Linked objects

When a linked object is inserted into a report, Windows copies a snapshot of the data from a file that already exists. The image of the object is added to your report along with a reference to the data used to create it. The actual data remains with the original file.

When the object is activated from within a report, the original file is opened inside the application that was used to create it. Any changes you make directly affect the original file also.

If you want the data in an object to remain available to other applications, and always reflect the most current changes to the data, link the object to the report.

When you have a linked object and you break the link using the Links dialog box, all connections to the original data in the server document are broken. A linked object in a container application is merely a representation of that object and a link between the object and the server document. When you break the link you're left with only the representation, with no relationship to the original data or to the editing capabilities of the server application. In this situation, Seagate Crystal Reports turns the object into a picture, a stand-alone object that can neither be edited using OLE capabilities nor converted into a modifiable OLE object.