Comparison of each version of Crystal Report and related explanation v2

Description: Most of this article comes from MSDN, I mainly comb the content and describe some of the details
This article only carries on the function explanation and some related product aspect introduction, is not the so-called soft wen, hehe.

The Crystal Report was originally a crystaldecisions product, and the company was bought by Bo (BusinessObjects), and now SAP has bought Bo.
The previous Crystal Reports 4.x, which had been embedded in VS, was gone, and was then embedded since vs.net.

Several versions currently available on the market are:

The latest standalone version is CR2008, and the most recent embedded version is CR basic for VS2008 in VS2008

Q: What is a hot patch.
The Hot Patch Program (hotfix) in the A:bo site, similar to Microsoft's KB patch, is a timely fix for a problem.
These patches will not be actively pushed if they are not registered.

The RAS section is in the back.

The functional differences for each version are:


Focus on the yellow part:
Cross-platform: The version embedded in VS will only support the MS platform, but the RAS server has multiple versions, and it also supports platforms such as Unix,linux,aix
Integrated security: RAS can be integrated securely with Windows users, Windows AD users, LDAP users
Load balancing: RAS support deployed on multiple servers, using CMS for balanced control
Report Object repository: Ras adds an existing report object (as you can see in the CR to the resource pool), the resource pool is actually a RAS with a database, save the report objects in the database, easy reuse, migration, etc.
Report scheduling (similar to Windows Scheduled Tasks): RAS supports reports that are scheduled to execute, or that can be executed by events (such as when an event occurs, and then the report is executed). You can specify the user, parameter, execution point of execution, perform a predecessor task, and perform a post task at timed execution time. The executed file may be the standard RPT file that holds the data, or the Pdf,excel, and can also be printed directly to the specified printer
Information Transfer system: After the report plan is completed, the executed file can be passed to someone or a location via email or FTP.

Create or modify a report programmatically by saying it later

Currently the latest CR Basic for VS2008 is not much changed

Crystal Reports Basic for Visual Studio 2008 is an upgraded version of Crystal Reports for Visual Studio 2005.
A number of features are added to this release.
ClickOnce deployments support the HomeSite property and are now available for x64-bit computers.
Crystal Reports Basic for Visual Studio 2008 supports Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008.
Supports the. Net 3.5 Framework.

The following is a key point about RAS

what is RAS.

The application Server (RAS) is a technique for Business Objects. RAS is both a client SDK and a server.
You can use the RAS server to create and modify Crystal reports, as well as to process page requests.
When the server process retrieves the requested report, RAS passes it to the Report viewer.

The RAS server is only available as part of the Crystal Reports server or BusinessObjects Enterprise.

managed RAS

RAS servers managed by other Enterprise framework components are called managed RAS servers.
Crystal Reports Server and BusinessObjects Enterprise provide a server framework for enterprise-wide, web-based report management and distribution.
The managed RAS server is one of several servers in this framework.
It can process reports that are located on the same computer as the WEB server and the RAS SDK, or to work with reports that are located on a separate report repository server.

The managed RAS server can use the Reportclientdocument object model and the InfoObject object model.

Crystal Reports Server and BusinessObjects Enterprise all contain managed RAS servers.

unmanaged RAS

Unmanaged RAS is no longer provided as an upgrade option.

A RAS server running independently of the Enterprise framework is called an unmanaged RAS server.
An unmanaged RAS server provides access to Crystal report files on a local file system or in a specified network folder. An unmanaged RAS SDK and an unmanaged RAS server can be located on two different computers.

The unmanaged RAS server is using the Reportclientdocument object model.

Some friends asked before, can be in the running process to create a report, or in the report added fields, Word reports, is based on the RAS implementation. A separate authorization is required. The

RAS server is provided only as part of the Crystal Reports server or BusinessObjects Enterprise (BOE).

In addition, the BoE and other

BoE are a complete set of reporting platforms, combined with CR, to achieve no programming, only need to make a report through CR, then published into the BoE, can browse the report in real time through the Web
and specify the report plan, and can implement the user group , user management and rights assignment,
Load Balancing through CMS and security control of rowsets or columns through the semantic layer (business view or domain)
, and so on
dramatically speeds up the development process and is of course valuable.
However, for large user concurrent BS systems, simply using CR combined with vs.net or Java development, its performance should be far from meeting the need.
The advantages of the BoE system can also be truly apparent at this time.
The BoE is now widely used in insurance, communications, petrochemical, banking and other large industries.

for small applications, pure crystal statements are sufficient, but for some Chinese reports, it is not as flexible as some other domestic reporting tools (such as cell-based reporting tools).

Bo launched the Crystal Xcelsius (CX, Chinese name crystal Easy table) 2008, perhaps this will be more to meet the needs of some applications,
the tool with the help of Flash technology, achieve a very cool effect, support interaction. More flexible than CR, and can be interconnected with CR.
Of course, CX is not suitable for the presentation of large data volumes and is not a substitute for CR, which is said to be inexpensive

More version information can be obtained from here:
http://www.china.businessobjects.com/products/ crystal/default.asp
The actual effect of the crystal table can be obtained from here:
http://www.china.businessobjects.com/products/crystalxcelsius/ Default.asp