Crystal Reports for Eclipse is a free set
of plugins provided by the makers of Crystal Reports, the world's #1 Report
Designer. Crystal Reports for Eclipse will provide Eclipse developers with an
embedded report designer as well as a number of development tools to assist
the developer with building applications.
Below is a list of features available
with the Crystal Reports for Eclipse product.
Report
Design
- New
Report Designer built on the Eclipse Framework - built
from the ground up using Business Objects' award winning Java Reporting
Component (JRC) engine
- Drag
& Drop Report Design - drag objects from the Palette
or Field Explorer on to the report design pane
- Free
form placement - don't be bound to
nesting tables in your report. Drag and drop your report objects exactly
where you want them to show up on your report
- Auto-generate
SQL statements - SQL query is auto-generated based on the
database fields added to the report
- Design
off of POJOs - drag and drop
your Java classes on to your report to use the class definition in your
report design
- Cross-Tab
reports - design cross-tab reports to easily visualize
grouped data
- Java
User Function Library (UFL) support - access external Java
logic from within your Crystal Reports formulas
- Multiple
Data Source support - use the visual database pane to
easily create links between multiple data sources
- Integrated
Code Assist - Use the built-in Eclipse Code Assist feature
when building Crystal Reports formulas. Crystal syntax will display errors and
display code assist within the Formulas pane
Development
Tools
- Crystal Reports Web
Project- this feature will enable developers to create a web
project which already includes all of the required runtime configurations.
Additionally, developers can optionally choose to add a sample database and
reports to the project to get up and running in no time
- JSP
Page Wizard-Drag 'n' drop a report onto a JSP page, or
create a new JSP page via the context menu of a report. This wizard will
provide developers with a dialog page allowing them to choose a number of
different stub code which will be custom generated based on the selected
report. Does your report require parameters, do you want to change the
database at runtime, or export directly to PDF...the wizard will generate
all of the required code to complete the requested actions, all custom to
the specific report. You can literally get away with never having to write a
line of reporting code again
- Java
Reporting Component facet-easily add the Crystal Reports
runtime environment to any new or existing web applications. Now you will
never have to worry about ensuring that all your JAR files have been
added
- Deployment
Assistance - Never have to worry about ensuring the proper
JDBC drivers are available at runtime. When a report is added to a project,
the tooling will ensure that the required runtime libraries are present
(including database libraries) when the application is built.
- Update
your projects with the latest runtime-have you just
downloaded a hot fix, but are not too sure if you have already added it to
an existing project. Use the Crystal Reports File Versions feature accessed
via the Properties Menu of a project to quickly and easily see which file
versions are currently in your project and compare this with the file
versions installed in the tooling. If they are out of synch click the Update
button to easily update your application to the latest version.
- Global
Property Settings-do you find that you are always turning
off the logo on the viewer, or enabling the refresh button? Well, now
Developers can set their global settings for the Crystal Report viewers
within their workspace preferences. Each time a viewer is added to a JSP
page these preferences will be honored and the appropriate code
modifications will be added
- Java
User Function Library wizard-this feature enables
developers to expose Java logic to their Crystal Reports formulas. Does your
organization have a large amount of code already invested into calculating a
discount ratio? Don't fret, wrap this logic up in a User Function Library
using this easy wizard and your Crystal Reports files will be able to access
this same logic
- Built-in
pointers to the Business Objects' Update Site-never have
to worry about whether you have the latest version or not. Use the existing
Eclipse Update Manager mechanism to check for updates and install them
automatically. This feature also has built-in rollback capabilities in case
you opt to go back to a previous version
- Integrated
Help-Access a complete and robust report designer guide as
well as developer walkthroughs, API docs and Best Practices via the built-in
Eclipse Help System
On top of all this developers will find a
large amount of resources (including free forums, video tutorials and
whitepaper tutorials) available at our Developer Community Site (http://diamond.businessobjects.com/eclipse/)
All of these features are completely FREE for
developers to download and deploy in production. However, if you need more out
of the runtime engine, Business Objects also has a Professional version of
Crystal Reports for Eclipse. This version will be available on the Business
Objects' e-store and offer the following upgrades for the
Developer:
- More
Power - a runtime engine that provides up to 5X more
report processing power
- Technical
Support- each copy of Crystal Reports for Eclipse
Professional includes 2 support incidents. Allowing the Developer to contact
Business Objects' world class support organization directly
- License
for Multiple Server Deployments - if you need to
distribute your application on multiple servers (e.g. web farms, web
gardens, etc.) then you will require the Professional
license
Crystal Reports for Eclipse Professional
can be purchased from our online store for $495US per server. For more
information about our pricing and licensing options check out the following article.