Crystal Enterprise 9 Getting Started Guide

Transcription

1 Crystal Enterprise 9 Getting Started Guide Crystal Decisions, Inc. 895 Emerson St. Palo Alto California, USA 94301

2 2002 Crystal Decisions, Inc. All rights reserved. Issue 1. No part of this documentation may be stored in a retrieval system, transmitted or reproduced in any way, except in accordance with the terms of the applicable software license agreement. This documentation contains proprietary information of Crystal Decisions, Inc., and/or its suppliers. Trademark Acknowledgements Crystal Decisions, Crystal Reports, Crystal Enterprise, Crystal Analysis, Crystal Services, Crystal Care, Crystal Assist, Crystal Applications, Info and Holos are trademarks or registered trademarks of Crystal Decisions, Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. All other trademarks or registered trademarks referenced are the property of their respective owners.

3 Contents Chapter 1: Welcome to Crystal Enterprise What is Crystal Enterprise?... 2 Who should use this guide?... 2 About this guide... 2 Chapter contents... 2 Online help... 3 Product registration... 3 Crystal Care technical support... 4 Crystal Training... 4 Crystal Consulting... 4 Document conventions... 5 Chapter 2: What s New in Crystal Enterprise Report design... 8 End-user experience... 8 Advanced DHTML viewing... 8 Basic viewing... 8 Alerting... 9 Developer flexibility... 9 Report Parts... 9 New viewing architecture... 9.NET assemblies New sample applications System management Set database location Internationalization Report Application Server Crystal Enterprise Getting Started Guide i

4 Chapter 3: Planning Your Installation Installation overview Installing Crystal Enterprise on Windows System requirements Full stand-alone installation Server-side installation connected to a web server Chapter 4: Using eportfolio eportfolio overview Working with eportfolio Accessing eportfolio Signing up for your own Enterprise account Locating and viewing reports Creating and modifying reports Scheduling reports Viewing a report s history and its alerts Exporting reports Printing reports from the Crystal Report Viewers Chapter 5: Managing Accounts Administration overview Administration tasks Logging on to the Crystal Management Console Navigating within the Crystal Management Console Logging off of the Crystal Management Console Creating a user account Adding the user account to a group Modifying a user account Deleting a user account ii Crystal Enterprise Getting Started Guide

5 Changing password settings Setting the Administrator password Allowing guest users to create Enterprise accounts Chapter 6: Publishing Objects to Crystal Enterprise Publishing overview Publishing options Publishing with the Crystal Publishing Wizard Adding objects/folders Adding multiple objects Selecting the APS Duplicating the folder structure Creating and selecting a folder on the APS Moving objects between folders Changing scheduling options Enabling repository refresh Changing default values Changing object properties Entering database logon information Setting parameters Setting the schedule format Finalizing the objects to be added Publishing with the Crystal Management Console Saving objects directly to the APS Chapter 7: Crystal Enterprise Architecture Architecture overview and diagram Client tier eportfolio Crystal Enterprise Getting Started Guide iii

6 Crystal Management Console Crystal Configuration Manager Crystal Publishing Wizard Crystal Import Wizard Crystal Web Wizard Intelligence tier Web Component Server Web Connectors Automated Process Scheduler File Repository Servers Event Server Cache Server Processing tier Job Server Page Server Report Application Server Data tier Information Flow What happens when you view a report through eportfolio? What happens when you schedule a report? Index...55 iv Crystal Enterprise Getting Started Guide

7 Welcome to Crystal Enterprise 1 This chapter briefly describes Crystal Enterprise and outlines the contents and the intended audience of this Getting Started Guide. Product registration and technical support information is also included, along with a brief description of the document conventions used within this guide. Crystal Enterprise Getting Started Guide 1

8 What is Crystal Enterprise? What is Crystal Enterprise? Crystal Enterprise is a flexible, scalable, and reliable solution for delivering powerful, interactive reports to end users via any web application intranet, extranet, Internet or corporate portal. Whether it is used for distributing weekly sales reports, providing customers with personalized service offerings, or integrating critical information into corporate portals, Crystal Enterprise delivers tangible benefits that extend across and beyond the organization. As an integrated suite for reporting, analysis, and information delivery, Crystal Enterprise provides a solution for increasing end-user productivity and reducing administrative efforts. Who should use this guide? About this guide Chapter contents This guide is intended for anyone who wants to get Crystal Enterprise up and running quickly. Common tasks and general overviews are provided throughout for users and administrators who are new to Crystal Enterprise. If you are evaluating Crystal Enterprise, this guide should provide you with a useful introduction to the product s general features and functionality. You ll learn the basics of how to install, how to add users and reports to the system, and how to view reports in eportfolio. For more information about the product, consult the Crystal Enterprise Administrator s Guide, thecrystal Enterprise Installation Guide, andthecrystal Enterprise eportfolio User s Guide. Online versions of these guides are included in the doc directory of your product distribution. Once you install Crystal Enterprise, they are also accessible from the Crystal Enterprise Launchpad, along with the Web Developer s Guides. This guide provides you with basic installation information and serves as a general introduction to Crystal Enterprise, eportfolio, the Crystal Management Console, the Crystal Publishing Wizard, and the overall product architecture. The following list provides a short description of each of the remaining chapters in this guide. Chapter 2: What s New in Crystal Enterprise Crystal Enterprise 9 continues to extend the market-leading scalability, reliability, and flexibility of the Crystal Enterprise system, cementing it firmly as a premium enterprise reporting system. Crystal Enterprise 9 delivers significant productivity gains across enterprise reporting deployments, by helping both IT and end users use the system more effectively. This chapter provides a high-level overview of new features and enhancements. 2 Crystal Enterprise Getting Started Guide

