Crystal Reports For Beginners Guide
This widget requires JavaScript to run. To be able to do do this, I have written what I call 'Model Applications' of MDI & SDI WinForms, Web Apps, and so forth that simply require changing the artwork and business logic. I use Crystal Reports in my model apps for creating reports. This is the first part of a two-part article that will demonstrate how to implement a generic solution to using Crsytal Reports in Winforms and Web Apps. This part will deal with Winforms. Will deal with Web Apps. Background Crystal Reports is not easy to work with, and my experience has found that it has plenty of bugs and quirks.
But, the big companies all seem to like it, so I had to develop a generic approach to using it. One of the worst features of Crystal Reports is the way it handles report Parameters by presenting each parameter in a separate screen; clients really hate this! To solve this, this demo will show you how to present ALL of the parameters contained in a.rpt file in a SINGLE screen to the user. This demo displays reports using two screens, a Reports Viewer and a Parameters Viewer. You could combine these screens; this is easy to do. These screens contain the following features:. Reports Viewer.
This screen has a ComboBox that displays a list of reports that the user can select from. When the user presses the 'Get Report' button, a modal window, called the Parameters Viewer, will be launched. Parameters Viewer.
This screen displays the parameters contained in the report selected in a datagrid that you dynamically add controls to to make selecting parameter values easier for the user. After setting the parameter values for the selected report, the user will close the Parameters Viewer and the Reports Viewer will display the selected report with the selected parameters. Crystal Reports creates a binary file with an '.rpt' extension that contains ALL of the information you need to display any report. That is what you will use in this generic solution.
Select the.rpt file. Read the parameter information directly from the.rpt file. Build a table dynamically that displays all of the parameters in the selected.rpt report file.
The parameter table that you create dynamically also must contain controls that also are created dynamically to facilitate the user's selection of parameters, such as a date calendar, checkboxes, and so forth. You must create validation controls dynamically from the parameter data that you read from the.rpt file. Finally, you pass the parameter data into the Crystal Viewer and display your selected Crystal Report. Database connection information is read dynamically from the selected.rpt file.
Crystal Reports Guide
In the demo reports included, I didn't bother to connect to any data source because doing that is trival and the main point of this article is to show how to display the parameter data in a datagrid with selection controls dynamically. But, all of the code that does this is in place in the demo and will read the database information dynamically if there is any database information in the.rpt file. Reading Parameter Data from.rpt Report Files You started by pre-defining the columns of your Datagrid of Parameters as follows: Parameter, Kind, Value, Min, Max, and Prompt. You will add each parameter kind as a new row to your datagrid.
SAP BusinessObjects Crystal Reports is a thick client report design tool, fully integrated with the SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise platform. Crystal Reports is an application which allows users to create flexible, pixel-perfect, feature-rich reports and integrate them easily with software developer kits (SDKs) into web and Windows applications using Java,.NET, and COM applications. When used within the SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise business intelligence platform, Crystal reports can be published to the web, viewed through the InfoView portal and managed and deployed in a web-based environment (within Windows, Unix, and Linux platforms). The reports are developed and published using a Crystal Report Designer application. Crystal Reports Server is an enterprise reporting solution that helps create, manage, and deliver reports over the web or embedded them in enterprise applications using SDK. Crystal Reports Server is designed and supplied to support departmental or workgroup requirements and is ideal for mid-sized and small companies.
Crystal Reports Beginners Guide
From the SAP Business Objects Enterprise platform standpoint, the Crystal Reports Server is a smaller alternative and is a lot less powerful in terms of a web portal (InfoView), administration and customization. Crystal Tutorial lessons. overview with an explanation of tabs and major options. creating reports with a report creation wizard. use of sections in the reports. using Sort Expert and Group Expert to manipulate data on a report.
Crystal Reports Tutorial For Beginners
a guide on how to create charts using chart expert. the lesson shows how to use formulas in Crystal Reports and provides the most often used real-life examples of formulas. the guide provides information on subreports and how to combine unrelated reports into a single report.