Crystal Reports 2011 End-User Distribution Requirements

Question

I'm new to Crystal Reports 2011. Years ago, I used a report writer that had a report definition GUI. It also had a report viewer exe. I was able to distribute these report definition files and the viewer was able to access data in REAL-TIME. An ODBC connection was required for each user but it was simple to set-up given that I only have 5 users. Life was good. It was a simple solution. What's more it was cheap.

Is this possible with Crsytal Reports 2011 without purchasing the server product? I downloaded crystal viewer but I was surprised to find out that this required me to embed the data within the report (no real-time access). It appears I have 2 options. Purchase Crystal Report Server or do some custom development in .net. Both opinions appear to be overkill for my needs.

What are my options? Does SAP have a solution for small companies that don't want to purchase Crystal Server?

Thanks, Wayne

Answer 1

I am no Crystal licensing expert, but maybe this will help.

Unless they have changed the licensing from Crystal 2008, then I think you are out of luck. As I recall, there are only two ways to share reports created with the desktop products (2008 or 2011) - you can purchase the server, or purchase a separate desktop license for each user.

The Crystal bundled with Visual Studio has most of the features, and it allows you to share reports on a web site. The server runtime limited to three simultaneous users, so it's not great for a high volume situation.