Explicit table names in CR9

[jdowen]

This is an interesting point that I would like to discuss with other users of version 9 of Crystal...

I am trying to remove the explicit tablenames from version 9 in the following manner.

DATABASENAME.OBJECTOWNER.OBJECTNAME to
OBJECTNAME

This was a standard feature of version 8.5 of Crystal Reports. By removing this you could then specify the databasename you wished to connect to in code and even the DSN by changing the DSN to a variable set at logon time for your application.
Example. Multiple applications/databases using the same set of reports for different clients. All reports are stored on a central webserver and by changing the DSN at report request time I can cut down on maintenance and report design time by releasing the same reports to all clients.

Now. In version 9 you cannot modify the explicit table names. When I asked Crystal Decisions about this I got the following email:

Dear John,

CR9 will use explicit table names. This is by design.
The option to specify the table name only as opposed to the full explicit table name is not supported

Best Regards


Fine. No problem. It's been removed . End of Story.

No. If you take a report created in version 8.5, and with the explicit table names removed to make the report generic the report will not have the explicit names in version 9 when upgraded/modified.

Very odd. And more than a little distressing as Crystal claims that this function is no longer supported in version 9. Even more of an issue is that you can end up with reports with explicit table names and table names only if you take a report converted from version 8.5 and add tables to the report in version 9. Even performing verify database will not add the explicit table names to the converted report.

Does anybody have an opinion on this, or come across this particular problem previously?

I have sent my sample reports to Crystal and will post any feedback I get on this thread.

I'm located in the UK and am speaking to the Uk support people. If anyone knows differently from another source, please tell.

John Owen

 

[TedLiu]

Hi Jbowen,

I had similar situation too. Explicit DSN name is one of the major points I dislike CE. We have 3 stages of servers and databases.(Development, UAT, Production). With CR8.5, I can freely changed the datasource in the code. In CE8.5, it become a nightmare. Now release and distribute the report become a real suffer for me. I have asked Crystal Support too, but the answer is that Dynamic DSN is not designed in CE8.5. Anyway, it's really sucks.

Ted

 

[jdowen]

Thanks for the offer Ted,

it's not so much Enterprise I had trouble with. I have managed to work around the issue with CE8.5 without any real trouble. It's Crystal Reports 9 which has caused the problem here.

I did have more info from Crystal Decisions earlier. Basically they claim that the product (reports) was never designed along those lines and do not support it's use in the manner which would have made it incredibly useful in the first place. Let's hope they get their heads on the right way around soon!

Still the rest of my development team and I are pretty clode to a solution of our own now. If it works out, and we can convince the budgetholders that it's cost effective, we'll develop, test and if it works implement and then make the solution available to others with similar issues.