When to use Crystal Server? Already using CR4E as Unmanaged RAS

[Former Member]

Hi,

I am developing a java web application that will open crystal reports from an external location, populate it with service xml data and render in the browser using Crystal DHTML Viewer.

Till now, I have used crystal runtime engine shipped with CR4E which can be embedded in tomcat server. I think this is what you call unmanaged RAS?

The app works.

I have found out that we have license version of Crystal server 2013(5 CAL) and would like to know If I can use it instead of the runtime engine. I am not familiar with Crystal Server so just want to get an idea before I proceed with server installation.

My questions are:

1. What is the function of Crystal server? When to use Crystal Report server? My requirement is report viewing in browser,exporting the report in pdf format and in future browse through and view the reports using frontend provided by Crystal server. Not sure if such a front end app exists now.
2. Do I continue to use the runtime api jars shipped with eclipse or does crystal server has java SDK?
3. Are there any API changes in crystal server compared to api's of crystal runtime?
4. Do I get any performance benefit when using Crystal Server over Crystal runtime engine?  Will using Crystal server speed up report rendering or pdf export?

Best Regards,

Bharat

[Former Member]

Thanks Prithviraj and Dell.

My current approach of using Crystal reports has been xml based datasource.

What I do is design crystal reports using static xml(service response) and static xsd. I tried designing reports using remote xml but as the service response does not return xml ‘as a resource’. It writes string data in the http response which is xml representation. Crystal reports designer does not understand this. Hence static file as datasource

I have created a servlet that calls our app services. The service response is xml written in the output stream. I convert the incoming stream to xml bytes and set as datasource to crystal template which is then rendered using embedded crystal runtime.

Another question:

When viewing the report from within CMC/BI Launchpad, can I initiate call to my servlet that will then dynamically set xml data as datasource for the crystal template or is there another better way of doing this?

[DellSC]

In addition to what Prithvi mentioned, CR4E, I believe, is limited to 5 concurrent users and 100 concurrent "print jobs" (a report opens a print job and each "run" of a subreport opens a print job).  With Crystal Server, you have as many concurrent licenses as you purchase (I believe they come in sets of 25.)

-Dell

[Former Member]

Hi Bharat,

1. What is the function of Crystal server? When to use Crystal Report server? My requirement is report viewing in browser,exporting the report in pdf format and in future browse through and view the reports using frontend provided by Crystal server. Not sure if such a front end app exists now.

Refer the below link

http://www.sap.com/solution/sme/software/analytics/crystal-server/index.html

BILaunchpad is the front end for end users for managing their content and Central management console is the admin console to manage the entire system.

Refer to the official guides available at help.sap.com to understand the features better.

2. Do I continue to use the runtime api jars shipped with eclipse or does crystal server has java SDK?

Crystal server provides its own set of jar files.

3. Are there any API changes in crystal server compared to api's of crystal runtime?

No. Crystal server runtimes pretty similar to what CR4E provides with more features.

4. Do I get any performance benefit when using Crystal Server over Crystal runtime engine?  Will using Crystal server speed up report rendering or pdf export.

Performance depends on many factors and it is not about just which runtimes are being used. If you size your crystal server properly, you would definately get better performance.

Thanks,

Prithvi