Author: jlyon12

I'm a partner at TechSol Consulting and we make a software application called Ripplestone that is used to publish, manage, distribute and schedule Crystal Reports. We also create custom websites for ecommerce sites.

How to Use the Send To & Email To Feature

Post author By jlyon12
Post date October 26, 2017
No Comments on How to Use the Send To & Email To Feature

When a user runs a Crystal Report from the home page of Ripplestone, the report is displayed within the users web browser. They have the option to manually save the report by exporting the report output to a file or they can print the report. But if they would like the report saved to a file everytime the report is run they can take advantage of the Send To feature.

The Send To feature is used to either create and save a file of the report or to email a copy of the report via email. This action will be performed each time the report is run on demand fom the home page of Ripplestone.

This can be useful when you need a physical copy of the report or another system will be looking for a copy of the report. Perhaps in an Excel or CSV format.

Export to a File

The Export to a file section allows you to select the file type to be saved. The available formats are:

pdf
Excel
Word
RTF
CSV
Text
Tab Separated
Crystal Report

The location for the file can be on the local Ripplestone server or on another server using a UNC style path. You also have the option of selecting a pre-defined location from the drop down. These can be setup in the Saved File Locations page. The file name can be any valid file name and can also use the following tokens to change the name at runtime.

[Date] – Formats the date in yyyy_MM_dd
[DateTime] – Formats the date in yyyy_MM_dd hhmmss
[Date:] – Allows you to enter the date and time in a custom format
[FileName] – Uses the document file name without the extension
[Title] – Uses the title of the document
[DocID] – Uses the internal ID for this document
[ParameterX] – Uses the value of the parameter that was entered when the report is run. Replace the X with a number.

There are two options for what to do if the file already exists. You can select to have the file replaced if there is a file with the same name already in the folder; or you have the option to append a number to the end of the file name.

Send to Email

The Send to Email section allows you to have a copy of the report emailed to one or more people. If using multiple email addresses separate them with a semi-colon.

The from address needs to be a valid email address for most SMTP servers.

Tags Crystal Reports, Email To, Ripplestone, Send To

General IIS Ripplestone Tips

Change the File or Report Upload Size

Post author By jlyon12
Post date June 19, 2017
No Comments on Change the File or Report Upload Size

When you publish a Crystal Report file or document to Ripplestone you are moving the physical file from the local storage to the web server. Ripplestone has a default file size of 20 MB, so report files that are larger than 20 MB will not upload.

With some documents and reports the file can be larger than 20 MB and the limit will need to be increased.

This size can be changed in the web.config file located in C:SitesRipplestone. The web.config file is an XML file that can be edited with any text editor or XML reader (we use Notepad++ to edit our files and love it). Look for the httpRuntime section and change the maxRequestLength to whatever value you would like (1024 = 1MB).

Below is an example of the httpRuntime section with the default values that come with Ripplestone.

Tags file upload, IIS, maxrequestlength, Ripplestone, web.config

Crystal Reports Email Ripplestone Scheduler

Using External Parameters for a Scheduled Crystal Report

Post author By jlyon12
Post date February 18, 2016
No Comments on Using External Parameters for a Scheduled Crystal Report

When running a scheduled Crystal Report in Ripplestone that has at least one parameter, there are times when the list of parameters values is large or comes from a changing source of values.

With Ripplestone you can use this external list of parameter values to burst the report. The scheduled report will run the report once for each set of parameters and optionally use an email address to send the report via email.

Below is an example of how to use the external parameters bursting feature to send a yearly sales report using a parameter to filter the report by country and emailing each report to an email address.

To start you need to create a Database Connection to the data source. In Ripplestone, the database connection page is a centralized location to create the information needed to connect to a data source. It is used by reports, dynamic parameters and external parameters to open and read data.

Create a new database connection with the Connection Type of Dynamic Pick List. The example below is getting the parameter data from SQL Server from a database called ExternalParams. You will also need a valid User ID and Password to connect to the data source.

From a scheduled report, go to the External Parameters tab.

Start by enabling the feature with the checkbox at the top.

Select the database connection created above and add the SQL statement to select the fields that contain the data needed for the report’s parameters and the email address if sending the report via email.

In the example below, the report is getting data from a view called vwGetCountries. It needs the fields Country and Email; the Country field will be used for the first parameter in the report and the Email field will be used to send the report to the email address(es) contained in the field. If more than one email address is in the field separate them with a semi-colon.

The Test link can be used to ensure that the connection works and that the data retrieved is correct. In the example below, it returns three countries.

The mapping section is where you can assign the fields to the reports parameters and to the email address.

Note: If you are using an email address to send the report, you will also need to enable the Email feature and fill in the From, To and Subject lines. The To field will be replaced by the data from the external source.

After setting everything up, the report will run at the scheduled time and run once for each record found in the data source. The report will be saved into the report’s history and email the report, using the email address stored in the data source.

