Enabling end users to alter reports - what is the best way?

[Former Member]

Hello,

I'm new to Crystal.

What is the best way to allow end users to alter reports?  I don't want to expose the Developer Client to end users as the complexity level is pretty high and requires scripting for some DB fields.

For example, what about using an interactive HTML viewer, that allows them to use templates to alter the report?  How flexible is this approach and is there any good documentation on that subject?

For instance, does the template restrict the user to only using fields already exposed in the template?  Can they modify ranges on the fields, like date ranges and/or enter in a new value for a field, used to query the DB?

Are templates/HTML viewer the way to go, or is there a better approach entirely?

Thanks,

Mike

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Hi,

Any suggestions on this topic or is my question un-clear?

Thanks,

Mike

[DellSC · Accepted solution]

Your question is not unclear.  However, there really is no way to do this that is not incredibly complicated.  It's generally not supported.

-Dell

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Hi,

unfortunately your question is not clear enough.

From what your wrote , i guess you want to let them run a report for a specific date or  group of products. Where the user can enter that date or data range or the product group.

If that is what you want , yes you can do that perfectly fine with parameters.

You can define parameters as free entry, as predefined lists, as data coming from the database, which is queried , whenever the report is run, etc.

Hope that helps, if not , please redefine the question

regards alex

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Hi Alex,

You understood my question correctly and the feedback helps, thanks.  I don't want users to create an entirely new report but I'm looking for some degree of flexibility for things such as date ranges or values for fields such as product groups.

Follow-up questions:

1) Which client (and backend server) does the user need in order to use reports with parameters?  I don't believe we have the Report Application Server (RAS).

2) We need users to access reports with parameters over the web (browser interface).  Is that possible as well?  We don't want to require users to have to remote desktop to the Crystal Reports server, in order to execute reports with parameters.

Thanks,

Mike

[ido_millet · Accepted solution]

See: Crystal Reports viewer comparison, Crystal Reports scheduler comparison and other utilities ( viewer...

[DellSC · Accepted solution]

You can use the regular Crystal SDK for parameters, you don't need RAS for that.  There are SDKs for both .NET () and Java () that provide web-enabled viewers.

-Dell

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Thanks Ido, that's helpful.

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Thanks Dell.  Very helpful.

[Former Member]

My original request was to avoid giving users access to reports design/development.

But, what about the "BI Launch Pad"?  We do have several developer licenses.  We also have access to the CMC (Central Management Console) which looks like an administrator tool for the BI Launch Pad?

Is the BI Launch Pad an effective tool for users to run reports?  Is the performance adequate and what is the recommended maximum number of concurrent users on this tool?

Thanks,

Mike

[DellSC]

BI Launch Pad comes with Crystal Reports Server (CRS) or the BusinessObjects BI Platform.  This is an excellent way of giving users access to reports without building your own application.  It provides capabilities for both interactively viewing reports and scheduling reports to run at specific times.  The CMC is one of the admin tools for either of these software packages.  They also provide the ability to organize your reports into folders and provide security so that users can only see the reports they're supposed to have access to.

As of number of users, both have a combined named user/concurrent user license scheme.  You would have to talk to an SAP rep or a reseller to get more information and pricing.

-Dell

[Former Member]

Thanks again Dell.

Can BI Launch Pad handle reports with parameters?

-Mike

[DellSC]

Absolutely!

-Dell