Datasheet

In addition to being able to expose reports as Web Services for internal users, you can also publish

Report Web Services to users external to your organization, providing a method for external users to

access data held within your own data sources.

Multi-Tier Applications

When working with applications that are to be deployed to large numbers of users, you will probably

want to consider moving to a multi-tier architecture, which is just a generalization of the three-tier con-

cept and is shown in Figure 1-8, where components can be added as the application user base grows.

Figure 1-8

Crystal Enterprise is a Web-based, standalone solution for secure report delivery and distribution that

can be integrated with Crystal Reports .NET. From within the Visual Studio .NET environment, you

have access to the reports stored in the Crystal Enterprise framework and to a rich object model that

exposes all of the Crystal Enterprise features and functionality (scheduling, security, and e-mail

distribution) for use in your own application.

Report Designer

You can use the Crystal Reports Designer, shown in Figure 1-9, to create a report from scratch, or you

can use a number of experts (similar to wizards) to help you get started. The interface is similar to the

retail versions of Crystal Reports, and it shares enough similarity that existing report developers should

have no problems making the transition to the .NET version. With that said, there are some specific

options and features that are unique to this version.

For more information on Crystal Enterprise, check out www.businessobjects.com/

products/reporting/crystalenterprise

XML Report Web Service

Web Component Server

(Crystal Enterprise)

Crystal Print Engine

Data

Web Form

Web Form Viewer

Crystal Report

Windows Form

Windows Form Viewer

Crystal Report

Chapter 1

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