Remote Configuration Manager: The Remote Interface is a web based GUI for online administration of i-net Crystal-Clear. It allows you to manage the server configurations from any PC. The Remote Interface can be accessed in the browser using the URL:
http://<servername>:<port>/remote/ or
http://<servername>:<port>/<context>/remote/
By default the Remote Interface is disabled after installation. Before you can use it to configure i-net Crystal-Clear, it is necessary to enable the Remote Interface in the Configuration Manager.
Remote Data Source Manager: There is now a new remote module for configuring and managing a server's data source. This enables you to configure your data source configurations within your browser via an elegant and simple web interface.
Report Repository: Since version 9.1 it is possible to host a Report Repository on a running i-net Crystal-Clear Plus server. Using the module “Repository Browser” of the Remote Interface it is possible to manage and use the content of the configured repository remotely in a browser on a client. Using the Repository Browser in i-net DesignerXML, users have direct access to a configured repository. It is possible to directly open, create and save reports in the repository without using the Remote Repository Browser so that the repository can be used as centralized storage for the reports of multiple designers.
System Permissions: Using the System Permissions it is possible to configure the access the different modules of the Remote Interface, like Repository.
Modified Behavior of formulas with evaluation time WhileReadingRecords:
All formulas with evaluation time WhileReadingRecords that are used in the report are now executed before the rendering of the first section begins.
Variables used in formulas with the WhileReadingRecords evaluation time are not reset before the rendering starts so that the variables can be used in formulas with WhilePrintingRecords evaluation time, also.
Because of this modified behavior it might be necessary to update your reports using the WhileReadingRecords function so that you get the same result as with previous i-net Crystal-Clear versions. It is unfortunately necessary to do this behavior modification because the old behavior was incorrect.
If you use an older configuration with i-net Crystal-Clear version 9, then it is necessary to set the Compatibility Level to “compliant to version 9.x” to use the new behavior of “WhileReadingRecords” formulas. If you create a new configuration with version 9, then “compliant to version 9.x” is the default value.
Summary functions reworked: The summary functions were completely reworked to optimize the performance and compatibility. These are the major impacts of this change:
in running total summaries, any database, formula or group field can be used as an evaluate or reset condition
in running total summaries, non-boolean formula fields can now be used as an evaluate or reset condition
running total summaries now have the same performance impact as non running totals, but they still require more memory
it is now always safe to summarize other summary fields
non-statistical functions have an initial value of 'null' instead of zero
adding one or more 'null' values to a summary will not change it's result
correlation and covariance now return 1 if their result is undefined
'Pth Percentile' now has a more precise stepping
'Nth most frequent' now always groups by frequency and orders ascending by value before returning the n-th value.
Improved Report File Format: Starting in version 9, i-net Crystal-Clear uses a zipped file format for the report templates (.rpt), similar to the OpenDocument zip file format. This new report file format was a prerequisite for new features like the Report Preview. With this format the performance has been improved especially for large reports, because the file size is smaller and it is faster. Also, with this format we are open for further additions to the report templates.
New export formats: BMP, GIF, JPG and PNG: With version 9 it is supported to export an individual report page as an image. The following formats are supported: BMP, GIF (with at least Java 6 on the server), JPG and PNG.
With the report URL parameters zoom, width, height and background it is also possible to configure the exported image.
New renderer for text interpretation: HTML (advanced): Fields with Text Interpretation “HTML (advanced)” now use the HTML renderer from i-net software. This fixes many problems which occurred with Swing's HTML renderer which was used before for these fields.
Report URL parameters are disallowed by default: For security reasons, only the following parameters are allowed by default in the report URL: “prompt”, “init” and “sproc”. To use other parameters in the report URL, like “datasource”, it is necessary to unlock them in the Configuration Manager before using it.
It is always possible to set values for all parameters in the checkProperties method on the server side. Java code samples showing this you can find in the “sample” directory of the documentation (if installed).
Underlay Following Sections: The algorithm for “Underlay Following Sections” was rewritten to implement the correct definition. This can change the output of your reports if you were affected by bugs in the old implementation. One benefit is that you can now design reports with watermarks without any problems. If you want to create a watermark then you only need to add a first section to the report/page header and enable “Underlay Following Sections” for this section. You should place the image either in the report or the page header depending on if you want one watermark per report or one per page.
i-net DesignerXML - Default Values: With version 9.0 it is supported to set default values for the formatting properties used for newly created elements in i-net DesignerXML.
General, font, and border properties can be set for all element types, such as database fields, summary fields, group name fields, and text objects.
Text, paragraph, and value properties can be set depending on the field type, such as String, Number, Currency, Date, Time, DateTime, and Boolean fields.
i-net DesignerXML - Report Preview: A preview of the report will be displayed on the right side of i-net DesignerXML's File Open dialog if the report was executed at least once and saved with version 9.
i-net DesignerXML - Signature Element: With a signature element it is possible to display signature information in the exported PDF file. The signature element is not visible in the Java Viewer or the other export formats. To use the signature element it is necessary to activate and configure the PDF signing in the i-net Crystal-Clear Configuration Manager under “Export –> Sign PDF Files”.
i-net DesignerXML - Translation Settings / Resource Bundle per report: The translation settings allows you to create, edit, remove, import, and/or export translations for a report so that it is possible to create one report for multiple languages. The translation resources will be stored in the report file and will be used during the execution of the report. To open it choose “Translations…” from the report menu.
i-net DesignerXML - Welcome Page: The welcome page will be displayed after starting i-net DesignerXML. The available resources are displayed in different regions of this page, so that the user can access it easily.
With the checkbox at the bottom of the welcome page, the user can decide if he will see this page in the future. If it is disabled then he can display it again using the menu item in the Help menu.
Step-By-Step Tutorials: The Step-By-Step Tutorials will guide the user through the steps of doing things in i-net DesignerXML.
The user can access the tutorials in the Welcome Page or in the Help menu.
Setup - Improved Selection of Installation Type and Component Selection: In the first page of the setup the user can decide easily if he will install the i-net DesignerXML or i-net Crystal-Clear as report server. If the user clicks on Server installation then he can select the installation environment on the next page. In the custom installation it is still possible to install both i-net DesignerXML and the report server or servlet in one step.
