Binding to Crystal Reports Server or BusinessObjects Enterprise (Visual Studio)

Object Model

This report binding scenario uses CrystalReportViewer (see Report Binding with CrystalReportViewer Object Model).

Location of Reports

The report is located on the Web Component Server (WCS server) in Crystal Reports Server or BusinessObjects Enterprise. Reports from the WCS server are exposed as Report Web Services through the EnterpriseReportService.asmx web service. This web service is located in the viewers' virtual directory on the Web Component Server.

Crystal Services Overview

This report binding scenario applies to reports accessed from the Crystal Services server node in the Server Explorer.

This section examines the Crystal Reports Services sub node of Crystal Services, within Visual Studio.

[SERVERNAME]

• Crystal Reports Services
  • Server Reports

Description

The BusinessObjects Enterprise sub node accesses and then displays reports that have been exposed as Report Web Services from a BusinessObjects Enterprise WCS server.

For the BusinessObjects Enterprise sub node to correctly access and display a list of reports from the BusinessObjects Enterprise WCS server, the following conditions must be met:

• The server that you are currently viewing in the Server Explorer is running BusinessObjects Enterprise.

• In order to configure Report Web Services on the BusinessObjects Enterprise, you must install Visual Studio on the BusinessObjects Enterprise server, and then run Custom Install to specifically add Crystal Services.

  Note

  The installation on the BusinessObjects Enterprise server of Visual Studio, and the custom install of Crystal Services, is necessary for the EnterpriseReportService.asmx file to be properly installed and configured within the viewers' virtual directory.

  If the Crystal Enterprise administrator does not wish to install a full version of Visual Studio onto the BusinessObjects Enterprise server, they may instead do the following:

  • Install the managed.msm merge module.
  • Locate the viewers' virtual directory installed on the dev machine and copy the EnterpriseReportService.asmx file from that directory to the viewers' virtual directory on the server machine.

  Once the reports are successfully displayed in BusinessObjects Services, you can bind a CrystalReportsViewer control to any of the reports listed. For more information, see the BusinessObjects Enterprise documentation.

For a comparison table of all versions of Crystal Services, see the following:

• CrystalReportViewer Binding Scenarios that Use Crystal Services
• ReportDocument Binding Scenarios that Use Crystal Services (VS.NET 2002 and 2003).

Pros

• Easy access to BusinessObjects Enterprise reports from a Web or Windows application.

Cons

• Limited object model: this binding scenario offers only the limited object model that is part of the CrystalReportViewer control. See Which Object Model Should I Use?.

  Note

  In Crystal Reports 9 and 10, Crystal Services is upgraded to a different wrapper class and connection protocol.

To access Crystal Services>Server Reports in Server Explorer

• Access to a server running BusinessObjects Enterprise.

• On the BusinessObjects Enterprise server, Crystal reports have been added to the BusinessObjects Enterprise server using the Publishing Wizard.

  Note

  To learn how to use the Publishing Wizard, see the BusinessObjects Enterprise User documentation.

• The BusinessObjects Enterprise server has been correctly configured to expose Report Web Services. For a detailed explanation, see the Description section above.

1. From the View menu, click Other Windows, and then Server Explorer.
2. If your BusinessObjects Enterprise server is on a machine other than your local machine (recommended):
3. Right-click on Servers and click Add Server...
4. In the Add Server dialog box, in the Computers field, enter the network name of the BusinessObjects Enterprise server, and then click OK.
5. Within the Servers node, expand the sub node for the new server you have added, and then within it expand the CrystalServices sub node.
6. In the Enterprise Logon dialog box, enter values into the User name and Password fields, and then click OK.
7. If your BusinessObjects Enterprise server is on your local machine:
8. Within the Servers node, expand the sub node for your local machine, and then within it expand the Crystal Services sub node.
9. In the Enterprise Logon dialog box, enter values into the User name and Password fields, and then click OK.

You are now ready to configure the Crystal Services> Server Reports in your Windows project or a Web Site.

For more information on binding a report to a CrystalReportViewer control, see the BusinessObjects Enterprise documentation.

See Also

• Binding to Report Application Server (Crystal Reports 9 and up)