Tags Bursting, Crystal Reports, Ripplestone, Scheduler

Crystal Reports Exporting PDF Printing Ripplestone

Force Larger Font when Exporting to PDF from Crystal Reports

Post author By jlyon12
Post date February 11, 2016
No Comments on Force Larger Font when Exporting to PDF from Crystal Reports

When exporting from the Crystal Reports Runtime Engine, some reports will have a smaller font size when exported to pdf. This can also happen when printing a report since browsers such as Chrome, Firefox and Edge will first export the report to pdf and then print the pdf file. Internet Explorer can either print using an ActiveX control or by also first exporting to a pdf file. When using the ActiveX control the fonts retain the correct size.

To force the engine to maintain the font size you will need to make a change to the Windows Registry. To make the change open the Registry Editor by typing RegEdit.exe in the Run dialog box.

Once the Registry Editor is open, find the Crystal Reports key using the following path:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREWow6432NodeSAP BusinessObjectsCrystal Reports for .NET Framework 4.0Crystal Reports

Most likely you will need to add two new keys. First add a key called Export and then a new key called Pdf if they are not there. The final structure will look like this:

In the Pdf key add a new DWORD called ForceLargerFonts

In the new DWORD, change the value to a 1 and save the value.

Once complete, the new value should look like below:

Close the Registry Editor and test opening a report in Ripplestone and export it to a pdf file.

Tags Crystal Reports, Exporting, PDF, Printing, Ripplestone, Small Fonts

Crystal Reports Printers Printing Printing Ripplestone Scheduler

Printing Crystal Reports from the Scheduler

Post author By jlyon12
Post date February 2, 2016
No Comments on Printing Crystal Reports from the Scheduler

When trying to send a Crystal Report directly to a printer from the Ripplestone scheduler, you will need to change some settings to allow the scheduler service to have permissions to the printer.

Changing the Login for the Service

By default the Ripplestone scheduler runs as a local system account. This account usually doesn’t have permissions to print to network printers.

To allow the service to have permissions to print, change the Log On to a user that does have permissions. This will require a re-start of the service.

Install the Printer on the Ripplestone Server

To make sure that the server has the correct driver you will need to install the printer on the Ripplestone server.

By installing the printer, you should also get the printer to display in the drop down list of available printers. If the printer doesn’t display in the list you can type in into test box to the right of the dropdown.

Make the Printer the default printer

If the Crystal Report has the No Printer option selected on the Page Setup dialog box, then the printer on the Ripplestone server will need to be selected as the default printer.

If you cannot make the printer the default printer, then the No Printer option will need to be un-checked and the report will need to be re-published to Ripplestone. Once the report has been re-published it can be printed to any printer. This seems to be a limitation within the Crystal Reports Runtime Engine.

Tags Crystal Reports, Printing, Ripplestone, Scheduler

Crystal Reports Dynamic Parameters Parameters Ripplestone Ripplestone Tips

Updating the List of Values (LOV) in Crystal Reports

Post author By jlyon12
Post date September 24, 2015
No Comments on Updating the List of Values (LOV) in Crystal Reports

Using Crystal Reports Designer

When using dynamic parameters within Crystal Reports you can easily have more parameter values than Crystal Reports can display. The default number of values that can be displayed is 1,000 and if you are using cascading parameters the number of values is the sum of the values in all the parameters used in the cascade.

In the screen shot below, the values should go to the ZM, but the list stops at ME since the combination of the Customer Code parameter and the Date Range parameter is greater than 1,000.

To fix this problem in the Crystal Reports designer you need to edit the Registry. The location for Crystal Reports 2008 is below. Normally the last key of LOV is not created and will need to be created in the Registry. Once the LOV key is created you will need to create a string value called MaxRowsetRecords and assign a number to it. The number can be any value greater than 1,000 if you know how big the list of parameter values is, or you can make the value -1 to have no limit.

HKEY_CURRENT_USERSOFTWAREBusiness ObjectsSuite 12.0Crystal ReportsDatabaseOptionsLOV

After the change has been made to the Registry, the parameters should display all the values.

Using Ripplestone

When you are using Ripplestone, the reports are run using the Crystal Reports Runtime Engine and this uses a different section of the Registry. The location for the runtime engine is below:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREWow6432NodeSAP BusinessObjectsCrystal Reports for .NET Framework 4.0Crystal ReportsDatabaseOptionsLOV

The LOV key will need to be added and then the string value of MaxRowsetRecords.

The big catch is that the value of -1 cannot be used, this must be a number greater than 1,000. If you use the -1 value, the report will display only the first 1,000 values.

Once the MaxRowsetRecords is created and set to al value that is greater than the number of parameter values you will see all the values in the parameter page in Ripplestone.

