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The right information leads to the right decisions, and in a world where organizations of all sizes are awash in data, getting a clear picture of that information can make or break a business.
The entire family of Crystal Reports products can help developers create applications to deliver reports to the right people at the right time. There's no need to worry about compatibility because reports developed with Crystal Reports can be deployed in virtually any application or infrastructure, in any Web browser, or connected to almost any database.
For developers, who are often split into camps according to the platform, IDE, or programming language they use, Crystal Reports has a number of options that make it easy to work with reports in the environments developers are more comfortable with.
It is this broad reach across the barriers that often divide information technology that's helped Crystal Reports become the de facto standard in enterprise reporting. Building on two decades of experience doesn't hurt either. Many developers turn to Crystal Reports to solve a specific problem, but they stay with the product because it continues to impress.
"For almost 20 years it's been the best report designer," said Robert Horne, an evangelist at SAP Business Objects. "The data connectivity, interactivity, and the presentation have all been worked on for almost two decades."
For many people who interact with Crystal Reports the development behind the report is the furthest thing from their mind. They're often using the Crystal Reports Viewer, a free download that enables anyone to view the native, interactive rpt files created with Crystal Reports, without owning any other Crystal Reports software. As a result the Crystal Reports Viewer extends the usefulness of existing reports which might be embedded in applications or hosted within reporting solutions. Users of these existing applications and solutions are able to distribute the reports out, as self-contained reports, to colleagues who can then use the free Crystal Reports Viewer to navigate the information in support of their own decision making.
Developers looking to include Crystal Reports in their applications are often introduced to the Crystal Reports family while creating .NET or Java applications. Both Crystal Reports, Version for Visual Studio .NET and Crystal Reports, Version for Eclipse make it easy for developers to create a report, embed that report in an application, and deploy that application.
Crystal Reports, Version for .NET is included in the Microsoft Visual Studio IDE Professional Edition and higher. Developers can natively embed the viewer and runtime engine in their Visual Studio applications. The named user license included in each copy of Visual Studio provides redistribution rights of the runtime engine in both thick-client and Web applications.
Crystal Reports, Version for Eclipse provides similar functionality for Java developers. Its Eclipse-based report design and integration tool lets developers integrate the runtime engine into thick-client and Web-based Java applications. The runtime engine can be distributed internally for both thick-client and Web applications. External redistribution is also included for thick-client applications.
Similar to the Visual Studio version, Crystal Reports, Version of Eclipse includes a report-design tool for the Eclipse IDE (other IDEs are supported using runtime JAR files). Crystal Reports has been in Visual Studio since 1993 and the Java engine was introduced about eight years ago. The advantage of creating a report in the familiar IDE while creating the other parts of the application can't be understated.
"These solutions are easily available to developers," said George Hriscu, product marketing manager at SAP Business Objects. "When they use the Visual Studio IDE, we're in there, and Crystal Reports, Version for Eclipse is available as a free download."
Developers who want more advanced report design and development features can upgrade to Crystal Reports 2008, the latest version of the full-featured Crystal Reports software. The upgrade offers the report designer and viewer, but it offers developers more of almost everything: more database drivers, more design functionality (like the ability to embed video through the integration of Adobe Flash files), and more on-the-fly filtering and reformatting capability.
Integration with the SAP Business Objects' Xcelsius dashboard product allows developers to include what-if scenarios in their applications and reports. Crystal Reports is a popular platform for building financial reporting applications thanks to its advanced calculated cross-tabs.
Another product, Crystal Reports Server, lets developers manage reports and dashboard, and the users working with them. The server is actually a set of services than can be called via an API, and as much as it delivers new functionality, it's also important because it gives the end users of reports more power to share and publish reports, freeing up developers and IT to work on other projects. Hosting reports and dashboards on the same server provides end users with more valuable insights, and puts less burden on IT for additional information,
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| Crystal Reports Server 2008 now enables the management of dashboards and reports on a single server. |
Organizations that work with a lot of embedded reports can use Crystal Reports Server to handle scheduling, authentication (via LDAP or Active Directory), and to customize how reports are delivered to different users, the format in which they are delivered, and even the data within those reports.
Crystal Reports Server includes a Web portal that customers can use, or they can build their own customized portal and use Crystal Reports Server for the backend services. Java and .NET APIs and portal integration kits allow developers to set up integration with existing portals, such as those built in SharePoint.
Crystal Reports Server provides both named user and concurrent access license options. With the concurrent access license paradigm users don't have to worry about their costs increasing if they virtualize their environment (as they would if they licensed by the CPU).
CrystalReports.com is a hosted version of Crystal Reports Server that can function as a good stepping stone to Crystal Reports Server. The cloud-based server requires no management and server set up. It works as a repository for reports and is easy on IT resources.
Organizations that are already using the cloud for applications like CRM will find CrystalReports.com is a good next step. CrystalReports.com even includes integration with Salesforce.com to make it easy to generate reports.
Even developers working for independent software vendors (ISVs) will find Crystal Reports has a solution for embedding reports in software for external audiences. Crystal Reports Developer Advantage extends the license to deploy the Crystal Reports runtime externally for a one-time $2,500 fee.
Developers recognize the value that the entire line of Crystal Reports products can bring to their applications and to the business users who need accurate, reliable information to support their decision making.
The Crystal Reports family earned a pair of 2009 Reader's Choice Awards from Visual Studio Magazine this year. Crystal Reports Server 2008 won the award for Middleware and Server-Based Tools, capturing more than one-quarter of all votes among the 29 eligible products. Crystal Reports for Visual Studio won for Data Editing, Reporting, and Analysis Tools. Referring to SAP's acquisition of Business Objects last year, the magazine said the software didn't miss a beat.
"The names may change, but the song remains the same," it said with its award.
Read More: Crystal Reports Shows Off for Developers in Its Own Ad Campaign »
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