Development-Language Options

Crystal Reports developer interfaces have been designed to work with most popular Windows development tools that support Microsoft s standard Component Object Model (or COM). Previous Crystal Reports versions also included legacy interfaces that could be used with non-COM environments, such as those that integrated via Windows API calls or Visual Basic ActiveX (.OCX) controls. Most of these older interfaces are no longer supported with Crystal Reports 10, having been given the dubious distinction of legacy status, indicating that they don t contain newer features that the COM options provide.

And finally, Crystal Reports 10 includes several Java-capable interfaces. In addition to the Java Reporting Component for web applications (covered in Chapter 23), the Crystal Reports Java Bean Viewer allows you to integrate a report into your Java applet. The Java Bean Viewer exposes a similar set of properties and methods as the Crystal viewer control for non-Java development tools.

Which Development Language Should I Use?

Which development language you should use is a question that cannot be answered simply in this book. It obviously depends largely on your experience level with particular developer tools. Also, your company may standardize on certain development tools that limit your choices. However, if your project will depend heavily on built-in reporting, you may want to consider an alternative tool if the tool you are familiar with doesn t support Microsoft s COM-standard interface.

Regardless of a language or development environment choice, you should look toward a COM-based development tool. Previous non-COM interfaces, such as the Report Engine API, have been relegated to legacy status. Since most common Windows languages work with Microsoft s COM, chances are good that you ll be able to program Crystal Reports applications using this method.

The best source of developer- related information from Business Objects is a Windows help file that ships with Crystal Reports. Use Windows Explorer to navigate to the CrystalDevHelp.CHM file in \Program Files\Crystal Decisions\Crystal Reports 10\Developer Files\Help\< language >. You ll find complete documentation for the Report Designer Component, sample code that you can copy from the Help file, and references to sample applications that are installed along with Crystal Reports. You can also find several helpful online documents in Adobe Acrobat PDF format on the product CD-ROM.

Caution  

The version of CrystalDevHelp.chm that is installed from the initial Crystal Reports 10 program CD refers to Crystal Reports 9. You must download updated product documentation to get a current version of this file. Browse to support.BusinessObjects.com to look for Crystal Reports 10 updates to Developers Help.