Slide 1

AV TSS-04 Reporting in Avantis.PRORAS vs. InProc

Presented by Kathy SchwartzManager, Avantis Implementation Services

© 2013 Invensys. All Rights Reserved. The names, logos, and taglines identifying the products and services of Invensys are proprietary marks of Invensys or its subsidiaries.All third party trademarks and service marks are the proprietary marks of their respective owners.

@InvensysOpsMgmt / #SoftwareRevolution

/InvensysOpsMgmt

/InvensysVideos

/company/Invensys Operations Management

social.invensys.com

Reporting in Avantis.PROAgenda

• Supported Printing Options for Avantis

• Difference between RAS and InProc printing

• Avantis Report Load Process for Crystal 11/2008

• Avantis Report Server Component

• Reports settings

• Crystal RAS Server

• Crystal Designer

• Custom Report Migration to Crystal 11/2008

• Avantis Custom Functions

Slide 3

• Supported Printing Options for Avantis

• Difference between RAS and InProc printing

• Avantis Report Load Process for Crystal 11/2008

• Avantis Report Server Component

• Reports settings

• Crystal RAS Server

• Crystal Designer

• Custom Report Migration to Crystal 11/2008

• Avantis Custom Functions

Reporting in Avantis.PROSupported Printing Options for Avantis

Avantis 4.0 to 4.1.5

• Crystal 9.0– Printing from client using crp32.dll

Avantis 4.2.x

• Crystal 11 and InProc (compatible with 4.2.2 and above)– Centralized Crystal RAS server−InProc uses local Crystal Report binary

Avantis 5.0.x

• Crystal 11/2008 (5.0.2 onwards)−Centralized Crystal RAS server−InProc uses local Crystal Report binary

Slide 4

Avantis 4.0 to 4.1.5

• Crystal 9.0– Printing from client using crp32.dll

Avantis 4.2.x

• Crystal 11 and InProc (compatible with 4.2.2 and above)– Centralized Crystal RAS server−InProc uses local Crystal Report binary

Avantis 5.0.x

• Crystal 11/2008 (5.0.2 onwards)−Centralized Crystal RAS server−InProc uses local Crystal Report binary

Reporting in Avantis.PRODifference between RAS and InProc printing

• Both RAS and InProc print using .net– Both encounter short delay on the initial load of the .net library

– Disable IE setting “Check for publishers’ certificate revocation”

– Performance issues related to printing in 4.2 have been reported by manycustomer using Crystal RAS.

• InProc printing does not require installation of a CentralReport Server– Processing of reports is preformed locally by the client Crystal Reports

printing binary

– InProc printing is not as affected by network traffic/speed

– From 5.0.2 onwards InProc is supported with Smart Clients as well asClassic.

Slide 5

• Both RAS and InProc print using .net– Both encounter short delay on the initial load of the .net library

– Disable IE setting “Check for publishers’ certificate revocation”

– Performance issues related to printing in 4.2 have been reported by manycustomer using Crystal RAS.

• InProc printing does not require installation of a CentralReport Server– Processing of reports is preformed locally by the client Crystal Reports

printing binary

– InProc printing is not as affected by network traffic/speed

– From 5.0.2 onwards InProc is supported with Smart Clients as well asClassic.

Reporting in Avantis.PROAvantis Report Load Process for Crystal 11/2008

1. Load .Net Run Time Environment (Client)

2. Run Through Managed Code to get to .NET Crystal Reports API (Client)

3. Travel over network pipeline to communicate with RAS (Server)

Slide 6

Hire

3. Travel over network pipeline to communicate with RAS (Server)

4. Setting Connection Information (ODBC, Native …) (Server)

5. Update Table Connection Info (Server)

Reporting in Avantis.PROAvantis Report Load Process for Crystal 11/2008

6. Saving Updated Report to Disk (Server)

7. Launch .NET viewer (avcrviewer.exe) application & execute report (Client)

8. Retrieve Record Set from database into report (Client/Server)

Slide 7

Hire

8. Retrieve Record Set from database into report (Client/Server)

9. Process and format dataset and present in report (Client)

10. Examine report in Viewer (can export,print, drill down etc…)

Reporting in Avantis.PROAvantis Report Server Component

• Must be installed for both InProcand RAS solutions.

• Installs u2lkern.dll to the BusinessObjects directory.

• U2lkern.dll is used for AvantisCustom Report Functions.

