Product Overview
If you're not familiar with Seagate Crystal Reports, or just want an overall summary, this
section will give you an overview of the key features and capabilities of this product.
| Powerful,
Flexible Reporting You don’t have to adapt your report to the limitations of your reporting tool. Although database programs often include their own report writers, they typically require extensive knowledge of the database with which they are bundled. With Seagate Crystal Reports, however, even inexperienced users can quickly create stunning reports with Report Experts that guide them through the report creation process. |
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| Access Data Easily | You can access data
from virtually any PC, SQL, OLE DB, ODBC-compliant, groupware, or Microsoft«
BackOffice™ data source. A wide range of built-in tools let you accomplish unlimited
types of data analysis. Choose your data sources and create customized reports for any
query. Native database drivers for Oracle, Informix, ACT!, the IBM DB2 family and others, make Seagate Crystal Reports the only tool you need to transform data from over 30 different relational databases to information-rich reports. And with a native driver for Arbor Essbase, you can also report off multidimensional (OLAP) databases. |
| Design Reports Quickly | Report Experts make it easy to produce informative, visually appealing reports. A drag-and-drop interface, the option to edit reports while viewing live data, and an interface designed to make common reporting tasks highly efficient all help you design reports more productively. |
| Distribute Reports Widely | When your report is complete, Seagate Crystal Reports makes it easy to send it just about anywhere, in practically any format. Export your report to a wide variety of popular formats including Microsoft Word and Excel, HTML or even e-mail. Compile reports into standalone applications for interactive viewing. Distribute reports via the Web using advanced web reporting technology. |
| Build Any Report You Can Imagine | Place the data in
your report wherever you want and customize it to look any way you choose; reports can be
as simple or as complex as your needs demand. You don’t need to adjust your projects
around what Seagate Crystal Reports can do. In this version, you have a variety of report
types from which to choose:
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| In-Depth Analysis | Seagate Crystal Reports gives you the tools to examine trends, expose relationships or zero in on important facts. An analyzer view lets you interactively zoom in, drill down or modify graphs and maps to examine items of interest. Customizable cross-tabs help uncover relationships and allow you to compare two perspectives on the same data. A powerful formula editor, with over 160 functions, lets you create important summary data that might not be present in your database, and easy to use field highlighting visually alerts you to key values in your report. |
| Powerful Processing | Server-side processing lets you design reports which perform grouping, sorting and SQL expressions on the database server, conserving precious network resources. Use on-demand subreports to speed up initial report display and defer optional report processing until requested by your user. |
| Manage Your Reports | With the document import tool, you can transfer layout and data from existing "legacy" reports into Seagate Crystal Reports for one-time or ongoing reporting. Save even more time with the field mapping tool which allows you to migrate existing reports from old or prototype databases to new or changed ones, without having to redesign the report. Your investment in existing reports is also protected since Seagate Crystal Reports 7 can open any report file created with any earlier version. Plus, files created in Seagate Crystal Reports are fully compatible with Seagate Crystal Info for enterprise report distribution and analysis. |
Reporting Technology Designed for the Web Access the most advanced web reporting capabilities available in the industry and transfer the reporting skills you already have to web projects. Many reporting tools claim to be web-enabled, but a reporting tool truly designed for the Web needs to do more than just export to HTML. Seagate Crystal Reports 7 goes far beyond the HTML export capabilities that we introduced in April 1996; we’ve created a reporting tool designed for the Web that maintains Seagate Software’s technological leadership through superior web reporting functionality. It’s also designed to build on your existing development skills. Seagate Crystal Reports offers the following technological advantages:
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| Leverage Existing Reports | If you’re using Seagate Crystal Reports, you already have many of the ingredients you need to deploy reports within your organization on the Web. Existing reports created with any version of Seagate Crystal Reports can be easily transferred—just link them to your web server, install and configure the Crystal Web Report Server (included in the box with Seagate Crystal Reports 7 Pro), and you’re done! No web reporting tool available today gives you this kind of power, convenience, or flexibility. While you may have had to learn new programming languages and development skills to be successful on the Web, you can leverage the reporting skills you already have if you’re using Seagate Crystal Reports. And you can also leverage your existing Crystal Reports. |
| Smart Navigation | Now it’s fast and easy to find information, whether it’s on the desktop or in a browser. Rather than having to page through an entire report, you can quickly navigate to specific details via a new page-on-demand interface that presents a summary of the report. Pull reports from the web server to the browser, one page at a time, then drill down for more detail on graphs, group totals, and embedded hyperlinks. Automatically generated group trees provide an index to reports so you can quickly jump, with a single mouse click, to the section of the report you need to analyze. |
| Smart Viewers | Smart Viewers are lightweight add-ins (less than 300KB) for ActiveX and Java that let you view reports in their native *.RPT format. Distributing reports via the Web doesn’t mean you need to compromise when it comes to the presentation quality of your reports. Seagate Crystal Reports 7 has Smart Viewers—thin-client add-ins that enable you to add functionality to web reports without the hassles of application setup on client desktops. With the ActiveX and Java-based viewers, you can view reports in native Crystal Reports format or export reports to your client system using web browsers supporting ActiveX or Java. In addition, Smart Viewers for HTML Frames or plain HTML provide platform independence by letting users view any Crystal Report on any web browser, running on any operating system. |
