| lass="bottom-link"> | | | | Crystal Reports |
| Crystal Reports are an application that simplifies | | | | Originally, Crystal Reports were considered to be |
| reporting needs for businesses. | | | | desktop applications. You had to prepare the reports |
| Widely considered as a Business Intelligence tool, | | | | off your desktop and email it personally to a distribution |
| Crystal Reports has gone on to establish itself as a | | | | list. With increasing usage of Crystal Reports, the |
| primary reporting tool for enterprise reporting needs. | | | | need for distributing the reports off the internet started |
| | | | | growing. People felt that by doing so, they could |
| Until a couple of years ago, standard applications like | | | | access the reports almost seamlessly. |
| Excel and Acrobat were considered to be powerful | | | | The integration of Crystal Reports with Visual Studio |
| reporting applications. When Crystal Reports were | | | | and .NET applications bought about this turnaround. |
| launched, not many people supported the idea of | | | | With this integration, people could distribute Crystal |
| having a desktop application that could do the same | | | | Reports off the internet on any .NET platform. |
| job as Excel. As of today, the scenario has | | | | System Considerations – Minimal but important |
| changed. Many enterprises are realizing the value of | | | | Primarily, Crystal Reports is a desktop application. |
| Crystal Reports and have started to use Crystal | | | | This warrants that your local computer meets certain |
| Reports increasingly. | | | | conditions in terms of their Operating System and |
| Until a couple of years ago, standard applications like | | | | Memory Space. An OS of Windows Vista or |
| Excel and Acrobat were considered to be powerful | | | | Windows XP/2000 will do the trick for you. |
| reporting applications. When Crystal Reports were | | | | Macintosh users can do with Mac OS X which is |
| launched, not many people supported the idea of | | | | deemed compatible with Crystal Reports. A Hard |
| having a desktop application that could do the same | | | | Disk Space of 150 MB and a memory space of close |
| job as Excel. As of today, the scenario has | | | | to 1 GB is considered vital for the operation of Crystal |
| changed. Many enterprises are realizing the value of | | | | Reports. |
| Crystal Reports and have started to use Crystal | | | | Crystal Reports – The tools contribute to the |
| Reports increasingly. | | | | success |
| The versions of Crystal Reports | | | | Crystal Reports would not have been half as |
| Crystal Reports started with Crystal Reports 6.0. | | | | successful if it was not for their tools. With tools for |
| Offered in the Developer, Professional and Standard | | | | designing the -database and saving your report files at |
| versions then, Crystal Reports have undergone a | | | | its disposal, Crystal Reports have gone on to become |
| major sea change in terms of Versions developed | | | | the only end-end reporting applications. Crystal |
| since. After the version 6, simultaneous deployment | | | | Report Designer, Crystal Report Viewer are only |
| of Crystal Reports till Crystal Reports XI saw a lot of | | | | some tools from the long list of tools of Crystal |
| tools being incorporated into Crystal Reports that could | | | | Reports. |
| make this a robust reporting system. | | | | Crystal Reports – A Summary |
| Needless to say, a lot of people are curious to see the | | | | If you wish to develop reports whose data can be |
| offerings of Crystal Reports 2008. Crystal Reports | | | | analyzed and represented, use Crystal Reports. With |
| 2008 is already touted to be the next big thing in | | | | the latest advancement in Crystal Reports, now you |
| Enterprise Reporting. | | | | could look at web distribution of the reports. |
| Web Distribution – The latest advancement in | | | | |