Crystal Reports

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Crystal Reports
Basic data

developer SAP SE
Current  version 2016 SP05
( May 29, 2018 )
operating system Microsoft Windows
category Application program
License proprietary license, end-user license agreement
German speaking Yes
Product page on sap.com

Crystal Reports is software for creating reports. With Crystal Reports information from databases or text files can be retrieved, processed and presented in the form of graphics and tables . A distribution of reports about Web technologies is using Crystal Reports Server, Business Objects Enterprise or Eclipse / Java - or .NET - runtime environments possible.

Crystal Reports was originally developed by Crystal Services , founded in Vancouver , B.C. , Canada in 1984 . The software quickly gained wide adoption through its partnership with Microsoft . In 1994, Crystal Services was acquired by Seagate Technology and renamed Seagate Software. In 2000 the company was renamed Crystal Decisions . In 2003, Crystal Reports was taken over by Business Objects and subsequently further developed. At the beginning of 2008, Business Objects was taken over by SAP .

SAP has released a heavily revised version of Crystal Reports called Crystal Reports for Enterprise (hereinafter referred to as CR4E for short). In contrast to conventional Crystal Reports, CR4E 4.0 does not support any other data connections (e.g. to databases) apart from “universes”. According to SAP, there is currently no migration strategy from Crystal Reports to CR4E; the current recommendation is “Stay with CR2011 for now”.

The rest of this article applies to Crystal Reports, not CR4E.

Report design method

Users install Crystal Reports Designer software on the PC and use it to display certain data elements from tables from the data sources listed below. For the transfer of this data, Crystal Reports either provides appropriate specific driver software or data is transferred from the source systems in the ODBC , JDBC or OLAP standards . When a report has been completed, it is usually saved in its own RPT format. In this form, it can be called up at any time and receives the latest data from the source systems. If the databases of the source systems are changed, the reports created with Crystal Reports change automatically. The reports can either be viewed on the screen, exported in various formats or printed out (see “Output options”). The reports produced can consist of simple columns with values, graphs, or crosstabs. It is possible to include subreports in a main report. In addition, Crystal Reports (from version 2008) offers the possibility of using Flash files. There are numerous options for changing the appearance or graphics of the reports and for formatting them, as well as adding graphic labels and images in various image formats.

Data sources used

The data sources used for Crystal Reports include:

Output options

Crystal Reports output options include hard copy, text files such as. B. CSV or XML files, RPT files in Crystal Report format, HTML , PDF , Excel or Word files.

There are user interface controls for viewing reports that can be integrated into your own applications based on the following technologies:

  • ASP.NET
  • Windows Forms
  • WPF (from Crystal Reports for Visual Studio 2010)

Versions

Versions and selection of major innovations:

  • Version 6.
  • Version 7: Integrated geographic mapping, user-defined tooltips, wizard for running totals, crosstabs, highlighting of fields, COM Report Designer component (RDC).
  • Version 8: data explorer, automatic saving, extended formatting options (circles, ovals, conditional font formatting etc.), JPEG / PICT / PNG support, embedding hyperlinks, hierarchical grouping, basic syntax in formulas, (D) HTML -Report viewer, export to (D) HTML, Lotus Notes as data source, support of the SQL features "SELECT DISTINCT" and "TOP N".
  • Version 8.5: Copy entire reports to the clipboard, report alerts, query parameters on the web, export to XML and PDF .
  • Version 9: Numeric or date X-axis for charts, gauge and Gantt charts, repository, vector-based images, conditional formatting in charts, .NET viewer for Windows Forms and the web, report viewer SDKs for COM, .NET and Java.
  • Version 10: Funnel diagram, report viewer component for Java .
  • Version XI: Dynamic image search, drag and drop for crosstabs and diagrams, report type "N value for top N", user-defined functions in Java, dedicated server components ( Crystal Reports Server ).
  • Version 2008: Multilingual report design and report view, XSLT transformation during XML export, Adobe Flash integration, integrated barcode support.
  • Version 2011: Export to Excel XLSX workbook, new data sources ADO.NET and POJO .
  • Version 2013: Identical to version 2011. Renamed in 2013 as part of the release of Business Objects Intelligence Suite 4.1 .
  • Version 2016

Editions

The following editions of Crystal Reports have been released:

  • Standard : was available for all versions up to XI.
  • Professional : was available for all versions up to XI.
  • Developer : has been available since version 7. In addition to the other editions, this edition contains viewers for the web and for integration into applications, as well as access to the following APIs:
    • Up to version 9: Crystal Reports Engine API
    • Up to version XI: COM Report Designer Component (RDC)
    • Up to version XI: Java-based SDK for creating reports
    • .NET-based SDK for reporting
  • Advanced Developer : was only available for versions 8.5, 9 and 10. In addition to the Developer Edition, it also contains a workgroup server.
  • Server : is available since version XI. Contains all Developer Edition features as well as a server component.
  • Crystal Reports for Visual Studio N ( N = Visual Studio version number): This edition is used to integrate reports in desktop and web applications that are created with Visual Studio. As a rule, the "for Visual Studio" editions are free of charge. Until Visual Studio 2008, Crystal Reports was included in the product. Crystal Reports is available for download for Visual Studio 2010.

Crystal Reports 2008 and 2011 are only available as Developer and Server editions.

literature

  • George Peck: Crystal Reports XI . 1st edition. Mitp-Verlag, 2006, ISBN 3-8266-1652-9 .
  • George Peck: Crystal Reports 2008 . 1st edition. Mitp-Verlag, 2009, ISBN 3-8266-5964-3 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ SAP Crystal Reports 2016 Supported Platforms (PAM) . (PORTABLE DOCUMENT FORMAT) - (accessed July 24, 2018).
  2. ↑ SAP to Acquire Business Objects in Friendly Takeover ( English ) SAP SE. October 7, 2007. Accessed July 24, 2018.
  3. ↑ Tammy Powlas: Crystal Reports Roadmap ASUG Webcast ( English ) SAP SE. April 29, 2012. Retrieved July 24, 2018.
  4. ↑ PostgreSQL and Crystal Reports ( English ). Retrieved July 24, 2018.
  5. ↑ SAP Crystal Reports, developer version for Microsoft Visual Studio ( English ) SAP SE. Retrieved July 24, 2018.
  6. ↑ Feature Comparison by Version and Edition ( English , PDF, 208 kB) SAP SE. Retrieved July 24, 2018.
  7. ↑ Comparison of features by version for SAP® Crystal Reports® and SAP Crystal Server Software ( English , PDF, 213 kB) SAP SE. 2011. Accessed July 24, 2018.
  8. ↑ Tammy Powlas: Crystal Clear Future for Crystal Reports BI4.1 - ASUG Webcast ( English ) SAP SE. March 2, 2013. Accessed July 24, 2018.
  9. ↑ Support for Crystal Reports for Visual Studio ( German ) Microsoft. April 19, 2018. Retrieved July 24, 2018.
  10. ↑ SAP Crystal Reports, developer version for Microsoft Visual Studio: Updates & Runtime Downloads ( English ) SAP SE. December 6, 2016. Accessed July 24, 2018.