Persisent single sign on in Crystal? 1

[txknight]

Hello all,

Well it seems as though this Halloween I get to be scared by having customers ask me for something that just isn't available in CE10. Or at least as far I know.

So my first question, can a datasource sign on be made persistent in CE10? In other words, the users are tired of, during any given session, of having to retype there datasource logins/password more than once per session. They want to only have to type it once for any given report. Then when they schedule another report that is connected to the same datasource (whether it be the same report or a different one), they don't want to have to fill it in again.

I suspect the answer is going to be "No". So with that in mind, my next question is, do you know of any 3rd party vendor that offers software that will install this feature in CE10?

Finally, failing that, in your guys opionon, do you think this option can be added by clever programming via the SDK? I'm not familiar with Crystal's SDK, so I'm not sure how practical this is.

Thanks in advance and Happy Halloween!
TXKnight ;-)

 

[synapsevampire]

can a datasource sign on be made persistent in CE10"

Depends upon the datasource login, try posting specifics, such as the database and the connectivity, it doesn't take much time to include basic technical information.

You don't need to make them log in to CE or the database at all, just go set the database properties in the CMC and set the prompt to not prompt for the database login and they'll never see it.

I tend to use a generic database login, and permissioning is resolved by whetehr they have access to the report, but again, we've no idea how you're using CE and security.

Perhaps this model will suit you, if not, and you're saying that you WANT them to have to log in because either the database has the appropriate security built in for their login as to what data is returned, or you've decided that it's just plain fun to make them log in one time, you'd definitely have some coiding involved with checking to maike sure that each person has logged in once, and not timed and and...

Just set the database login to not prompt and use CE's security if possible, it's much simpler.

-k

 

[txknight]

it doesn't take much time to include basic technical information."

I didn't include those details become they didn't seem relevant. But, per your request, we use a variety of databases. However, our most prominent one is currently Oracle 8i. To connect to a given Oracle instance, we usually use a system DSN that uses an ODBC Oracle Driver (CR Oracle ODBC Driver 4.20 from DataDirect Technologies).

And I'm afraid our DBAs want accountability. So setting up the default database logon with a generic password won't work.

Happy Halloween,
TXKnight ;-)

 

[MJRBIM]

The Out-of-the-Box CE-10 answer is NO.

If you require users to login to the DB when they view a report, that login is not cached anywhere in ePortfolio to be reused if they try to view another report that uses the same datasource.

They must login to the DB each time they view a new report.

In XI you are able to "Use SSO context for database logon". That means that if your Database access is managed using LDAP or WinAD accounts you can use those accounts to authenticate into Enterprise XI, then pass that account on to the Database when you can viewing the report.

I don't think there are any 3rd party tools for doing this in CE-10, but you might be able to write your own application interface using one of the SDKs.

 

[HarryPotter1]

Txknight,

We don't have users authenticate to the database each time they run a report. We hardcode a permanent reporting ID for particular reports that they have access to. That way they only need to be authenticated into ePortfolio.

You may want to think about this solution as I would think a user might want to pull their hair out having to logon all the time.

HarryPotter1