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Page 111

Auto-Refreshing Web Dashboards

You can use Visual CUT to easily implement auto-refreshing dashboards on a web server. This

allows users with only a web browser to monitor relevant information.

Web Dashboard Expert

When exporting to HTML 40, the options button launches a window allowing you to set

various options for post-processing the HTML file. These options include: a) adding an auto-

refresh behavior, b) Setting hyperlinks to launch to new tabs, c) Specifying tab titles and icons,

d) Removing GUIDs from referenced.png image files, and e) SFTP Uploading HTML and Other

files to the web server.

The window generates command line arguments that you can copy to the ‘Arguments’ area in

the Export/Email tab. These options are then be applied during interactive/scheduled processing.

A web dashboard using that approach is available at:

http://academicweb.psu-erie.bd.psu.edu/laboccupancy/Labuse.html

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Page 112

IFrame Approach

Alternatively, Visual CUT can export a report to HTML "display" page every N seconds. A

"dashboard" web page, visited by the users web browser:

a) reloads itself every N seconds using an HTML tag such as:

b) loads the html "display" page into an IFrame areas (think about an IFRame as a picture frame

for displaying another HTML page).

Using IFrames allows the hosting page to display multiple reports and use various GUI elements

(Menus, Tabs, Accordions, and Data Tables). A sample web dashboard using that approach is

available at: http://www.milletsoftware.com/dash/dash_demo_tabs.html

user id & password: demo

Visual CUT keeps refreshing the HTML display page by exporting to it every N seconds, and the

dashboard page keeps refreshing itself and reloading the HTML display page. Hence, the user

experiences an auto-refreshing dashboard by simply having that page open in a browser.

Here is what the dashboard HTML page may look like:

Preventing File Locking

In order to prevent any chance of file locking, Visual CUT can export the reports to one folder

and then copy (or FTP) the resulting HTML file to the web folder. Here is an example of a

simple batch file that executes the Visual CUT export and then copies the resulting HTML page:

"C:\Program Files\Visual CUT 11\Visual CUT.exe" -E "c:\Reports\Dash1.rpt"

Copy c:\temp\Dashboard_1.html E:\Dashboards\Dashboard_1.html

Case Study

Phillip Scheel, a data analyst at CPS Energy, was kind enough to provide a pdf file describing

the approach and several dashboards he has developed.

<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>Backlog Dashboard</TITLE>

2">

<BODY>

<P><IFRAME border=0 name=I1

src="E:\Dashboards\Dashboard_1.html"

frameBorder=0 width=1048 height=20000>

</body>

</html></IFRAME></P></BODY></HTML>

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Page 113

Hyperlinks

To allow users to click and open other web pages or any other document type you can assign to

any report object within Crystal a hyperlink expression.

A typical approach is to have Visual CUT export a dashboard report, say a summary report of

Sales By Product Type, to one HTML page as the main web dashboard. The batch file triggering

the process can have another command line to trigger bursting of another report, creating one

HTML page showing Sales by Product within each Product Type:

Detail_ for_{Product_Type.Product Type Name}.html

You would then set the hyperlink expression for the Product Type field in the main dashboard

report to dynamically point to its related detailed HTML page. The user can then click on each

Product Type field in the main dashboard to drill-down into the detailed information in the

bursted HTML pages. In a similar manner, drill-downs to related PDF or Excel files can be

provided.

Note: use the Web Dashboard Expert to change hyperlink properties so that they open related

web pages in a separate Window rather than replacing the content in the dashboard frame.

Tooltips

To provide users with related information when hovering over elements in the web dashboard,

simply specify a dynamic tooltip expression for these objects in Crystal.

By inserting a line break character in these expressions, as in:

{@Cust} + Chr(10) + {@Cust_Info}

you can present that content as multiple lines

not

e: Firefox seems to be the only browser that doesn’t honor such line breaks.

Generating HTML via Email Message Body

Instead of relying on Crystal’s HTML export, you may take advantage of the email message

HTML editor and Visual CUT’s ability to embed dy

namic values from report fields/formulas in

the message body (see video demo).

