crystal reports/LBI dynamic data

Ahhh!! I think I know what the issue is. You must save your reports (at development time) with the 'Save Data with Report' box UNCHECKED. This will allow you to refresh the data every time the report runs.
Check that, and post back if you find it is already unchecked.

If gregs suggestion is not the case it may just be that your reports are scheduled and you viewing the historical instances. There are several ways to go about it but essentially you need to give your users the ability to run the reports with data refresh.

If this is the case post back and we can elaborate on your options. The short answer is, yes, for sure you can get dynamic data with crystal and LBI.

I'm somewhat new to using Crystal and LBI together as well. I using Crystal XI which is installed on my desktop then publishing my reports onto LBI. I understand that there is an instance of Crystal that comes with LBI. Am I better off using the stand alone version on my desktop or what comes packaged with LBI or does it even matter?

Dave

Dcaiani,

The desktop version is ideally meant for you to create reports that are then published to LBI for distribution to a wider audience. Unless you are the only person consuming these reports I dont think using the desktop version as a method for distribution is a very efficient way to do things.

[quote]
I dont think using the desktop version as a method for distribution is a very efficient way to do things.
[/quote]
Unless I misunderstood the question, that's not what he was asking.
I think what he was asking was "should I use the Crystal on my desktop, or the Crystal on the server for developing reports"?
If that was the actual question, then it doesn't really matter. In either case, you still have to publish them to LBI.

Greg/Matt - I'll look into your suggestions, thanks. Another point that came up, is it possible to get on-demand data from our Crystal Reports if our users use Crystal Viewer? We noticed that data seems to be static also.

-Doug

Yes, I was wondering if using one version or another had any advantages in development,deployment, or data access both during deployment or when the end user would be refreshing the report. Sounds like it doesn't matter.

I think there maybe a misunderstanding of the components at play here. Crystal Reports Designer is the desktop tool used to create reports. You can then publish them via Reporting Services (RS) and deliver them through RS or on dashboards. Once the latter is done, regardless of whether the data is historical (saved in an instance of the report) or ondemand (returned from the database when the user requests the report) they will be using the Crystal Viewer. There are permissions that have to be granted to a user in order to access ondemand reports. Also the method in which you expose the Crystal Reports will determine whether they see ondemand vs. historical (OnDemand) reports.

If you really want to give all your users the Crystal Report Designer (which is highly inadvisable), you will need licenses for each install (LBI only comes with 3 as i recall) and each user will need a logon to the data source that is used. With the Designer and a logon the user has the power to pull as much data as is granted his logon which can really be a dangerous thing if security is left open. Its really not the standard way to deploy Crystal Reports.

hope this helps clarify.

Thanks, Matt. I am beginning to see the picture here. In regards to your comment, "There are permissions that have to be granted to a user in order to access ondemand reports.", Where are these done? In LSF security? Can you be more specific?

Thanks.

Doug,

This is done via Reporting Services Administration. it can be done on a global lever in the System Settings section or per report in the Detail of each published report.