| Thin-wire Architecture | Even if you’re deploying large reports to your intranet, the "thin-wire" architecture of the Crystal Web Report Server ensures superior response times and reduces web traffic. Page-on-demand access to reports lets users download only the specific pages of a report which they need to see. An ISAPI/NSAPI/CGI-compliant component, the Crystal Web Report Server is compatible with popular Windows-based web servers including Microsoft Internet Information Server, Netscape Enterprise Server, Apache and Lotus Domino. |
| Cross-Platform Support | Cross-platform deployment is headache-free: you choose your web software, end users choose the browser they prefer, and Seagate Crystal Reports 7 does the rest. The Crystal Web Report Server detects which browser is being used and automatically downloads the appropriate Smart Viewer; ActiveX, Java or HTML, to the client. Reports can be deployed, hassle-free, to any platform. |
| Ad hoc Query and Analysis | Crystal Query is a new query generation tool which allows you to go beyond simply viewing existing reports over the web. Java applets allow you to create ad hoc queries remotely using compatible web browsers. Simply select a database from a list of available sources, choose fields and specify sorting, grouping, and selection options. The results appear in a Query Results Grid which you can use to analyze the data, change sort order, column orders, etc. The results of the query can then be saved as a simple report (in RPT format) which can be viewed using one of the standard Smart Viewers. |
Two Component Architecture Seagate Crystal Reports is a combination of two components: the Crystal Report Designer, which builds, manipulates, and formats reports, and the Crystal Report Engine, which processes reports and then prints or exports them to a specified destination. |
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| Crystal Report Designer | Based on a free-form drawing model, the Crystal Report Designer is the front end of Seagate Crystal Reports. With the Report Designer, you can take advantage of easy data selection, WYSIWYG report layout, sophisticated formatting tools, and a wide range of data analysis and manipulation tools to create presentation-quality report masterpieces. |
| Crystal Report Engine | The printing and exporting heart of Seagate Crystal Reports is the Crystal Report Engine, a true Dynamic Link Library (DLL) that you can integrate dependably into Windows-based and web-based applications with a royalty-free runtime license. As a developer using Visual Basic, Visual C++, Visual InterDev, Delphi, INFORMIX-NewEra, Visual dBASE, C, C++, or any other programming language that can access a DLL, you can add sophisticated reporting capabilities to your applications without the time-consuming task of writing your own code from scratch. Available in both 16- and 32-bit versions, Seagate Crystal Reports runs on Windows 3.1, Windows for Workgroups, Windows 95/98, and Windows NT 3.51+. All reports created with Seagate Crystal Reports are compatible across 16- and 32-bit environments. |
Advanced Developer Features Adding superior reporting functionality to your applications faster and easier than ever. Seagate Crystal Reports is well-known among Windows developers. When your application runs, it links to the Crystal Report Engine to access report processing, printing, and exporting functionality. Reporting can be simple, producing only a single report that is sent to a printer or preview window with no options available to the user. Or, it can be complex, letting the user change record selections, sorting, grouping, and export options. Seagate Crystal Report 7 contains many innovative features that continue to make it the premier choice for developers who need to integrate sophisticated reporting into their applications. |
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| Supported Environments | Integrate the
powerful functionality of the Crystal Report Engine with any of the controls or class
libraries included in Crystal Reports 7:
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| Interactive Reporting | Reports don't have
to be static objects within your application. Your reports can come alive with the smart
Preview Window; it provides unprecedented interactivity by offering more control to users.
The result? Live reports and superior control over your application design. Use Event and Call-back support to create truly interactive reporting applications. When a user clicks on an element in the Preview Window, your application can present additional report details, launch another report, execute application code, or do whatever you choose. Customizable Preview Window controls include features such as a printer setup button, a variable zoom control, a refresh button, and search capabilities in your application. Enable any or all of these new features, or use the default settings—the choice is yours. |
| Report From Application Data | Connect to data sources on the fly using the Active Data Driver in Seagate Crystal Reports 7. Create a report template that you can use within your Visual Basic application. Then, at runtime, use Active Data Objects (ADO), Remote Data Objects (RDO), or Data Access Objects (DAO) to bind your report to any runtime data source, including grid data. Or use the Crystal Data Object (CDO) to report off memory blocks by binding to application memory. Your application is more tightly integrated with data so it only needs to connect to the data once. |
| Report Designer Component | Now you can create reports from directly within the Microsoft Visual Basic 5.0 or 6.0 Integrated Design Environment using this ActiveX-based designer. Import or use familiar Report Experts to create you report and then add formatting, database selection and other customization to your report using familiar Visual basic code. Reports created in the Visual Basic 6.0 Data Reporter can also be migrated to Seagate Crystal Reports as your reporting needs become more complex. |
| JavaBean Viewer | If you're developing client-side applications using Java, use the JavaBean viewer component to quickly add viewing of existing Crystal Reports. Numerous properties allow you to customize the toolbar, font, colors and even the GUI language. |
For the latest information about this
product, please visit the web site at www.seagatesoftware.com/crystalreports.
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