Automatically assign db logon to DC, DF, BE, BV or LOV

[Former Member]

Hello

Crystal Reports Server 2008 (XI3.0)

I am able to upload Crystal Reports (2008 Dev) reports to the BO repository in 3 ways:

a.) File > Save As from CR Dev

b.) Publishing Wizard (on the server)

c.) CMC > Add reports to a folder

When the reports are uploaded I can then enter database logon credentials for the reports.

But...

When I try to run the report in Infoview it looks for a database logon and password.

When the reports are uploaded a Data Connection, Data Foundation, Business Element, Business View and LOV are all automatically created.

(I can see these in Business View Manager)

These represent the parameters in the report. (The report parameters lists are SQL Commands in each report)

These objects do not have database logon info when created during the report upload.

I believe that what is happening is that when the report is run it must log on to the DB to load data into the LOV

At the moment to configure the db logon info for these objects (DC, DF, BE, BV or LOV) i need to edit the properties of each DC and load in the DB username and password.

Is there any way that i can configure the db logon info for all data connections at once?

Best regards

Patrick

Edited by: PATRICK COOTE on Sep 5, 2008 10:11 AM

[former_member260594 · Accepted solution]

Patrick,

As you have noticed, whenever you publish a report that contains Dynamic prompts that were created within the report a BV and it's dependancies is created. The Data Connection is getting it's information from the report. Therefore I would recommend creating the LOVs within the Business View Manager itself. This will save you much administration time and headache as you can create 1 data connection per database server, fill in the connection info and set it to never prompt, use it for as many data foundations as you wish and reuse the data foundation, elements, and BVx rather than having a new one created everytime you publish a report with Dynamic prompts.

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Hi Graham

Thanks for the reply.

I am new to CR Server and up to now have been running reports from a VB GUI. Now some of my customers will be using Server, but some will continue to use the GUI to launch reports.

The big problem I have is this one because if I switch all of my reports to use BV then any report I run from the GUI will not have an LOV for its parameter, as the GUI will not have access to the repository.

But if I upload my reports the BVs that are created do not have any db logon details. This would then mean that I have to manually edit each DC to enter this info.

What is happening is that when the reports are being published (with Publishing wizard) there is an option to Review Object Properties. Within this section of the wizard the report datasource is exposed and a password can be entered here, for all reports that are being published. This sets the db logon info for the reports (this info can be seen when the reports are looked at in CMC).

However, the Data Connections and their dependencies are created when you click on Review Properties, i.e. before you get the chance to enter the db logon for the datasource.

As I say Graham, I am new to CR Server and do not have the knowledge to say whether this is a real problem, or if there is another approach that I could/should be taking

If you could perhaps throw some other suggestion my way that would be great thanks

Best regards

Patrick

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Graham is on track... You're better off creating your LOVs in the BV Designer and then setting your reports to use the particular LOVs. Every time you publish a CR to the server that is using an LOV that does not already exist on the server, you'll get a whole new BV stack, and unfortunately, you'll have to go in and manually set the parameters.

If its possible for your to publish the reports one a time, you can simply change the report to use the LOV in the repository before you save it to CR Server. That way you end up with 1 report that your users access through the GUI, but which is configured properly on the server.

Considering that you're a developer, may be you should consider looking into developing a little application that log on the CR Server, run through a list of DCs and set credentials. If you always have a bulk of reports to load to CR Server and don't have the time to publish them 1 at a time, this may be a viable alternative.

An alternative which is not available to you since you use CR Server and not BOE Enterprise is that if you were using Universes instead of BVs, you'd have far fewer headaches to create and use LOVs. The architecture is so much simpler and less of a headache when it comes to deployment. But being that it seems you use your reports in a custom application (VB GUI?), Universes would represent additional development work -- which you don't want to get into....

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Hi Will

Thanks for taking the time to reply

Life would be a lot simpler if all of my customers were using cr server, I would be a much happier camper....

There are two things which i would like to ask you to clarify a little please

"If its possible for your to publish the reports one a time, you can simply change the report to use the LOV in the repository before you save it to CR Server. That way you end up with 1 report that your users access through the GUI, but which is configured properly on the server"

I am not sure that I understand this fully: when I change a report to use a server LOV and then run that report from the GUI, the LOV has no data, it does not even have combo drop down arrow, it behaves like a static prompt (that has no values assigned). Is that different from your experience?

The other point that you make is

"may be you should consider looking into developing a little application that log on the CR Server, run through a list of DCs and set credentials"

This sounds like a very good idea. My CMS is stored on Oracle 10g schema. The tables that contain object information look to be encrypted.

How should I go about accessing this data, is this where i should be using the BO SDKs? Would you be able to suggest the correct approach to take please? (I must admit that I am not experienced at development)

Again, thanks for your time Will

Best regards

Patrick

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Patrick,

On

"If its possible for your to publish the reports one a time, you can simply change the report to use the LOV in the repository before you save it to CR Server. That way you end up with 1 report that your users access through the GUI, but which is configured properly on the server"

What I meant is, change the param to use the Server's LOV (that is already preconfigured - has password/userid/never prompt), then save/publish the report to CRS - that way it goes in pointing to the existing LOV. Once you save it, if you close the report and reopen the local (unmanaged) copy that you had before, it is still using the local LOV in the report. This way, you don't have to go in after every report publication and set up the yet another LOV stack....

On

"may be you should consider looking into developing a little application that log on the CR Server, run through a list of DCs and set credentials"

Yes, the data in your repository/system database (Oracle in your case) is encrypted - always is. This is an encrypted object-relational database. Yes, you'll have to build an application (Java/.NET) that logs in & does all that you need to do. You can not access and modify the data in the database directly - don't attempt that.... You'll corrupt your installation. The only way you can make updates in that DB is through the BOE SDK.

To get a peek of what's in the database, log into the Query Builder tool. Assuming you're using Tomcat running on port 8080, change servername with your servername, and check it out....

http://servername:8080/AdminTools/

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Hi Will

Thank you very much for your help in this.

Now I, at least, know what direction to take and have not replied sooner because i have been trying to get my head around Java, because i think the best approach is a program to update the connections

Also, the pointer on how to access the Query Builder from AdminTools has been very helpful

Again, thanks for the help man, much appreciated

Patrick