Getting started with Web Reporting 1

[AWehrstedt]

I'm relatively new to Crystal Reports so please excuse my ignorance.

I need to be able to access a crystal report from a web-browser. I have created the report and published it on the web server. If I type in the URL I can view it in Crystal Reports viewer. There are a few things I'm unsure of.

A) Do I need to have the client install any sort of plug-in to view a crystal report on a website (a pc without Crystal Reports installed)?
B) What code do i need to put into my ASP page to link to the report? (i.e.

http://server/path/reportname.rpt?)

C) The report needs to send a parameter to identify which record to display in the report..does the report have to be configured specially to allow the parameter to be passed to it?

Thanks for all your help,
Andrew

 

[AEldridge]

Hi Andrew,

Welcome to the wonderful world of web reporting. In answer to your questions:

a) Crystal Reports has several versions of its viewer to choose from - ActiveX, Java, Java-plugin (for Netscape browsers) and HTML (both V3.2 and V4.0). Depending on which one you use, you may or may not cause the client browser to download an active component.

The HTML viewer is truely thin client - that is there is no active content delivered to the client. The ActiveX viewer and Java-plugin are one-time downloads of about 600KB, while the Java applet gets downloaded once per session - it is a limitation of the Java environment that applets do not persistently cache on the client.

b) You are exactly right about the way to invoke a report - simply put a link like

http://myserver/myreport.rpt.

There are many parameters you can pass in this URL to control the viewer. If you are using CR8, look in the "Web Reporting Administrators Guide" - p46. If you are using CR8.5, check out the Web Developers Help file, found in the \DOCS directory on the CE CD.

c) If you want you report to accept a parameter, you need to create it so that it has a parameter field defined - do this through the Insert->Field Object menu option. You then use this parameter in the report selection formula.

Now, if you invoke the report through the URL above, the Web Component Server will automatically prompt you for the parameter. Alternaltly you can pass the parameter value in the URL as

http://myserver/myreport.rpt?param0='Foo'

I hope this helps.

Cheers, Alan Eldridge
Melbourne, Australia

 

[zimba]

Hey AEldridge ,

What exactly do you mean by "HTML is a thine client - that is there is no active content delivered to the client." I am trying to view the report in a java application. Somehow, I am missing some of the fields such as the log on button and the list of folders on CE. Does that anything to do with that?

 

[AEldridge]

Hi Zimba,

There are three main viewer options you can use to view reports inside a web browser - HTML, a Java applet and an ActiveX component.

Of these, both the Java applet and ActiveX components deliver a piece of active content (code) to the client machine where it runs and renders the report, whereas the HTML viewer does not - the report is rendered back on the Web Component Server.

Hence the HTML viewer is a "true thin client".

If you are trying to integrate Crystal Reports in a Java application I am guessing you will be using the Java SmartViewer Bean - check out page 242 of the Technical Reference Guide for instructions on how to use this properly.

Cheers,
Alan
Alan Eldridge
Melbourne, Australia

 

[zimba]

Eldridge or anyone,

Here are the problems I run into though; I tried using the
Report viewwer bean in my java application but I can only access the "Unmanaged" reports in CE. I then tried publishing the reports in CE (managed) and pointing my java application to the project folder which I tried to view the contents in a JEditorPane but can only see HMTL parts since JEditorPane does not parse JavaScript. The question is; is there another way I can view the "managed" reports in a Java application? I need the benefits of "managed" reports in CE as well as being able to view the application in my java application as well as in a browser. The browser part is not a problem but can I have the same in java?

 

[zimba]

How does crystal report deal with user defined data sources i.e can it take lets say Java clases ?