When a user runs a Crystal Report from the home page of Ripplestone, the report is displayed within the users web browser. They have the option to manually save the report by exporting the report output to a file or they can print the report. But if they would like the report saved to a file every time the report is run they can take advantage of the Send To feature.

The Send To feature is used to either create and save a file of the report or to email a copy of the report via email. This action will be performed each time the report is run on demand from the home page of Ripplestone.

This can be useful when you need a physical copy of the report or another system will be looking for a copy of the report. Perhaps in an Excel or CSV format.

Export to a File

The Export to a file section allows you to select the file type to be saved.  The available formats are:

• pdf
• Excel
• Word
• RTF
• CSV
• Text
• Tab Separated
• Crystal Report

The location for the file can be on the local Ripplestone server or on another server using a UNC style path. You also have the option of selecting a pre-defined location from the drop down. These can be setup in the Saved File Locations page. The file name can be any valid file name and can also use the following tokens to change the name at runtime.

• [Date] - Formats the date in yyyy_MM_dd
• [DateTime] - Formats the date in yyyy_MM_dd hhmmss
• [Date:] - Allows you to enter the date and time in a custom format
• [FileName] - Uses the document file name without the extension
• [Title] - Uses the title of the document
• [DocID] - Uses the internal ID for this document
• [ParameterX] - Uses the value of the parameter that was entered when the report is run. Replace the X with a number.

There are two options for what to do if the file already exists.  You can select to have the file replaced if there is a file with the same name already in the folder; or you have the option to append a number to the end of the file name. 

Send to Email

The Send to Email section allows you to have a copy of the report emailed to one or more people. If using multiple email addresses separate them with a semi-colon.

The from address needs to be a valid email address for most SMTP servers. 

When exporting from the Crystal Reports Runtime Engine, some reports will have a smaller font size when exported to pdf.  This can also happen when printing a report since browsers such as Chrome, Firefox and Edge will first export the report to pdf and then print the pdf file.  Internet Explorer can either print using an ActiveX control or by also first exporting to a pdf file.  When using the ActiveX control the fonts retain the correct size.

To force the engine to maintain the font size you will need to make a change to the Windows Registry.  To make the change open the Registry Editor by typing RegEdit.exe in the Run dialog box.

Once the Registry Editor is open, find the Crystal Reports key using the following path:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\SAP BusinessObjects\Crystal Reports for .NET Framework 4.0\Crystal Reports

Most likely you will need to add two new keys.  First add a key called Export and then a new key called Pdf if they are not there.  The final structure will look like this:

In the Pdf key add a new DWORD called ForceLargerFonts 

In the new DWORD, change the value to a 1 and save the value. 

Once complete, the new value should look like below: 

Close the Registry Editor and test opening a report in Ripplestone and export it to a pdf file.

When trying to send a Crystal Report directly to a printer from the Ripplestone scheduler, you will need to change some settings to allow the scheduler service to have permissions to the printer.

Changing the Login for the Service

By default the Ripplestone scheduler runs as a local system account.  This account usually doesn’t have permissions to print to network printers.

To allow the service to have permissions to print, change the Log On to a user that does have permissions.  This will require a re-start of the service.

Install the Printer on the Ripplestone Server

To make sure that the server has the correct driver you will need to install the printer on the Ripplestone server.

By installing the printer, you should also get the printer to display in the drop down list of available printers.  If the printer doesn’t display in the list you can type in into test box to the right of the drop down.

Make the Printer the default printer

If the Crystal Report has the No Printer option selected on the Page Setup dialog box, then the printer on the Ripplestone server will need to be selected as the default printer.

If you cannot make the printer the default printer, then the No Printer option will need to be un-checked and the report will need to be re-published to Ripplestone.  Once the report has been re-published it can be printed to any printer.  This seems to be a limitation within the Crystal Reports Runtime Engine

Using Crystal Reports Designer

Using Ripplestone

RS Express Tab

System Options for RS Express

Encrypted User Name

Overview

Below are the new features, updates and bug fixes for Ripplestone version 3.4.3.

Home Page

Use Parameter Name for Prompt Text (3.4.3.0)

If the report doesn’t have a value for the prompt text then use the parameter name for the prompt text

Scheduler Changes

The Ripplestone Scheduler Server Has Been Re-Written (3.4.3.0)

The scheduler server has been re-written to improve the performance and scalability.

Added New Yearly Option (3.4.3.0)

Added a new schedule interval of Yearly. This will run a job once per year using the Begin date for the month and day and the start time for the time of day to run.