You can instruct Visual CUT to save the email message body to an HTML file using the

Email_Message_Save command line argument. You can also skip the actual emailing by

specifying "VC_Skip_Email" in the Email_To option.

This technique provides you with full control over the HTML being generated. As shown in the

video demo above, it allows tables in your web dashboard to adjust to the browser screen size. It

also allows you to directly add CSS and JavaScript to the generated HTML page.

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Page 114

Cleaning png File References

When the exported report contains images, Crystal generates uniquely named (using GUIDs) png

files, which are referenced from within the HTML file. In many cases, you may wish to "clean"

these file references by removing the GUIDs from the file references and renaming the png files.

Visual CUT provides two command line arguments to achieve this: TXT_DeGUID_png and

TXT_Replace_Tokens. See the following user manual sections for more detail:



Removing GUIDs from png Files Referenced in HTML Exports



Replacing Content in Text/HTML Files

–

Token Approach

Restricting Access to Web Dashboards

If you wish to restrict access to your web dashboards, a simple and secure method is described

here: http://www.javascriptkit.com/howto/htaccess3.shtml

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Page 115

PDF Functionality

Creating Bookmarks (Group Tree) in Exported PDF Files [Old Approach]

Visual CUT can create a "Group Tree" of bookmark inside exported pdf document.

It allows users to easily navigate through large PDF files.

You specify the Bookmark label & page by inserting a string formula in each Group Header

that contributes a level to the "Group Tree." The formula/section can be suppressed.

Naming the Bookmark Formulas:

For Group Header Level 1, the name of the formula must be VC_pdf_bookmark1 ,

…

For Group Header Level 5, the name of the formula must be VC_pdf_bookmark5

Note: you can add other formulas at the same level (in the same section or split section) by

adding a digit between 1 and 9. For example, if you used VC_pdf_bookmark2 for GH2a you

can use VC_pdf_bookmark21 in GH2b and VC_pdf_bookmark22 in GH2c.

Structuring the Formulas:

The formulas must return a string structured as the Bookmark Label, followed by "

" and

ending with the Page Number where the formula was evaluated.

The sample report (Visual CUT.rpt) demonstrates this functionality:



On Group Header 1 the VC_pdf_bookmark1 formula is defined as:

IF InRepeatedGroupHeader THEN ""

ELSE {Product_Type.Product Type Name} + "::" + Cstr(PageNumber,0,"")



On Group Header 2 the VC_pdf_bookmark2 formula is defined as:

IF InRepeatedGroupHeader THEN ""

ELSE GroupName ({Product.Product Name}) + "::" + Cstr(PageNumber,0,"")

After a PDF export, the resulting file has a 2-level hierarchy of Bookmarks and

clicking on any bookmark takes you to the page associated with that bookmark:

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Page 116

Controlling PDF Bookmark Colors (& Text)

If you include (anywhere) in the Bookmark Label the color constants of crRed, crBlue or

crGreen (note: case sensitive) Visual CUT would set the color of the bookmark text accordingly

(and remove the color constant text from the label).

This functionality is useful for indicating item performance or status visually (e.g., red color

indicating poor performance). Note: remember that since you control (via a formula) the

bookmark text, you can also add various label indicators such as [+], [~], [!], or [-].

The level 2 bookmark formula (VC_pdf_bookmark2) in the sample report demonstrates this

approach as follows:

WhilePrintingRecords;

IF InRepeatedGroupHeader THEN ""

ELSE

(

IF Average ({@Days_To_Ship}, {Product.Product Name}) > 5.0 THEN

"[!]crRed " + GroupName ({Product.Product Name}) + "::" +

Cstr(PageNumber,0,"")

ELSE IF Average ({@Days_To_Ship}, {Product.Product Name}) < 3.0 THEN

"[+]crGreen " + GroupName ({Product.Product Name}) + "::" +

Cstr(PageNumber,0,"")

ELSE

"[~]crBlue " + GroupName ({Product.Product Name}) + "::" +

Cstr(PageNumber,0,"")

);

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Page 117

Controlling How Many Bookmark Levels Are Initially Expanded

By default, the resulting PDF file will show only 1 (the top) level of bookmarks expanded, so

that level-2 bookmarks (if there are any) are visible. Obviously, users can expand/collapse the

bookmarks by clicking on the + or

–

nodes within the Adobe Acrobat reader. However, you may

wish to present the users with a pdf where only the top-level bookmarks are initially visible or

where more levels are initially expanded.