9 1: Welcome to Crystal Enterprise Chapter 3: Planning Your Installation This chapter provides general details about performing a preliminary installation of Crystal Enterprise in a Windows environment. For complete installation procedures, consult the Crystal Enterprise Installation Guide (install.pdf) included with your product distribution. Chapter 4: Using eportfolio This chapter serves as an introduction to working with eportfolio and viewing reports with the Crystal Report Viewer. Chapter 5: Managing Accounts This chapter focuses on the Crystal Management Console and provides you with information about how to create and change user accounts. Chapter 6: Publishing Objects to Crystal Enterprise This chapter focuses on the publishing process: it introduces the Crystal Publishing Wizard and tells you how you can use it to add Crystal reports and other objects to eportfolio or to your custom web desktop; it also describes alternative ways of adding objects to the Crystal Enterprise environment. Chapter 7: Crystal Enterprise Architecture This chapter provides an overview of the Crystal Enterprise architecture, describes the different components, and identifies how they work together to distribute reports over the web. Online help Access the online help in Crystal Enterprise by clicking Help. The online help contains all of the information found in this guide. Product registration There are several ways you can register your product: Fill out the Product Registration form on the Crystal Decisions, Inc. web site at: PrinttheProductRegistrationformandfaxittotheregistrationfaxnumber closest to you. Crystal Decisions will then fax you a registration number that can be entered into the product the next time you use it. Registration fax numbers USA/Canada +1 (604) United Kingdom +44 (0) Australia Germany +49 (0) Hong Kong Singapore Crystal Enterprise Getting Started Guide 3

10 Crystal Care technical support Registering the product ensures that you are kept up-to-date with product advancements. Crystal Care technical support To access Crystal technical support specialists, you must: 1 Register your software online at: 2 Complete and return your Crystal Care Registration Form. For assistance with your Crystal Care Registration Form, contact the technical support administrative team, your sales representative, or the regional office nearest you. Contact details are available at: To find out about the technical support programs available for Crystal Enterprise: Go to our support web site at: Contact your regional office. For details, go to: Crystal Training Whether you re a developer, information technology professional, or business user, we offer a wide range of Crystal Enterprise training courses designed to build or enhance your existing skills. Courses are available online, at certified training centers, or at your own site: For a complete list of training courses and special offers, visit: Or contact your regional office. For details, go to: Crystal Consulting Our global team of certified consultants and consulting partners can guide you through a corporate-wide solution including strategy, design, integration and deployment for the fastest results, maximum performance, and increased productivity. To learn more, visit: Or contact your regional office. For details, go to: 4 Crystal Enterprise Getting Started Guide

11 1: Welcome to Crystal Enterprise Document conventions This guide uses the following conventions: Commands and buttons For easy recognition within procedures, User Interface (UI) features appear in bold type. For example: On the File menu, click New. Keyboard shortcuts Delete means the Delete key, or the Del key on your numeric keypad. Enter means the Enter, Return, or CR key, depending on which of these keys appears on your keyboard. Key combinations CTRL+KEY, SHIFT+KEY, and ALT+KEY are examples of key combinations. Hold down the first key in the combination and, at the same time, press the second key in the combination (designated above as KEY). For example: CTRL+C means hold the Control key down and press the letter C on your keyboard (CTRL+C is the Windows Copy command). Key terms are italicized when first defined. Monospaced font indicates data that you enter using your keyboard. For example: In the Formula Editor, type If Sales > 1000 Then crred Monospaced, italicized font indicates variable data that you must replace with data appropriate to your current settings, environment, or task. For example, in the following URL, you would replace webserver Crystal Enterprise Getting Started Guide 5