Edit Folders Page

Added New Fields to Track Who Changed the Folder and When (3.4.3.1)

Added two new fields to track who changed the record and when it was changed.

Edit Document Page

New Unique Key for RSExpress (3.4.3.2)

There is a new option for RS Express that allows the Administrator to turn on or off the RS Express feature.

There is also a new option that will require a unique key to be added to the query string. This will make the feature more secure and make it harder for a user to guess at document ID’s

Both of these new options can be set on the System Setup and Configuration page on the first tab. These global options can be overridden for each report on the Edit Document page

Global Options on the System Setup and Configuration Page

Individual Report options on the Edit Document Page

Added New Fields to Track Who Changed the Report and When (3.4.3.2)

Added two new fields to track who changed the record and when it was changed

Remove Duplicate Entries from the Dynamic Parameters (3.4.3.0)

When using the Ripplestone Dynamic Parameter feature if the values for the parameter had any duplicates the list would stop loading at the first duplicate. This version will ignore any duplicates when loading the parameter pick list.

Fixed Bug when Editing a Report and Moving it to a New Folder (3.4.3.1)

When a user would click on a different folder in the Edit Document page the document would not get moved to the new location. This has been fixed and the document is now moved to the folder selected.

Users

New User Options (3.4.3.0)

Users can now override the global settings for the Use Minimal Home Page and Display Favorites.

With the Use Minimal Home Page, the user can use the global setting or turn on or off the feature. With the feature on, the home page will display the least amount of data. This is helpful for very large sites or if there is a slow connection.

With the Display Favorites as Home Page, the user can use the global setting or turn on or off the feature. With the feature on, the home page will display the favorites when they login and not the standard home page. This is for the user that has the reports that they use most often added to their favorite’s area. They can still access the home page by clicking on the Home link

Below is the Edit User page with the new User Options tab displayed with the two new options.

System Setup and Configuration

Added New Option for the Home Page (3.4.3.0)

Added two new options for the home page. Both of these new options can be changed by each user.

Minimal Home Page - This option only displays the essentials needed for the home page. Extra information is not displayed. This is helpful when the connection is not fast or the users do not need the extra information.

Display Favorites As Home Page – This option allows the favorites to be displayed as the default home page. This option is for the users that want to quickly see all their favorite reports first.

Bug Fixes

Fixed a Issue with Users Marked as Inactive (3.4.3.0)

If a user has the Active flag un-checked they were still able to login to the system.

With the new version of the Crystal Reports Runtime Engine there is page size limit that determines how many parameter values are in each page of values.  The default is 200 values per page or batch.

Below is an example of a report that has 2100 parameters.  The parameters are broken up into 11 pages of values.  The first page has the first 200 parameter values and as you move through the pages you get the next 200 values.

This page size can be changed in Ripplestone by updating the web.config file located in C:\Sites\Ripplestone\web.config (this is an XML file that can be updated with a text editor).

Look for a section called <businessObjects> and add or change the line highlighted below.  In the example the value is set to 500, but this can be any value.

  <businessObjects>
    <crystalReports>
      <crystalReportViewer>
        <add key="documentView" value="printlayout" />
        <add key="EnableTextClipping" value="true" />
        <add key="maxNumberListOfValues" value="500" />
      </crystalReportViewer>
    </crystalReports>
  </businessObjects>

After the config file has been changed to allow 500 values per page, there are only 5 pages of values.

Ripplestone 3.3 - Summary

Home Page

Home Page Data Caching

Most of the data used by the home page is now being cached by the system. This increases the performance of the home page by reducing the number of calls to the Ripplestone database. This option can be controlled by the administrator in the web.config file.

Fixed a problem when updating the home node

When changing the root/home node on the home page there was a bug that would not allow the administrator to change the node name.

Scheduler Changes

New FTP Library

Ripplestone is now using a new and improved FTP library and provides more options

Fixed bug to display the Schedule time correctly

When a scheduled job was set to run between 1 - 9 minutes after the hour the display would not display the 0 (zero) before the minute. It would look like 4:5 PM; in the new version it is displayed as 4:05 PM.

New Output type

A new output type has been added to the scheduler. The Editable RTF Export type has been added to the Output Format dropdown.

Fixed bug for Jobs between midnight and 1:00 AM

There was a bug for any jobs scheduled between midnight and 1:00 AM. The job would not always get started at the correct time.

