Changing Databases

[baycolor]

Hi all,

I am a semi-experienced CR XI person - I have no experience with CR v10.

I have been asked to consult with someone that has CR v10 - they publish developed reports to a CR v10 server for access over the web.

The CR v10 reports source data from DB2 via ODBC. They are going to change and source data from a Teradata database via ODBC.

Regarding this database change I'm looking for
- a to do list
- a list of things to consider
- a list of any gotchyas

If you have knowledge about moving from DB2 to Teradata great. If not please share any information / experiences you have when changing databases with CR.

Couple questions I can think of off the bat:

1)
Assuming a view was lifted (column names stay the same / data is the same) from one database to the other. I will at least have datatype differences. So if I opened a report with CR v10 developer that points to DB2 and pointed the report to the new Teradata view what would happen. Specifically:

1a)
Does the column mapping window display and I can just work with the columns that have a dataype issue or is CR going to freak out?

2)
Can anyone tell me if CR v10 has the same look and feel as CR XI - specifically:

2a)
Is the interface for publish reports for use on the

2b)
Is the CR v10 developer pretty much the same as CR XI?

3)
Are there any major differences between doing something like this with CR v10 and CR XI? I'm very impressed with CR XI so would there be benefits to moving to CR XI with the reports hitting DB2 first and then move to Teradata?
That would obviously make this a three step process: 1) purchase/deploy XI 2) convert reports 3) change databases

4) Anything else you can think of is welcomed.

Thanks very much in advance.

 

[synapsevampire]

1a)
Does the column mapping window display and I can just work with the columns that have a dataype issue or is CR going to freak out?

Use the Database->Set Location and you'll get the mapping screen, it should work OK.

2a)
Is the interface for publish reports for use on the

The overall interface looks different, however it's simple to figure out the differences. As for publihing reports, first make sure that you have EVERYTHING backed up!

Then use the Save As from within Crystal Reports and select the Enterprise icon in the lower left hand corner to publish or overwrite existing reports. In your case overwriting might prove problematic if you overwrite an existing report which had a different database, but it's worth a try as it preserves the historical instances and current scheduling.

3)
Are there any major differences between doing something like this with CR v10 and CR XI? ...

You should change databases as you convert the reports. CR 10 and CR XI are the same file formats, no real conversion occurs except that CR XI has additional functionality. CR 9 was the major change in CR as they started supporting Unicode.

-k