12 Document conventions 6 Crystal Enterprise Getting Started Guide

13 What s New in Crystal Enterprise 2 Crystal Enterprise 9 continues to extend the market-leading scalability, reliability, and flexibility of the Crystal Enterprise system, cementing it firmly as a premium enterprise reporting system. Crystal Enterprise 9 delivers significant productivity gains across enterprise reporting deployments, by helping both IT and end users use the system more effectively. This chapter provides a high-level overview of new features and enhancements. Crystal Enterprise Getting Started Guide 7

14 Report design Report design Crystal Enterprise 9 provides extensive support for the Crystal Reports 9 designer features, which enable companies to build extremely complex, data-rich reports. All of the key Crystal Reports 9 productivity features are included with Crystal Enterprise 9, including the Crystal Repository (enables re-use and central updating of report components), custom functions (for building complex, re-usable business logic), and SQL commands (free-form editing of report SQL for query tuning and multiple data sources). Crystal Reports content can be updated from the Crystal Repository when the report is published or manually refreshed from the CMC. End-user experience Crystal Enterprise 9 extends the end-user experience with advanced searching, data export, and collaboration features. Crystal Enterprise 9 significantly advances the overall viewing and interaction functionality available to all system users and includes specific features for more sophisticated end users. These features are coupled with enhanced alerting and notification functionality to enable more proactive monitoring of key information. Advanced DHTML viewing Basic viewing The Interactive DHTML viewer gives intermediate users more flexibility in searching larger reports and extracting relevant information. Searching The Interactive DHTML viewer allows users to toggle on enhanced searching functionality to quickly locate key information in a report. Search results are displayed in a grid and users can click specific rows to locate that information in the report. Exporting and collaboration The search grid results in the Interactive DHTML viewer can be exported to Excel or Word tables for use in other corporate documents. This allows users to extract interesting information, incorporate it into a Word document with additional commentary, and send it to colleagues. The search grid retains its links back to the original report, allowing any consumer of the grid to view the information in its original context. Crystal Enterprise 9 also introduces an enhanced DHTML viewer with a variety of new usability features. 8 Crystal Enterprise Getting Started Guide

15 2: What s New in Crystal Enterprise Printing and exporting The new DHTML viewer includes integrated printing functionality (reports are automatically output to PDF format), and allows users to specify page ranges before starting the export and print operations. Higher resolution graphics and zoom The new DHTML viewer also delivers sharper images (including charts) and increases readability with zoom controls. Alerting Crystal Enterprise 9 builds upon the alerting functionality originally introduced in Crystal Enterprise 8 by supporting automatic notification and by increasing the visibility of alerts in eportfolio. Alert notification highlights critical information by delivering alerts (when triggered) directly to users . Administrators can specify individuals or distribution lists; they can also configure notification to provide a link back to the report, along with a set number of records from the report. Developer flexibility Report Parts Crystal Enterprise 9 continues to build on the flexible developer interfaces and integration capabilities of Crystal Enterprise 8.5. Key enhancements allow for rapid portal integration and development of.net and JSP applications that leverage Crystal Enterprise functionality. Crystal Enterprise 9 provides extensive support for embedding reports, or pieces of reports, into portals or other web applications. A new zero-client, server-side viewer control automatically renders specific segments of a report, without all the user interface and size restrictions imposed by the standard DHTML report viewer. This allows developers to easily integrate Crystal Enterprise content into executive dashboards, corporate portals, or wireless applications. New viewing architecture A new viewing architecture and accompanying zero-client viewer controls give developers more control over the viewing and interaction process. This increased control allows developers to easily toggle specific viewer features on and off (for example, the group tree, toolbar, export button, and so on) and also allows developers to integrate the viewer tightly into existing web applications (the viewer no longer uses frames to display output). Crystal Enterprise Getting Started Guide 9

16 System management.net assemblies A new.net SDK for Crystal Enterprise provides full access to the Crystal Enterprise client and administration interfaces from.net development environments. New sample applications Crystal Enterprise 9 now includes the eportfolio Mobile sample, allowing end users to navigate the Crystal Enterprise system and view alerts and report parts on wireless devices. System management Set database location Internationalization Crystal Enterprise 9 extends the core administrative features of the system to provide greater control and flexibility for administrators. Crystal Enterprise 9 provides new functionality to help administrators migrate reports from test environments to production environments. Administrators can now override a report s database location at schedule time. Organizations can deploy Crystal Enterprise 9 into multilingual environments, providing greater flexibility for global deployments. Crystal Enterprise 9 is now fully Unicode-compliant. Report Application Server Crystal Reports customers can easily migrate applications from the Report Application Server Edition of Crystal Enterprise to the Professional Edition. The Report Application Server component is now part of the standard install for Crystal Enterprise. Web-based report creation/modification capabilities are controlled through license keys. 10 Crystal Enterprise Getting Started Guide