New icons on the list schedule page

The Scheduled Documents page now uses icons to save space on the page. The page also added a Run Now button (the Green Arrow) to run a scheduled job now and bypass the scheduler. This is good for testing or when you need to run a job outside of the scheduled time.

Fixed a problem when Emailing a scheduled job to multiple addresses

There is an option in the System Setup and Configuration page to turn on an option to email messages from the scheduler one at a time. If this is turned on then emails are sent to each recipient as a separate email. If the option is unselected then all the email addresses are added to the email and the email is sent once. All recipients can see who else the email was sent to. There was a bug in the system that stopped the email from being sent. This bug has been fixed and all email addresses will be added to a single email.

Below is the option from the System Setup and Configuration page.

Database Connections

Added new fields to allow new Server and database

The Database Connection page has been change to allow the administrator to change the database server and the database name that the report will use. This helps when the Crystal Report need to get the data from a new server or from a new database name without needing to change and republish all the Crystal Reports that use that database connection.

The example below shows the original database connection using the RipplestoneTestServer and then with the new option the reports will login and use the RipplestoneProduction server.

Alternate Database Login and Password

This new option is set on the Edit Document page and allows the Crystal Report to have a different database login and password that will override the login and password stored in the database connection for that report.

Security

Windows Integrated Security Users

If the Ripplestone application is configured to use Windows Integrated Security the users are required to have the checkbox checked for Integrated Security to work. If the user does not have the checked box checked then they will be redirected to the sign on page.

When publishing Crystal Reports to Ripplestone; there are a few simple options within the Crystal Reports designer that can be checked to increase the performance of the reports when they are run from within Ripplestone.

Page Setup

The first is to set the No Printer option on the Page Setup dialog box. This will stop the report from looking for the selected printer each time the report is run. It also has the added bonus of making the report look better within the web viewer. Open the Page Setup by clicking on Files and then Page Setup

Figure 1 – Page Setup Dialog Box

Report Options

The report option dialog box has several options that can help the report process quicker. Open the Report Option by clicking on File and then Report Options.

• Perform Grouping On Server – This works with the “Use Indexes Or Server For Speed” option to allow the server to perform much of the processing for the report. This reduces the processing and memory used by the Ripplestone server.
• Use Indexes Or Server For Speed – Using this option will allow the SQL query to use the database indexes and can increase the speed when selecting large amounts of data.
• Verify on First Refresh –Unchecking this option will stop the report from first checking the database to refresh the schema. This will save a trip to the database.
• Verify Stored Procedure on First Refresh – Unchecking this option will stop the report from first checking the stored procedure to refresh the schema. This will save a trip to the database.
• Save Data With Report – Unchecking this option will keep the file size small and will allow the report to be loaded by the Crystal Report engine quicker.
• Perform Query Asynchronously – Check this box to allow the report to execute the SQL statement without requiring Ripplestone to wait for the select statement to finish.

With the release of Ripplestone version 3, we have added many new features to the home page and to how you view and interact with Crystal Reports.

Below is a quick tour of the new features.

Performance and Usability Improvements

Two new links have been added to the top menu bar.

• Favorites allows users to quickly get to the documents marked as favorites. The favorites view loads quicker than the home page and is simpler to use.  There is an option to have the Favorites view be the default view when starting Ripplestone.
• Scheduled History give the users a quick way to view all the scheduled history without needing to click on each Crystal Report on the home page.  This is helpful for the users that need to check the history of many reports.

The navigation tree on the home page has been updated with AJAX and Data Caching to allow a smoother and quicker navigation experience.  The page will no longer flash as the user is clicking on the folders and documents in the tree.

Multiple Reports

With the new version of Ripplestone users can open multiple reports from the home page and then switch between them using the tabs.  The reports also open within the home page and not as a new browser window allowing the user to view the report more easily.  The reports new feel more integrated in the Ripplestone application.

New Crystal Reports Viewer

Ripplestone 3 is using a new web viewer and new parameter page for running Crystal Reports.  Below is an example of the new parameter page, this opens within the home page and not as a separate web browser window.  It has a more integrated feel and a new indicator is displayed to let the user know that the report is being run.

The new web viewer allows the user to refresh the report and they will be prompted to enter new parameter values or if the report is written in Crystal Reports 2008 or 2011 they will have the option to open the Parameter Panel shown below.  This new panel will allow the user to view and change the parameter values without closing the report.

With these new features the home page of Ripplestone has become easier to use and more productive in viewing your Crystal Reports and Office Documents.