Release Notes Feature Enhancements

7.5 now ships with an updated Report Designer based on Crystal Reports 8, the Info 7.5 infrastructure
implements the version 8 Report Engine, and the Info 7.5 middle tier components have been updated
to process and output version 8 formatted report files. The following provides more detail for users not
entirely familiar with Crystal Reports 8.
Crystal Reports 8 Print Engine
The version 8 Report Engine improves Info 7.5 report processing performance up to ten times that
previously available from version 7.
• The new, multi-threaded Report Engine substantially increases the Info system’s capacity to
process multiple, simultaneous jobs. Info client users will immediately notice significant
performance improvements when opening, refreshing, sorting, filtering, and formatting reports.
• Most reports containing summaries, charts, maps and OLAP grids will now be generated with
one pass of all the records. Opening reports that contain large group trees, images, or high
total page counts will also be markedly faster.
Integration of Crystal Reports 8 with Info 7.5
• Seagate Info 7.5 users are now able to add version 8 report file formatted reports to the Info
APS, and Info Servers will successfully process these reports. (Note: Although it is possible for
the version 8 Report Engine to process and save report files in Crystal Reports 7 format, Info
Servers shipped with this release will output all report instances in version 8 format only – this
will simplify the deployment of Info 7.5 systems for administrators. Also, the version 8 .RPT
format is improved to create smaller files with faster decompression and more efficient storage
of complex reports containing saved data).
• In addition to support for version 8 report files (RPT), Seagate Info 7.5 will also support version
8 Encapsulated Page Format files for users employing Page-On-Demand equipped viewers.
• Info 7.5 users employing Seagate Analysis will be able to view and refresh version 8 formatted
reports. Note, however, that when working with reports that use the new Crystal Reports 8
features (such as hierarchical grouping), Seagate Analysis will not be able to provide users
with full support.
Crystal Reports 8 based Info Report Designer
The updated Info Report Designer provides users with a significant number of usability and
general enhancements previously available only from Crystal Reports 8. Highlighted features
include the following:
• The Report Designer interface now provides improved control over the positioning of report
objects: users are now able to move, align, resize, copy and paste multiple objects.
• The Basic Syntax feature introduced with Crystal Reports 8 can now be used by Info system
report designers.
• Over 60 new functions, operators, and control structures (including support for case
statements, looping, and dynamic arrays) are newly available in the Formula Editor.
• The new Data Explorer makes it possible for Info users to more easily connect reports to
corporate data.
• File export is enhanced to provide better preservation of formatting. Also, new support for
DHTML file format enables more accurate rendering of reports for offline viewing.
• An enhanced OLAP/Cross-tabs Report Expert now provides 18 predefined grid styles with
more control over layout and formatting.
• Info users can now use hierarchical grouping to arrange data in reports to show hierarchical
relationships.
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