Confused about Viewers for Crystal Reports

[scb1776]

I have been working with Crystal Reports 2008. The company wants a new report with a drill down in a cross-tab. I saw that this can only be done using the DHTML report part viewer. I don't actually know what the report part viewer is or what the implications are for viewing the report using a DHTML viewer. I have only ever run the reports using Crystal Reports and we provide the .rpt files to the clients and tell them to use Crystal Reports and allow them to personalize the reports as they wish. So I am missing where/how to use the viewer.

Can someone please direct me to a basic (very basic) tutorial on viewers. How and when to use them, how to set them up.

Do I need a server environment, or am I already in one without realizing it just by using Crystal Reports? Each of our reports is stand-alone, just the .rpt file.

Does the report look the same using the report part viewer as it does if I launch it straight from Crystal Reports?

Thanks

 

[hilfy]

You should be able to do drill-down from within Crystal itself without using a viewer.

-Dell

DecisionFirst Technologies - Seven-time SAP BusinessObjects Solution Partner of the Year

http://www.decisionfirst.com

 

[HowardHammerman]

There are a number of third party viewers that would allow your clients that do not have a copy of Crystal Reports (CR) to run the reports (including drill down) without having to purchase CR. The extra advantage is that while they can enter parameter values and get results using live data they will not be able to modify your excellent reports. Most of the third party viewers can also schedule the reports to run and print or export to a file (*.xls, *.pdf, etc.). For a complete review go to

http://www.kenhamady.com

and read his September 2012 newsletter.

Howard Hammerman,
Crystal Training and Crystal Material
On-site classes and one-on-one coaching
Low-cost telephone/email support

http://www.hammerman.com

 

[scb1776]

Thank you for your suggestions. Our company produces only sample reports since what we really do is process the data. Since we encourage clients to change the reports as needed we do not officially support any of the third party viewers.

Everything that I have been able to find about being able to drill down into specific cell of a cross-tab indicates that you need to be using the DHTML viewer and the information only discusses this in terms of a server environment. Although I have drill downs on other reports, I have not been able to find how to allow the user to click on a cell in a cross-tab and drill into the detail data for that cell. Most documentation seems to indicate that the DHTML viewer is required for this; thus I am trying to determine what type of impact will occur if we switch to a server environment (which I think is necessary for DHTML).

 

[IdoMillet]

Will a solution that allows you to drill-down to the detail records that make up the clicked Cross-Tab cell work for you?

- Ido

view, export, burst, email, and schedule Crystal Reports.

http://www.MilletSoftware.com

 

[PeterDimitrov]

If the goal is to show the details for a summarized value you can check this video:

http://www.r-tag.com/Pages/Preview_Demo.aspx

The first 3 minutes show a comparison between a crystal cross-tab and the same report presented as a pivot table, which shows the details on double click ( jump to 2:50)
You can extend the existing crystal report and present the data as a pivot table (or regular grid) just with one click. This extension is demonstrated here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hk6FJ1dvb4&feature=player_embedded

This is a 3rd party viewer, so I don't know if it will work for you , but at least you can consider it as an option. The viewer has it's own editor to prepare the pivot tables, grids and charts layouts. There is a newer version , which allows even to create a dynamic dashboard on top of the existing Crystal report. No video to demonstrate this option , but you can see the dashboard screenshots here:

http://www.r-tag.com/Pages/WhatIsNew.aspx

No purchase is necessary- you can get the viewer for free from this page:

http://www.r-tag.com/Pages/FreeCrystalReportsViewer.aspx

http://www.R-Tag.com

Viewer and Scheduler for Crystal reports and SSRS.