Using Crystal Reports XI

This chapter provides an overview of Crystal Reports XI compatibility issues and discusses how to:

• Create and formatting reports in Crystal Reports XI.

• Run Crystal XI reports.

Understanding Crystal Reports XI Compatibility Issues

To run Crystal Reports XI report definitions using BusinessObjects Enterprise XI through the PeopleSoft Process Scheduler, the Crystal Reports XI report definitions must reside in the BusinessObjects Enterprise XI report repository.

Crystal 9 report definition files can be converted to Crystal XI format and published into the BusinessObjects Enterprise XI Report Repository using the PeopleTools Report Conversion Utility: pscrconv.exe.

Converting reports without publishing them to the BusinessObjects Enterprise XI report repository allows you to switch from running Crystal Reports 9 report definitions to running Crystal Reports XI report definitions using Crystal Reports XI on a client machine.

Note. Versions previous to PeopleSoft PeopleTools 8 Crystal Reports must be converted to PeopleTools 8 Crystal Reports before they can be converted to run in BusinessObjects Enterprise XI.

See The Enterprise PeopleTools 8.49 Installation guide for your database platform, Installing and Configuring Software for Crystal Reports, Converting Crystal Reports, Converting Reports from Crystal Reports 9 format to Crystal Reports XI format.

Creating and Formatting Reports in Crystal Reports XI

This section discusses how to:

• Create reports in Crystal Reports XI.

• Format reports in Crystal Reports XI.

• Modify default settings in Crystal Reports XI.

• Saving reports in Crystal Reports XI.

Creating Reports in Crystal Reports XI

To create reports in Crystal Reports XI:

1. Access Crystal Reports XI.

2. From the Crystal Reports XI Start page, select the Standard Report Creation Wizard link under the New Reports area of the Getting Started section.

3. In the Available Data Sources dialog box, double-click Create New Connection.

4. Double-click the PeopleSoft Enterprise folder to display the Connection Info window.

   Note. If the PeopleSoft Enterprise folder is not present, you haven't installed the security plug-ins.

5. In the Server Name field, enter the URL to access the current PeopleSoft Enterprise domain that you specify in the Central Management Console, Authentication, PeopleSoft Enterprise tab.

   For example: http://megar102903.peoplesoft.com:8000/PSIGW/QueryListeningConnector.

6. Enter the user name and password.

7. Click Finish.

   Note. When you've added a new connection, the connection URL appears in the Data dialog box. You can bookmark the URL by right-clicking it and selecting Add to Favorites. In the future, you can access this URL from the favorites list within Crystal Reports.

8. In the Data dialog box, open the QUERY folder under PeopleSoft Enterprise.

9. Select a query that you want to use for your report, and click the > button to move it to the Selected Tables area.

10. Click Next.

11. In the Fields Display dialog box, select the fields that you want to appear in the report, and then click > to move the fields to the Display area.

12. Click Next repeatedly to bypass the next three optional dialog boxes—Grouping, Record Selection, and Template—if appropriate.

13. When you've finished making your selections, click Finish to preview the report in the Crystal Reports Explorer window.

14. Select the Design tab and the Report tab to format the report.

15. When you are satisfied with the report, select File, Save As to save your report.

See The Enterprise PeopleTools 8.49 Installation guide for your database platform, Installing and Configuring Software for Crystal Reports.

Formatting Reports in Crystal Reports XI

To format reports in Crystal Reports XI:

1. Access Crystal Reports XI.

2. Open the report that you want to format, and select the Design tab.

3. Enter the appropriate values:

   Note. In most cases, you need to enter the appropriate field type (text field, and so on) before you can enter information.

   • Report Header: Enter the title of the report and other information that you want to appear at the top of the first page.

   • Page Header: Enter or modify the column headings and other identifying information that you want to appear at the top of each page.

   • Details: This is main section of the report where the rows of data from your database appear.

   • Report Footer: Enter the information that you want in the footer of the report. You can include a summary on the last page of your report.

   • Page Footer: Enter a page number or other information that you want to appear at the bottom of the page.

4. Select the Preview tab to preview your report.

   The page orientation is portrait or landscape by default according to the number and width of the columns that are in your query. If the query columns do not fit in the landscape orientation, Crystal Reports displays as many columns as will fit on the page and does not display the others.

   You can make any adjustments to the formatting—such as resizing headings—from within the print preview window. For example, if the report title is not centered properly, you can move it. Select the Design tab to return to the report template.

