SAP BI 4.3 SP5: What’s New in Crystal Reports

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This blog post provides a comprehensive overview of key SAP Crystal Reports (CR) new features and changes in BI 4.3 SP05 release, including:

• Crystal Reports 2020 RESTful SDK introduced in BI 4.3 SP05
• New "SAP BW (DSL)" driver in Crystal Reports 2020 SP05
• Crystal Reports Designer start page short cuts to Unx / BW DSL drivers
• Crystal Reports Query Panel: Database Sorting and Ranking
• Crystal Reports Query Panel: Copy / Paste of JSON query spec
• "Graphic Location" supports HTTPS (in SP05 patch 3+)
• Security and platform updates
• Further Reading

Crystal Reports 2020 RESTful SDK introduced in BI 4.3 SP05

Crystal Reports (CR) RESTful SDK supports CR2020 reports starting 4.3 SP05. Similar to existing Crystal Reports for Enterprise (CR4E) REST SDK, the new CR2020 REST SDK allows you to:

• export a report to a number of different file types,
• retrieve report metadata,
• get rows of data and calculations,
• and so on.

For details, check Introduction to SAP Crystal Reports 2020 RESTful Web Services. For tips and known limitations, check SAP Note 3616956. 

New "SAP BW (DSL)" driver in Crystal Reports

A new “SAP BW (DSL)” driver is available in Crystal Reports 2020 SP05, you can start by selecting a managed BW OLAP connection stored in BI Platform, choose an SAP query, then build a report on top of it. See Reporting on Universes and managed connections | SAP Help Portal for detail.

Compared to existing "SAP BW MDX Query" (crdb_bwmdx) driver, this new "SAP BW (DSL)" driver better aligns with Crystal Reports for Enterprise (CR4E) and Web Intelligence behaviors. 

Thus it also allows easier migration of CR4E BW reports to CR2020 SP05. For details, please check Moving from Crystal Reports for Enterprise to Crystal Reports | SAP Blogs

Crystal Reports Designer start page short cuts to Unx / BW DSL drivers

Two new options were added in CR Classic (e.g., CR 2020) start page, users could now quickly “START A NEW REPORT” on the new "Universe (Unx)" or "SAP BW (DSL)" driver.

They will help more users notice and start to use the 2 new DSL based drivers in CR Classic.
It also helps speed up daily report creation.

Crystal Reports Query Panel: Database Sorting and Ranking

Database Sorting can now be defined in Crystal Reports query panel (if supported by the data source). 

Database Ranking can also be defined in Crystal Reports query panel (if supported by the data source).

Database Sorting and Ranking will be delegated to the underlying database, e.g., Unx Universe. You can use them to fine tune your report performance.

Crystal Reports Query Panel: Copy / Paste of JSON query spec

Starting Crystal Reports 2020 SP05 and Crystal Reports 2025 patch 5, you can copy / paste query spec (JSON format) within CR 202x query panel. It could save you plenty of time creating reports with similar query spec. Manually creating same or similar queries again and again from scratch is no longer necessary.

It could also help you save time migrating CR4E to CR202x. If several CR4E reports have similar query spec, you just need to recreate the query manually in CR202x once, then it can be copied and used as a template during migration of similar reports. Just please note, for now XML query spec copied from CR4E query panel cannot be pasted into CR202x query panel, we are investigating the possibility in CR2027.

"Graphic Location" supports HTTPS (in SP05 patch 3+)

"Graphic Location" can be used to display external images in your reports. Previously, only HTTP URLs to images can be used there. In Crystal Reports 2020 SP04 patch 16+, 2020 SP05 patch 3+ and 2025 patch 7+,  HTTPS URLs to images can also be used.

Security and platform updates

Various security updates have been applied, including third party and open-source component updates.

New Platforms versions and Data source versions have been certified, check out the BI 4.3 Product Availability Matrix for more information.

Please install SAP Business Objects BI Platform 2020 SP05 and SAP Crystal Reports 2020 SP05, and try these new features.

Further Reading:

• Moving from Crystal Reports for Enterprise to Crystal Reports | SAP Blogs
• SAP BI 4.3 SP4: What’s New in Crystal Reports - SAP Community
• SAP BI 2025: What’s New in Crystal Reports - SAP Community