Dynamic OLE Objects in CR2011

[Former Member]

Hello,

It's a very common requirement for report designers to need to have a dynamic image appear somewhere in the report. whether it's an employee photograph or an electronic signature.

That being said, I have spent some time online searching for ways to do this with Crystal Reports 2011 and i found out that it's supposed to be very simple and straight forward

Create a static OLE object, go into the formatting options and create a formula that returns the location of the image file we want to display. I've tried this, and unfortunately have not been able to get the report to view the dynamic content when i run a preview of the report.

The image URL is stored in the database and it points to a web location. I even tried to write a formula to test out if it makes a difference if it was locally referenced files that i'm using. still no luck.

Is there anything in specific that i should know about this?

My current setup for using CR is through Crystal Reports Viewer. i'm not using any programming language to run/distribute my reports. Computers that will be running the reports will have access to the same data source being used.

Any ideas? I've been searching everywhere for an answer.

Thanks

Mazz

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Hi Mazz,

As you mentioned the image URL is stored in database, so if the URL is secured one eg. HTTPS then crystal report wont be able to process the images. Because HTTPS graphic location is not supported.

As a workaround you will have to use http URL's.

-Shahnawaz

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Thank you everyone for your quick responses.

It is indeed a secure HTTP Request. so it seems i will have to find a solution.

there are file manipulation tools in CR are there?

[abhilash_kumar · Accepted solution]

File Manipulation tools as in?

-Abhilash

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Something that i could maybe use to dump the HTTPS url into a temporary location to be used in my report

like a fileRead(PATH) etc..

[abhilash_kumar · Accepted solution]

Well, I'm not aware of any CR function that can do this; there could be third party tools maybe.

-Abhilash

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Sorry about bringing up an old wound.  Is there any plans for Crystal Reports allowing access to secured url?  I have need to put photos from a secured url for reports. 

Thank you,

[former_member183750 · Accepted solution]

Not that I know... But it may make a good post int he SAP Idea Place (do see if it is already there).

- Ludek

Senior Support Engineer AGS Product Support, Global Support Center Canada

Follow us on Twitter

[abhilash_kumar]

Hi Mazz,

Images stored locally should work fine. For e.g. if you save the image in C:\Images\Test.jpg, then the Graphic Location formula should look like this:

"C:\Images\Test.jpg" (with the quotes).

-Abhilash

[Former Member]

Thanks a lot! i'll give this a shot and see what happens.

Does it make a difference if the files are stored locally or not?

[abhilash_kumar]

The files can even be on a shared server. The only situation it will not work is when you're referring to images on a secured URL like Shaan mentions.

-Abhilash

[abhilash_kumar]

Oh and if you're referring to images stored on a shared drive, then you need to use a UNC path to the image.

-Abhilash