Customised reports not being found

[fleetwood]

I am using Crystal reports 8.5 to customize the Outstanding Products report.
Specifically, I want it to display in A-Z order by short description, and only display short description and total quantity required.
I have carried this out before with my A5 install.

This time around I am finding that A10 is not recognizing my customized report.

After editing my report, and saving it to C:\Program Files\Actinic 10, if I run it from within Actinic (via reports), I don't see the report exactly as it should be, yet if I navigate to the report from within Crystal Reports and open it, it displays as I want it to.

Whilst its is not the only anomaly, it is specifically the sort order which works in crystal (to the sort order I specify), but not when run from within Actinic.

Is there something obvious I should be doing, either when saving the report, or to notify Actinic prog that my report has been edited?

[Duncan Rounding]

Presumably the standard report runs correctly in the same location?
Are you modifiying the v10 report or changing the 'locations' in the v5 report?

When you say the sort order does not order as you expect - what specifically is the difference? Does it not sort at all?

[fleetwood]

Hi Duncan

Managed to solve the problem, without fully understanding why it was happening in the first place!

For the record:

First I tried copying over my A5 report to A10, and realized it doesn't work, as have to re-connect the database, due to different locations (as you have mentioned).

Once I had the connected the report to the A10 database, and I carried out various edits, to remove data I didn't want to show, and changed the 'order by' in the SQL query, to reflect the sort order I wanted.

This worked fine when displaying the report in Crystal, but the sort order reverted to the original one, when the report was run from within Actinic.

Subsequent fiddling revealed that in Crystal - File - Report Options - if I checked 'always sort locally', the report in crystal, displayed the same way it did in Actinic (ie, not the sort order I was trying to achieve by changing the SQL statement).

The bit I couldn't fathom (and still don't understand), is that when run from within Actinic, the database is using a different sort key to the one thought I was using in Crystal.

I finally managed to achieve my goal by using Crystal - report - change group, and changing the order of the groups. I missed this first time, as my logical step was to try and change report - sort records, but this wouldn't let me change the order of the groups or delete one of them.

I'm fairly well schooled in basic database management, but CR is a tough cookie to get to grips with.

I guess I'm gonna have to spend a few long evenings trying to digest Crystal help.

Thanks for the quick reply anyways - will probably be throwing a few more CR problems your way through my learning curve

[fleetwood]

Its me again

I am sure I am not going mad, but there is definitely something funny going on.

So, as stated above, I have got the report displaying in the correct order, in A10.
Now I try and open the same report in Crystal, and I don't see the same version of the report. ie from CR, I select open, and navigate to C:\Program Files\A10\Outstanding Products.rpt, and what opens in CR, isn't the same version of the report I had saved before.

When I navigate to it, within CR, Outstanding Products is shown 'padlocked' - it still opens, but is not the same report that is opening in A10.

There is only one file called Outstanding Products.rpt in that directory.

A10 is not open when I am doing this, and there is no warning along the lines 'the file you are trying to open is in use by another...'.

I revert to my perplexed state, awaiting help from the CR-master.

[Duncan Rounding]

Is this related to permissions perhaps? If you're running Win 7 or 2008 server then try running CR as administrator first and then navigate to the report. Or try double clicking on the report instead to open it in CR.

[fleetwood]

I am running Win 7, and logged in as full admin.
I'm guessing the padlock next to the file name (showing in CR, but not in Win 7 file list) has something to do with it. When I change the file in CR, it dosen't always allow me to save direct to the Act10 folder in program files. I save elsewhere, then copy and paste it to that directory, and the timestamp implies that the Act10 program folder now has the modified file, but when run from within Actinic reports menu, an earlier version of my report runs (I do refresh the data).
In my haste to reply, I may not have fully answered your earlier question - I am working with the reports found in Act 10, and modifying them (initially using my Act5 modified versions as a guide, as it was many years ago that I last attempted this, and jusr fumbling around with a bit of trial and error).

[Duncan Rounding]

Try diasbling UAC and see if you can then use CR as normal.

[fleetwood]

Thanks Duncan. I'm away from the work desktop today, but will try that on Monday. You may be on to something.

Navigating to the Act10 program directory using CR, I can see:

Outstanding Products.rpt (with a padlock)
and
Outstanding Products.rpt (without a padlock)
simutaneously

but if I navigate there from My Computer, I can only see
Outstanding Products.rpt (without a padlock)
once.

Further, clicking on the file from My Computer runs one version of the report, yet selecting Outstanding Products from within Actinic reports menu, runs a different version (I'm guessing its running the locked version, which also seems to be hidden).

I'll experiment with turning off UAC on MOnday

[Jan]

You should delete the report in the Actinic directory and run the reports from Actinic. You will get a file not found error.

Then copy the file over and run it again and you then have to have the right one installed.

