Crystal Reports 10 - the real story 1

[jenschmidt]

Okay - we've read all the hype about the new release of Crystal Reports. But, now I would like to hear opinions from you guys. Is it really worth upgrading again? Are there any great new features/enhancements that we should consider or that will effect everyday working life?

Some of the smaller, yet time consuming, things they took out was being able to subtotal at multiple levels with one click, formatting fields through Options instead of each field one at a time.

Thanks! I know I always get great input from you guys!!


jennifer.giemza@uwmf.wisc.edu

 

[HowardHammerman]

I just got back from the user conference and learned the following:
1) Business views are very neat. Yes, you must buy the Developer or Advanced versions to create Business views. It is included as part of Crystal Enterprise.
2) Yes, Business views will be continued in Version 11 and will replace the BO universe. There may be some last minute name changes, but the functionality will be continued.
3) Version 11 is a major upgrade. It will include parameters with values that will refresh automatically and will even have cascading parameters.
4) Version 11 is due out in December, 2004.
5) Everyone agreed that the real reason for Version 10 was to get out the Crystal Enterprise version that worked with Java. On the desktop, Crystal Reports 10 is basically Crystal Reports 9 with the bugs worked out and the Repository removed.

Howard Hammerman,
Crystal Training and Crystal Material
On-site and public classes
Low-cost telephone/email support
FREE independent Crystal newsletter
howard@hammerman.com

http://www.hammerman.com

800-783-2269

 

[jenschmidt]

Thanks so much for the useful info from the user conference! Any definitive info regarding whether we can skip the v10 upgrade and go straight to v11 in Dec?

Thanks again!

jennifer.giemza@uwmf.wisc.edu

 

[HowardHammerman]

I am sure you can. This has always been the policy in the past.

Howard Hammerman,
Crystal Training and Crystal Material
On-site and public classes
Low-cost telephone/email support
FREE independent Crystal newsletter
howard@hammerman.com

http://www.hammerman.com

800-783-2269

 

[mathew1955]

Great info on the upgrades and greatly appreciated. I have a question on our specific setup. We are using Crystal 8 web server for report distribution and designing in Crystal 8.5. and it does work well for us. We did not upgrade any futher due to the change in licensing. Any thoughts on what Crystal 11 will provide the I don't have already that would make it worth upgrading and would we be able to go from 8 or 8.5 to 11? Thank you!

 

[lupins46]

Very interesting thread.
I recently watched a webcast where BO said that their policy was that no (CR) user would have to pay again for functionality they already had.

I now assume this must have meant 'except for the repository'.

 

[HowardHammerman]

To Mathew1955.
Be careful! Do not upgrade unless there is some specific feature in the new versions of Crystal Enterprise that you simply cannot live without. What you have right now is a perfect solution to web-enable your reports. While it may not have every bell and horn possible, it works and you are not paying $40,000 or more for it. If you enjoy spending money, go ahead and upgrade. Otherwise, hold on to your Crystal Version 8.



Howard Hammerman,
Crystal Training and Crystal Material
On-site and public classes
Low-cost telephone/email support
FREE independent Crystal newsletter
howard@hammerman.com

http://www.hammerman.com

800-783-2269

 

[teknogeek9]

I am in the process of upgrading from 8.5 to 10 for one very simple reason...starting with 9, I don't have to worry about blob fields not working beyond 255 characters.

 

[fredp1]

I've also heard thet BO will be dropping the URL reporting in Enterprise in future releases of CR. BY URL reporting I understand it to mean pointing to the rpt file on the IIS server and the report would be displayed in the Viewer. This relates to NEILSTEBBING previous comment.
Some BO people have said it is possible to still use it in 10, but I am not sure how. But after 10... forget it.

They want you to use the sdk/eportfolio to get to the reports for Enterprise.
Fred

 

[Dond12]

No one seems to be overwhelmed by a feature that is absolutely indispensible in my office: tha ability in version 9 and above to use memo fields in formulas (and, hence, to be able to search for key words and phrases in memo fields). For my Federal agency, which awards grants for complex projects and, therefore, needs a tool that can look through fairly detailed project descriptions for particular phrases, this justifies the expense of upgrading from 8.5 to 9.0. Haven't yet tried v. 10.

 

[Turkbear]

Hi,
IMHO, the biggest improvement is in the Business Views
tool..The ability to set row and column level security based on CE credentials is a very powerful addition to the tool set.

 

[HowardHammerman]

I agree with Turkbear. It is a giant step up from the data dictionary which was ignored and not upgraded from Version 5 untill now. HOWEVER, the problem I have is that the ability to create and modify business views comes only with Crystal enterprise versions included in Crystal Reports Developer and Advanced. It is not in the professional edition. Professional and standard editions can "read" views created in the other editions. So a feature that we used to have for free has been upgraded but made an "option" in the more expensive version. Sort of like the car companies making you pay for options that used to be standard. AND I know the Busines Views have many more features (such and row and column security) than the dictionary ever had. It also seems rather stable. Oh...Well. I better get out my checkbook.

Howard Hammerman,
Crystal Training and Crystal Material
On-site and public classes
Low-cost telephone/email support
FREE independent Crystal newsletter
howard@hammerman.com

http://www.hammerman.com

800-783-2269

 

[rhinok]

FYI, Business Views are not an upgrade from Data Dictionaries. They are an upgraded version of Info Views, which were available with Crystal/Seagate Info. When Crystal Enterprise 8 was released, support for Info Views was dropped (along with most of the other useful Crystal/Seagate Info functionality). Info View users were instructed to rename their .civ files as .dc5 (

http://support.businessobjects.com/communityCS/TechnicalPapers/ce8_crystal_qry_dct_and_civ.pdf).

~Kurt

 

[HowardHammerman]

Interesting. The .dc5 extension is the one used by the Crystal Dictionary. While I am sure that rhinkok is correct that Business Views owes its lineage to Crystal Info, I was looking at the process from a Crystal Reports perspective. The bottom line is that:
1) we now have the ability to create a meta layer with row and column security, formulas, aliases, etc.
2) We have to purchase the more expensive editions to get it.

Howard Hammerman,
Crystal Training and Crystal Material
On-site and public classes
Low-cost telephone/email support
FREE independent Crystal newsletter
howard@hammerman.com

http://www.hammerman.com

800-783-2269

 

[TMJ]

I curently use crystal 8.5 but this can only access Exchange Server 5.5 and we now have Exchange Server 2003.
I want to be able to do reports on e-mail usage etc.
Will v10 do this or v11 or is there a fix for 8.5?


TJ

 

[JimmyEdwards]

CR 10 is not compatible with windows 9x at all. We are just about to upgrade, but stil have some PCs on Windows 98. We are getting version 9, which is still available from the BO website, at the same price as Version 10.