Migrating Crystal 7 to Crystal 11 and creating an editable select while retaining report layout

[Former Member]

I am a new user to Crystal Reports 2011 version 14 having been using Crystal 7 to report against a Sybase ASE 15 database.

When attempting to import the existing Crystal 7 reports into Crystal Reports 2011 version 14 using the Sybase wire protocol ODBC 6.0 driver the syntax of the select statement correctly builds the join statements, but incorrectly leaves an empty WHERE clause directly followed by an AND which I have not been successful in fixing.

I have followed some of the posts on the SCN and have attempted to copy the select statement into a command statement for editing the incorrect syntax but get hung up because fields already exist in the converted report. Is there a document posted anywhere which addresses the best way to migrate existing reports in a fashion where an editable SQL statement is created while retaining the report layout and table linking?

THanks very much for any help you can provide for this migration.

[former_member11696 · Accepted solution]

Hi Gregg,

Unfortunately converting a report from direct Table access to a Command doesn't work as you have discovered. Sometimes setting it to another DB source and then to a command will work but nothing documented. Just don't allow the Mapping Wizard to delete the fields.

Only way is to have 2 Designers open and copy and paste the objects from one to the other. We are discussing this limitation but due to the amount of work required to "map" the fields from a multi-table source to a single SQL source is a lot of work to get right so it may not happen.

Click on the Innovation link above and go to Idea Place and search, if someone else hasn't already posted the Enhancement request then I'm add it. The more votes it gets the better chance it'll get into some future patch or version.

Don

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Don,

Thanks for your reply. I really appreciate it.

Did I understand that you would be adding the enhancement request?

If not, what is the best descriptor to use as a subject when I add the item?

Due to the fact that our reports are always changing based on the needs of management and we find the need to create unions at times or even more complex select statements, we must have the ability to modify the select statement behind the crystal report.

Does it make sense to work from a command object on all our reports going forward to allow the flexibility in modifying the select?

We have several hundred reports that we need to migrate to CR 2011 ver 14 and SQL 2012 from Crystal 7 and Sybase 15.

Do you suggest that we rebuild them from scratch in CR 2011 Ver 14 as a command accessing our production Sybase 15 db and then make the SQL 2012 syntax changes needed to the select (adding the INNER JOIN, LEFT OUTER JOIN, RIGHT OUTER JOIN, syntax etc)  in the command object for the conversion to the SQL 2012 ODBC connection and then test against our SQL 2012 environment?

Or is it possible that migrating from CR 2011 ver 14 accessing Sybase to CR 2011 ver 14 accessing SQL 2012 will fail and that we need to rebuild from scratch directly in CR 2011 ver 14 and MS SQL 2012?

You mentioned briefly a couple of possible shortcuts.  If they could be tried I would like to give them a shot to save on the rebuild labor because we have a large volume of reports and some reports that are very complex. Are the steps fairly straightforward?

Please know that we really appreciate any additional direction that you can provide so that we can make this a less painful exercise. If migrating through a few different versions of CR makes sense please address this option as well.

Again, we are very grateful for any additional direction that you can provide to us during this exercise.

Best Regards,

Gregg

[former_member11696 · Accepted solution]

Hi Gregg,

Simply search in Idea Place and then add any subject you want but try to make it meaningful.

If the table structures are going to be the same then create a new report and you can copy the objects over from old to new most should copy but the DB qualifier will be different so not sure what that will result in.

Be sure to use the SQL Native 10 Client, MDAC version is not fully support by Microsoft.

You can try doing a set location from Sybase to SQL and then convert/set lcoation to MS SQL. I think it's simply easier to copy paste and go off the intended DB to start with, best thing is to try a few reports and see what route works for you, too many variables to recommend exact steps.

Thanks again

Don

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Thanks very much for all your responses and help, Don!

I appreciate it very much.

Best Regards,

Gregg