I have just updated my comparison of RPT management utilities for 2011.  These are tools that allow you to scan, document, compare and update RPT files.

None of the products from last year have changed, but there is one new product called Find It EZ by by Bits n’ Bytes Software.  This tools can scan your RPT files to find all uses of a particular table or field.  It is designed to help you find all the reports that need to be updated whenever the database structure is changed.  It also scans the application source code, SQL queries, documentation and other documents – all in one pass.

The other tools listed in the comparison are:
Report Miner by the Retsel Group
Report Analyzer by Cortex Systems
Crystal SpellChecker by Redeemed Software.
Search and Replace by Redeemed Software.
Mass Verify by Redeemed Software
.rpt Inspector 3 Professional Suite by Software Forces, LLC

Millet Software has just released a new version of their DataLink Viewer using the runtime engine for Crystal Reports 2011. As far as I know this is the first third-party viewer to incorporate the newest runtime engine. With this version of DLV you can export to 2 new file formats supported by CR 2011:

XLSX – which allows you to export more than the 65,000 rows available in a classic XLS file.

RPTR- which allows you to deploy a report that users can run, without giving them the ability to open or edit the RPT in Crystal reports.

You can request a free trial of DataLink Viewer by sending an Email message to: dlv@kenhamady.com

Have you ever wondered why Crystal allows an export to “RPT” format?   Since the file is already in RPT format it might seem like a redundant option.  But last week I did a consult and was told that the option of exporting to RPT format was the most valuable information in the entire consult.

So what do you get when you export to RPT format?  You get an RPT file that is saved with the preview data.  While most of you won’t have any trouble creating an RPT saved with data, some users aren’t so lucky.  These are users who can only preview a report within an application like a web or server based app.  For these folks, troubleshooting a report is an endless loop of making a change in design mode, uploading the modified report, running the report through the app to see if the change worked,  then going back to design mode.  I have had Continue Reading »
Exporting to RPT format