Access Data From Virtually Any Data Source
Design reports for popular data formats including PC and SQL databases; ODBC-compliant data sources; multi-dimensional (OLAP) data; Web server activity logs; special Microsoft data sources like Exchange and Outlook, NT Event logs, Internet Information Server logs, application data from ADO, RDO and DAO using the new Crystal Active Data Driver, and more.
Design Informative Reports Quickly
With Seagate Crystal Reports it's easy to create professional-looking reports in minutes! Report Experts walk you through the design process from start to finish.
Create Any Report You Can Imagine
Choose from a broad variety of report types including columnar reports, form-style reports, mailing labels, subreports, conditional reports, cross-tab reports, multiple section reports, Top N reports, and drill down reports. Place data in your report wherever you want and customize it to look any way you choose; reports can be as simple or complex as your needs dictate.
Perform Powerful Data Analysis
Analyze your data with capabilities such as multi-pass reporting and unlimited sorting, including sorting on groups, custom sorting and Top N/Bottom N sorting. The powerful formula language contains over 160 functions and operators, and is extensible to allow user-defined functions.
Produce Presentation-Quality Reports
Insert graphs illustrating key data to make your reports more informative. Integrated graphing includes more than 80 customizable styles and can reflect detail, group or formula data as required.
Increase the impact of your reports by choosing from a variety of fonts, bitmaps, boxes, lines and even embedded objects from other applications. You have precise control over the placement of report objects, including graphical watermarks underlying entire report pages.
Reporting Designed For The Web
Leverage Existing Reports
If you're already using Seagate Crystal Reports, deploying reports across the web is as easy as linking reports to your web server, and installing and configuring the Crystal Web Report Server (included). This hassle-free approach lets you create your report once and distribute it to any user with a web browser, regardless of their desktop platform.
Smart Viewers for Easy Deployment
To access reports, users simply browse to a web page with report links or a web application with reporting. Seagate Crystal Reports detects their browser type and automatically returns the report with the compatible Smart Viewer -- ActiveX, Java or HTML. Browsers supporting ActiveX or Java display reports in native Crystal Reports format, providing maximum presentation quality.
Thin-Wire Architecture
Even if you're deploying large reports to your intranet, the thin-wire architecture of the Crystal Web Report Server ensures superior response times and helps reduce web traffic. Users pull reports to the browser as desired, a page at a time, and can even refresh data in an existing report for up-to-the-minute information. While viewing a report, users can also take advantage of Smart Navigation, providing drill down, search and group trees, to help find report information quickly and intuitively.
Web Application Development
Seagate Crystal Reports also includes the Crystal Active Server Component, allowing you to integrate the Crystal Report Engine directly into Active Server Pages (ASPs), and a Visual InterDev Design-time ActiveX Control wizard to make integration of reports into ASPs as simple as pointing and clicking.
Web Reporting Scalability
The Crystal Web Report Server is ideal for workgroup web reporting for 10-15 concurrent users. If you require a solution for larger groups of users, we recommend Seagate Crystal Info. You can run reports created with Seagate Crystal Reports in Seagate Crystal Info, and take advantage of its 3-tier, scalable architecture and powerful report scheduling capabilities to deploy large scale web reporting systems.
Flexible Component Architecture
Seagate Crystal Reports has two major components: the Crystal Report Designer, a graphical user interface that allows you to create report masterpieces in record time; and the Crystal Report Engine, which processes reports and then prints or exports them to the destination specified. A true Dynamic Link Library (DLL), the royalty-free Crystal Report Engine can be integrated into database applications created in any programming language that can access a 16- or 32-bit DLL.
Developers - Take Note!
Seagate Crystal Reports has always been the reporting tool of choice for developers, as evidenced by its inclusion with Microsoft Visual Basic, Oracle Power Objects, Netscape LiveWire Pro and other programming environments. The significant enhancements in the latest version deliver the power and flexibility required by today's professional programmers.
Live Reporting
Event and call-back support means that reports are no longer static objects. Now when a user clicks on an element in the report Runtime Preview Window, your application can present additional report details, launch another report, execute application code and more. In addition, built-in drill down allows users to see additional levels of detail within a report by double clicking on graphs, group totals or embedded hyperlinks without the need to write any code.
Automation Server
In addition to point and click interfaces for incorporating reports into applications, Seagate Crystal Reports now has an Automation Server interface providing easy to use, object oriented access to the entire Crystal Report Engine. You can also make direct API calls, or use the controls and class libraries, including ActiveX (OLE/OCX), Visual Basic Custom Control (VBX), Microsoft Foundation Class Library with AppWizard, Delphi Visual Component Library (VCL), and INFORMIX-NewEra Class Library. This allows you to tightly integrate and customize reports within your own applications, while still using familiar development tools.
