Does anyone know good ways/tools/approaches for using Crystal Reports with Salesforce.com?
I know that Crystal Reports for Salesforce exists but I'm wondering what other possibilities there are...
It looks like your data is tied up with salesforce.com if you can export data you could use crystal reports independent of salesforce.com.
Other links on exporting data:
http://sfdc.arrowpointe.com/2008/04/28/do-you-backup-your-salesforce-data/
http://ideas.salesforce.com/article/show/97976/Export_All_via_Data_Loader
http://ideas.salesforce.com/article/show/23579/Scheduled_Data_Export_to_backup_database
Our solution may not work for you, but we've decided to host our reports on an external reportserver which is written in c# and exposes a SOAP based web service because the Crystal Reports for Salesforce solution you mentioned didn't offer us the flexibility we needed.
The process is essentially:
Salesforce makes a soap based call to the report server
Report server collates data from Salesforce via the Salesforce Soap API
Report server renders the report and returns it to salesforce
To answer my own question, we eventually decided to set up a local read-only copy of the Salesforce database in MS Sql Server, and develop reports based on that. This allowed the report-writing people to use all the familiar SQL tools they know, without the restrictions on what-can-be-joined-to-what that the native Salesforce database has.
We're using a piece of software called DBAmp to do this - It makes Salesforce appear in SQL Server as a 'linked server', and provides stored procedures you can use to download entire Salesforce tables, or just download changes to a Salesforce table since the last time. This makes it very easy to set up a local copy of the data that gets updated every night.
Related
Is is possible to do reporting (using crystal report or any third party tool) in .Net core with Postgres as a database?
I searched quite a lot but I couldn't find any solution to this. Need guidance in the right direction for this.
I would recommend choosing a reporting technology, which doesn't depend on your "technology stack" or vice versa.
I'm using SQL Server Reporting Services (which support many different database engines):
generate Reports via HTTP url access
embed Reports within Websites too
"manage" Reports via SOAP
In fact, everything happens using ordinary HTTP requests. I could be using any technology, which speaks HTTP...
I've no idea what you're trying to achieve ("do reporting" isn't that specific, you know ;)), but maybe it helps.
I have downloaded SAP crystal report and I would like to know can I get data in my report through an API? I want to get data through Amazon MWS API. Please advise is it possible and is there any documentation.
EDIT: Basically I am trying to use the XML and Web Services item of database expert pop up in crystal reports 2013. Now as you know it expects either a XML url or a web service data source. I need to get data from amazon MWS API, so not sure how to use it here. Also since I am new to crystal reports so for better understanding the concepts I am testing/trying both methods to make it work. I have even followed this tutorial - http://trustedbi.com/2009/05/19/cr-webservice/ but this does not work - it is not populating the method,port and service. I have even created a test xml file from here(http://www.w3schools.com/xml/xml_usedfor.asp) and saved it locally on my pc and gave that URL but now the error is "Logon failed: schema not defined". My first step is to try it with a simple solution to see how crystal reports work and then figure out how can I use the MWS API.
I want to create a reporting website and if coding is required, I am familiar with C#. I saw people talking about Crystal Reports but wasn't clear whether it can work well in .NET web application. Besides Crystal, what are the other options? Is there simply a "database browser" web app that only requires a DB connection and all other customization is optional? Sorry for the stupid questions, I have zero experience in reporting.
Thanks
No problem,
It is depend on the report type that do you want to display and data quality that you want to achieve.
You can use traditional spreadsheet like utilizing for MS Excel or other spreadsheet software for half baken report. This report style can be further use or data feed for another report.
This techniques is easy since most of report generated is csv files or xml files that can be imported in spreadsheet.
You can use like Crystal report or report viewer from Microsoft (SQL Server or report viewer). This is an easy way to create report since it intend as presentation or end user support. You can drill down to its detail using report viewer but I suggest you use spreadsheet to do some report operation like pivoting or something.
In this case you concern about data quality too. is it half baken solution;to be processed later; or need cleansing using ETL?
You can use various tools or software like business intelligent tool from Microsoft SQL Server, or IBM tools or oracle tools to do that. There are many of them taht suite to your needs and can be integrate to your software.
If you want a database browser, you can download VS 2010 with SP1 and EF 4.1. I forget the web project template that can use as insert update delete and it is already created for you.
You might want to check Report Viewer for SQL Server Reporting Services or ReportViewer.
I would like to use the information contained in BusinessObjects repository as a datasource for a Crystal Reports. Unfortunately, this information isn't persisted in a simple table structure--most of the properties are stored in encrypted, binary fields.
The are a number of ways to access BO's repository:
'traditional' SDK (Java, COM, .Net)
SOAP SDK (http://[server:port]/dswsbobje/services/listServices)
query tool (http://[server:port]/businessobjects/enterprise[11|115|12]/adminlaunch/query/)
Option 1 won't work in my situation, as I would like to deploy the reports with BO Enterprise, rather than a customized web application.
Option 2 may work, but I'm not certain how well Crystal Reports interfaces with SOAP, especially since it would need to connect to a second SOAP service for authentication.
Option 3 doesn't work because it returns HTML (not XHTML)
My most-viable option at this point is to re-write #3 to return an XML document and create the supporting XSD. If I do so, I'll probably post the solution on github.
Another option would be to (somehow) add a REST wrapper around the SOAP services. This sounds like a pretty daunting task.
Has anyone had any success doing what I need to do?
The SOAP option would be the most straight-forward, as enabling Web Services is a very simple option toggle in one the XML config files followed by a restart of Tomcat.
REST options may be available already, but would depend on your specific BO version. I'm pretty sure that Explorer had some type of REST option during the XI R2 era, and as of BO 4.0, SP4, you should be able to do this: http://help.sap.com/businessobject/product_guides/boexir4/en/xi4_bip_rest_ws_en.pdf
Finally, you have the option of direct ODBC access to the repository database. As of 4.0, MS SQL Server 2008 is the default for Windows, IBM DB2 for unix or linux, but MySQL (the prior default option) can still be used as well. ANy of these should be straight forward to access, and provide more detail than the standard repo interface.
If you go that direct-access route, for security reasons I would recommend a proxy setup, or replication into a database that already handled your reporting needs.
Is there a way to publish my crystal reports and call them throuh html-based parameter page (preferably jsp) to our intranet?
We have developed reports using Crystal Reports, and we want users to be able to call these reports through an HTML-based page through our itnranet.
Any advice?
Well, I see you used the "Crystal Reports Server" tag -- that answers your question right there. :-) It provides web viewing, report scheduling, and all sorts of nifty backend features.
You may also want to consider a solution like rePORTAL at http://www.reportalsoftware.com. It allows you to securely publish reports for web access via your intranet or extranet. No need for coding.