17 Planning Your Installation 3 This chapter provides general details about performing a preliminary installation of Crystal Enterprise in a Windows environment. For complete installation procedures, consult the Crystal Enterprise Installation Guide (install.pdf) included with your product distribution. Crystal Enterprise Getting Started Guide 11

18 Installation overview Installation overview Crystal Enterprise offers a completely customizable and scalable solution by providing a number of distinct client and server components that can be distributed in various ways across a number of machines. However, for the purposes of this introductory guide, the product s diverse components are grouped together as Crystal Enterprise and treated whenever possible as a single application. This chapter recommends several preliminary installation scenarios that enable you to get Crystal Enterprise up and running quickly. The scenarios described here are ideal for individuals and organizations who are interested in familiarizing themselves with the features and functionality of Crystal Enterprise in a Windows environment. The full stand-alone installation on Windows is generally the quickest to perform, and it provides you with all the functionality you will require to proceed through the remaining chapters in this guide. For complete installation procedures, consult the Crystal Enterprise Installation Guide (install.pdf) included with your product distribution. Installing Crystal Enterprise on Windows System requirements Before you install Crystal Enterprise on Windows, consider which of the following scenariosisbestforyou: Full stand-alone installation In this scenario, you install Crystal Enterprise on a single machine that is already running as a web server. This provides the quickest way to install Crystal Enterprise. For details, see Full stand-alone installation on page 13. Server-side installation connected to a web server In this scenario, you maintain separation between Crystal Enterprise and your web server by running them on separate machines. Once you ve installed Crystal Enterprise on one machine, you install and configure the Web Connector on the web server machine. This scenario is also ideal if you have a single UNIX server that is running as your dedicated web server. You retain the use of your UNIX web server, and you can still install Crystal Enterprise on Windows. For details, see Server-side installation connected to a web server on page 13. For a detailed list of tested environments, consult the Platforms.txt file included with your product distribution. This file includes specific version and Service Pack requirements for supported web servers, web browsers, databases, and operating 12 Crystal Enterprise Getting Started Guide

19 3: Planning Your Installation systems. Generally, however, the following components must be installed and configured correctly before you install Crystal Enterprise: Windows NT/2000 Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator Web server software Crystal Enterprise requires a database to store information about the system and its users. However, the Setup program can install its own Microsoft Data Engine (MSDE) database by default. Full stand-alone installation This installation scenario offers the quickest way to install Crystal Enterprise. Once you have set up your web server software, run the New installation from the Crystal Enterprise Setup program. When you perform this default installation, all of the client and server components are installed on the local machine. The Crystal Automated Process Scheduler (APS) automatically creates its own database. The Web Connector is automatically configured to allow communication between Crystal Enterprise and the web server software that you have already installed. Default user and group accounts are created, and sample reports are published to the system. When the installation is complete, the server components are started as services on the local machine. Note: For explicit procedural details covering this installation scenario, consult the Crystal Enterprise Installation Guide (install.pdf) included with your product distribution. Server-side installation connected to a web server A server-side installation connected to a web server is a quick way to integrate Crystal Enterprise with your existing web server without installing the core Crystal Enterprise components on the web server itself. First, on the machine that you have set aside for use by Crystal Enterprise, run the New installation from the Crystal Enterprise Setup program. Then, install and configure the appropriate Web Connector on your web server machine. If the web server is running on Windows, you can select the Web Connector by running the Custom installation from the Crystal Enterprise Setup program. If the web server is running on UNIX, you will need to run the Web Connector installation (the webconn_install.sh script) on that machine and perform additional configuration. For details, see the Crystal Enterprise Installation Guide (install.pdf). When you perform this installation, the client and server components are installed, the default user and group accounts are created, and the sample reports are published to the system. When the installation is complete, the server components are started as services on the local machine. Crystal Enterprise Getting Started Guide 13

20 Installing Crystal Enterprise on Windows Note: For explicit procedural details covering this installation scenario, consult the Crystal Enterprise Installation Guide (install.pdf) included with your product distribution. 14 Crystal Enterprise Getting Started Guide

21 Using eportfolio 4 Thischapterservesasanintroductiontoworkingwith eportfolio and viewing reports with the Crystal Report Viewer. Crystal Enterprise Getting Started Guide 15

