I always mention case sensitivity in my Crystal Reports classes. My normal comment is that CR formula comparisons are case sensitive with the exception of the selection formula, which is usually NOT case sensitive.  I even wrote about this here, last month.  So I was surprised last week in my Advanced class when our formulas ignored all case differences. I thought this might be a recent change so I went home and tested reports back to v8.5. None of the comparisons were case sensitive.

So I did a quick Google search and found a 10 year old forum thread discussing case sensitivity. One short comment in that thread explained the difference. And guess who wrote that comment and promptly forgot about it (Doh!).

So the answer is that there is a setting in Continue Reading »
Case sensitivity in Crystal Reports – revisited.

There are many ways to deploy Crystal Reports to users. I normally lean toward the simpler and less expensive options, like locally installed viewers, or scheduled delivery of PDF output.  But there are environments where a server based option is necessary. The ‘official’ options from SAP are Crystal (Reports) Server and BO Enterprise. You can read about these on the SAP website.  But there are other, less expensive products out there that many users never see. These are third party products that allow you to centrally manage your report deployment from your server.

There is a page on my blog that lists and compares these products, and I update it every January.  This year the list includes: Continue Reading »
Server based deployment options compared (2012)

Crystal limits how many values you have to choose from when you use a dynamic parameter.  The default limit is 1,000.  To show more than 1000 values you have to add a registry key called ‘LOV’ in the CR path for Database options.  This needs to be done on each PC that will be running the report.   The following examples are for versions 11.5 through 14.x.  Your registry path may be slightly different depending on your Operating System and your CR version.  See this SAP link for more info.

1) Add a new registry entry under the appropriate path on your PC to the DatabaseOptions key:

For v11.5 use this:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Business Objects\Suite 11.5\Crystal Reports\DatabaseOptions\

For 2008 use this:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Business Objects\Suite 12.0\Crystal Reports\DatabaseOptions\

For 2011, 2013, 2016 on a 64-bit Operating System use this:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\SAP BusinessObjects\Suite XI 4.0\Crystal Reports\DatabaseOptions

For 2011, 2013, 2016 on a 32-bit Operating System
OR for 2020 on a 64-bit Operating System use this:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\SAP BusinessObjects\Suite XI 4.0\Crystal Reports\DatabaseOptions\

2) Add a new key at that level called: LOV

3) Add a string to that key called MaxRowsetRecords

4) Set the value to whatever limit you want.

I have read that you can enter a zero or -1 to mean unlimited, but that hasn’t worked in my tests.

Also note that loading large lists this way can make the parameter run for a few minutes before the user can select a value. Also note that any dynamic list that has more than 200 values will activate the parameter’s ‘batch interface” discussed in a previous post.

(And thanks to Duane Fenner, an Account Manager and CR developer at LeaseTeam, Inc. for suggesting this post.)

One of my customer sent me two screen shots. One showed a normal preview on his development machine. The other showed a preview window on the runtime machine. The second had the group tree, but the report was nothing but a long blank vertical strip. He had been struggling with it for a month and could not figure out what was causing the strange behavior at runtime.

When the preview behavior changes on a different machine, it is usually due to a printer driver problem. I also know that CR will normally Continue Reading »
Strange printer behavior at runtime

For the past few days I have been helping a customer develop a GANTT style chart in Crystal Reports.  The challenge was that Crystal’s normal Gantt chart doesn’t allow multiple bar segments on the same row.  So I was showing them how to create a GANTT chart using formulas and specially formatted summary fields. This method requires formatting dozens of small fields with the same color condition.

I selected an initial color but was trying to think of the most efficient way to change the color in all the condition formulas on the fly. Before I had an answer the customer showed me a method I had not seen before.  He created a single formula that returned Continue Reading »
Controlling the color of many objects from one formula