5. Click the Refresh button to refresh your data after making changes.

6. Click the Save button to save your report.

See Crystal Reports XI documentation.

Modifying Default Settings in Crystal Reports XI

You can set a number of different defaults in Crystal Reports XI.

Note. If you modify a query to include additional fields, you need to modify the report definition in Crystal Reports XI to include the new fields in your report. To modify the report definition, select the Verify Database option from the Database menu.

Changing Default Column Headings and Report Titles

To modify default column headings and report titles in Crystal Reports XI:

1. Open the report that you want to modify in Crystal Reports XI.

2. Select the Design tab and, in the Page Header section, double-click the column heading or report title that you want to change.

   Alternatively, click the text object and select Edit, Edit Text.

   A ruler appears above the text object, and a hatched box appears around the text. The Crystal text formatting features (such as font, bold, italics, and so on) are available in this mode.

3. Edit the text, and then click a blank area of the report to deselect the text object.

   The system displays the new text in the display window.

   Note. You can make the column headings as long as you want. However, if you make them much longer than the current heading, you will need to enlarge the text box.

Changing Fonts

To change fonts in Crystal Reports XI:

1. Open the report that you want to modify in Crystal Reports XI.

2. Select the text that you want to modify and select Format, Format Text.

   The Format Editor dialog box appears.

3. Select the Font tab.

4. Select the appropriate font, style, size, and color.

Adding a Print Date Field

To add a print date field in Crystal Reports XI:

1. Open the report that you want to modify in Crystal Reports XI.

2. If the Field Explorer is not already displayed, select View, Field Explorer to display it.

3. If necessary, click the + sign to the left of Special Fields.

4. Drag the Print Date field from the Field Explorer to the appropriate area of the report.

   The Print Date box appears where you dragged the field.

5. Right-click the Print Date field and select the Format option to modify the format of the selected field.

Saving Reports in Crystal Reports XI

You can save your Crystal XI reports to a local folder or to a folder in the BusinessObjects Enterprise report repository.

Saving to a Local Folder

To save reports to a local folder:

1. Open the report that you want to save in Crystal Reports XI.

2. Select File, Save As.

3. In the Save As dialog box, specify the location of the folder where you want to save the report.

4. Click OK.

Note. A report saved locally must be published to the BusinessObjects Enterprise report repository before it can be run using the Process Scheduler.

See The Enterprise PeopleTools 8.49 Installation guide for your database platform, Installing and Configuring Software for Crystal Reports, Converting Crystal Reports, Converting Reports from Crystal Reports 9 format to Crystal Reports XI format.

Saving to a BusinessObjects Enterprise Folder

To save a report to a BusinessObjects Enterprise folder:

1. Open the report that you want to save in Crystal Reports XI.

2. Select File, Save As.

3. In the Save As dialog box, click the Enterprise icon to access the Log on to BusinessObjects Enterprise dialog box.

4. Enter the CMS Machine Name in the System field.

   This value can be found in the CMS Machine Name field of the PeopleTools, Query Access Services, Configure, BusinessObjects Enterprise page. For example, asanpedr083104:6400.

5. Enter the user name and password, where the user name is in the format of BOE Domain Name\User Name.

   This value is the same as that shown in the CMS User Namefield of the PeopleTools, Query Access Services, Configure, BusinessObjects Enterprise page. For example, A8488043\VP1.

6. Select PeopleSoft Enterprise in the Authentication drop-down list box.

7. Click OK.

8. Select File, Save As.

9. Specify the location of the folder where you want to save your reports.

See The Enterprise PeopleTools 8.49 Installation guide for your database platform, Installing and Configuring Software for Crystal Reports, Administering and Using BusinessObjects Enterprise XI.

Running Crystal XI Reports

This section discusses how to run Crystal XI reports from PeopleSoft Process Scheduler.

Running Crystal XI reports from PeopleSoft Process Scheduler

Crystal XI reports, like Crystal 9 reports, can be run from the Process Scheduler in the following ways:

• As a process definition.

• As part of a job.

• As part of a scheduled jobset.

• From an application page.

For any of these run methods, a process type and process definition must exist for each report. To run a process definition or a job, a system process request must be created. This creates a run control to associate the selected items. After items have been selected to be run and are queued in the Process Scheduler, Process Monitor will show the status of the processes. Completed reports can be viewed in the Report Manager.

See Running Crystal 9 Reports from PeopleSoft Process Scheduler, Submitting and Scheduling Process Requests.