Tags Crystal Reports, Dynamic Parameters, List of Values, Parameters, Ripplestone

Crystal Reports Ripplestone Ripplestone Tips Tutorial

How to Use RSExpress

This feature, called RSExpress, allows a report to be run and viewed in the report viewer without first logging into Ripplestone. This allows users of Ripplestone to run reports that are published in Ripplestone from external applications without the users first logging into Ripplestone and running the report from the Ripplestone application.

This feature uses a query string that is appended to the URL to provide information that the viewer and report need to run. This information is normally provided by the Ripplestone application, but will now be provided using the query string

Below are instructions on how to use this feature

1. The query string can take up to 5 parameters. The first 2 are required and the others are optional. The name and description of each are listed below.

Parameter name	Required	Description
DocID	X	The ID of the published document. *Note:* The report must already be published within Ripplestone.
User	X	The name of an existing user within Ripplestone. For example, AdministratorThis can also be the encrypted user name described below.
Params		This is used to pass in values for report parameters. If the report has multiple parameters each parameter is separated by a comma.Range parameters can be passed in and are separated by a semi-colon (;). For example if a report had two parameters, a Country parameter and a HireDate parameter and the Hire Date parameter is a range type, then the syntax would be Params=USA,4/1/1992;8/15/1992. This would pass “USA” into the Country parameter and would pass in the two dates as the start value and end value for the HireDate parameter.
Key		A system generated key to make this unique. This helps make the query string more secure.
ExtFileName		This is used to pass in a file name that will be used to save a copy of the report. This External File Name feature needs to be turned on in the Edit Document page to be used.

1.2. To create the URL you create a valid URL to the CRViewer.aspx page. For example, www.ripplestonedemo.net/CRViewer.aspx

or
//servername/ripplestone/CRViewer.aspx

3. Then to append the query string; add a question mark (?) followed by the parameters for the query string. These are the parameters listed above. The parameters are separated by a “&”

RS Express Tab

To help with creating the query string we have added a tab called RS Express to the Edit Document page. This tab allows you to turn on or off the RS Express feature for this document, create a unique key and view a template for the query string.

System Options for RS Express

The RS Express feature can be controlled at a system level on the System Setup and Configuration page.

RS Express – Active: This option allows you to turn the RS Express feature on or off. Turning the feature off will not allow any published reports to use RS Express, unless the report overrides this option at the report level.

Require Unique Key: This option will require that a unique system generated key be used in the query string. Using the key makes the query string more secure by eliminating the ability for a use to guess different DocID values.

Use Encrypted User Name: This option uses an encrypted user name instead of the plain test user name. This increases the security when the user name is used for Row Level Security and you do not want users entering other names into the query string

Encrypted User Name

To get the encrypted user name for the query string, go to the Edit User page and then the User Options tab. This will contain the user’s name in an encrypted format. This can then be used instead of the normal user name.

For example, the URL below is using the encrypted user name:

http://localhost:52663/CRViewer.aspx?DocID=53&User=cfRiKypX6cI=

Tags Crystal Reports, Ripplestone, rsexpress

Uncategorized

What’s New in Ripplestone 3.4.4

Post author By jlyon12
Post date January 14, 2014
No Comments on What’s New in Ripplestone 3.4.4

Overview

Below are the new features, updates and bug fixes for version 3.4.4

Scheduler Changes

Added New Copy Feature (3.4.4.1)

Added a new feature to the scheduler page to copy an existing job.

Display the Error message for Failed Jobs (3.4.4.1)

If a scheduled job fails, the Schedule History will display a link so the administrator can see what caused the failure.

Added new fields to display the Created and Modified Information (3.4.4.1)

The Edit Schedule page now displays who created the schedule and when and who last modified the record and when.

The Scheduled Documents Page Remembers the Last Clicked Item (3.4.4.3)

Updated the Schedule Document page to return and highlight the last viewed scheduled job when going to the Edit Schedule page or the Schedule History page. This new feature also remembers the rows per page that was selected.

Added a Date Token to the Unmanaged Output (3.4.4.4)

Added a new Date Token feature to the Unmanaged Output file name. By using the token of [DATE] in the file name field the system will insert the current date when the document is created.

Changed the Quarterly Interval (3.4.4.4)

Updated the Quarterly option to allow the user to select the last day or day of the week for the current quarter.

Added New Validation that will limit who can Edit and Delete Jobs (3.4.4.3)

Added new validation so that only administrators and the super user can edit and delete all scheduled jobs. For users that have scheduler access then can only edit and delete their own jobs; they cannot edit or delete jobs created by another user.

Added New Field to display the Next Run Date and Time (3.4.4.3)

Added a new field to display the Next Run date and time.

Bug Fixes

Fixed an Issue With the RS Express feature with Multiple Value Parameters (3.4.4.4)

If you are using the RS Express feature and you were passing in parameter values that has multiple values for the same parameter you would get an error. This has been fixed and you can now pass in multiple parameter values.

Crystal Reports new release Ripplestone