Crystal Reports XI on Windows Vista

http://support.businessobjects.com/downloads/service_packs/crystal_reports_en.asp

Talked to tech support about this and this was the link he gave me for the new build that is vista compatible.

Crystal Report Viewer missing images

I think I mentioned in a previous post that I had done the server install for the .net crystal report viewer appication or whatever you want to call it. Everything worked except for the images on the toolbar weren't showing up. I found this post concerning that which fixed my issue:

http://forums.microsoft.com/MSDN/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=566717&SiteID=1

Look at the post marked as the answer.

Tutorial: Exporting to Multiple Formats

I have been eager to get back to the office and continue my quest to get Crystal reports exporting to .pdf. Today I worked on a tutorial to export to different format. I am mainly interested in .pdf but the tutorial went through exporting to many different formats. The link to the tutorial is below.

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms227606(VS.80).aspx

I didn't hit many roadblocks. This tutorial does not show you the exported file, it only gives you a message of success or failure. You have to browse to the location of export (Default: C:\exported\) to see the file that was created. I am sure a redirect wouldn't be too dificult, but I can do that later.

Now, on to passing parameters to the reports.

Dave

Crystal Reports and the Web Part 2

Here I am 7 hours later and I have been pretty good today to focus on the issue at hand. Deploying crystal reports to my web server. I had to learn .net from almost scratch cause I have never used it before.

I did it. Got it working. If I had to do it over again, I could do it alot quicker. I hope these notes will benefit somebody.

My Setup:
Dell Lattitude D820 Windows Vista Business
Server: Windows 2003 (Hosted)

1. Install Visual Studio 2005. I got a free 90 day trial from Microsoft. After today I am almost positive I will buy it. Seriously, The time I saved on this one project will pay for the $700 or so that it costs. Without it I could have spent week(s). In fact I did spend several days without success last year on this.
2. Installed SP1 for Visual Studio
3. Installed SP1 Update for Visual Studio for Windows Vista(I first tried to install just this file, but come to find out you need the main Service Pack installed first.
4. Installed SP2 for MSSQL Server Express
5. Then I found the tutorial here: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms225276(VS.80).aspx
6. I followed the developer link.
7. Next I clicked on the link "Persisting the ReportDocument Object Model Using Session" This seems a little strange, I know but it has a good step by step tutorial which I followed.
8. You will notice all the resources on the left under the Crystal Reports heading. 80% of the information I found was from this MSDN site.
9. Some search results from the MSDN Site: http://search.msdn.microsoft.com/search/Default.aspx?brand=msdn&locale=en-us&query=crystal+reports
10. One thing I got sidetracked on was installing IIS on my laptop (Dev Machine) That is unnecessary. Visual Studio has a development web server built in. The way I found to use it was to right click on the "default.aspx" file in the solution explorer and choose "View in Web Browser". This starts the devel0pment web server and lets you view the page.
11. The tutorial was detailed enough that I didn't really stumble to much in that section.
12. On the server side I had a few problems. Yesterday I had installed Crystal Reports XI SP 2. This, I think is unnecessary. I didn't uninstall it since I already had it, but the key to making it work on the server was downloading this file: http://support.businessobjects.com/communityCS/FilesAndUpdates/crXIr2_net_server_install.zip.asp
13. The page with the link to that file is here: http://support.businessobjects.com/downloads/merge_modules.asp#06
14. I used this download: "Crystal Reports XI Release 2 for Visual Studio .NET Server Install - This file contains the Server Install file for Crystal Reports XI Release 2 for Visual Studio .NET."
15. That worked great, after I installed that on my server, it was working.
16. The only problem left was the icons on the toolbar for the crystal report viewer are not showing up. I will troubleshoot that later.
17. I created a simple test report with no datasources and just a little text to test it and it worked.
18. Other Helpful links:
19. http://www.businessobjects.com/products/dev_zone/net/2005.asp
20. http://www.businessobjects.com/global/pdf/dev_zone/VS2005_Walkthroughs.pdf
21. http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms225593(VS.80).aspx
22. There was alot of talk about building an msi installation package. I played with that in different sorts of ways until I finally found the server install package listed above. I think that if you just install that, you won't need to try and package the crystal report stuff, you get them from that install.

