Does Softrak have plans to update the Crystal component that's built into the various Adagio modules? My reason for asking is this:

I have a report that I would like to be able to run as a CustomRP from within Adagio SA. According to Steve Shcwartz, I can't do that because the report he wrote for us requires Crystal 8.5. That is because his report pulls in some of the data from an external Excel file - something that is apparently not supported by the version that's built into the Adagio modules.
Because of that, I may have to install full blown 8.5 onto about a dozen computers - all so that they can run this one report. There are (obviously) licensing issues associated with that.

But that's not the only problem. I have another report Steve wrote that I am able to run as a custom report from within Adagio SA. However, the Excel formatting is somewhat off when I print the report to a file in Excel format. It's not a show stopper, but something that would require someone to spend time one reformatting the spreadsheet.
On the other hand, the resulting Excel file is formatted perfectly if I run the report from Crystal Reports 8.5 and export it in Excel 7.0 format.

Anything that can be found about either one of those issues? Other than installing 8.5 on everyone's computer?

Thanks,

Andre

Andre,

Writing reports in Crystal that look exactly the way you want them look when exported to Excel is tricky at best. I think it's often a column width thing caused by the headers and footers. Sometimes you can find a column in the report that has no information in it and delete that column and everything lines up and looks much better.

I just wish I knew more about Crystal Reports as it has it's place, but it can be a bear.

David

Hi David:

I certainly see the value in having Crystal as a separate product as well as having at least some of the functionality in the built-in product. I think Steve said the built-in version is based on Crystal 7.0 (?).
I just happened to notice that the spreadsheet created by Crystal 8.5 was basically perfect. The one created by 7.0 was not useless, but had a few formatting issues. Nothing that couldn't be fixed by opening the file in Excel and cleaning it up - but, maybe, this could be avoided by incorporating some of the 8.5 functionality into the various Adagio modules. Maybe in 9.0?

Cheers,

Andre

Andre:

You would only need one station running Crystal reports designer. No Adagio LanPak is used.

Included in Crystal Reports for Adagio is a program called PrinTool which runs just like other Adagio modules (ie workstation install where needed). That program will print (dislay) any of the Crystal 8.5 reports.

PrinTool uses the usual Adagio LanPaks. Since it is often in use for only and short time each day, you may find you do not need to add to your existing LanPaks.