Prev
Next
Forums Performance Management Lawson Business Intelligence/Reporting/Crystal

Override datasource doesn't appear to work

 9 Replies
 0 Subscribed to this topic
 22 Subscribed to this forum
Sort:
Author
Messages
mikeP
Veteran Member
Posts: 151
Veteran Member
6/16/2009 6:54 PM
    Hi all,

    I have a number of CR2008 reports published to LBI 9.0.3, and I am testing the possibility of using the Override Datasource feature to change the report to run against different data areas in DB2.

    These are ODBC reports that use the client access ODBC driver.   I created datasources in LBI as generic ODBC connections, just playing cause I really don't know what it wants for the database and schema settings, as we normally just specify a server and data area in a connection string or DSN, e.g.
    DBQ=dataarea;system=server.domain.com

    I know the data sources I created won't work, in one case I used a bogus name and password.

    However, when I select one of these bogus data sources, in the override datasources list in the report's data settings, the report still runs properly, pulling data from the datasource that was saved in the report.  (Data is not saved with the report, I must enter a parameter when the report is refreshed, and it pulls appropriate data.)

    I would think that when I override the saved data source with a bogus source, I should at least get prompted for user id and password.  So it appears that LBI is not using the override datasource.

    Can anyone explain this, and point me in the right direction to create working data sources?

    Thanks,

    Mike
    .
    Milo Tsukroff
    Veteran Member
    Posts: 47
    Veteran Member
    7/1/2009 4:39 PM
      Yes, that's a known bug with LBI - override datasource still does not work reliably.
      mikeP
      Veteran Member
      Posts: 151
      Veteran Member
      7/1/2009 4:53 PM
        Do you suppose Lawson knows it doesn't work? I'm in the middle of a support case with them on this issue. I am supposed to send them the RAS logs so they can help debug it.

        kevinmc
        Posts: 3
        7/21/2009 3:50 PM
          MikeP,

          If you have heard back from Lawson can you please share anything you've been told. We're republishing a ton of reports in Lawson 9 and a seemingly random subset of report will generate an error, if we don't use the datasource override the same report will run properly. We have not found a common thread between the working and the non working reports. Any updates would be appreciated.

          Thanks,
          Kevin
          Char
          Veteran Member
          Posts: 62
          Veteran Member
          7/21/2009 4:04 PM
            Were some of the reports written using NT authentication and some not perhaps? You can open them in Crystal and go to Database, set data source location and then look at the properties of the connection. In full blown Enterprise this will cause problems when overriding so it would stand to reason that the same behavior could exist within LBI
            kevinmc
            Posts: 3
            7/21/2009 4:21 PM
              Thanks for the idea, the report are set with OS Authentication = False, I compared two similar reports where one works with datasource override and one does not, the properties of the datasource setup in Crystal are identical. The error it is giving us points to a formula. The formula seems innocent enough, if we remove it from the report the error just points to a different formula. The odd part is that the report works from LBI when we don't use datasource override. Thanks for any ideas!
              Kevin
              mikeP
              Veteran Member
              Posts: 151
              Veteran Member
              7/21/2009 7:08 PM
                Lawson support is still on the case.  They had been working directly with the LBI server admin using Webex, an evidently they got his reports to use an override data source correctly, but mine stil won't work.

                Tried to get them to Webex to my machine to check how I configured the report and LBI data source, but the tech I am working with is not too responsive lately.

                If I ever get it resolved, I'll post the solution.
                Joe Kincaid
                Posts: 3
                7/22/2009 7:14 PM
                  We had this exact problem.  The issue is in LBI 9.0.3.1.  This issue seems to have been fixed in the new 9.0.3.2 version.  We found out while we had this issue that the reports that work, have one or less parameters, and the reports that dont work have more than one parameter.

                  Hope this helps!
                  kevinmc
                  Posts: 3
                  7/23/2009 4:44 PM
                    Thanks for the info, we're not seeing a correlation between the number of parameters and the success of the override, but perhaps with the version change, we can take another look. Lawson is opening a ticket for us, they appear to be looking at it as a RAS issue, so we'll see what happens. Thanks for the information!
                    Kevin
                    mikeP
                    Veteran Member
                    Posts: 151
                    Veteran Member
                    7/24/2009 6:12 PM
                      Yesterday, our LBI server was updated to 9-0-3-2-111, which did not help.  I did get a solution from Lawson however.  This may be specific to my configuration, and DB2 data sources.

                      Turns out that there were a couple things going on.  The main issue appears to be that the data source in the report must be a system DSN. We found that if it was a file DSN or a DSNless connection string, that after publishing the report, LBI would ignore any attempt to use an override data source.

                      There was also a possible problem with the way I set up the LBI data sources.  I'll just paste  in from my notes here:


                      Data sources in LBI administration
                      Data sources can be created in LBI administration which can override the data source stored in the CR when it was created. 
                       
                      To create a data source, log in to LBI and click Report Administration to open the Reporting Services Administration form, then click Maintain Data Sources in the Server Administration section in the left margin menu to display data sources.
                       
                      Click the New button at the top of the form to start the creation process. Fill in the fields on the first page:
                       
                      Name
                      This is the name that appears in the list of override data sources in a report’s Data Setting options. I used the same name as the DSN on the LBI server that will be used in the datasource, e.g. "Lawson 9 EUG".
                       
                      Description
                      This appears in the Maintain Data Sources form, and provides administrators with a description of the data source. E.g.: "Eugene production v9 (lawapp9dbl)"
                       
                      Type
                      Select Generic ODBC connection.
                       
                      User,Roles,Groups
                      IMPORTANT, if you do not select a group you’re in, you will not be able to see this data source after you save it!!!
                       
                      Click on the people icon to get a dialog from which you must select EUGGROUP. If all users don’t have access to the datasource via this property, they won’t be able to run the report with it even if you configure the report to use it.
                       
                       
                      Drill Around section
                      Leave these empty
                       
                       Click next to move to the next page and fill in the fields:
                       
                      Description
                      This value is taken from the previous page
                       
                       
                      Drill Around section
                      Leave these empty
                       
                      DSN
                      This must the name of an existing system DSN on the LBI server. 
                      E.g.: Lawson EUG
                       
                       
                      Database type
                      DB2
                       
                      Database
                      The data area to be accessed by this data source, e.g. LAWAPP9DBL.  Must match the data area in the DSN specified above.
                       
                      Schema
                      "dbo" without the quotes. Must be in lower case.
                       
                       
                      User name
                      (Generic LBI user name)
                       
                      Passwords
                      (Password for generic LBI user name)


                      ===============================

                      I had the scheme name "dbo" in upper case, which may have caused a problem.

                      The Lawson tech said that most sites do not specify a default user ID and password on in the report's LBI data settings, but do specify them on the override data sources.  This way, when an override source is used and you're prompted to log in, you know there's a problem: either the override source is not being used, or the name and password on the override source are incorrect.