In the previous section, only printing and exporting were mentioned as options for delivering reports. You might have been wondering how to view reports onscreen. This section will cover using the report viewer to view reports. This report viewer control is usually referred to as the ActiveX viewer, or the Crystal Reports Viewer Control. It is an ActiveX control, which means that in addition to being able to be dropped on to any Visual Basic formlike the other components of the Report Designer Componentit can be used in any COM-compliant development environment. Its filename is CRViewer.dll. Figure 30.4 depicts the ActiveX viewer displaying a report from a Visual Basic application.
The ActiveX viewer works in conjunction with the object model and report engine to render the report to the screen. The object model talks to the report engine to process the report, and then the ActiveX viewer asks the object model for the data for an individual page. After this data is received by the viewer, it displays the report page onscreen. The following code snippet illustrates how to view a report with the report viewer control:
Dim Application As New CRAXDRT.Application Dim Report As CRAXDRT.Report Set Report = Application.OpenReport("C:MyReport.rpt") CRViewer.ReportSource = Report CRViewer.ViewReport
The ActiveX control has many properties and methods that enable you to customize its look and feel. To turn off the toolbar at the top of the viewer control, simply set the DisplayToolbar property to false. To turn off the group tree, set the DisplayGroupTree property to false. This can result in a very minimalist viewer. In addition, the control has a full event model that notifies you when certain actions are performed, such as a drill-down or page navigation. For more information on the ActiveX viewer control, consult the Crystal Reports 10 developer help file.
Part I. Crystal Reports Design
Creating and Designing Basic Reports
Selecting and Grouping Data
Filtering, Sorting, and Summarizing Data
Understanding and Implementing Formulas
Implementing Parameters for Dynamic Reporting
Part II. Formatting Crystal Reports
Fundamentals of Report Formatting
Working with Report Sections
Visualizing Your Data with Charts and Maps
Custom Formatting Techniques
Part III. Advanced Crystal Reports Design
Using Cross-Tabs for Summarized Reporting
Using Record Selections and Alerts for Interactive Reporting
Using Subreports and Multi-Pass Reporting
Using Formulas and Custom Functions
Designing Effective Report Templates
Additional Data Sources for Crystal Reports
Multidimensional Reporting Against OLAP Data with Crystal Reports
Part IV. Enterprise Report Design Analytic, Web-based, and Excel Report Design
Introduction to Crystal Repository
Crystal Reports Semantic Layer Business Views
Creating Crystal Analysis Reports
Advanced Crystal Analysis Report Design
Ad-Hoc Application and Excel Plug-in for Ad-Hoc and Analytic Reporting
Part V. Web Report Distribution Using Crystal Enterprise
Introduction to Crystal Enterprise
Using Crystal Enterprise with Web Desktop
Crystal Enterprise Architecture
Planning Considerations When Deploying Crystal Enterprise
Deploying Crystal Enterprise in a Complex Network Environment
Administering and Configuring Crystal Enterprise
Part VI. Customized Report Distribution Using Crystal Reports Components
Java Reporting Components
Crystal Reports .NET Components
COM Reporting Components
Part VII. Customized Report Distribution Using Crystal Enterprise Embedded Edition
Introduction to Crystal Enterprise Embedded Edition
Crystal Enterprise Viewing Reports
Crystal Enterprise Embedded Report Modification and Creation
Part VIII. Customized Report Distribution Using Crystal Enterprise Professional
Introduction to the Crystal Enterprise Professional Object Model
Creating Enterprise Reports Applications with Crystal Enterprise Part I
Creating Enterprise Reporting Applications with Crystal Enterprise Part II
Appendix A. Using Sql Queries In Crystal Reports
Creating Enterprise Reporting Applications with Crystal Enterprise Part II