IP Address as data source?

[dgillz]

I delivered a crystal report to a client today and the IT guy was not there. The president wanted me to run this particular report ASAP. In the past I have just emailed this to the IT guy and forgot about it.

The report in question is Crystal 10, with an ODBC connection to a SQL Server 2000 database.

So I opened the report on site and went to database, set database location, and there was no SQL ODBC DSN setup at all. So I looked at existing reports - many of which I wrote - and saw that the data source location was an IP address.

I was able to set the data source location to the IP address and my new report works. However, why is this showing an IP address? I have never seen this in my 10 years working with Crystal.

Is he using a native SQL connection? If so can anyone discuss the negatives or positives of using this connection method as opposed to a simple ODBC connection?

All insights appreciated.

Software Sales, Training, Implementation and Support for Macola, eSynergy, and Crystal Reports

http://www.gainfocus.biz

"What version of URGENT!!! are you using?

 

[MJRBIM]

He might be using JDBC (Java Database Connectivity) or JNDI (Java Naming and Directory Interface) connections on his BOE-XI infrastructure.

This is easier to set-up and maintain if the BOE-XI infrastructure is on a non-Windows server (eg. AIX).

Also, the JNDI allows for a 3rd party server (eg. Websphere) to manage the connection to the Database rather than having all those details embedded in the RPT file. This is considered to be a better security method for DB info by some.