Can you force CE not to send a report?

[SimplyStu]

I have a report that 90% of the time has no data. Can I somehow force the report not to be sent if there is no data? Normally the report goes out via E-Mail even if it is blank. I want nothing to be sent if no records are retrieved.

In the past I use Alerts to do the same thing, but this report is way to complecated to do it all in an Alert.

Thanks in advance.

 

[IdoMillet]

See: thread782-1258811

- Ido

Visual CUT & DataLink Viewer:
view, e-mail, export, burst, distribute, and schedule Crystal Reports.

http://www.MilletSoftware.com

 

[SimplyStu]

I have another idea about this. Is there a known way that you can get a report to fail? That seems to be the only other way to get a report NOT to be delivered. I know I have had tons of reports fail and they are not delived. So, what if you check to see if there are 0 records and if so, force the report to fail. I.E. divide by zero. Just a thought? Anyone know how to do this?

 

[malcolmt]

Try this....

Within the report, create an alert that is triggered for every row in the report.

Then instead of scheduling to an email destination, use Alert Notification under the Schedule tab.

An email will only be sent if an alert is triggered when the scheduled report runs. If there are no rows in the report that trigger an alert, the email will not be sent.

If there are rows in the report then an email will be sent.


Malcolm.

 

[waldopepper]

Thanks for that solution Malcolm. Is there anything similar I can do that will work if I want the report sent out as an attachment, rather than an 'alert' email that directs the user to the published report online?

 

[malcolmt]

The alert notification in CE/BOE does not give the option to send as an attachment.

The only other possibility that may do what you want is a tool from APOS.

http://www.apos.com/DistributionServer/

Good Luck.
Malcolm.

 

[knyque]

Another possibility is to create a file event, and an external program. If the program notices data, then it creates the file, which triggers the event, which causes the report to be run.

Not the best in the world, but it's an option.

 

[bessebo]

Hi,
I do what you are talking about but I use Events and it is working like a charm. I just implemented it but it requires some work. Let me know if you want more details. Maybe you already have a viable solution since you posted this a while back.

Regards,
Bessebo

 

[sbiowa]

I just found a way that works and is easy. I put a report header on the report and surpressed it if one of the data items on the report was null ( a field that was never null if the report returned any data). I set the New Page After option on the report header.

Then in Crystal Enterprise Manager on the Format tab, I set the report to send pages 2/100. Now the report fails if there is only one page. That means that it will not send a blank report.

 

[waldopepper]

Nice solution! I'll check this out when I'm setting up some reports next time. thanks