Crystal Reports Will Not Refresh in Report Services -

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Jordan

Basic Member

Posts: 23

6/6/2014 12:14 PM

I've been asked to get reports and documents setup on an existing dashboard for our supply chain team. I don't have a true IT background and am essentially wondering if I need to get our Lawson IT group involved in this problem. I have reports created in Crystal and they refresh with no problem in there. I've published them to the reporting services but when I click to either View Latest Instance or View with Data Refresh, I get the following error:

Error
Failed to open the connection. Failed to open the connection. {2EE634A4-F46D-4422-A608-3699B6D085AF}.rpt

I would love to be able to solve this problem myself but am thinking it's at a higher level than I'm at. I tried both save options in Crystal - Save with Data and just normal Save. I am able to View Latest Instance when I save the data with the report, but of course it does not refresh. Saving without the data gives me the error in any viewing option. Any help or guidance is appreciated!

Patrick Dowd

Advanced Member

Posts: 25

6/6/2014 12:21 PM

It's possible that you may not have the required data sources created. Your reports will all have a data source connection to the database, and those connections also need to be created on the server where Crystal RAS is present. If you have multiple RAS servers, the connections need to be created on each one. Please note that the ODBC connections need to be 32 bit connections, not 64 bit connections.

Greg Moeller

Veteran Member

Posts: 1498

6/6/2014 12:26 PM

And also, for LBI, you rarely (if ever) want to save the report with data.

Jordan

Basic Member

Posts: 23

6/6/2014 12:48 PM

Thanks for the info. It looks like there are connections already setup but what role does the User name/Password play in the Connection Attributes? Would that cause a problem for me if I'm not connected to that User Name anywhere?

Greg Moeller

Veteran Member

Posts: 1498

6/6/2014 12:50 PM

Here's a quick troubleshooting tip: Run the report from Crystal --- directly on the RAS server.
Does it run there?

Jordan

Basic Member

Posts: 23

6/6/2014 1:49 PM

Greg-
I don't have any knowledge about servers, so I'm not sure where to go to do this?

Greg Moeller

Veteran Member

Posts: 1498

6/6/2014 2:20 PM

Unless you are running a remote RAS setup, it should be your LBI server.

redanker

Basic Member

Posts: 14

6/26/2014 6:39 PM

I could use some assistance in this same area. Our user has created a Crystal report, that uses an ODBC connection and a spreadsheet for input. When attempting to publish the report to the dashboard, the user gets the same error stated above.."Failed to open connection...". What needs to be defined to publish this report. How does it make a connection to the spreadsheet? Where does the spreadsheet have to reside?

Matthew Nye

Veteran Member

Posts: 514

6/26/2014 6:54 PM

probably permissions to the share where the spreadsheet is. the RAS engine will need to use a Service Account of some kind that has permissions.

redanker

Basic Member

Posts: 14

6/27/2014 12:50 PM

does this "service account" need to be set up as a new "data source" in the Reporting Service Admin Console? The user running & publishing the report has access to the share.

Matthew Nye

Veteran Member

Posts: 514

6/27/2014 1:24 PM

No, the Report Application Server engine (RAS) that Reporting Services uses needs to impersonate a user with access to this drive. It doenst matter what user is logged into LBI because their credentials arent passed through to the file or data source used to retrieve the data.

In short, no new data source. config is on the server where RAS is installed.

Greg Moeller

Veteran Member

Posts: 1498

6/27/2014 1:55 PM

What is needed is the "service account" that is running the Reporting Service instance to have access to that share. See attached.

Attachments

lbiras.docx

redanker

Basic Member

Posts: 14

6/27/2014 1:59 PM

Ok thank you... No new data source is needed, but how does RAS "impersonate" a user with access to the drive where the spreadhseet resides?

If RAS is started with the local account of "LawsonUser".. then does "LawsonUser" need to have rights to \\servername\spreadsheetdata.xls

Matthew Nye

Veteran Member

Posts: 514

6/27/2014 2:06 PM

a local account cant be given access to a network drive, hence the need for a service account. I think Gregs doc should get you the rest of the way.

redanker

Basic Member

Posts: 14

6/27/2014 2:13 PM

Excellent .. thank you !

redanker

Basic Member

Posts: 14

7/21/2014 11:17 AM

Good Morning- With all of the great advice, the user managed to get the report published to the LBI dashboard. Now the problem is when a user "selects" the report to view, they are prompted for "Default user ID and Default password".. the box says .."The report you reuqested requires further information.." I have tried several didn't "Data Settings"..
any suggestions would be appreciated!

mikeP

Veteran Member

Posts: 151

7/21/2014 1:57 PM

We don't use dashboards, just run reports directly out of LBI, so this might not apply...

Reports are developed in CR on a user's PC using a local system DSN for testing. When published, the report's datasource must be overridden using Report Options, Data Settings; and a datasource must be selected from Override Datasource list. If not overridden, you're prompted for user name and password when you run the report from LBI.

The datasources in the Override Datasource list are created in LBI Server administration using a sytem DSN on the LBI server. The username and password are stored with the datasource when it's created.

redanker

Basic Member

Posts: 14

7/21/2014 3:37 PM

thank you. We did attempt to set up those parameters you indicated. It is still requesting default username and password. We are using two data sources, a spreadhseet & ODBC connection.

Greg Moeller

Veteran Member

Posts: 1498

7/21/2014 4:15 PM

to be clear: If you are using 2 data sources, you'll have 2 different sections under 'Data Settings' that you'll have to modify/override.
We usually include a default user/pass in both of those sections as we have relatively few valid Oracle users.

Greg Dey

Advanced Member

Posts: 23

7/21/2014 4:56 PM

I have a similar setup. First I had to make sure that whatever user I started RAS with had permission to the spreadsheet on the shared drive. Second since the spreadsheet is the datasource I had to make sure that the location, file name, sheet name, column name and column order are exactly the same in the spreadsheet on the file share as when I built the report in Crystal. If something is different on the spreadsheet since the original report was built you will receive the prompt for credentials.

redanker

Basic Member

Posts: 14

7/21/2014 5:03 PM

Yes .. understood.. we see the two data sources. This is progress to us.. Lawson Guru got us this far.. we have them set up.. But when we try to view the report.. it says.."your report requires further information.." is there a log that I can view where it is failing?

redanker

Basic Member

Posts: 14

7/21/2014 5:22 PM

Thank you. everything looks like it is setup correctly in the two datasources. But it is still challenging for credentials. I even tried entering the username & password when prompted.. it will not authenticate...

mikeP

Veteran Member

Posts: 151

7/21/2014 5:45 PM

Is your development datasource a system DSN for both datasources?

When I was first trying to get an override datasource to work back in 2009, it turned out that we were using file DSNs or even DSNless connections in development. Lawson stated that the CR needs to be developed using system DSNs, and in fact changing them to a system DSN and republishing was the solution.

Greg Moeller

Veteran Member

Posts: 1498

7/21/2014 6:01 PM

Try just running your report FROM your RAS server in CR. Until it will run there, it won't run via LBI.

redanker

Basic Member

Posts: 14

7/22/2014 12:35 PM

Thank you.. we have done exactly as you have documented. (Our initial problem was the user starting RAS & permision to spread sheet) correcting this allowed the user to publish report. {We allow our users to develope the report and publish from the same "shared" area} Now we just have to figure out "viewing" it. Any recommendations on trouble shooting?