If the only difference you are seeing is the sort order then Actinic is probably setting the sort order before it runs the report. If it turns out that this is your problem, then install the report as a custom report (details of how to do this in the AUG) and it will be fine.

Regards,

[fleetwood]

Thanks Jan. I will have a go at tomorrow.

[fleetwood]

Fresh start today, and still perplexed.

Before following advice from Duncan and Jan, I want to safeguard my current OutstandingProducts.rpt, which is giving me the layout etc I want.

So I navigate to Program Files A10 folder and copy OutstandingProducts.rpt, and paste it into MyDocuments for safe keeping.

I then double click OutstandingProducts.rpt that I just saved, to check, and aaaargh, no, its not the same layout that is opening when I run it from A10 - it is the same report, but the group footer (which holds the product sub totals I need) is empty.
The same is true whether I open the file from Program Files or from my copy in MyDocuments.
Yet if I run it from A10 reports menu, the sub-totals are displaying.



I am hesisitant to delete the file from Program Files, as Jan suggests, as it currently 'works' when run from A10 reports menu, I just can't understand why I can't then open the same report in Crystal, and seem the same result.

The point of this post is not, how do I create my report to do this and that, but why am I seeing one version of the report when I open it in Crystal, and a slightly different version, when I run it via Actinic?

I will follow the advice given so far, but I want to safeguard my current 'working copy' first, and do not have the confidence in which file this is, as I can only open it correctly when run from A10 reports menu, and not from Crystal. Odd!

Screen grabs attached - A10 - view when run from A10 reports - CR - view when same rpt run from Crystal (the CR report displays the group header, complete with product ref, the A10 version displays the group footer, which has the sub totals (order qty) for each product). Both of these are my mods on the original).

[Duncan Rounding]

This certainly sounds like permissions. Try turning UAC off and rebooting.
You could also try running CR as Administrator. (right click - run as administrator on crw32.exe in C:\Program Files\Seagate Software\Crystal Reports)

[fleetwood]

Thanks Duncan. I have done as you suggest, but it dosen't seem to be the cure.
To clarify, I do not hit a problem (as far as I can tell), in opening the file in CR. It just what I open and view in CR, is not the same as the report produced when run from Actinic reports menu (the 2 attachments on earlier post are outputs from what appears to be the same report ie the one called OutstandingProducts.rpt (as modified by me), and found in the Actinic 10 program folder).

Just clarifying a couple of basics - is the correct way to modify a report, to open it in Crystal, make your changes, and then 'save as crystal report' back to the program directory?

Reading up on Jans suggestion (adding own reports as per AUG), I see a number of things referred to in reports.ini which suggest that Actinic can run its own conditions (SelectionFormula, ExtraConditions) which I am assuming may be different from the report selection and ordering criteria set in Crystal. I didn't fully understand the AUG, but could this explain why the report runs one way in Crystal, and another way in Actinic?

Could it be that I am seeing the same report in both programs, but that when run from Actinic report menu, a seperate set of conditions apply?

If is the case - can I see these conditions anywhere (they aren't in the config file reports.ini, but maybe there is a seperate file for the default reports supplied)?

UPDATE

I am managing to achieve what I want to do by opting for a simpler approach - using the original reports and 1) switching the order of the groups to achieve the desired sort order 2) hiding headers, footers and detail rather than deleting fields ad hoc as I had been doing.

My queries above remain, if they can be answered, but at least I am moving forward at last! Progress is on a WinXP machine, so fingers crossed that when I return to the shop PC running Win 7, it dosen't all go t-up again.

[Jan]

They look different because you have auto generate product references switched on in your actinic site. This causes the report to show the details rows that do not include product references.

So to fix this, right click on header 1c choose format section, then and edit the suppress formula and delete the contents, then delete row header 1b.

You can also edit the forula called 'UseProductRefsReportParameter' and change this to "N" to see the report you will see when you print from Actinic.

Regards,

[fleetwood]

Jan - you are a star.
I need to spend time learning CR, as it is certainly not intuitive, and I wouldn't have gotten your solution via my trial and error route.
Being a store owner and not a designer, meant I was going live on a major upgrade (5 to 10) without enough time to learn everything.

Duncan - yes, I am having problems with permissions. Are both you and Jan happily working with CR8.5 and Windows 7?

Opening reports from within Crystal is OK.
Running them by double clicking them outside of the Crystal program gives me an error ("problem sending the command to the program") - Crystal starts up, but the report doesn't run until I open it in Crystal.

Turn UAC and I don't get this problem.

As I don't really want to leave UAC turned off, I have tried the following so far, but without success:

Crystal Reports - run as admin - no effect

Run CR in comparability mode (tried WinXp-SP2 and SP3) - no effect

Any other suggestions, or do you just leave UAC off?