User`s guide

OLE
14.1 OLE overview
Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) enables you to insert objects (OLE objects) into a report from
other applications (OLE server applications) and then use those applications from within Crystal Reports
to edit the objects if necessary.
If you were not using OLE, you would have to exit Crystal Reports, open the original application, change
the object, return to Crystal Reports, delete the object originally inserted, and then insert the newly
revised object.
Note:
If you intend to use your Crystal report in SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence platform or through
the Report Application Server (RAS), copy the source file to a network folder that is accessible to the
network account(s) under which the processing servers (Job Server, Page Server, RAS) are running.
Ensure that report designers' accounts also have permission to the network folder. When you insert
the linked OLE object in Crystal Reports, use a UNC path.
14.1.1 OLE terminology
Before you work with OLE objects in Crystal Reports, it might be helpful to review some terminology:
• OLE
OLE is an acronym for Object Linking and Embedding. It refers to the ability to create compound
documents; that is, documents that contain elements from other applications that can be edited
using the original application.
• OLE Object
An OLE object is, broadly speaking, a presentation of data that was created in another application
and that maintains a relationship with the application that was used to create it. A bitmap created in
Paint, an Excel spreadsheet, or a graph from MS Graph may all be OLE objects if they are inserted
in the receiving document as OLE objects. If they are not inserted as OLE objects, they retain no
relationship with the original application.
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OLE