To change the default number of expanded levels for all processed reports, change the value

of the PDF_Bookmarks_Open_Levels option in the DataLink_Viewer.ini

For example:

[Options]

PDF_Bookmarks_Open_Levels=0

To override the default number of expanded levels when processing a specific report, use

the PDF_Bookmarks_Open_Levels command line argument as follows:

…

"PDF_Bookmarks_Open_Levels:N"

Where N is the number of levels to be initially expanded.

For example, to have only the top bookmarks visible, use:

…

"PDF_Bookmarks_Open_Levels:0"

Guarding Against Null Bookmark Values

If the field(s) used to control the bookmark label is Null, the whole formula would result in a

Null value and bookmark processing would be compromised. If this is a possibility given your

data you should guard against it using a formula like this:

WhilePrintingRecords;

IF InRepeatedGroupHeader THEN

ELSE

IF IsNull({Product_Type.Product Type Name}) THEN

" " + "::" + Cstr(PageNumber,0,"")

ELSE

{Product_Type.Product Type Name} + "::" + Cstr(PageNumber,0,"");

Page 118

Generating PDF Bookmarks from within Subreports

As an alternative to generating bookmark information from Group Header sections in a main

report (as described above), Visual CUT allows you to specify bookmarks for a given PDF file

by providing a text file (PDF_Bookmarks.txt) containing the bookmark information. This file

must be located in the Visual CUT application folder and must be structured as follows:

1. The 1

line must match the RPT file name of the report being processed

2. The following lines provide 4 data elements separated by a "

" delimiter:

a. Bookmark Level

b. Bookmark Label

c. Page Number

d. Group Level 1 Value (used only in bursting operations)

Using "CUT Light" (a User Function Library described on my web site) or any other UFL that

adds the ability to append text to text files from within Crystal formulas, you can generate this

text file automatically by embedding formulas in any report or subreport sections.

Note that this provides functionality that goes beyond the Group Tree limitations of Crystal

reports. Crystal can’t generate Group Tree information based on information

within subreports.

However, using this technique you can generate Group Tree information as PDF

bookmarks based on information from both main as well as subreports!

There are 2 main steps in the process:

1. Visual CUT runs the report and, because the report has special UFL formulas, the

PDF_Bookmarks.txt file gets populated with bookmark information,

2. Visual CUT export the report to PDF, detects the presence of PDF_Bookmarks.txt and

uses it to generate the bookmarks in the exported pdf file.

If you are interested in using this functionality, I can e-mail you a sample report (demonstrating

the formulas needed to generate the text file information). I can also e-mail you download

instructions for evaluating CUT Light (UFL allowing Crystal formulas to create and add data to

text files).

Page 119

Adding Bookmarks Using Crystal Formulas as Tags [New Approach]

Using a command line argument, you can instruct Visual CUT to look for invisible tags inside

the pdf file (Crystal formulas with font color set to background color) and to use their content to

generate bookmarks. Compared to the old approach (described in the previous section), this new

technique has several advantages:

1. The bookmarks link to the exact vertical location (on the linked page) where the

rendered formula is located. In the old approach, bookmarks only pointed to at the top of

the page.

2. You can easily generate bookmarks from within subreport and from any report

section (not just Group Headers). For example, you can generate bookmarks from Detail

Sections or Group Footers.

3. You can control the bookmark text color more completely (instead of a few color

constants, you can specify any color using RGB (Red/Green/Blue) values.

4. You can control the expanded/collapsed state of each bookmark node

5. You can control the style of the bookmark node (Regular, Bold, Italics, Bold&Italic)

6. No need to worry about PageNumber resets, Keep Together, and

WhilePrintingRecords properties that can cause headaches with the old approach.

This is because the new approach doesn’t

requ

ire specifying a page number and doesn’t

depend on the evaluation time of the bookmark formulas.

