How to setup developer environment for BO 4.1 and SharePoint 13

[Former Member]

I searched the web and the answers are all over the place.

We will be installing BusinessObjects 4.1 this summer and we will be hosting Reports on that server, along with (assuming it is possible) SharePoint 2013 and hopefully using Team Foundation Server 2013 for the source control. Searching for source control seems to find article about addins coming in 2009 via Recrystallize. And going through the download section of SAP, when I can figure out how to get there or randomly stumble in there is... what can I say, a tiresome process.

My Questions?

1. Can I develop Crystal Reports 2013 in Visual Studio 2013 and store my reports in TFS?

2. Do I need to do anything special to deploy them to BusinessObjects 4.1?

3. How do I deploy to SharePoint 2013?

4. I downloaded Crystal Reports 2013 SP5 which was in a zip file "51049034.zip". Once extracted to "\Crystal Reports 2013 SP5", it put some random LABEL.., Version.. files in that root directory, then created some strange folder hierarchy "\DATA_UNITS\CrystalReports" and this is where I find a setup.exe. Is that expected?

5. Is there a Visio diagram somewhere on this site where I can see the expected development workflow?

Thanks,

Phillip

[DellSC · Accepted solution]

1. Can I develop Crystal Reports 2013 in Visual Studio 2013 and store my reports in TFS?

A:  Yes, but....  The version of Crystal that is in VS does NOT contain ALL of the features.  I would develop the reports in the full version of Crystal, then import them into a project in VS and then into TFS.  There is also a copy of Subversion that is now installed with BO and the option to do report version control directly in BO.  You could use this instead of TFS.

2. Do I need to do anything special to deploy them to BusinessObjects 4.1?

A: The best way is to use the full version of Crystal.  You'll have the option to "Save As" with "Enterprise" as the destination.  In this way you can not only add new reports, but also update an existing report.  The other types of tools that are available with the system to publish Crystal reports to BO do not let you overwrite existing reports to update them.

3. How do I deploy to SharePoint 2013?

A: There is a SharePoint integration kit available for download from SAP.  Look for "Integration Option for Microsoft SharePoint" on http://help.sap.com/bobip for more info

4. I downloaded Crystal Reports 2013 SP5 which was in a zip file "51049034.zip". Once extracted to "\Crystal Reports 2013 SP5", it put some random LABEL.., Version.. files in that root directory, then created some strange folder hierarchy "\DATA_UNITS\CrystalReports" and this is where I find a setup.exe. Is that expected?

A: Yes, this is the way the install is set up

5. Is there a Visio diagram somewhere on this site where I can see the expected development workflow?

A: What type of development workflow are you talking about?  There is nothing available that I'm aware of.

-Dell

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

1. Can I develop Crystal Reports 2013 in Visual Studio 2013 and store my reports in TFS?

A:  Yes, but....  The version of Crystal that is in VS does NOT contain ALL of the features.  I would develop the reports in the full version of Crystal, then import them into a project in VS and then into TFS.

Reply: So to use TFS and the Full version of CR. Would I create a solution in VS, create a report in CR, then back to VS and add existing item. Then to edit I would check out in TFS, open the checked out item in CR. And I would also have to save as to the BO repository each time for an update I assume. But if I install the full\latest version of Crystal Reports does it upgrade the designer and source code that Visual Studio uses to design the reports? Therefore allowing me to stay in one IDE.

2. Do I need to do anything special to deploy them to BusinessObjects 4.1?

A: The best way is to use the full version of Crystal.  You'll have the option to "Save As" with "Enterprise" as the destination.  In this way you can not only add new reports, but also update an existing report.  The other types of tools that are available with the system to publish Crystal reports to BO do not let you overwrite existing reports to update them.

Reply: Does BO 4.1 provide Versioning like SharePoint?

Thanks,

Phil

[DellSC · Accepted solution]

1.  The full version of Crystal Reports and the new SAP Crystal Reports for Visual Studio download/SDK or the SAP BusinessObjects .NET SDK are separate installs that use some of the same .dll files.  However, the design component that's in Visual Studio does not have all of the features of the full version of Crystal and you CAN NOT publish to BO from Visual Studio.  If you're working with reports from BusinessObjects, DO NOT get the Crystal for VS download (version 13 assemblies).  Instead you must use the BO .NET SDK (version 14 assemblies).  DO NOT mix the two - they won't work together.

2.  Yes, BO 4.1 includes versioning - a copy of Subversion is installed with the server and there are ways to check reports in and out in the CMC.

-Dell