22 eportfolio overview eportfolio overview Crystal Enterprise comes with a customizable web desktop called eportfolio. Think of it as a window to Crystal Reports on your company s existing intranet or Internet site. When you use Crystal Enterprise, you can choose eportfolio or a web desktop designed by someone in your company. eportfolio helps organize your reports into logical groups using folders and allows you to search for reports, view them immediately, or schedule them for regular processing. Once you have found the reports you want to look at, the Crystal Report Viewers provide you with viewing, printing, and exporting capabilities. This chapter provides a quick introduction to some of eportfolio s key features. For more information, see the Crystal Enterprise eportfolio User s Guide. Note: The tasks that you can perform in eportfolio are determined by the rights you have been granted on the system by your administrator. Working with eportfolio Accessing eportfolio To give you a better idea of how a Crystal Enterprise web desktop can be used at your company, eportfolio provides a Guest user account. There may also be sample reports installed on your system. When the Guest account is enabled, eportfolio logs you on automatically without an administered account. You can use this default view, but you won t be able to customize the desktop with your personal settings. If you sign yourself up as a new user, you can create a view of eportfolio that includes your desktop settings and favorite reports. For details, see Signing up for your own Enterprise account on page 17. There are two ways to access eportfolio: type the URL for your eportfolio site directly in your web browser, or select Crystal Launchpad from the Program group on the Windows Start menu. To access eportfolio 1 Go to the Crystal Enterprise Launchpad: Replace webserver withthenameofthewebserverthatissetupforcrystal Enterprise. You may need to check with your administrator for the web server name or exact URL to enter. Tip: If you have any Crystal Enterprise client tools installed, you can also click Start > Programs > Crystal Enterprise > Crystal Launchpad. 2 On the Crystal Enterprise Launchpad, click the eportfolio link. 16 Crystal Enterprise Getting Started Guide

23 4: Using eportfolio eportfolio appears. You are logged on as a guest. (If your administrator has disabled guest logon, you must type a user name and password.) Signing up for your own Enterprise account If eportfolio s Sign Up feature is enabled, you can create your own user account on eportfolio. To sign up for your own account 1 Click the Sign Up button in the upper right corner of the eportfolio desktop. Note: If the Sign Up button is not present, then the feature is currently disabled. For details, see Allowing guest users to create Enterprise accounts on page On the Sign Up page, provide your Full Name. 3 Type a User Name for your new account. 4 In the Password and Confirm Password fields, type a password. 5 Click Sign Up. Crystal Enterprise creates your new account and logs you on to eportfolio. Locating and viewing reports When you access eportfolio as a guest user, you are presented with a list of folders, reports, and other objects that your administrator has made publicly accessible. Depending on your system, you may see the Report Samples folder and/or other folders and reports that have been added to the system. When you log on to eportfolio with your own user account, you are presented with the contents of your Favorites folder. Click the Public button in the upper right corner to view the list of publicly accessible folders and objects. Click the name of any folder to view its contents. Or use the Look for field and its list of options to search for reports by title, description, folder title, or all fields. Hold the mouse over any report thumbnail or title to see its title and summary information, if available. To view a report in a Crystal Report Viewer 1 Click any report s link available in eportfolio. 2 On the shortcut menu, click View or View Latest Instance. The report opens in the appropriate Crystal Report Viewer. Note: Depending on the rights given to you by your administrator, you may or may not be able to select View and/or View Latest Instance. You may also need to schedule the report first, in order to generate an instance. Crystal Enterprise Getting Started Guide 17

24 Working with eportfolio Each Crystal Report Viewer allows you to view reports, navigate through multiple pages, refresh data, drill down to see details behind charts and summarized data, select parameters, and so on. As well, each viewer has powerful printing and exporting capabilities. Creating and modifying reports Scheduling reports Using eportfolio, you can create and publish new reports to Crystal Enterprise. To create a new report, click the New Report button on the title bar. The New Report Wizard appears. Click the Help link (located at the top-right corner) for more information. You can also modify an existing report in eportfolio. Modify a report by clicking its link, and, on the shortcut menu, click Modify. The Modify Report Wizard appears. Click the Help link (located at the top-right corner) for more information. In order to create or modify a report, you must have at least View On Demand rights and edit rights. Contact your Crystal Enterprise administrator for more information. Note: Your Crystal Enterprise license key and your user rights determine whether or not you can create new reports or modify existing reports. Depending on your license key, the New Report button may not be visible, and the Modify shortcut may not be available. Crystal Enterprise allows users to schedule reports to run automatically at specified times. When a scheduled report runs successfully, an instance is created. An instance is a version of the report containing the data available at the time it was run instances created later contain more recent data. You can see a list of instances by looking at a report s history, and you can click the link to any historical instance. If you have the rights to view reports on demand, you can view and refresh any instance to retrieve the latest data from the database. By scheduling and viewing instances, you can ensure you have the latest information available for viewing, printing, and distributing. For example, you can schedule a report to run every night, so it s available for you first thing in the morning. Note: Before scheduling reports, check your time zone setting on the Preferences page in eportfolio. The default time zone is local to the web server that is running Crystal Enterprise, not to the Automated Process Scheduler (APS) machine(s) that each user connects to. By setting your time zone, you ensure that your scheduled reports are processed in accordance with the time zone in which you are working. You must have your own account on the system in order to set your preferences. 18 Crystal Enterprise Getting Started Guide

