How can I read a Oracle reports .rdf? Is installing the Oracle Report Builder the only option, if so can someone share a link for it.
I need to read a .rdf file to see its content. The file is a Oracle report which gets the data from DB and creates a report.
You can open a RDF file in any text editor. It'll be awful, but it is searchable so - if you're interested in its query, just search for SELECT and you'll get it.
Otherwise, if you really need to see the layout etc., Reports Builder installation is the only option, as far as I can tell.
Related
This is not about coding question. It's about Software (Database) Design.
Background: My office has a ADP database as front and SQL Server is a backend. There are a dozen of basic standard reports in the ADP file. End users slightly change reports every year such as adding some texts, changing logo, bolds, highlights. I help them back and forth for updating these. After they are ok with the report, I upload to the server so other users can use it. I do this over and over over the time (hundreds times). I think there should be a better way.
Recently, I test a new design by splitting Report and Database. I let user create a words file for the report that they like. I add MailMerge fields in the report after they're done. My users are very good in MS Words. In the database, I add standard MailMerge code. When users pick what template (docx) they want for a report then runs it, it works fine.
Question: Can I use MailMerge and MS Words as Report Generator instead of Access Report? if it's work fine, I will rollout to all the reports. I just want to miss anything before doing so.
Pro(s)
- Users can add any complex format to a report (almost anything you can imagine in MS Words, which you can't do in Access)
- I have less work. No recode, recomplie, or reupload.
Con(s)
- Report Desinger is run faster than MailMerge for a large report.
- Train user how to update MailMerge fields
Yes, you can use Word and MailMerge to create reports. However, keep in mind that you're giving up control, since users could edit the templates in a way that breaks your MailMerge.
Is there a way to do a dynamic ole insert of a pdf file into a crystal
report based on a value coming from a SQL database?
For example, I have an application in .net, back-ended by a SQL 2008 database.
The app. has a reporting subsystem which uses Crystal Reports to allow
users to run pre-written reports (from stored procedures) by entering
various inputs such as date ranges, etc.
What I want to do is allow the user to enter, say, an account number
which will then be passed to a stored procedure. The procedure will
get the path to the correct PDF file and pass that to a Crystal
Report. How do I get the PDF path to the OLE Object insert??
Is this making any sense??
Thanks for any help in advance.
do you have to use pdf? the idea of adding a pdf to a crystal report makes me feel dirty all over... If possible I would use rpt files as subreports. (note the reason it makes me pale quite so much is that I come from a *nix background and still think pdf should only be used for printing)
I have MS Access reports that needs to be displayed in a crystal report in .net windows application. Is there any way to do it or some alternatives?
I am not sure about the right approach to complete this, can anybody help here?
Hum, I don’t think this is possible. I not aware that access reports can be converted or transferred to crystal reports anyway.
Remember, access reports have event code, and even can have code run in the report for EACH line of detail that displays. In other works, not only are access reports amazing, but they are fully programmable with VBA code embedded INSIDE of the report.
Because of this issue, you need ms-access running and loaded for those reports to work correctly (the VBA is required, and functions, and also that of sql queries..of which a report can be based on SEVERAL data sources and several tables all at the SAME TIME).
Even more worry is that there is not any kind of code or report converter here from ms-access to crystal reports. So, you never could in any way easy way transfer reports from ms-access to crystal reports.
You could attempt to embed ms-access as a com object, but all kinds of problems like page numbering etc. can’t really be controlled here if the report is to appear inside of the crystal report.
I STRONLY recommend that if you need some reports in crystal reports, then have the appropriate reports built in crystal and you avoid this whole mess. And, you avoid having ms-access in the mix. Or, dump crystal, and only use ms-access here.
Attempting to embed word, excel, pdf, or other com objects such as ms-access inside of some crystal report is formula for VERY unreliable applications. This is likely not possible, but even if it was, I would not let loose an application of this type. Heck, embedding pdf’s in a access report can’t even reliable work (they break after some stupid pdf update gets issued automatic). This type of mixed up systems near guarantee break when one or the other system has some automatic update occurring!
You start mixing up several applications and it will cost you buckets support trying to keep that mess running.
If you MUST take different reports from several different systems, then send out all the reports to pdf, and then use some pdf tools to combine them into one final pdf document.
Don’t try t mix reporting systems at the application level. It not reliable even if this was possible..
I need to create a report(rdl) in SQL reporting services 2008. In that I need to create in runtime. The report has chart. I will specify the type of chart, font, alignment and all those stuff in runtime.
Is there any option for using this in SSRS 2008.
An rdlc is just an xml file so you can manipulate it at runtime, it's not a trivial undertaking though. You can find the rdl spec at http://download.microsoft.com/download/6/5/7/6575f1c8-4607-48d2-941d-c69622e11c32/RDL_spec_08.pdf.
There's a downloadable example of creating an rdlc for a table and a matrix dynamically, as well as lots of other useful report viewer info at http://www.gotreportviewer.com/.
You can generate the RDL however you want, it is just an XML file. But you will only be able to run the report locally. To run on the server you would need to deploy the report first, as the server does not run the RDL files directly.
I suppose this is still possible, but it would be pretty slow, and the report would not appear in the report manager or anything before hand.
However, your probably making this problem more complicated than it needs to be. I have work on projects where we generated the RDL and deployed daily with a custom application, and it is almost always not worth it. There is usually a better way.
You can set almost all the parameters of the chart using expressions. The only thing that can't be set is the chart type, but there are ways to get around that as well. Like having all the chart types you need created on the page, but making all except the one you want visible.
Yes...
to do so, you will need to either have an existing rdl file to modify, or you need to completely generate it from code.
All the SSRS xml is stored in the database in a table called catalog. You'll have to use the GUID of that report to access it, or insert a new row creating a new report.
once you're done swapping out your report server xml, the report server will have a "new" report that you can then call via your web page, or via SSRS url parameters.
past that clean up the catalog table if you see the need to.
I'll be honest with you though, this is very far from best practice, best practice that I'm aware of would be to embed the data you need to display in your web page in the form of a widget.
I am amazed and dumbfounded to find out that a report generated in Microsoft Access will not include the charts I generated when exporting to Excel, Word or any other technology.
Has anyone found a work-around for this? My user base needs to be able to copy/paste the generated reports (including graphics) into different status reports. Copying/pasting does not seem to be possible directly from the Access report.
I would really need more info to help you (which version of Access, How are you generating the graph, etc.).
Have you tried the "Publish It to Microsoft Word" or "Analyze it with Microsoft Excel" options from Print Preview?
One option your users have is to Alt-PrintScreen and paste it.
What I typically do is have users install CutePDF Writer (it's free), and it lets them print to a PDF, which they then can send to whomever they want.
There is also something called snapshot, that can be further viewed by users and/or inserted in documents.
install CutePDF Writer (it's free), and it lets them print to a PDF
I'm not sure about Access 2003 but in Access 2007 you go to the chart properties and set Enabled to Yes. Afterwards you can copy and paste the chart in Excel and/or Word.
As a workaround I use a free screen capture utility for graphs generated in Access: get the graph on the screen, capture it, Paste or Paste Special into Word. Works well and fast, the only downside is losing resolution if you want the graph to be big (e.g. full page) in the Word document.