There is a technical article in the SAP library that caught my attention recently.    It mentions something called CR Logger and suggested that it could help you troubleshoot database error messages.  But when I went to read the article I was disappointed to find that there was no information on how to use it, when to use it, or what it would do for you.  So I decided to try it and see if I could see some value in it.

You unzip a DLL and put it into a specific folder in your CR 2008 program directory: Continue Reading »
Using CRLogger.dll to troubleshoot database issues

I have written several posts regarding Zebra printers and the problems they have had with labels that rotate when they shouldn’t.  I read that this was fixed in CR 2008 with a recent service pack, but it isn’t clear if this was fixed for CR XI.   I just learned that Seagull Scientific provides free printer drivers for many zebra printers (and others).  These do not seem to have the problems with rotation that have been described, so that is another potential solution for some of you.

I have had several customers recently that had trouble with error messages related to parameters, especially date parameters.  The error says “An error has occurred in the script on this page”.  Sometimes everything is fine if you let it continue anyway and sometimes it doesn’t.  But even then it is an annoying hurdle for users.

In my research I have found that there isn’t a clear consensus on the cause or the solution.  Different things seem to work in different environments.  So I have decided to summarize the various solutions that I have read about and put them in one place to help me remember what to try.  So if you are having parameter problems here are some things that Continue Reading »
Date parameter prompt errors

I recently helped a VB6 developer who was deploying CR v8.5 reports.  His application reports could not export to PDF in some installations.  This is an old but still popular configuration, so I am posting what we learned because it might help someone else down the road (maybe even me).

The first thing we found was the specific DLLs that support PDF export.  We had to confirm that they were part his distribution:

ExportModeller.dll
Crtslv.dll
Crxf_pdf.dll
Mpr.dll
EFSADU.dll

But even if the files are distributed and installed you still have to Continue Reading »
Classic VB Runtime and PDF Exports

Here is an odd case I helped (partially) resolve recently.   The customer is using CR v11(XI) to connect to an IBM U2 database (via ODBC).  The database was hosted on a Windows 2003 server.

They had two seemingly identical client system configurations using the same exact version of CR and the same ODBC driver.  On both we would start a simple report using  just one table and a few fields.  The report would run fine in one environment but the other would generate an error message:

Failed to retrieve data from the database.
Details: HY000:[IBM][UVODBC][1401032]Error ID: 46 Severity:ERROR Facility: DBCAPERR - UCI Error. Func: SQLPrepare(DML); State: S1000; uniVerse code: 950088; Msg: [IBM][SQL Client][UNIVERSE]Universe/SQL:syntax error. Unexpected filename.

When I compared Continue Reading »
Odd Error using ODBC to IBM U2

This month an unusual number of customers have brought me errors to troubleshoot.  Most of them involve errors outside of Crystal with things like missing DLL files or installs that seem the same but that behave differently.  So I was pleasantly surprised to find a recent blog post on the SAP web site that provides a list of free tools for helping to troubleshoot things like this.  There are 5 tools listed but I think two would apply most to the problems I faced this month:

1) Modules is a free utility from the SAP web site.  It allows you to run a report on two different systems (ie one that works and one that doesn’t) and find all the files that are different in those two environments.  It makes a list of the files used in each environment and then compares to see which are different. It is an old tool but worked fine in my Win7 64 environment.

2) Depends.exe (Dependency walker) is another free tool that takes an EXE or DLL file and lists all of the other files that it relies on.  This is perfect for when you have a DLL that won’t work or register correctly.  Often a missing dependent file is part of the problem.

And if you need to troubleshoot hangs and crashes, monitor HTTP / HTTPS traffic or monitor local file system and registry activity, the other tools should help.

Last fall I wrote about a problem I had with Crystal Reports 2008 Service Pack 3.  It was preventing me from re-saving customer reports that had saved data.  I could only save with data if I could refresh the report – which defeats the point of saving a customer’s report with data.  It has taken me a few months to notice a second related problem.  This SP had stopped all dynamic parameters from running their queries.  I tried different connection types and rebooting the system with no success.  As soon as I removed SP3 everything went back to normal.

I am on Windows 7, 64 bit.  Anyone else have this problem?

If you are creating or running an application and your list of export formats is incomplete, the problem is likely some missing dlls on the server/PC where the app is installed.  The list of export formats that you see is not typically controlled in the application code, but instead is determined by the list of dlls that the application finds at runtime.  Each export format has its own dll.  For example the one for text is U2Ftext.dll.  The one for Crystal Reports is U2Fcr.dll.  So if you find where these “U2F” files are stored you can see which are missing.  The complete list of files would be found on the PC that has your Crystal Reports designer.  I have CR2008 on a Win7 64 bit PC so my dlls are in this folder:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Business Objects\BusinessObjects Enterprise 12.0\win32_x86\

Adding the missing files into the same folder should complete your export format list.

If you are using the version of Crystal Reports that comes with Visual Studio 2005 you will only have  seven export formats available.  If you upgrade to the full developer version of CR, or to CR 2008, you have access to the entire list of export formats.

Several recent projects have had me creating and automating data processes using Crystal Reports and some related tools.   One key tool is the ODBC Export provided by Crystal Reports.  To a Crystal user ODBC is normally used to pull data out of the database.  But the ODBC export option allows you to export the report data back into an ODBC connection and create a new table in your database.  This may sound dangerous, but Crystal does not allow the export to take place if that table name already exists in the database.  This prevents you from accidentally damaging your data.

But in working with  a customer recently I found a pretty serious bug in this export.  I wanted to add a new calculated column to a table so I Continue Reading »
Exports to ODBC and null dates