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Q: Will this solution require any special training for end users?
A: No. Anyone who can use a Web browser should be able to use the report viewers with no little or no additional training. If you prefer, your report data can be returned directly to Microsoft Excel or Microsoft Word.
Q: One what types of data can I report with Crystal Reports and ReCrystallize Pro?
A: ReCrystallize Pro takes advantage of Crystal Reports' ability to report on data from virtually any source. You can use any ODBC data source or Crystal Reports' native drivers to popular RDBMS systems such as Oracle. Reports based on ADO recordsets are not supported in the current release; development is underway to provide ADO support.
Q: What is the difference between the Crystal Web Component Server and Active Server Pages?
A: The Crystal Web Component Server (formerly known as the Crystal Web Reports Server) is a group of components that are included and installed as part of Crystal Reports. These components work with your Web server using the Netscape API, Internet Information Server API, or CGI to render your Crystal Reports as they are requested. The Crystal Web Reports Server offers built-in caching of report data that may be beneficial if your report data does not change frequently and does not vary from user to user. However, the effectiveness of the caching may be negligible if your reports will frequently be run with different parameters or record selection formulas. (Beginning with Crystal Reports 8.5, this functionality is provided as part of Crystal Enterprise.)
The ability to run Active Server Pages is built in to Microsoft Personal Web Server 4, Internet Information Server, and other Web servers. The Active Server Pages created by ReCrystallize Pro use the VBScript programming language to run your reports directly with the Crystal Reports engine automation server.
Using ASP to run reports gives developers practically unlimited flexibility to customize the way reports are run and presented to the user. ASP also provides better security because preset or calculated report parameters and database login information never leave the server, ensuring that users can not observe or override this information.
Q: Can I control access to certain reports or specific data within a report?
A: Yes, ReCrystallize Pro works with Crystal Reports, your Web server and your database to control access to your data in any of three ways:
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Table Level: If your data source requires a login (e.g. Oracle or SQL Server) and you use Active Server Pages to run your report, you can pass the authenticated user's name and password from the Web server to the data source when the report is run. If you use the Crystal Web Component Server, you may choose to allow the server to prompt for one or more table logins.
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Row Level: When you use ReCrystallize Pro to run your reports with Active Server Pages, you can pass the authenticated user's name from the Web server to your Crystal Report as a parameter field. By integrating the user's identity as part of the Record Selection Formula or SQL WHERE clause, you can design a single report that displays different data for each user.
Q: Will users be able to see or override database login information or report parameters?
A: ReCrystallize Pro generates Active Server Pages to run your reports. Because Active Server Pages execute on the Web server, passwords and preset report parameters never leave the server, so users will not be able to observe or override these values. Users can change only the parameters that you specify in the ReCrystallize wizard.
If you use the Crystal Web Component Server, it is necessary to send all information that the report requires to the Web browser. Database and parameter information are not visible to the user during the normal course of running a report, however users can simply choose the View Source option in the Web browser to see this information. ReCrystallize can encode your data source user name and password so that they are not obvious, however users may still be able to determine these values. For this reason, use of Active Server Pages is recommended when data security is a concern.
Q: What are the system requirements for using ReCrystallize Pro?
A: The ReCrystallize Pro wizard will run on virtually any PC with Windows 95, 98, Me, NT, or 2000.
Q: What are the system requirements for running reports on the Web?
A: If you wish to run reports using the Crystal Web Component Server, virtually any computer with a Pentium processor or higher and running Windows 95 or higher with CGI-compatible Web server software can be used.
If you use Active Server Pages to run your reports, you will need a minimum of a Windows 95/98 computer running Microsoft Personal Web Server 4. We recommend a PC with a minimum of 128MB RAM running Windows NT Server 4 Service Pack 6a or Windows 2000 with Internet Information Server. A full copy of Crystal Reports should be installed on the Web server PC since this will provide complete runtime support and allow you to easily troubleshoot any problems such as database connectivity at the server.
Q: Will my Web server need access to my database?
A: Yes, to run reports with "live" data, your Web server PC will need to be configured to access your database. To report on an ODBC data source, for example, you would create an ODBC System DSN from your Web server's Control Panel. If you only wish to run reports with saved data, no database connection is required on the Web server.
Q: Does ReCrystallize Pro work with Seagate Info? If so, where does it fit?
