One Crystal Report portable to different databases (same database design)

[Former Member]

Good day,

I apologize first off, as I am NOT a programmer, just a user.

In summary:

Crystal Report for data from Sql database.

Currently using ODBC connection and linking to database.

However, we have multiple databases, all with the same table structure etc, just different data.

Right now we change the datasource for each database.

The crystal report is run from an in house program

Is there a way we can have the report set so that it will pull the datasource at runtime, and not be hard coded into the crystal report.

Our goal is to take the one report and have our users of each database be able to access their own data without creating multiple copies of the report with each dataset.

Thanks,

RY

[Former Member]

Many thanks.

Am I correct in stating that to do your proposed action, I would require Crystal Enterprise server? I do not have access ot the Enterprise Server.

Is there another method for accomplishing this?

I looked on the document here: https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/sdn/go/portal/prtroot/docs/library/uuid/00635998-751e-2b10-9cba-f50ee1e4...

However, having no programming experience, I am unsure as to how to implement the programming that they are stating.

Any other help greatly appreciated.

RY

[Former Member]

Hi Ryan,

As per my understanding you have multiple databases with the same database schema however with the different data. You would like to create reports where the user should be able to select which database to use and this should not be hard coded.

In this case you can use the Business View wherein you have the feature of Dynamic data connection which basically is a pointer to different Data Connections

A Dynamic Data Connection is a collection of pointers to various Data Connections. An administrator or user is able to select which Data Connection to use through a parameter.

When users refresh reports that are based on a Dynamic Data Connection, they are prompted to specify which of the available Data Connections to use.

Note that each of the data sources that a Dynamic Data Connection points to must have similar schemas

When a Business View designer creates a Data Foundation that is based on a Dynamic Data Connection, this user is prompted to specify which Data Connection to use. Similarly, when a user refreshes a report based on a Dynamic Data Connection, that user is prompted to specify which Data Connection to use. In the usage scenario, you would create one Dynamic Data Connection composed of the three ORACLE sales databases: Sales Development, Sales Testing, and Sales Production. A typical name for such a Dynamic Data Connection would be Dynamic Sales.

I hope this information helps you and let me know if this works for you.

Regards,

Prashant