Crystal Reports Database Login

The last major piece of my puzzle. This code lets me pass database and login information.

http://diamond.businessobjects.com/node/134

VB.NET
---------

Imports CrystalDecisions.CrystalReports.Engine
Imports CrystalDecisions.Shared


Dim crtableLogoninfos As New TableLogOnInfos()
Dim crtableLogoninfo As New TableLogOnInfo()
Dim crConnectionInfo As New ConnectionInfo()
Dim CrTables As Tables
Dim CrTable As Table
Dim TableCounter

'If you are using a Strongly Typed report (Imported in
'your project) named CrystalReport1.rpt use the
'following:

Dim crReportDocument As New CrystalReport1()

'If you are using a Non-Typed report, and
'loading a report outside of the project, use the
'following:

Dim crReportDocument As New ReportDocument()

crReportDocument.Load("c:\myReports\myReport.rpt")

'Set the ConnectionInfo properties for logging on to
'the Database

'If you are using ODBC, this should be the
'DSN name NOT the physical server name. If
'you are NOT using ODBC, this should be the
'physical server name

With crConnectionInfo
.ServerName = "DSN or Server Name"

'If you are connecting to Oracle there is no
'DatabaseName. Use an empty string.
'For example, .DatabaseName = ""

.DatabaseName = "DatabaseName"
.UserID = "Your User ID"
.Password = "Your Password"
End With

'This code works for both user tables and stored
'procedures. Set the CrTables to the Tables collection
'of the report

CrTables = crReportDocument.Database.Tables

'Loop through each table in the report and apply the
'LogonInfo information

For Each CrTable in CrTables
CrTableLogonInfo = CrTable.LogonInfo
CrTableLogonInfo.ConnectionInfo =
crConnectionInfo
CrTable.ApplyLogOnInfo(crtableLogoninfo)

'If your DatabaseName is changing at runtime, specify
'the table location.
'For example, when you are reporting off of a
'Northwind database on SQL server you
'should have the following line of code:

crTable.Location = "Northwind.dbo." &
crTable.Location.Substring(crTable.Location.LastIndexOf(
".") + 1)
Next

'Set the viewer to the report object to be previewed.

CrystalReportViewer1.ReportSource = crReportDocument

Crystal Reports Export to PDF

Well, I finally did it. The code below is what lets me export a crystal report to a pdf file. Previous entries outline some of the steps I have taken to get here. Not sure if all were necessary but it works. No I have to figure out how to pass parameters, datasource and login information. On to figure that out.

Option Strict On
Imports CrystalDecisions.CrystalReports.Engine
Imports CrystalDecisions.Shared
Partial Class _Default
Inherits System.Web.UI.Page
Private exportPath As String
Private myDiskFileDestinationOptions As DiskFileDestinationOptions
Private myExportOptions As ExportOptions
Private myReport As ReportDocument
Private selectedNoFormat As Boolean = False
Private Sub ConfigureCrystalReports()
myReport = New ReportDocument()
myReport.Load("C:\websites\rpt\report1.rpt")
'myCrystalReportViewer.ReportSource = myReport
End Sub

Protected Sub Page_Init(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Me.Init
ConfigureCrystalReports()
ExportSetup()
myExportOptions.ExportFormatType = ExportFormatType.PortableDocFormat
myDiskFileDestinationOptions.DiskFileName = exportPath & "PortableDoc.pdf"
myExportOptions.DestinationOptions = myDiskFileDestinationOptions
myReport.Export()
End Sub
Public Sub ExportSetup()
exportPath = "C:\Exported\"
If Not System.IO.Directory.Exists(exportPath) Then
System.IO.Directory.CreateDirectory(exportPath)
End If
myDiskFileDestinationOptions = New DiskFileDestinationOptions()
myExportOptions = myReport.ExportOptions
myExportOptions.ExportDestinationType = ExportDestinationType.DiskFile
End Sub
End Class

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.