25 4: Using eportfolio To schedule a report 1 Click the report you want to schedule. 2 On the shortcut menu, click Schedule. TheSchedulepageappears. The Customize your options list contains the choices you can make while scheduling. The area below the list contains items specific to the option you choose. Schedule options Schedule Use these run-time parameters to specify a time for running a particular report. Each parameter in the Run report list has its own specific data entry requirements. For instance, if you select Once, you will be prompted to provide the date and time when you want to run the report. Database Logon Some reports require you to log on to a database before you can schedule them successfully. You can do this on the Schedule page if you have credentials for the report s data source. Parameters Some reports use the Crystal Reports parameters feature. Parameters prompt the report user to enter information. This information determines what data appears in the report. For example, in a report used by sales, there might be a parameter that asks the user to choose a region. The report returns the results for the specific region instead of returning the results for all of the regions. You can set parameters on the Schedule page. If the report you schedule does not containparameters,youwillnotbeabletochoosethisoptioninthe Customize your options list. Filters If a report includes a record or group selection formula, you can modify it before you schedule the report. By doing so, you filter the data that appears in the report. Crystal Enterprise Getting Started Guide 19

26 Working with eportfolio In especially large reports, filters can improve performance by eliminating unwanted records. Destination These options allow you to send a scheduled report directly to a particular destination once it has been processed. You can have Crystal Enterprise save the file to disk, it to a predetermined list of recipients, or upload it to an FTP server. Format Use this option to specify the file format for the scheduled report. The default format is Crystal Report, but you can choose from a variety of popular formats including Adobe Acrobat, Microsoft Excel and Word, Rich Text, and so on. Print Settings These options enable you to print a report instance when scheduling it; report instances are always printed in Crystal Reports format. When printing a report, you can set the number of copies and the page range. The Print Settings page contains two areas: the first area specifies whether or not a report instance is printed, and if printed, the number of copies and the page range; the second area specifies the printer, and custom layout settings for changing the page size and orientation (regardless of whether the report instance is printed or not). Viewing a report s history and its alerts Exporting reports eportfolio tracks scheduled report instances you can see a list of instances by looking at a report s history, and you can click the link to any historical instance. eportfolio also tracks report instances that trigger Alerts. Alerts are custom messages created in Crystal Reports that appear when certain conditions are met by report data. Alerts may indicate action to be taken by the user or information about report data. To view a report s history Click the report and, on the shortcut menu, click History. To view Alerts Click the report and, on the shortcut menu, click Alerts. The Crystal Report Viewers allow you to export reports to several reporting formatsaswellastopopularwordprocessorandspreadsheetformats.thismakes the distribution of information easier. Depending on which Crystal Report Viewer you use, the steps detailed below may be different; however, the general principles remain the same. 20 Crystal Enterprise Getting Started Guide

27 4: Using eportfolio Tip: You can select the page range for the report that you wish to export. For reports in which you can drill down, you can export the drill-down view. To export a report 1 View any report on eportfolio in a Crystal Report Viewer. 2 On the viewer s Standard toolbar, click Export Report. The Export Report dialog box appears. 3 Under File Format, select an export format type. 4 In the Page Range area, select either All or Pages. For the latter, specify the page range. 5 Under File name,specifyafolderandenteranameforthereportyouare exporting. Tip: Click Browse to navigate to a specific folder or location. 6 Click OK. The Exporting Report dialog box appears, displaying the progress of your report. When the report has been exported, a message appears asking if you would like to open it. 7 Click Yes to open the exported report; otherwise, click No. Note: When you export a report to a file format other than Crystal Reports format (.rpt), you may lose some or all of the formatting that appears in your report. However, the program attempts to preserve as much formatting as the export format allows. The difference between Excel and Excel (Data only) is that an export to Excel attempts to preserve the look and feel of your original report, while an export to Excel (Data only) exports only the data, with each cell representing a field. Printing reports from the Crystal Report Viewers This procedure shows how to print a report to a printer that is accessible from your local machine. Note: For the DHTML and Interactive DHTML viewer, when you print a report, the report is temporarily exported to, and opened as a PDF. You then print the report from the PDF. Instructions are provided when you print the report from the viewer. To print a report from a viewer 1 View any report on eportfolio in a Crystal Report Viewer. 2 On the viewer s Standard toolbar, click Print Report. Crystal Enterprise Getting Started Guide 21

