Crystal reports viewer

[Former Member]

Hi All,

Can any one please tell

1.what is crystal reports viewer

2.What is the use of that

3.Who will use that

[JWiseman · Accepted solution]

hi Francis,

think of the crystal reports viewer being used like the adobe pdf viewer. most people consume / use pdf's compared to the number of people that design them.

not many people really need the crystal reports designer, only those who create or modify the actual .rpt file.

with the crystal reports viewer you can have end users view reports in .rpt format which has more or different functionality than looking at a report which has been exported to another format such as word, or pdf. things like drill down, saved data prompts (to filter out records, change groups, etc.)

if you've got businessobjects enterprise or crystal reports server you can then schedule or publish reports to end users using email and then they can open up these .rpt files without having to touch the server product or have additional server licenses.

i hope that this helps,

jamie

[ido_millet · Accepted solution]

Keep in mind that the SAP Viewer can't refresh data unless you also own one of the server platforms. But there are inexpensive/free 3rd-party Crystal viewers that can. See list at: http://kenhamady.com/bookmarks.html

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Hi Jamie - re the Crystal Reports viewer - am I correct is believing that this will not allow a user to select from parameters and the report will only refresh?

[JWiseman · Accepted solution]

hi Chris,

the free viewer will in fact allow the end user to take advantage of parameters. in particular those parameters could be for:

1) the saved data filters (to allow the end user to pare down the records on the report using multiple parameters)

2) dynamic grouping...e.g. have 3 parameters on the report that allow the end user to group the report in a 3 level hierarchy. the parameters would be in formulae that were used for the groups.

3) dynamic top N or bottom N based on inclusion of a parameter in a formula that is used in the sort.

4) dynamic formatting of the report including hiding / showing sections, changing the layout of the report, extrapolating data based on a formula, etc. etc. all of which would be formula based where the parameter was used in the formulas.

also as mentioned before if you've got an enterprise server product then end users can also use filter parameters which hit the live data.

so using the free viewer you could have your saved data reports on a file share and then your end users would be able to use the above mentioned features / workflows.

i hope this helps,

-jamie

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Hello Jamie. Many thanks, that is most helpful

[Former Member]

Hi,

Crystal Reports viewer is mainly meant for business concerns. Indeed, its purposes are to make you read reports easily and comfortably. Using advanced technologies, this software will make you find out a new way to deal with your office files.

Key features

• Viewing data: designed by Reportviewer.biz, Crystal Reports viewer makes your presentation and reports viewing less boring than usual. You can choose either you want to work in interactive mode and get notified of any changes made by other users or work offline.
• Supported formats: Crystal Reports viewer supports working with quite all standard text files such as PDF, XML, CSV, RTF, DOC., XLS, HTML and TXT formats as well as its native format, RPT. It also takes in charge different databases for making its use widespread.
• Practical: Crystal Reports viewer is supplied with 2 Graphic users interface. The first one is meant for viewing reports and the second for you to better organize them, upload other data, and work out with. SQL commands and formula editor are also featured with the software, making your analysis easier.

Regards,

Venki .A

[Former Member]

Crystal Report Viewer helps in exploring and visualizing reports interactively, both online and offline and can be refreshed when report hosted on SAP BusinessObjects BI Platform or SAP Crystal Report Solutions server:

1. It is a desktop application which can be installed on both windows and apple OS
2. It is license free, very similar to Acrobat Reader
3. Reports can be easily shared between co-workers or customers

You can download Crystal Report viewer from here:

http://scn.sap.com/docs/DOC-29774

Hope this helps.