BusinessObjects Enterprise includes report viewers that support different platforms and different browsers in the client tier, and which have different report viewing functionality. (For more information on the specific functionality or platform support provided by each report viewer, see the BusinessObjects Enterprise User's Guide or the Crystal Reports Developer's Guide.)
All of the viewers fall into two categories:
Client
The code to support zero client viewers resides in the application tier.
| client | zero client viewers |
|---|---|
All report viewers help process requests for reports, and present report pages that appear in the user's browser.
Client
Zero client viewers reside on the application server. When a user requests a report, the application server processes the request, and then retrieves the report pages (in .epf format) from the BusinessObjects Enterprise framework. The SDK creates a viewer object on the application server which processes the report pages and creates DHTML pages that represent both the viewer controls and the report itself. The viewer object then sends these pages through the web server to the user's web browser.
If they haven't already done so, users are prompted to download and install the appropriate viewer software before the report is displayed in the browser. The Active X viewer is downloaded the first time a user requests a report, and then remains installed on the user's machine. The user will be prompted to reinstall the ActiveX viewer only when a new version becomes available on the server.
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