SWI: Running Client Reports from Batch and SWI

 

When a Client Report (CRO) or Client Table is run, there are two distinct steps performed:

• Run the View to select the data for the report. This step is always performed on the host.
• Format the data and produce the output.
  • For Client Tables, this step is always performed by Viewpoint, which in turn must be running on a Windows PC.
  • For CRO reports, this step was traditionally always performed by Viewpoint, but may now be run on the host.

When a user runs a CRO or Client Table directly from Viewpoint, the process is transparent to the user and there are no special considerations for most users.

However, when run as a scheduled job, from a script, or from the Sequel Web Interface, different mechanisms are available to produce the CRO or Client Table output. The options available to you will depend on several factors as outlined below.

1. Viewpoint Server using RUNRMTCMD.

   This is the original design/implementation. The IBM RUNRMTCMD function is used as the communication mechanism for the host process to initiate a Viewpoint session on the Viewpoint Server PC. IBM Client Access is required.

   However, from Windows 10 onward, Microsoft ended support for the protocol that is used by RUNRMTCMD (because it is insecure), and IBM ended support for Client Access.

2. Viewpoint Server using a Listener Service.

   This option was introduced in Sequel 11.14/Showcase 10.14 to remove the requirement to use RUNRMTCMD and Client Access. Instead, we use IBM Access Client Solutions (ACS) and deploy a native Windows Service called a Listener, which uses data queues as the communication method between the host and the PC server. A new command VPTRMTCMD is used instead of RUNRMTCMD.

   Note that Microsoft requires a user to be signed on to the PC for Viewpoint to be run from the Listener Service.

3. Host-based Java CRO Engine.

   In Sequel 11.15/Showcase 10.15 we introduced a totally new process to run the entire CRO report process on the host, using a newly available Java-based report engine. This process eliminates the need to use a Viewpoint Server PC for CRO reports. As such it is more efficient (and therefore much faster). However, this option does not support Client Tables. In addition, the Java-based engine only supports CRO reports generated by the newer Crystal 11 version, not the older Crystal XI version.

CRO Versions and Licensing Considerations

There are two types of CRO licenses depending on when your license originated:

• From 2002 To 2012 our CRO reporting option used Crystal XI. This was licensed under a simple user-based license.
• In 2012 Crystal XI was discontinued and replaced by Crystal 11. This version uses a different report format and report designer. The vendor also changed to using Named user Licenses with this version. For customers with Crystal XI licenses, there are license upgrade considerations to switch to Crystal 11 licenses (required to use the Java-based CRO engine)

Compatibility Matrix

Use this table to determine the appropriate mechanism to use: