, I mentioned it.

I now regret doing so

-k

 

[synapsevampire]

Ooops, that should rewad:

SHOULDN'T be a big deal in any case.

-k

 

[kenhamady]

How would they "theoretically" overwrite the original RPZ? There is no way within the viewer to create an RPZ.

Ken Hamady, On-site Custom Crystal Reports Training & Consulting
Public classes and individual training.
Guides to Formulas, Parameters, Subreports, Cross-tabs, VB, Tips and Tricks

http://www.kenhamady.com/

 

[synapsevampire]

Apples and Oranges Ken.

I was speaking of 3rd party viewers, and you're back to the BO viewer.

I'll just drop it...

-k

 

[kenhamady]

But I never mentioned the BO viewer. My scenario was DLV and RPZ files.

Your comment was:
But even in your scenario, in theory they could run a report with saved data and different parameters and then overwrite your original.

so, I am confused.

Ken Hamady, On-site Custom Crystal Reports Training & Consulting
Public classes and individual training.
Guides to Formulas, Parameters, Subreports, Cross-tabs, VB, Tips and Tricks

http://www.kenhamady.com/

 

[synapsevampire]

Rather, yuou're speaking about rpz files, and I was speaking of RPT files.

If you reread this thread you'll discover that I was the one that brought up using RPZ files to prevent this in the first place, you merely echoed me later on.

"Within DataLink Viewer & Visual CUT, rpz files behave just like rpt files except that, in order to protect the report design, exporting rpz files to "rpt" format or to "report definition" format is blocked: "

Nopw you sound as if you never read what I stated and miss the point of my comment, which is that many 3rd party viewers can allow for exporting to Crystal Reports format, so the notion of protecting the design, the topic of this thread, could be compromised...

-k

 

[whosoever]

Thanks so much for all ya'll assistance.

 

[kenhamady]

SV,

No, sorry. I read the entire thread and I know that you mentioned RPZ files.

What I asked, and what still doesn't make sense to me is your comment about my 'scenario'. I don't see how using DLV with an RPZ file can in any way overwrite either the 'original' RPT or the RPZ. First, they wouldn't have the RPT. That would defeat the whole purpose of the RPZ. Second, they can't overwrite the RPZ with a modified RPZ either from DLV or from anything else. So I disagree with that part of your comment.

As I said, DLV is the simplest way (and for most people the only way) to secure an RPT file that they want to distribute.

Ken Hamady, On-site Custom Crystal Reports Training & Consulting
Public classes and individual training.
Guides to Formulas, Parameters, Subreports, Cross-tabs, VB, Tips and Tricks

http://www.kenhamady.com/

 

[Turkbear]

Hi synapse..

I too readily assume folks are using CR Server or BO Enterprise to view reports and published
reports cannot be exported to CR format without the permissions settings I mentioned..My Bad - non-published ( non-managed) reports are not bound be BO's security model..





To Paraphrase:"The Help you get is proportional to the Help you give.."

 

[deb13]

hey guys - clash of the titans!

 

[IdoMillet]

Just a clarification: DataLink Viewer (DLV) does allow users to create an .rpz file from an .rpt file (unless you disable that option in the ini file). However, the key point is that they need access to the .rpt file in order to do that.

So, as the developer, you use DLV to convert your .rpt to .rpz and you keep the .rpt file to yourself. You give users access to only the .rpz file. The brats may delete or overwrite the file (if they have such file permissions) but that's all they can do. They can't export it to .rpt or to report definition, and they can't open it in Crystal to see how the report was designed (intellectual property protection) or mess with its design.

Synapse is correct is assuming that (in most cases) the users can overwrite the .rpz and Ken is correct in stating that that's probably a non-issue because they still can't access or change the design of the original report -- they can only lose its .rpz incarnation...

Cheers,
- Ido

view, e-mail, export, burst, distribute, and schedule Crystal Reports.

http://www.MilletSoftware.com