A: ReCrystallize is designed to work with Seagate Crystal Reports. It does not work directly with Seagate Info, however it can work with reports created with Seagate Info. Along with Crystal Reports, these products may complement each other to provide a better solution for all of your reporting needs. For example, you may need to make some reports available to unnamed users on your extranet. Crystal Reports gives you this capability and ReCrystallize Pro helps you get the reports running on the Web quickly and easily. Using ReCrystallize with Crystal Reports additionally provides users the ability to request and view reports with simple, easy to use Web pages without learning the Seagate Info interface.
You may also find it useful to utilize Seagate Info's report scheduling capabilities to refresh report data and then deliver the report with saved data using Crystal Reports and ReCrystallize Pro.
The following text is from Seagate' Software's business intelligence white paper entitled "Installing Seagate Crystal Web Reports Server and Seagate Info to a single Web Server machine":
Why would I want to install both products to the same machine?
There are many reasons to install both products to a single Web server machine. Seagate Crystal Reports provides development capabilities to its Web Reports Server interface. Many companies who have been using Seagate Crystal Reports since we first introduced our Web Technologies in version 4.5 have developed extensive and complex Web Based applications to take advantage of the Web as a report distribution medium... The drawback for some companies to using Seagate Info via the Web is the lack of Development capabilities available to interface with the Seagate Info backend processing components and the requirement of using the built-in Web functionality as is. It is for this reason that many companies have decided to incorporate both products into their report distribution structure.
What are the benefits of this type of installation?
This type of installation provides many benefits for the larger company that has developed a Web Based application to provide report data to their customers. Seagate Crystal Reports provides development access via Microsoft Active Server Pages to both the Web Reports Server component and the Crystal Automation Server component.
The Crystal Automation Server provides the ability to create truly dynamic reports as it allows the setting of Database Location and logon at runtime. Both the Web Reports Server and the Crystal Automation Server accept selection formulas, group selection formulas, database logon, subreport logon, Stored Procedure Parameters and Seagate Report parameters to be passed to the Web Reporting back end components on the fly. This allows Web developer to truly customize their Web reporting sites to fit the needs of their customers."
Please note that we recommend Crystal Reports be installed on a different Web server PC than Seagate Info, as having both products running on the same PC may cause conflicts.
Q: Does ReCrystallize Pro work with Crystal Reports version 8.5 and Crystal Enterprise?
Yes, ReCrystallize Pro (version 3 and higher) is compatible with Crystal Reports version 8.5 and Crystal Enterprise. Beginning with Crystal Reports 8.5, the Crystal Web Component Server functionality has been folded into Crystal Enterprise. Therefore, Crystal Enterprise must be installed for you to use the Crystal Web Component Server function in ReCrystallize Pro. Crystal Enterprise is not required to use the Active Server Pages option in ReCrystallize Pro.
Q: Why would I use ReCrystallize Pro instead of or in addition to Crystal Enterprise?
Crystal Enterprise is a definite improvement in "out of the box" Web functionality for Crystal Reports. However, there are many circumstances in which it is desirable to work outside the Crystal Enterprise framework. In general, Web pages produced by ReCrystallize Pro give you greater control and options for customization than are available with Crystal Enterprise.
By avoiding the Crystal Enterprise desktop metaphor, you can customize your reports' Web pages to blend seamlessly with the other content on your Web site. Unlike the Crystal Enterprise interface, the Web pages produced by ReCrystallize Pro are "self evident"--most users will know at a glance how to set report parameters and view a report. Making your Web reports easy to use avoids the need for costly end user training and support.
Crystal Enterprise is designed for scalability and provides the ability to spread report processing and user security/login over many computers. This may be an advantage for very large enterprises, but is overkill for many applications in small to mid-size companies and departmental uses within large organizations. Where this level of scalability is not required, it comes with an unnecessary cost in terms of simplicity, customization, ease-of-use, and administration overhead.
Q: Does ReCrystallize Pro eliminate the need for Crystal Reports client access licensing or server licensing?
ReCrystallize Pro is not intended to circumvent any user limits or licensing conditions imposed by Crystal Reports. If you are using Crystal Reports version 8.x, expect more than 5 concurrent Web users, and are unwilling to to purchase additional Web user licenses, you may wish to consider using ReCrystallize Pro with Crystal Reports version 7. The Web components included with Crystal Reports versions 6 and 7 are theoretically less scalable than those in version 8, but do not limit the number of Web users. Crystal Decisions is the authority on Crystal Reports licensing and should be contacted with any licensing questions. |
