using word files as a template for crystal reports - crystal-reports

my client wants the legal department to do all the mailing reports for this system. I want to use Crystal for the reports instead of the clients idea of developing a reports package from scratch. The hangup with crystal is their legal department wants to do the editing of the reports in Word and have a glorified mail merge generate the PDF files that goes off for printing.
Ive played with it for a while, is there a way that i can get Crystal to take in a word document as a template and basically replicate Word's mail merge but on Crystal Server so i have the report history?

Word can not natively act as a template for a RPT file. You could write an application that parses the DOC and applies it a pre-built report using the CR SDK.
I've used Word's mail-merge functionality in the past--it's fairly reliable.
You might also consider JangoMail too. Their email-merge functionality is pretty sophisticated.

Related

How can I print UPC-A objects for labels?

I have a Crystal Reports project that I am working on where I need to generate a label with UPC-A's. After doing a bit of research, I've found that Azalea Software offers a tool that is suppose to integrate barcode objects into your application.
I purchased the software from Azalea, followed all of their instructions and I can not get their software to work with my report. I don't want to speak ill of Azalea, because their support has been great, but is anyone aware of a legitimate alternative for UPC-A barcode creatioon from within Crystal Reports 2008?
I don't mind purchasing another 3rd party API, I just need to be able to generate dynamic UPC-A images from the UPC-A numbers that I need to encode stored within my database.
Further information-- this is a label document that is printed from a ClickOnce published application that uses the Crystal Reports for Visual Studio 2010 runtime, and the Crystal Reports Document Viewer control to view and print these labels.
We use IDAutomation for our barcoding. Very easy to use when installed, you use it like a font on calculated barcode fields. We use it mainly for Code-39 and Code-128 barcodes; though looking at the site it can make UPC/EAN codes too. It also has a selection of sizes for each barcode, alongside the normal font resizing.
On our version you have to install the fonts on every client computer running the report locally; but only once on telnet servers etc.

How to send a custom email with an attached report based on variables with MS Access? 2003 or 2007

I would need to send an email with standard text (but some custom parts like names and dates) with an attached pdf report generated with ms access. I prefer a solution for access 2003, but if it works on 2007 it's fine too.
Can be done directly from ms-access or I need some other apps/work?
thanks ;)
There are several articles that might come in handy to help you with this.
Creating PDF files from within Access
http://www.granite.ab.ca/access/pdffiles.htm
Report To PDF
http://www.lebans.com/reporttopdf.htm
Using Automation to Send a Microsoft Outlook Message
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=161088

Crystal Reports

my problem is that i have to mail crystal reports through outlook to different vendors. I've got the solution how to mail through outlook but the problem that i am facing now is that i have to attach the report and the report should be such that it shows details of a particular row from the database. i tried using .rpt file and attached it but since .rpt is a saved data the same data goes to all the vendors and not a different quotation.
The "rpt" file itself is just the definition of the report. It doesn't contain data. You'll have to run the report and export it in some file format, e.g. as PDF. You could attach that PDF file to your email.
Like splattne said...You would use a report parameter for the vendor. Set the parameter value before calling ReportDocument.ExportToDisk().
There are different options to do what you want. The most popular one is bursting. You will create a report wich returns information for all vendors and group data by vendor. Then use a software to parse and save this report to separate files per vendor, which will be emailed to the vendors' email address ( part of the report too).
If you have BOE you can use bursting publication, otherwise you can check this website for 3rd party solutions , which support bursting: http://kenhamady.com/cru/comparisons/desktop-scheduling-engines
Most of the solutions are paid, but there are generally affordable. There are some free options like this one:
http://www.r-tag.com/Pages/CommunityEdition.aspx

Storing Crystal Reports in XML files?

I was talking to somebody a recently who mentioned it was possible to store reports created using Crystal Reports as XML files.
Upon Googling this, I can't find anything suggesting that this is the case (using data stored in XML in a report, yes, but actually storing the report, the part stored by default as a .rpt file, no.
Am I correct in assuming that there was in fact some sort of misunderstanding between us and it in fact not possible to do this?
It is not possible to store the report template in XMLformat. XML is supported as export format of the "rendered" report only.
For what purpose do you need the report template in XML format. There is a Java reporting solution called Crystal-Clear which can read the Crytsal Reports report template and save it as XML report template. The other way round this does not work. After you created a XML file you cannot open the report with Crystal Reports again. But you can work with the report using Crystal-Clear which is coming with a GUI-designer too.
Use the Crystal Reports SDK to convert the RPT file format to XML.
There's a GitHub project that will convert RPT to XML. The intent of the tool is to use for diffs, so I don't know if there is a XML to RPT converter. Crystal Reports certainly can not take the XML file and open it like a .RPT file.
At least in version 8.5 XML-file is one of the supported export destinations just like PDF, Excel or Word. Seems unlikely they'd have removed the support in later versions.
I just tested in Crystal Reports 10.
Open up the report you want to export, click on export in the file menu, and at least in CR 10, XML is at the very bottom.
Next a screen appears, asking for directory and base file name to save to. According to the Window it uses "Crystal Markup Language" XML Format

Can you start Crystal Reports 10 in read only mode so users can't create or change a report?

I'm in an environment where I have created reports in CrystalReports 10 and only want my users to view the report from an external application. The application is already set up to open the report with crystal, but I don't want my users to be able create or change the report. I can't seem to find a command line option to do this. Is there a runtime only version of Crystal?
embed crviewer and craxdrt components in your app (delivered with CR developer's edition, free to distribute) so that you'll be able to view reports without modifying them. Basic manipulations (zoom, search, export to pdf, display/hide details or groups) can still be done.
If you must launch this viewer from a command line, I'd advise you to embed it in an office document/file and manage it through VBA. You could for example launch the runtime version of Access (free to distribute) that will contain one generic form for Crystal Reports display.
There are Crystal Reports viewer components which you can use in your projects. They are coming with the Crystal Reports Developer editions and you can use them in almost every programming language. There you can define the report as view only if you want.
Go to SAP.com and search for "Crystal Reports Viewer". It may or may not do what you want.
Also take a look at "Crystal Reports Server". CRS XI is a nice reporting portal with many useful server-side features. Schedule reports to run and auto-publish. Generate PDF or Excel output. Limit access to reports (or groups of reports) by specific users, etc. But for your application you can use HTTP access within your application to the published results. This is a good solution for example when you have a large number of users viewing the same reports.
What about marking the file as read-only? If the viewer opiton isn't open to you.