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Get the Report →Create Reports with Elasticsearch Data in SAP Crystal Reports
Use the Report Wizard to design a report based on up-to-date Elasticsearch data.
Crystal Reports has many options for offloading data processing to remote data; this enables real-time reporting. The CData ODBC Driver for Elasticsearch brings this capability to Crystal Reports. This article shows how to create a report on Elasticsearch data that refreshes when you run the report.
About Elasticsearch Data Integration
Accessing and integrating live data from Elasticsearch has never been easier with CData. Customers rely on CData connectivity to:
- Access both the SQL endpoints and REST endpoints, optimizing connectivity and offering more options when it comes to reading and writing Elasticsearch data.
- Connect to virtually every Elasticsearch instance starting with v2.2 and Open Source Elasticsearch subscriptions.
- Always receive a relevance score for the query results without explicitly requiring the SCORE() function, simplifying access from 3rd party tools and easily seeing how the query results rank in text relevance.
- Search through multiple indices, relying on Elasticsearch to manage and process the query and results instead of the client machine.
Users frequently integrate Elasticsearch data with analytics tools such as Crystal Reports, Power BI, and Excel, and leverage our tools to enable a single, federated access layer to all of their data sources, including Elasticsearch.
For more information on CData's Elasticsearch solutions, check out our Knowledge Base article: CData Elasticsearch Driver Features & Differentiators.
Getting Started
Refer to the given table for the tools and versions used for this article:
Application Name | Version |
---|---|
SAP Crystal Reports 2020 | SP3 |
ODBC Driver | 23.0.8565 |
Connect to Elasticsearch Data
If you have not already, specify connection properties in an ODBC DSN (data source name). This is the last step of the driver installation. You can use the Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to create and configure ODBC DSNs.
Set the Server and Port connection properties to connect. To authenticate, set the User and Password properties, PKI (public key infrastructure) properties, or both. To use PKI, set the SSLClientCert, SSLClientCertType, SSLClientCertSubject, and SSLClientCertPassword properties.
The data provider uses X-Pack Security for TLS/SSL and authentication. To connect over TLS/SSL, prefix the Server value with 'https://'. Note: TLS/SSL and client authentication must be enabled on X-Pack to use PKI.
Once the data provider is connected, X-Pack will then perform user authentication and grant role permissions based on the realms you have configured.

When configuring the DSN, you may also want to set the Max Rows connection property. This will limit the number of rows returned, which is especially helpful for improving performance when designing reports and visualizations.
Design a Report in SAP Crystal Reports
Follow the procedure below to use the SAP Crystal Reports tool to create the Elasticsearch connection and Design a Report.
- File -> New -> Standard Report.
- Expand the ODBC (RDO) node under Create New Connection and double-click on "Make a New Connection". Select CData Elasticsearch Sys or any other source to prepare the report. Click on NEXT and FINISH.
- Configure the data source by selecting the tables needed in the report and clicking NEXT.
- You can also link tables from the Elasticsearch data in SAP Crystal Reports. Click on NEXT after adding the links between tables.
- After the tables are selected, select the fields you want displayed in the report from the selected table, followed by NEXT.
- Select the "Group By" field to group the information on the report.
- Sort the groups based on summarised totals and click on NEXT.
Create a Chart
After selecting a column to group by, the Standard Report Creation Wizard presents the option to create a chart. Follow the steps below to create a chart aggregating the OrderName column's values.
- In the Standard Report Creation Wizard, select the Bar Chart option and select the column you grouped by in the "On change of" menu.
- In the Show Summary menu, select the summary you created.
- Select filters and a template, as needed, to finish the wizard.
Select a template for the report to preview the finished report and view the chart populated with your data.

The Final Report
You can now see that the report contains all the fields specified.

Working with Remote Data
To ensure that you see updates to data, click File and clear the "Save Data with Report" option. As you interact with the report, for example, drilling down to hidden details, Crystal Reports executes SQL queries to retrieve the data needed to display the report. To reload data you have already retrieved, refresh or rerun the report.
You can offload processing onto the driver by hiding details elements and enabling server-side grouping. To do this, you need to select a column to group by in the report creation wizard.
- Click File -> Report Options and select the "Perform Grouping On Server" option.
- Click Report -> Section Expert and select the Details section of your report. Select the "Hide (Drill-Down OK)" option.
When you preview your report with the hidden details, Crystal Reports executes a GROUP BY query. When you double-click a column in the chart to drill down to details, Crystal Reports executes a SELECT WHERE query that decreases load times by retrieving only the data needed.
At this point, you have created a SAP Crystal report built on top of live Elasticsearch data using SAP Crystal Reports and CData ODBC driver. Learn more about the CData ODBC Driver for Elasticsearch and download a free trial from the CData ODBC Driver for Elasticsearch page. Let our Support Team know if you have any questions.