• Report Server component needsto be installed after the CrystalRAS server is installed.

Slide 8

• Must be installed for both InProcand RAS solutions.

• Installs u2lkern.dll to the BusinessObjects directory.

• U2lkern.dll is used for AvantisCustom Report Functions.

• Report Server component needsto be installed after the CrystalRAS server is installed.

Reporting in Avantis.PROReports settings – Environment Settings

• Report Server settings areconfigured globally on theEnvironment Reports Tab.– Select Interface Object from dropdown

– In the Central Report Server field, enterthe RAS server name or InProc.

• InProc can also be set on a peruser basis in the Registry.– HKLM|SOFTWARE | Marcam | Asset

Management Client | Reports |ReportServer

– string key value = InProc

Slide 9

• Report Server settings areconfigured globally on theEnvironment Reports Tab.– Select Interface Object from dropdown

– In the Central Report Server field, enterthe RAS server name or InProc.

• InProc can also be set on a peruser basis in the Registry.– HKLM|SOFTWARE | Marcam | Asset

Management Client | Reports |ReportServer

– string key value = InProc

Reporting in Avantis.PROCrystal RAS Server

• RAS server can be installed onthe FS/MTS or on a separateserver.

– Requires Avantis Report ServerComponent.

– By default, Central ConfigurationManager installs and runs underthe local system account.

• This needs to be updated to adomain account.

– Runs as a Service.

Slide 10

• RAS server can be installed onthe FS/MTS or on a separateserver.

– Requires Avantis Report ServerComponent.

– By default, Central ConfigurationManager installs and runs underthe local system account.

• This needs to be updated to adomain account.

– Runs as a Service.

Reporting in Avantis.PROCrystal RAS Server

Slide 11

Reporting in Avantis.PROCrystal Designer

• A single licensed version ofCrystal Designer is supplied byAvantis.

• For use with InProc, CrystalDesigner XI needs to beupgraded to at least SP4 forprinting to function from theirAvantis Client.

Slide 12

• A single licensed version ofCrystal Designer is supplied byAvantis.

• For use with InProc, CrystalDesigner XI needs to beupgraded to at least SP4 forprinting to function from theirAvantis Client.

Reporting in Avantis.PROCustom Report Migration to Crystal 11/2008

• To convert custom reports to Crystal 11/2008, opened the report inCrystal Designer 11 and saved in the new format.– Reports will then need to be run from Avantis to confirm functionality and compatibility.

• All custom reports are saved to the objrpt folder in the Environdirectory on the File Server.

• All Avantis standard report are installed to the Reports directory inthe Avantis Share and they are replaced during the upgrades.

• Most common issues with report upgrade are found to be related todatabase schema changes.– Schema change reports are included with Avantis, on the Administrators desktop.

Slide 13

• To convert custom reports to Crystal 11/2008, opened the report inCrystal Designer 11 and saved in the new format.– Reports will then need to be run from Avantis to confirm functionality and compatibility.

• All custom reports are saved to the objrpt folder in the Environdirectory on the File Server.

• All Avantis standard report are installed to the Reports directory inthe Avantis Share and they are replaced during the upgrades.

• Most common issues with report upgrade are found to be related todatabase schema changes.– Schema change reports are included with Avantis, on the Administrators desktop.

Reporting in Avantis.PROAvantis Custom Functions

When upgrade your custom reports, it may be necessary to update theformat of your Avantis Custom Functions, for example.

Print Blob

• PrintBlob (‘tablename’, ToText({fieldname}))

– The Print Blob does not preview, it will only print out and if there is no OLEcanvas object will print a message stating that.

To Convert UTC Date and Time to Local Date and Time

• DateTimeValue(CF(“NullDateAndTime”,ToText(<field>,””,””)))

– These are all customized Avantis functions so you must have an Avantisclient on the machine for these to work.

Slide 14

When upgrade your custom reports, it may be necessary to update theformat of your Avantis Custom Functions, for example.

Print Blob

• PrintBlob (‘tablename’, ToText({fieldname}))

– The Print Blob does not preview, it will only print out and if there is no OLEcanvas object will print a message stating that.

To Convert UTC Date and Time to Local Date and Time

• DateTimeValue(CF(“NullDateAndTime”,ToText(<field>,””,””)))

– These are all customized Avantis functions so you must have an Avantisclient on the machine for these to work.

Reporting in Avantis.PRO Questions

Slide 15