7. You can avoid the need to use a command line argument by setting

PDF_Bookmark_Tags_Default=True

under the [Options] section of DataLink_Viewer.ini (only applies to files < 100MB)

Visual CUT would then process bookmark tags within an exported PDF file.

Here's an example of the command line argument structure:

…

"PDF_Bookmark_Tags:c:\temp\Sales in {@Year_Parameter}.pdf" Or

…

"PDF_Bookmark_Tags:Source_pdf_file>target_pdf_file"

If only one pdf file is specified (as in top example), the source file becomes also the target file.

The Crystal formulas act as tags for controlling the level, vertical location, text, color,

expand/collapse status, and style (regular/bold/italic) of the desired pdf bookmarks.

Setting Up a Crystal Report with pdf formula tags

You can download a sample report demonstrating the technique from:

www.milletsoftware.com/Download/

Visual_CUT_PDF_Bookmark_Tags.rpt

And the resulting pdf file from:

www.milletsoftware.com/Download/

Visual_CUT_PDF_Bookmark_Tags.pdf

The sample report uses 3 formulas to generate bookmarks:

{@Bookmark_L1} is placed in the Group Header level 1 to generate Product Type Name bookmarks

with bold blue text. These level 1 nodes are expanded.

{@Bookmark_L2} is placed in the Group Header level 2 to generate Product Name bookmarks with

bold text. These level 1 nodes are collapsed

Page 120

{@Bookmark_L3} is placed inside the subreport in the Group Header level 1 to generate Customer

Name. Bookmarks with text colored in different shades of red or green depending on the average time it

takes to ship orders of that product to the customer.

The generated bookmarks link not only to the page where the formula was rendered, but also to the exact

vertical position on that page (minus 20 millimeters to provide some margin). The bookmarks are created

for each rendered instance of the formula. For example, if you place the formula in a Group Header 1 you

will generate a bookmark for each Group at level 1.

The formula text must be rendered within the formula boundaries in a single line. Use small font

sizes: 2 or even 1 to achieve this. Then, turn the font color to White (or same color as the background)

to make the formula invisible or, keep the PDF_Tags_Delete_Default option in DataLink_Viewer.ini as

True and Visual CUT would remove the tag text after processing it. See box below for Sample formula.

Notes:

1. As always, you can use field or formula names within the command line argument. The

dynamic content of these fields/formulas would be substituted into the argument.

For example, {@Bookmark_L3} (inside the subreport) dynamically sets the color of the

bookmark based on the performance of records in that node. Similarly, you may dynamically

expand the bookmarks for groups with extreme performance measure to focus th

e manager’s

attention on those areas.

Visual CUT can remove pdf processing tags from the pdf file after processing those tags. This is

controlled by an entry called PDF_Tags_Delete_Default under the [Options] section of

DataLink_Viewer.ini. By default, this option is set to True. To ensure all tags are removed, use

the Replace() function in Crystal to change double quotes into single. For example, the

expression for the title in PDF_Bookmark_Tags could be:

Replace({Customer.Customer Name},"""","'")

In Crystal, use non-proportional font for the tag formula (avoid Calibri and Bold/Italic)

Here is the commented

{@Bookmark_L2} formula from the sample report at:

www.milletsoftware.com/Download/

Visual_CUT_PDF_Bookmark_Tags.rpt

// Make the font size very small (2 or even 1 point) so content fits in a SINGLE line.

// The vertical location of the tag (minus default margin of 20 millimeters) controls the vertical

// location of bookmark page target. You can override the margin using an optional argument.

// The formula always starts with "#BM_Tag::" and ends with "#"

"#BM_Tag::" +

"2" + "||" + // Bookmark Level. During bursting, levels are shifted up automatically

Replace({Product.Product Name},"""","

’

") + "||" + // Bookmark Text ("

>> ‘)

"-" + "||" + //"Expand Status: + to open the bookmark or - to collapse it.

"1" + "||" + // Text Style: 0=regular 1=Bold 2=Italic 3=Italic Bold

"0;0;0" + // Color as RGB: 3 numbers between 0 and 255 separated by ";"

// "||10" + // [Optional] Vertical Margin. Leave commented or uncomment to

// override the default of 20 millimeters.

"#"

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