Extend Your Crystal Reports Solutions in the DHTML Viewer With a Free Function Library

[JWiseman]

If you use Crystal Reports 2020 in CR Server 2020 or BusinessObjects 4.3, you can extend your reporting solutions with the free / open-source webElements Custom Function library. This library allows an expert report developer to add new functionality and web controls to a Crystal Report for use in the DHTML viewer. 

The webElements Custom Function Library Can be Used by Report Developers To:

1. Embed different controls into an SAP BI Crystal Report to create custom prompt interfaces.
2. Create dashboard-style reports with more interactivity or an auto-refresh capability.
3. Develop interfaces / forms for write-backs to the database, when using a target report based on a stored procedure.
4. Create workflows to pass custom-filtered and selected data to another report.
5. Customize, hide, or suppress components of the Crystal Reports viewer. e.g. Suppress the refresh button, limit export options to data only options, or remove the viewer borders for a cleaner look.
6. Develop reports which can create an email utilizing selected report data.
7. Prevent drill-down on group-level objects and subreports.
8. Create reports with hierarchical section navigation. (See the picture below.)

Simplified Development Process:

1. Pass-through HTML is activated on the server where you want to run the customized reports. Further instructions, documentation, and sample reports are available in the webElements GitHub repository. 
2. The Custom Functions are installed into the CR Server or BusinessObjects Repository using the main / master sample report.
3. The library is then installed onto a development report. See the first picture below.
4. Sample formulas for the individual controls can be copied from the main / master sample report onto the development report to be customized. See the second picture below.
5. A formula for a submit method (e.g. a button or link) to a named target report is added to the development report.
6. A formula is added to the development report which ties in all of the controls and builds the necessary code.
7. The development report is saved to the server environment to be tested in the DHTML viewer.

      

Notes:

• The free / open source webElements library was originally created for version 9 of Crystal Reports. There have been several versions since then.
• This current version is only for Crystal Reports 2020 in the DHTML viewer.
• The library utilizes the supported Pass-Through HTML feature in the report server environment. This feature allows report developers to add HTML and JavaScript directly to their reports.
• Existing reports do not necessarily need to be modified. Wrapper / parent reports can be used to interact with existing reports.
• There is no direct support from SAP for the webElements Custom Function library as it is an open-source report development library.
• There are sample reports available which demonstrate some of the design concepts and help with the development process. Several of the samples have further instructions on the report.
• Data from a report can be used to populate the webElements controls. This is probably the most complicated part of the process as it involves creating a string running total / string aggregation for a control to consume. There is a sample report that shows how this is done.

To find more information or download the sample reports go to the webElements GitHub repository. The repository may be updated periodically. Please feel free to ask any questions below or reach out to me with a direct message.