Monday I work on passing parameters and programatically outputting to .pdf. And I have to figure out why the toolbar icons don't show up.

Dave

Crystal Reports and the Web

For years I have been using crystal reports to output the contents of our database to a nice newsletter format. I use coldfusion for most programming and I started by using a web viewer that came with version 8 or something. Then I found an .asp page that would pass parameters to the report and export it to .pdf. This was perfect, although it felt very "kludgy". Well now I am faced with an upgrade of Crystal reports and a new server. It just seems impossible to find anything that will let me use coldfusion to directly call a report and output it to .pdf.

So, I start my first trip into the .net world. I only know that crystal reports integration with .net is fantastic. Now we see how fast I can get up to speed on .net.

I will try and keep you posted. I just downloaded 90 day trial of visual studio 2005. Service packs are downloading now. We will see if this is as easy as they say.

New Blackberry

Last friday I ordered a new blackberry phone with Verizon. They messed up that order so yesterday I finally just went downt ot the store casue it is only an hour anyway. Well they set me up in a hurry and now I am the proud owner of a blackberry 8703e. This phone is cool. It just acts the way you would expect it to.

I mostly wanted this phone for the calendar and tasks, along with some email. I once had a dell axim, which was nice but I never used it because it was an "Extra" thing to take with me. This blackberry just combines the axim with a phone so I always have it with me. Maybe now I will use it.

I decided on the blackberry over the Motorola Q or Treo mainly because two different guys at Verizon said the blackberry was better. I haven't regretted the dicision yet.

Recover Admin password for Google Apps

I set up a google app account for a buddy some time ago and he called because he couldn't log on. I tried with the admin info I used to set up the account, and I couldn't get on either, even though I swear I had the right info. Well If ound a solution to resetting it.

You can follow this link:

https://www.google.com/hosted/replaceDomain/forgetAdminPassword

You need to replace "replaceDomain" with the the domain with the forgotten password and then use the login for the account that you used to set up the google app account in the first place.

This is just for admin password. If it is just a user password, you can login as admin and reset that for them.

Cannot open/design report in MSAccess

I just had a recent issue come up where all of the sudden I could not open any of my reports in an access database that I use.

Turns out that it had to do with a printer that I just installed. After searching and finding a comment about that, I changed my default printer and that fixed the problem. I had just hooked up an HP Laserjet 1012 to my Dell Lattitude via the docking station.

Where to put Transfer code

There was a great email sent to the transfer list about design and architecture in your apps using transfer ORM. I put alot of my stuff in my controller. So essentially I follow the first example, when everyone else seemed to agree that the second example was better.

Have a look:

http://groups.google.com/group/transfer-dev/browse_thread/thread/1574d19bfad50946?hl=en

Mcafee Security Suite Blocks Hotel Internet Access

I have blogged about my new Dell laptop before. I love it. I figured out running programs in windows xp compatibility mode and my only problem (not being able to run some programs) is not as bad anymore.

Anyway, over Easter the family went to Phoenix for the weekend. We left thursday night because the kids were out of school. First stop, Flagstaff. After a ruckus at the hotel we had reservations at, we ended up at the days inn.

Booted up the old laptop at 5:00 A.M. the next morning. NO INTERNET ACCESS! I tried everything. Got dell tech support on the line(North American Based). Nothing. Well I was ticked, but figured it was the motel. Next night, Super 8 in Gilbert AZ. Same thing. Finally, saturday morning I took a shot and uninstalled 3 of 4 components of the Mcafee security suite that came on the computer. Spam(I use gmail anyway), privacy control, and one other I can't remember. I left only virus scanning. BINGO. It worked. I don't know why I didn't try this in the first place. I have never used the "Security Suites" cause I have problems with clients who use them all the time. Something about the security suite and the internet access at the hotels didn't jive. I assume it was something to do with that redirection that happens when you first login. You go to the motel web site and have to click the agreement or whatever.

I should send Mcafee and email. Maybe I will