28 Working with eportfolio Tip: If the Print Report button is unavailable, export the report to a printable local file, or use your browser s Print command. The Print dialog box appears. 3 In the Print Range area, select all pages or a specific range of pages. 4 In the copies area, select the number of copies for the report. 5 If you select the Collate check box, the report prints each page in order. For example, if you are printing two copies of a report with four pages, your report prints page one, two, three, and four of the first copy, then prints the second copy. 6 Click OK. The Printing Records dialog box appears, displaying the progress of your print job. 22 Crystal Enterprise Getting Started Guide

29 Managing Accounts 5 This chapter focuses on the Crystal Management Console and provides you with information about how to create and change user accounts. Crystal Enterprise Getting Started Guide 23

30 Administration overview Administration overview Administration can be thought of as all of the tasks that are required to make sure that everyone who requires access to your Crystal Enterprise content has an account, belongs to the appropriate group, has sufficient privileges, and has a report to access. These tasks are usually performed by System Administrators or Information Technology Specialists. In most implementations, administrators will use three applications to manage Crystal Enterprise: Crystal Management Console Crystal Publishing Wizard Crystal Configuration Manager This chapter focuses on how to create and modify user accounts with the Crystal Management Console (CMC), the largest of the three administration applications. See the Crystal Enterprise Administrator s Guide for in-depth information about administration tasks. You can access the guide by clicking the Administrator s Guide link in the Crystal Enterprise Launchpad. Administration tasks This section describes how to perform several different administrative tasks. These tasks range from accessing the Crystal Management Console to changing password settings. Each task includes the relevant procedural information. As you proceed through the steps, you will create your own administrative account that you can use to log on to the system. Logging on to the Crystal Management Console There are two ways to access the CMC: type the name of the machine you are accessing directly into your browser, or select Crystal Launchpad from the program group on the Windows Start menu. To log on to the CMC 1 Go to the following page: Replace webserver with the name of the web server machine that has the Web Connector component installed. If you changed this default virtual directory on the web server, you will need to type your URL accordingly. Tip: On Windows, you can click Start > Programs > Crystal Enterprise > Crystal Launchpad, and then click the Crystal Management Console link. 24 Crystal Enterprise Getting Started Guide

31 5: Managing Accounts 2 When the Log On page appears, select Enterprise in the Authentication Type list. Windows NT and LDAP authentication also appear in the list; however, you must map your third-party user accounts and groups to Crystal Enterprise before you can use these types of authentication. 3 Type your User Name and Password. For this example, type Administrator as the User Name. This default Enterprise account does not have a password until you create one. For details, see Setting the Administrator password on page 29. If you re using LDAP or Windows NT authentication, you may log on using an account that has been mapped to the Crystal Enterprise Administrators group. 4 Click Log On. The CMC Home page appears. Navigating within the Crystal Management Console Because the CMC is a web-based application, you can navigate through its areas and pages in a number of ways: Click the links on the Home page to go to specific management areas. Select the same management areas from the drop-down list in the upper-left corner of the console. Click Go if your browser doesn t take you directly to the new page. Click hyperlinks and icons that let you to jump to other areas. Once you leave the Home page, your location within the CMC is indicated by a path that appears above the title of each page. For example, Home > Users > New User indicates that you re on the New User page. You can click the hyperlinked portions of the path to jump quickly to different parts of the application. In this example, you could click Home or Users to go to the corresponding page. Logging off of the Crystal Management Console Creating a user account When you have finished using the Crystal Management Console, end the session by logging off. Log off is located in the upper right corner of the console. To add a new user, you can go to the Users management area. This example sets up a new account that you can use for the remainder of this guide. To create a new Enterprise account 1 Log on to the Crystal Management Console and click Manage Users. This takes you to the Users management area of the CMC. Crystal Enterprise Getting Started Guide 25

32 Administration tasks 2 Click New User. The New User s Properties tab appears. 3 In the Account Name field, type a name for the new account. For this example, type your own name. 4 Use the optional Full Name and Description fields if you want to include extra information about the account. 5 In the Password and Confirm fields,typeapasswordforyournewaccount. The maximum password length is 64 characters. 6 Select from the additional password options: Password never expires Select the check box if you want to enable this option. User must change password at next logon This check box is selected by default. If you do not want to force users to change the password the first time they log on, clear the check box. User cannot change password Select the check box if you want to enable this option. 7 Select the connection type. Concurrent User Choose Concurrent User if this user belongs to a license agreement that states the number of users allowed to be connected at one time. Named User Choose Named User if this user belongs to a license agreement that associates the account with the name of the user. Named user licenses are useful for people who require access to Crystal Enterprise regardless of the number of other people who are currently connected. 8 Click OK. The new account is added to the system. You can now add the user account to one or more groups. Adding the user account to a group Use this procedure to specify the groups that a particular user belong to. This example adds your new user account to the Crystal Enterprise Administrators group. To add a user account to a group 1 Once you ve added a new user account, click the Member of tab. Tip: If you ve left the account s Properties page, first select Users from the list of management areas. Then click the Account Name of the user account that you want to change. 26 Crystal Enterprise Getting Started Guide

