This paper is availableas a downloaded PDF here.
Crystal Reports
This white paper is relevant to you if you intend to run/install Crystal Reports with your Eclipse-fm® license.
General
As there are a number of versions of Crystal Reports that may be encountered in common use, deployment of applications containing Crystal Reports has to take into account the need to avoid compromising these other applications, deployed on the same PC but each potentially implying different versions of Crystal Reports. This is usually not a problem in respect of other applications that include Crystal reports components; however deployment of an independently purchased Crystal Licence itself, particularly if of a different version or even a different build within a version may give rise to problems in relation to the Crystal reports installed as part of any software application, including the Eclipse-fm® application.
Updates of an independently purchased Crystal Licence that has been proven to work with Eclipse-fm® is also a potential cause of problems, as the Crystal Licence update will introduce different versions of its various components and these may cause reports expecting the non-updated components to fail.
Eclipse-fm® updates
If you have any Crystal Reports that you have created yourself and which reside in the Eclipse-fm® data folder, you should ensure that you have a backup of these files prior to installing or updating Eclipse-fm®. You may need to recover these once the installation or update is complete.
Custom reports, whether created or modified by you or Asckey Data Services Ltd will need to be re-verified against their source data - e.g. because the database structure may have changed. We can provide assistance with re-verifying custom reports but this would not be within the standard Eclipse-fm® support contract
Should a custom report fail to run following a re-verification of the data source we are able to provide support and assistance but this would be outside the scope of standard Eclipse-fm® support.
Any Eclipse-fm® related Crystal Reports that you may be running from within an independently purchased Crystal licence instead of or as well as through Eclipse-fm® will need to be re-verified by you to that Crystal instance. Should such reports fail to operate following re-verification we are able to provide support and assistance but this would be outside the scope of the standard Eclipse-fm® support contract.
Installation of Independently Purchased Crystal Licences
Due to the fact that some versions and even some builds of Crystal fit together, while some don’t, and that there may also be a dependency on the order in which Crystal/ Eclipse-fm® is installed, we do not advise running a full Crystal licence on the same PC/Server as has Eclipse-fm® installed.
If you choose to do that, please observe the following:-
- Only one revision of Crystal is supported by Eclipse-fm® and this must either be supplied by us, or the detail of its release and build number checked with us.
- Updates from Crystal must not be accepted (automatic updates should be turned off). An automatic update may result in all reports associated with Eclipse-fm® ceasing to work.
- You should check that the Eclipse-fm® Crystal reports are delivering the expected results, and be aware that that we are unable to provide assistance for such combinations as part of standard Eclipse-fm® support contracts.
Third Party Products incorporating Crystal Reports
The Eclipse-fm® installation routines as far as is technically possible attempt to confine the necessary Crystal components to the Eclipse-fm® environment as recommended by the authors of Crystal. However we cannot vouch for other applications. Eclipse-fm® support does not cover rectifying problems caused by installation of other applications also containing Crystal Reports to the same PC/Server in the event that any Crystal Reports related problems emerge thereafter.
Eclipse-fm® deployed via Terminal Services/Citrix
The above precautions also apply to Eclipse-fm® related Crystal Reports operated through Terminal Services (Remote Desktop/Remote Applications) or Citrix where the independently purchased Crystal Licence is installed to, or otherwise given access to, the Eclipse-fm® installation on the server.
The above precautions are not relevant where Eclipse-fm® is hosted at Asckey Data Services Ltd.
