SAP Integration Kit for Crystal Reports

Question

Hello,
I read Ingo Hilgefort's blog on BusinessObjects and SAP Part 2.
/people/ingo.hilgefort/blog/2008/02/19/businessobjects-and-sap-part-2
Does the current trial version of crystal reports available from businessobjects.com have this integration kit embedded in it?
If not, where can i find it?
Regards,
Suraj

Answer 1

hi shenoy,
SAP Integration Kit
The SAP integration kit includes drivers to allow connectivity to both R3 and Business Warehouse (BW). In addition, it includes a BW toolbar for Crystal Reports, a specific version of InfoView with Role-based links, sample iViews for Enterprise Portal, and an SDK in Java, COM, or .NET.
Reporting off R3 Data
The kit includes two drivers to allow Crystal Reports to connect to the ABAP data dictionary via a remote function call or RFC.
The Open SQL driver allows the user to connect to SAP R3, displaying the field and the short text description of the tables and fields. The developer can then join the tables accordingly, using the database expert, and then select the relevant fields from which to report. This driver displays not only transparent tables, but includes views, pool tables, cluster tables, ABAP data clusters, and ABAP functions. This driver is geared toward a technical person with functional expertise in joining the tables and then creating the report.
see link
http://safari.oreilly.com/0672329174/ch15lev1sec7#X2ludGVybmFsX1RvYz94bWxpZD0wNjcyMzI5MTc0L3BhcnQwMg==
http://diamond.businessobjects.com/node/18962
SAP Integration Kit
The SAP integration kit includes drivers to allow connectivity to both R3 and Business Warehouse (BW). In addition, it includes a BW toolbar for Crystal Reports, a specific version of InfoView with Role-based links, sample iViews for Enterprise Portal, and an SDK in Java, COM, or .NET.
Reporting off R3 Data
The kit includes two drivers to allow Crystal Reports to connect to the ABAP data dictionary via a remote function call or RFC.
The Open SQL driver allows the user to connect to SAP R3, displaying the field and the short text description of the tables and fields. The developer can then join the tables accordingly, using the database expert, and then select the relevant fields from which to report. This driver displays not only transparent tables, but includes views, pool tables, cluster tables, ABAP data clusters, and ABAP functions. This driver is geared toward a technical person with functional expertise in joining the tables and then creating the report.
Note
In Crystal Reports, you cannot check the SQL generated using the Show SQL Query option from the Database menu. You can check what Open SQL was generated by using SAP transactions.
The InfoSet driver allows the user to connect to an existing InfoSet, as defined by SAP transaction SQ02. Alternatively, you can use an existing ABAP query, as defined by SAP transaction SQ01. The benefit of this driver is that the user does not need to know where the data is stored or how to join the tables. Another advantage is that any prompts defined in the InfoSet become parameters in Crystal Reports.
Note
To test the InfoSet query, run the InfoSet using your SAP GUI and ensure that it is pulling the required data first before testing it in Crystal Reports.
Reporting off BW Data
When reporting off of BW data, the Business Objects' Integration Kit consists of three drivers that are used to pull data.
The BW Query driver enables the user to connect to a BW query. To enable selection of a query with this driver, Crystal Reports has its own toolbar, as shown in Figure 15.3, and the user needs to select the New Report icon from this toolbar. The user then selects the required BW query, and thus displays a listing of fields available in the query. The user can then create the report using any of those fields. Variables defined in the query automatically become Crystal Reports parameters. After the user has finished building the report, the user saves the report using the BW toolbar. This saves the report to BW, and if the user selects the option to do so, automatically publishes the report to Enterprise.
Figure 15.3. Crystal Reports after the SAP integration kit is loaded. Note the SAP menu and BW toolbar.
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Two new drivers have been added to the XI R2 version of the SAP Integration Kit.
The MDX query driver supports using Crystal Reports to report off either a SAP BW query or a BW Cube.
Furthermore, it adds additional functionality by providing support for
A structure in both the row and column of the BW query
Hierarchy node and hierarchy node variables
Free characteristics in a BW query
The Operational Data Store or ODS driver exposes the ODS tables, so that they look much like the tables of any relational database. However, because of the structure of the objects, it considers them to be like a database stored procedure.
Connecting to the ODS objects is not performed with the SAP toolbar described here, but rather by selecting the driver from the Data Explorer as shown in Chapter 1, "Creating and Designing Basic Reports." After the user has finished building the report, the report can be saved back to BW and published to Business Objects Enterprise by selecting the Automatically Publish to Enterprise check box, as shown in Figure 15.4.
Figure 15.4. The additional options after saving a Crystal Report to SAP BW.
Note
This publishing method requires some setup. Please refer to the Installation documentation for further details.
Note
Both the ODS and MDX drivers require SAP transports to be loaded on the SAP BW system. Please refer to the Installation CD in the Transports folder for further details.
Using OLAP or Web Intelligence to Report off BW Data
Included in the SAP Integration Kit are specific drivers to allow OLAP Intelligence and Web Intelligence to report off of SAP BW.
To connect to a BW cube or query using OLAP Intelligence, open the connection browser and select Add. Select SAP Business Information Warehouse and then proceed to fill in the relevant data, as shown in Figure 15.5.
Figure 15.5. The information required to connect to a BW cube or query from OLAP Intelligence.
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After you are connected, select the query or cube and process to build the report, as described in Chapter 19, "Creating OLAP Intelligence Reports."
Web Intelligence is new to XI R2 and requires that a universe be built on a BW Cube or Query. However, to aid in this process, Designer builds the universe for you. To do this, select SAP from the list of connects and fill out the required information, as displayed in Figure 15.6.
Figure 15.6. The information required to connect to a BW cube or query from Web Intelligence.
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Finish the remainder of the wizard and when you click OK, Designer generates the Universe for you. It may be necessary to move some of the objects around to suit your needs, but when you are finished, export to Business Objects Enterprise.
Note
Only the BW query driver does not require the query be released for external access. The Web Intelligence, OLAP Intelligence, and MDX drivers require the user to release the BW query. To release a query, select the query properties in the BW Query Designer and select the Extended Tab and then check Allow External Access to This Query.
Viewing the Reports
Your SAP reports can be viewed either via the SAP integration kit's InfoView or via SAP Enterprise Portal 6. The integration kit provides a number of sample iViews that can be imported by a portal administrator. These include
Folder iView The folders a user has access to are displayed, and from here a user can run her reports.
Alert iView Shows all the alerts that have been triggered by Crystal Reports. The user can then click on the report to view the report. The creation of alerts is defined in Chapter 11, "Using Record Selections and Alerts for Interactive Reporting."
Thumbnail iView This iView displays the Crystal Report as a thumbnail of the report. The user can then click on the thumbnail to run the report.
Note
These are sample iViews. The organization can create its own iViews via the provided SDK.
BusinessObjects InfoView for SAP is a unique version of InfoView designed for integration with SAP BW systems. This integration includes features such as the ability to log on to InfoView using your SAP username and password. Related to authentication is the ability to access your roles and the Crystal Reports saved to these roles. The roles are defined in Enterprise as folders. The user can also schedule reports in the different languages loaded into SAP BW. This creates an instance for each language.
for remainig info pls use the link
http://book.soundonair.ru/sams/ch15lev1sec7.html
very good link for sap integartion kit
thanks
karthik
reward me points if the above info is usefull.
dont forget