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cViewIMAGE for Crystal Reports FAQs

cViewIMAGE is useful for report designers who have a database table with an image filename in a field. Prior to cViewIMAGE, it was very difficult to take that file name and display a dynamic image from the records in that table.  See separate FAQ on how to use cViewIMAGE.

How do I use cViewIMAGE?

Report Designers needing to take a file name from a database and to display an image from the file name inside a Crystal Report have found using cViewIMAGE as follows works best....

1. Design your report using the tables, fields, etc you need in the main report. You do not need to display the field that has the filename of your image but it does need to be in the table.
2. Your database field does not need to store the fully qualified filename. If you do have it, the Crystal Report will use it as a parameter link to your image. If you only store the file name, you can create a formula in Crystal to add the path to the filename. The formula will then be used as the parameter link instead.
3. Create a subreport using the COM data driver. The connection information Program Id = cViewIMAGE.SingleImage. Click the “Finish” button.
4. The datasource for your subreport is the “cViewIMAGE” table from the “cViewIMAGE.SingleImage” datasource you created in the previous step.
5. When you select “cViewIMAGE” datasource, you will be asked to enter a value for “ImageFile()” parameter. Use the name of one of your image files – you will change it later to automatically link to all the records. If you use an invalid value, you will need to modify your subreport later to display the “Image” field.
6. Display the “Image” field in your subreport. You may also display the name of the file which is the “ImagePath” field.
7. Insert your subreport into the appropriate section of your main report.
8. Right click on the subreport. Change Subreport Link fields.
9. “Available fields” / Choose the name of the file from either your database field or your formula field (see point 2 above).
10.  “Subreport parameter field to use” / Choose “?ImageFile” from the dropdown list.
11.  “Select data in report based on field” / Leave the default as it is (cViewIMAGE.ImagePath).
12. Format the subreport to display the image the way you want.
13. This is part of the live processing - your users will need a cViewIMAGE Viewer on their machine if they are accessing live data. They will not need cViewIMAGE if you export in a different format such as pdf or Excel.
    

What Crystal versions will cViewIMAGE work with?

The COM data source used by cViewIMAGE is included with Crystal Reports v8.5, Crystal Reports v9.0 and Crystal Reports v10. We have not yet tested to see if it will work with CR.Net as that is a version between 8.5 and 9.0 with some features unavailable. The COM data source will NOT work with CR8.0 or earlier versions. 
We include the Crystal Reports v8.5 and Crystal Reports v9.0 COM driver in the \Drivers subfolder of the cViewIMAGE install.

Do I get free upgrades?

Yes – for the first 12 months we offer free upgrades. This includes:

1. Any product enhancements.
2. Where we have developed a new version of our product to support a new version of Crystal Reports, we can offer this to you as part of the maintenance agreement

You can continue receiving these two benefits after 12 months from purchase date by either:

1. Paying 15% of the product price at the time of purchase.
2. Paying 15% of the current price of the product.

If you do not have a maintenance agreement or if the maintenance agreement has lapsed, please contact contact or us for the cost of a new maintenance agreement or for the cost of an upgrade.

How can I use cViewIMAGE to take a file name from a database and display an image inside a Crystal Report?

Report Designers needing to take a file name from a database and to display an image from the file name inside a Crystal Report have found this approach works best.:

1. Design your report using the tables, fields, etc you need in the main report.
2. Create a subreport using the COM data driver and the cViewIMAGE.SingleImage data source. When the ImageFile parameter appears, use the name of one of your image files.
3. LINK the field in the main report to the ImageFile parameter in the subreport. Do not select the default value and create a new parameter in the subreport.
4. Format the subreport to display the image the way you want

Where is the COM data source for cViewIMAGE?

The COM data source appears under:

• “COM Data” under “Create New Connection” if you are using CR9.0.
• "“Active Data sources” if you are using CR v8.5.

Go to the Program Files\cViewIMAGE\Drivers subfolder to see the Crystal Reports v8.5 and Crystal Reports v9.0 COM driver. The cViewIMAGE\Drivers subfolder is created as part of the of the cViewIMAGE install. The Readme.txt file tells you which driver to use and where to place it so that CR lists the source for your report.

• Click here for an example of how to include a single image in a report.
• Click here for an article on images in a report.

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