33 5: Managing Accounts 2 Click the Member of button to view the available groups. There are three default groups available: Administrators Everyone New Sign-Up Accounts Administrators are able to perform all tasks in all applications. The Everyone group is the default group for all new users, including those who use eportfolio s Sign Up feature to create their own account. In addition, users who use eportfolio s Sign Up feature will automatically become a member of the New Sign-Up Accounts group. Thus, administrators will be able to determine whether a user is a new user or not. 3 In the Available groups list, select Administrators; then click the > arrow. 4 Click OK. You can now use this account to log on to eportfolio and the Crystal Management Console with full administrative rights. Modifying a user account Use this procedure to modify a user s properties or group membership information, or to temporarily disable an account. The changes will take effect the next time the user logs on. To modify a user account 1 Go to the Users management area of the CMC. The Users page appears. 2 Click the Account Name of the user whose properties you want to change. 3 On the Properties page, make your changes to the account information, password settings, connection type, and so on. Tip: You can temporarily disable a user s account by selecting the Account is disabled check box. 4 Click Update. 5 To change the group membership for the account, click the Member of tab, and then click the Member of button. The ModifyMemberof pageappears. 6 Select a group or groups and click the appropriate arrow to change the account s group membership. 7 Click OK. Crystal Enterprise Getting Started Guide 27

34 Administration tasks Deleting a user account Use this procedure to delete a user s account permanently. The user account will not be available the next time the user tries to log on. If you think the user might require the account again, use the disable feature instead. See Modifying a user account on page 27 for more information. To delete a user account 1 Go to the Users management area of the CMC. The Users page appears. 2 Select the check box associated with the user you want to delete. 3 Click Delete. The delete confirmation dialog box appears. 4 Click OK. The user account is deleted. Note: If your implementation supports the sign-up feature, users who have had their accounts deleted are able to create a new account for themselves in eportfolio. Changing password settings Within the Crystal Management Console, you can change the password settings for a specific user or for all users in the system. These procedures show how to modify the default password settings and how to change the password for the default Administrator account. To change user password settings 1 Go to the Users management area of the CMC. The Users page appears. 2 Click the user whose password settings you want to change. ThePropertiespageappears. 3 Select or clear the check boxes associated with password settings. Theavailableoptionsare: Password never expires User must change password at next logon User cannot change password 4 Click Update. 28 Crystal Enterprise Getting Started Guide

35 5: Managing Accounts To change password settings 1 Go to the Authorization management area of the CMC. 2 Click the Enterprise tab. 3 To enable a password restriction, select its check box and, if applicable, enter a value related to the password setting. The table below lists the available restrictions, and identifies the minimum and maximum values where applicable: Password Setting Minimum Recommended Maximum Must contain at least N characters 0 characters 64 characters Must change password every N day(s) 1 day 100 days Cannot reuse the N most recent password(s) 1 password 100 passwords Must wait N minute(s) to change password 1 minute 100 minutes Disable account after N failed attempts to log on 1 failed 100 failed Reset failed logon count after N minute(s) 1 minute 100 minutes Re-enable account after N minute(s) 1 minute 100 minutes 4 Click Update. Setting the Administrator password As part of the installation, Crystal Enterprise creates an Administrator account and a Guest account that do not have passwords. Log on to the Crystal Management Console (CMC) with the Administrator account and use the following procedure to create a secure password for the Administrator account. Note: DonotcreateapasswordfortheGuestaccountifyouplantousethe anonymous Single Sign On or the Sign Up features available in eportfolio. For details, see Allowing guest users to create Enterprise accounts. To change the Administrator password 1 Go to the Users management area of the CMC. 2 Click the link for the Administrator account. 3 In the Enterprise Password Settings area, enter and confirm the new password. 4 If it is selected, clear the User must change password at next logon check box. 5 Click Update. Crystal Enterprise Getting Started Guide 29

36 Administration tasks Allowing guest users to create Enterprise accounts By default, eportfolio logs users on with the system s Guest account. With this account, users actions are somewhat restricted. Without a dedicated user account, users cannot create their own folders, organize their favorites, or set their preferences. By enabling eportfolio s Sign Up feature, you allow these Guest users to create their own Enterprise accounts. Note: By default, new Sign Up accounts are added to the Everyone group and the New Sign-Up Accounts group. To enable eportfolio s Sign Up feature 1 Go to the Authorization management area of the CMC. 2 Click the Enterprise tab. 3 Select the Guest users can create their own Enterprise accounts check box. 4 Click Update. 30 Crystal Enterprise Getting Started Guide