Category: Ripplestone Tips

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Crystal Reports Email Ripplestone Ripplestone Tips Tutorial

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.

SendTo

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.

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General IIS Ripplestone Tips

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.

image

Categories
Crystal Reports Dynamic Parameters Parameters Ripplestone Ripplestone Tips

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.

LOV-Default

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

 

Registry

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

LOV-Updated

 

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.

Registry for the Crystal Reports Runtime Engine

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.

 

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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.

image

 

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

image

 

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=

image

Categories
IIS Ripplestone Ripplestone Tips

Setting the IIS Idle Time-out

The Idle Time-out within IIS can effect Ripplestone by closing the worker process before the session has timed out.  This will cause an error within Ripplestone when you click on a link.  This is because the worker process has been stopped due to inactivity and will result in an error like the one below.

 

image

 

The session timeout is set in the web.config file and the two setting (session timeout and the Application Pool Idle Time-out) need to work together.  The Idle Time-out should be equal to or larger than the Session timeout value.

For example, if the session timeout in the web.config file is set to 30 minutes, then the Idle Time-out should be set to a value of 30 minutes or greater.  In the screen shot below it is set to 35 minutes.

 

image

Categories
Crystal Reports Ripplestone Ripplestone Tips

Updating the Page Size in the Parameters List

With the new version of the Crystal Reports Runtime Engine there is page size limit that determines how many parameter values are in each page of values.  The default is 200 values per page or batch.

Below is an example of a report that has 2100 parameters.  The parameters are broken up into 11 pages of values.  The first page has the first 200 parameter values and as you move through the pages you get the next 200 values.

image

 

This page size can be changed in Ripplestone by updating the web.config file located in C:SitesRipplestoneweb.config (this is an XML file that can be updated with a text editor).

Look for a section called <businessObjects> and add or change the line highlighted below.  In the example the value is set to 500, but this can be any value.

  <businessObjects>
    <crystalReports>
      <crystalReportViewer>
        <add key="documentView" value="printlayout" />
        <add key="EnableTextClipping" value="true" />
        <add key="maxNumberListOfValues" value="500" />
      </crystalReportViewer>
    </crystalReports>
  </businessObjects>

 

After the config file has been changed to allow 500 values per page, there are only 5 pages of values.

image

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Categories
Email Ripplestone Ripplestone Tips

Changing the Ripplestone SMTP Mail Server

The default configuration of Ripplestone uses an SMTP server that is hosted by Ripplestone. This will work for most users, but can be changed to use a different SMTP server or corporate mail server like Microsoft Exchange.

The web site and the scheduler both have their own configuration files that will need to be changed.

Web Site:

The web site configuration file is the web.config located in the C:SitesRipplestone folder

Scheduler:

The scheduler configuration file is the RSScheduler.exe.config located in the C:SitesRipplestonebin folder

Both files have the same section that will need to be updated. Below is the section with the default settings. The line starting with <network host= is the line that will need to be updated. The host will change to be your SMTP server or Exchange server; it can either be the URL, Name or IP Address. If you do not need a user name and password you can remove those fields from the line.

After the changes have been made you will need to restart the scheduler service for the changes to read. The website will restart the next time a user uses the Ripplestone application.

<system.net>
    <mailSettings>
        <smtp deliveryMethod="Network" from="support@ripplestone.net">
    <network host="smtp.1and1.com" userName="emailsender@ripplestone.com" password="rs!email" port="25"/>
        </smtp>
    </mailSettings>
</system.net>

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Categories
IIS Ripplestone Ripplestone Tips Windows Server 2008

Accessing Ripplestone From The Server

 

There are times when the URL \localhostripplestone will not work on the server.  If this happens you can try the following to allow the server to run the Ripplestone website locally.

  1. Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.
  2. In Registry Editor, locate and then click the following registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetControlLsa
  3. Right-click Lsa, point to New, and then click DWORD Value.
  4. Type DisableLoopbackCheck, and then press ENTER.
  5. Right-click DisableLoopbackCheck, and then click Modify.
  6. In the Value data box, type 1, and then click OK.
  7. Quit Registry Editor, and then restart your computer.
Categories
Crystal Reports General Performance Tips Ripplestone Ripplestone Tips

Ripplestone Performance Tips

When publishing Crystal Reports to Ripplestone; there are a few simple options within the Crystal Reports designer that can be checked to increase the performance of the reports when they are run from within Ripplestone.

Page Setup

The first is to set the No Printer option on the Page Setup dialog box. This will stop the report from looking for the selected printer each time the report is run. It also has the added bonus of making the report look better within the web viewer. Open the Page Setup by clicking on Files and then Page Setup

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Figure 1 – Page Setup Dialog Box

 

Report Options

The report option dialog box has several options that can help the report process quicker. Open the Report Option by clicking on File and then Report Options.

  • Perform Grouping On Server – This works with the “Use Indexes Or Server For Speed” option to allow the server to perform much of the processing for the report. This reduces the processing and memory used by the Ripplestone server.
  • Use Indexes Or Server For Speed – Using this option will allow the SQL query to use the database indexes and can increase the speed when selecting large amounts of data.
  • Verify on First Refresh –Unchecking this option will stop the report from first checking the database to refresh the schema. This will save a trip to the database.
  • Verify Stored Procedure on First Refresh – Unchecking this option will stop the report from first checking the stored procedure to refresh the schema. This will save a trip to the database.
  • Save Data With Report – Unchecking this option will keep the file size small and will allow the report to be loaded by the Crystal Report engine quicker.
  • Perform Query Asynchronously – Check this box to allow the report to execute the SQL statement without requiring Ripplestone to wait for the select statement to finish.

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Crystal Reports General new release Ripplestone Ripplestone Tips Tutorial

Ripplestone 3 – Home Page Tour

With the release of Ripplestone version 3, we have added many new features to the home page and to how you view and interact with Crystal Reports.

Below is a quick tour of the new features.

 

Performance and Usability Improvements

 

Two new links have been added to the top menu bar.

  • Favorites allows users to quickly get to the documents marked as favorites. The favorites view loads quicker than the home page and is simpler to use.  There is an option to have the Favorites view be the default view when starting Ripplestone.
  • Scheduled History give the users a quick way to view all the scheduled history without needing to click on each Crystal Report on the home page.  This is helpful for the users that need to check the history of many reports.
    The navigation tree on the home page has been updated with AJAX and Data Caching to allow a smoother and quicker navigation experience.  The page will no longer flash as the user is clicking on the folders and documents in the tree.

image

          Multiple Reports

        With the new version of Ripplestone users can open multiple reports from the home page and then switch between them using the tabs.  The reports also open within the home page and not as a new browser window allowing the user to view the report more easily.  The reports new feel more integrated in the Ripplestone application.

      image

       

       

      New Crystal Reports Viewer

       

      Ripplestone 3 is using a new web viewer and new parameter page for running Crystal Reports.  Below is an example of the new parameter page, this opens within the home page and not as a separate web browser window.  It has a more integrated feel and a new indicator is displayed to let the user know that the report is being run.

      image

       

      The new web viewer allows the user to refresh the report and they will be prompted to enter new parameter values or if the report is written in Crystal Reports 2008 or 2011 they will have the option to open the Parameter Panel shown below.  This new panel will allow the user to view and change the parameter values without closing the report.

      image

       

      With these new features the home page of Ripplestone has become easier to use and more productive in viewing your Crystal Reports and Office Documents.