Integrate reports into Access w/o Developer edition?

[jpicks]

Hi all.

Does anyone know if it is possible to integrate a crystal report into a Microsoft Access application if the reports were not built using the Crystal Developer edition? The reports I have were built using crystal 9 professional edition. I'm trying to find a solution that will prevent me from having to purchase a copy of Crystal Developer edition.

Thanks in advance.

 

[IdoMillet]

You need to developer license to be allowed to deploy the necessary Crystal runtime components. This has nothing to do with what version the reports were developed under.

Cheers,
- Ido

CUT, Visual CUT, and DataLink Viewer:
view, e-mail, export, burst, distribute, and schedule Crystal Reports.

http://www.MilletSoftware.com

 

[Mike Lewis]

jpicks,

An alternative would be to use a third-party viewer, of which there are several on the market. You would be able to launch the viewer from within Access (by calling the Windows ShellExecute() function, for instance).

However, you would not be able to customise the report at run time in any way, as you could if you used the Developers Edition and the RDC.

Mike


Mike Lewis
Edinburgh, Scotland

My Visual Foxpro web site:

http://www.ml-consult.demon.co.uk

My Crystal Reports web site:

http://www.ml-crystal.com

 

[jpicks]

Thanks for the replies!

Unfortunately obtaining the developer license is not an option for me right now. MikeLewis, I think your suggestion is the route that I am going to have to go with.

 

[Mike Lewis]

jpicks,

Perhaps you could let us know your experience with third-party viewers in due course.

Mike


Mike Lewis
Edinburgh, Scotland

My Visual Foxpro web site:

http://www.ml-consult.demon.co.uk

My Crystal Reports web site:

http://www.ml-crystal.com

 

[IdoMillet]

There's a list of 3rd-party viewers at:

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

I'm aware of at least 1 viewer on that list that can accept as command line arguments (or ShellExecute parameters) various inputs you would probably wish to control from your access application such as: which report to view, report parameters, user_id & password, viewing mode (preview only or full GUI).

Cheers,
- Ido

CUT, Visual CUT, and DataLink Viewer:
view, e-mail, export, burst, distribute, and schedule Crystal Reports.

http://www.MilletSoftware.com

 

[jpicks]

Sure thing. Here's a quick run down on what we've discovered so far...

We recently purchased a site license for Crystal Desk Report Viewer. Overall the viewer seems to work pretty well, but has some quirks. Currently we are having problems with parameterized reports. If a user launches the viewer by double clicking on a report icon, the user is not prompted for the parameters. But if the user opens the report from within the viewer, the parameters work as designed. So for now we are training our users to open the viewer first, and then launch the reports. When I have time I am going to try to resolve this. I'll put a thread out there when I resolve this or if I run into anything else.

 

[Mike Lewis]

jpicks,

I don't know Crystal Desk Report Viewer, so this is a wild guess. But is it possible that the reports have data saved within them? If so, it could be that the viewer does not try to refresh the report unless you explicitly tell it to, and will therefore not prompt for the parameter.

As I say, that's just a guess, do don't rely on it.

Mike




Mike Lewis
Edinburgh, Scotland

My Visual Foxpro web site:

http://www.ml-consult.demon.co.uk

My Crystal Reports web site:

http://www.ml-crystal.com