V.9 Export to Word Editing Problem 1

[jahgardener]

When a Crystal Report is exported to MS Word, is there a way to edit the document in the normal fashion without all text being entered into text boxes? This question has been asked in one of these forums recently, I could not refind this thread, so I am asking again, as one of my clients is at meltdown stage due to the fact that Crystal Word export does not work the same as R&R would. Is there a global way to turn off text boxes in either the export or Word to make on the fly editing (deleting data, entering page breaks, fixing that spelling error) less of a nightmare?

I have suggested a variety of other temp solutions with regards to rtf and tab separated text to no avail. The report has large memo fields that require significant editing and several group levels.

Thanks

 

[synapsevampire]

I'd go with straight Text as you've no control over how Word exports.

You could always create some Word VBA/macro to clean it up after the export, but text should be simpler for the users.

-k

 

[jahgardener]

This has been suggested to no avail - basically this is a simple report, but a text export takes out all the column formatting etc. They want to maintain at least some of the formatting without reconfiguring the massive amount of data everytime they run the report. The site has a rather significant number of scientific symbols etc. as well. This client has upgraded their database platforms, and the newer version uses Crystal instead of R&R. I had written the R&R reports, rewrote them in Crystal, but had no idea that so much editing was taking place once the export to Word happened.

I know about in now however.... help! Is there some update patch I am unaware of the may get this problem fixed?

 

[synapsevampire]

It being a problem is relative to what you want output, but I don't think that you have a simple solution there, sorry.

The Text type export allows for the number of lines per page, otherwise you don't have much flexibility.

-k

 

[rhinok]

Crystal Reports designs reports best in Crystal Reports format. The tool excels at creating static, presentation quality reports. Just because it can export to other formats doesn't mean that you should do it. If you are required to export to other formats then there are certain design considerations that must be adhered to in order to obtain the cleanest Export.

Both Excel and the Text formats have extensive design considerations, for example (Paginated Text will maintain column integrity if the report is designed properly). Word, RTF and PDF are all generally WYSIWYG. The downside to exporting to Word and RTF are the way the exports happen, with each piece of text being embedded in a separate textbox. Additionally, Word and RTF exporting generates substantially larger file sizes than other export types, such as PDF.

During the requirements gather phase of report writing, I always ask my users/clients what they intend to do with a report once its been run. In your case, why are the reports exported to Word? What does your client need Word documents for? Are you exporting to word because they don't have Crystal Reports viewers? Why are they modifying the output? You've stated[ul][li]The report has large memo fields that require significant editing[/li][/ul]Why do these fields require significant editing? If the data is coming from a database, then this would indicate that the data in the database is bad. Editing the end result doesn't resolve the issue of bad data (enter the golden rule of reporting - GIGO - Garbage In - Garbage Out). This might be a good opportunity to reevaluate your clients requirements and your method of implementation.

 

[jahgardener]

You are correct of course, but my problem is that the clients have lost the ability to do something they had come to depend on with R&R. (the reporting program for their legacy software product)

The report in question pulls in a variety of fields and within the detail section contains a remark field that features at times long stacked emails and memos. This remark field was edited, excess material removed and cleaned up, spelling errors corrected, and so forth leaving what the report processor feels is critical to monthly board meetings. At times other material is inserted, and page breaks are rearranged. The report is then printed and distributed.

My question I suppose is why do they have the export to Word feature at all if the only thing you can really do with it is save it as a .doc file?

I appreciate the input however, as now at least I know that I am not just missing something rather obvious. BTW, does anyone know if by getting adobe publisher, can the pdf file be edited in a way that may do the trick?

 

[jahgardener]

Addendum:

From my experimentations, the export to Word problem seems to be Crystal Version 9 specific. My clients called Crystal and were told that they are aware of the problem and if enough people complained, it may end up on a bug report for the programmers to address.

So, I guess if you too are experiencing a problem with this, I suppose the only recourse is to go back to version 8.5 or to complain to the company. (of course by going back to 8.5 you lose the ability to query memo/text fields...)

 

[willyd61]

This is also a problem on version 8.5 as well, and Enterrpise enginer 8.5 when it generates the doc file as well.