HTML Tags in Crystal

[Former Member]

Hello All,

Since my replies were deleted for some unknown reason from the feature requests thread,

I Thought that i might be missing something and Maybe someone can shed some light on this issue for me...

We're using Sql Server 2008 to store our data, in some tables we're using varchar(max) as data type and we store huge HTMLs inside them.

unfortunately, crystal reports support text length only up to 65534, which give's us a big headache because we have to use our own workaround to cut these huge HTMLs in 65k chunks and yet make them look as if they were in one piece.

What we can't work around, is the lack of support in basic HTML Tags, such as <TABLE>.

every text that was originaly authored inside a table tag, will be stripped down from the table to a messed text...

Does anyone have a solution/workaround for this issue? we desperately need the ability to display this HTML element in the report, but for now we're unable to.

Please help, Thank you.

[former_member11696 · Accepted solution]

This is NOT a feature request which is why I deleted them from the Feature Request post.

As I said to your post it's a limitation and to convert your VARChars to BLOB's. It is the only way to get that much data into one object.

Thank you

Don

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Don,

Either i don't understand your answer, or maybe you didn't understand me...

To make things clear:

I've overcome on the lack of support in strings longer than 65k.

what i can't resolve - is the lack of support in simple HTML tags, such as <TABLE> tag.

I'll ask it simple - do you have a solution/workaround that will allow me to display HTML with <TABLE> tags (with no relation to the length of the string)?

Thanks.

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Don said you must convert your field type to BLOB in order to handle that much data in one field.

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Hi DebiHerbert,

Maybe i was misunderstood again -

Our problem is not with the length of the string, but with the lack of support in certain HTML Tags.

Let's say we have a string with a length of 100 characters - very simple.

inside this string we have HTML, that contains the <TABLE> tag with borders.

How do i make it to display the table in crystal without stripping the table element?

Thanks.

[former_member11696 · Accepted solution]

Hello,

The problem with HTML is it exposes you to cross site scripting and other nasty stuff. For security reasons this won't work. You'll have to find another way around this. Possibly using a Hyper Link and pointing to your HTML file then using the DHTML viewer. Drop a text object into your report and then right click on it and select Format text and then the Hyper link tab. Try a few of the options, you may not be able to link it to a database field though.

Thanks again

Don

[JWiseman · Accepted solution]

hey Muskito,

there is another method that you can try. there is an option to activate Pass Through HTML which will then allow fields and formulae containing html to show up as html. the activation of Pass Through HTML is a supported feature of businessobjects enterprise since version xi.

before you waste too much time on this, here are the limitations:

1) you cannot export the html as html...i.e. if you export a report with pass through html the html will show up as text instead of html

2) you cannot use the crystal reports viewer print option...sometimes the browser print functionality will suffice

3) paging can be an issue as the cr print engine doesn't know the sizing of the html being printed

to see how to activate pass through html, go to the webelements page [here |]and download the files...in the User Guide there are instructions on how to activate pass through html on your system.

cheers,

jamie