File path name

[dyan24]

We will be implementing CE10 by end of November. Currently, we are re-writing some reports in Crystal Reportv10.

Now my question is if the file path name is added on the report footer. Once the report is migrated to the Enterprise how will it report the file path name?

TIA!

 

[dialworld]

You'll get the physical path where it's being run on the server (meaningless)... You might want to use the Comments field and write the path there if absolutelt neede...

 

[synapsevampire]

Yes, but it will be unintelligible because it will be the path to the CE version of the report, which is renamed and it keeps it's own directory structure, it does NOT keep read the report from a folder that you state.

Also I don't know that a file path name is, do you mean the Filename function in Crystal? This shows the file name and the path to it.

Filename will be a bad idea, go under the File->Summary Info and place the name in the Title, and you might add to the Keywords as well to aid with searching from within CE later.

Now you can use the Crystal function ReportTitle to display what you've placed in the Title area. I do this for the name of every report in the header. The old notion of paths to the original file doesn't hold in an Enterprise environment.

Besides, the path isn't a directory the user would have access to, nor would you want ANYONE using this method to access the report.

-k

 

[dyan24]

Thanks dialworld and k!

Yes, the file path name that i am talking about is the Filename function in Crystal report designer, where it shows the file name and path to it.

The only reason i am interested in it, since we've got a hundred reports. It would be easier for us if just by looking at the report print-out where the report is being saved, if after a year we need to modify it for some reason. We know where to look for it, even if the person who created the report is not here anymore.

It's just that sometimes the report title is not sufficient enough to look for the report.

 

[synapsevampire]

To open a report on CE you will find another icon on the left side of the open dialog in Crystal Reports which states Enterprise, and then you use the folder structure in CE (unrelated to how CE staores the reports) and you can open reports directly.

Hence your intent being unworkable in CE, as the method to modify a report in CE being much simpler.

Again, that's a method common to non Enterprise types of processes, these days many Enterprise applications manage their own file systems, and expose them to you, eliminating the need for you to manage such processes.

-k

 

[Turkbear]

Hi,
Please reread the docs on how CE handles published reports..The Original report is not moved from where it was created, a copy of it is placed in the CE server's Input FRS server location...It is given an odd name and is buried many layers deep in the subd. structure.

To modify a published report, you can open the published version in CR Using the 'Open From Entrprise Folders' option , or delete the existing version (using the CMC) and publish a modified one ( perhaps using the Original design as a start).

CE always knows where to get the report - In the CMC,the properties info for the report will indicate the physical location of CE's version of the report. This is saved in the CMS so the CE Servers that need to know( pageserver,jobserver, etc) can always find it.

 

[dialworld]

I think what he meant though was the CE path (the "virtual" path), in our case we have hundreds of CE web folders and sometimes being able to get the CE web folder on the report would have been useful. In this case we type the CE web folder in the Comments and then use the comment function (don't have its exact name in front of me right now, but one of the default ones)... Quite manual, but after a year it is useful in order to find the report again. Looking for this in the Audit statistics is probably a good solution as well if we know when it runs or if we have its name (as mentionned by Synapse).

 

[Turkbear]

Hi,
Do you mean the CMC folder or the web site virtual directory..Both can be obtained through code, but, if using EPortfolio, it already shows you the CMC folder.

If using custom code you can query Infoobjects for the attributes of the CE report and folder..

 

[dyan24]

Now, in CE is there a way that i can add an identifier on my report footer the folder path location?

This is to help the users especially when this report is only being requested once-a-year to help them find the report that they will need to run?

 

[Turkbear]

Hi,
I'm really confused now..( Not an odd thing for me )
How can putting the info in the report help them find the report they need..If they can find the report they do not need to know the folder..

 

[synapsevampire]

The short answer is I don't think so, there isn't a path function available to Crystal Reports at design time to demonstrate where in CEs folders a report exists.

Dialworld: I just pop open eportfolio and use the search to find the report. It would be fairly easy to code something as well, but I can't imagine the built in search function being considered too slow or clumsy.

-k

 

[dialworld]

oops, too simple for me forgot that search option...

 

[dyan24]

Hi Turkbear,

to clear up the confusion...here is a reality that happen sometimes in the company.

The manager only have a copy of the report that was given to her last year from the HR Dept. The person on the HR department is not with the company anymore, and no one in the HR department knows about that report and how it was generated. Now, since we have the hardcopy report as a proof that there is an existing report, but no one knows where to generate that report again.

If that report somehow has an identifier of the existence of the report somewhere it would help us a lot.

 

[Turkbear]

Hi,
OK, now I understand...

I would insert the location of the Original *.rpt file used to create the report before it was published into the Summary info sections under the File menu..In that section you can also list the Title and that is what EPortfolio can use to search..

User opens the Original rpt file and reads the info..then goes to Eportfolio and searches...
( You could also place comments in a text object in the header or footer and supress it - that way the published report would not show the info, but if opened in CR it could be read.)

 

[synapsevampire]

dyan: As previously mentioned, go into eportfolio and search for the report, then you know where it is.

Otherwise you might use Visual Sourcesafe or some such, that's what I do. Allows for versioning, time spent, etc.

-k

 

[synapsevampire]

And to add to why your approach will bite you in CE, you can make copies and shortcuts to reports, each of which would be in different folders, so the hardcopy won't tell you where the original that the shortcut is based on is, and if there are copies you'll want to know where all of them are, right?

-k