BusinessObjects Board

CR XI - On-report parameters with a Universe?

Just wondering if anyone else has been able to create Crystal’s on-report parameters (as opposed to parameters created in the Query Panel - or Data Provider) when using a BO Universe as a data source.

Crystal Reports XI allows me to enter the Create New Parameter dialog box from the Field Explorer menu, but doesn’t allow me to see any values in the Value Field. Without being able to select a Value, I am unable to create an on-report parameter using a BO Universe as a data source. It looks like this Crystal functionality is reserved exclusively for Business Views - can anyone confirm this?

Thanks,

DJ


DJ06482 :us: (BOB member since 2002-11-22)

Yes it is.Because Business views are designed for Crystal reports.But Universe is meant for Business objects.For paramater you have define that in the universe itself.You cannot design New Parameter if u use universe as the data source.


Rajasekar :india: (BOB member since 2004-07-16)

That’s what I figured, thanks for the confirmation! I thought I had heard rumblings a while back that the universes would ultimately replace the Business Views, but the more I delve into Business View functionality, the less I believe they’ll be replaced anytime soon…

Thanks for your help!

DJ


DJ06482 :us: (BOB member since 2002-11-22)

I agree. The plan is to merge Universes with Business Views. One of the big things that this will allow is multiple data sources for a universe. However, there are definite distinctions between the two metadata layers at the moment and it looks like this situation will continue into XIr2.


Nemesis :australia: (BOB member since 2004-06-09)

I heard a BO rep talk about this a couple weeks ago. He said that their goal is to merge universes and business views in the version after r2. He used the phrase Universal Semantic Layer quite a bit and explicitly acknowledged that both have strengths/weaknesses and that they’re planning on bringing the best of both to the new model. As far as which might be the future, he kept returning to point that views only date back to cr10 while universes are years old so there’s a lot of maturity there, but it didn’t sound like there’s going to be a single victor.


Cris E :us: (BOB member since 2005-03-18)

I hope i’m understanding your question.

OK, if you want to create a parameter in Crystal instead of the BO universe, You were on the right track. You need to create a new parameter using the new parameter dialog box from the field explorer. The value fields are empty because they are meant for you to fill them. For example, if you want to enter a “Country” parameter/prompt. You create a parameter named “country” or whatever you want to call it and enter the values that the user can choose, if any, in the value fields. You can enter “USA”, “France”, “England” etc. Once you configure the options you click ok to create the parameter. Once the parameter is created you can go to the Select Expert and choose your country field and then choose to enter the formula editor. You need a formula that would end up looking something like: {Query1.Country} = {?Country} where {Query1.Country} is your country field and {?Country} is your parameter field. That’s all you need to create a Crystal parameter that will prompt the user for a country value when you run the report.

Now I have to warn you that this is way more inefficient than simply creating the parameter in the universe. You should always try to keep parameters on the universe so the processing takes place on the server and not the client.


alx1978 (BOB member since 2005-03-30)

I am having a similar problem when trying to create dynamic prompts in a report based on a universe - it is not letting me enter anything in the Values section, and there is nothing listed there to select from. I have some predefined conditions in the universe, but when I try to add them to the query, I get a ‘Failed to Retrieve SQL’ error when I try to save the query or view the SQL.

So I have to base dynamic cascading prompts on a Business View then? I’d better get back to the manuals…


msmit207 (BOB member since 2003-03-04)

Hi,
Actually when we retrieve the prompt values from universe.It is showing me “failed to retrive the list of values”.Looking for the suggestions…


Rajasekar :india: (BOB member since 2004-07-16)

Does anyone know if it is possible to cleverly combine a universe and a Business View in the same report, with the data objects coming from the universe, restricted by the prompts coming from the Business View? Otherwise I’ll have to rebuild the whole of the existing universe as a Business View…

Thanks

Matt


msmit207 (BOB member since 2003-03-04)

I did come up with an approach to having a reusable prompt – not quite the same as a Crystal parameter, but goes some of the way…

Since we haven’t ever made use (yes, in the almost 10 years we’ve been working with BusObj universes!) of predefined condition objects, this didn’t occur to me til yesterday. So, I went ahead and created a couple predefined condition objects for some of our more popular prompts, and they seem to come through the Universe to Crystal just fine. (And I made use of the Designer FAQ, for tips of @Prompt syntax!)

This may have occurred to others of you already, but I thought I’d mention it for those of you who might be in the same boat. Also, if anyone has already tried this approach, and has any lessons learned we should know about, I’d love to hear about them.

Thanks!


Amy Miller :us: (BOB member since 2002-06-07)

Well, one wrinkle in the ointment of this otherwise nifty solution.

I tried make a custom LOV for an object, selecting the obj and description in the LOV query, as we’ve been able to do in Designer for a while now. When I test the LOV in Designer and WebI (which we won’ t actually be using) the LOV displays properly and the query works fine.

However, in Crystal, only the first object in the LOV appears. I then tried concatenating the column and description, but that caused the query to return no data.

Has anyone found a way around this, to get Crystal (using a universe) to take advantage of an LOV for which the list is set to display more than one column?

Thanks,
Amy

Thanks!


Amy Miller :us: (BOB member since 2002-06-07)

All–

Just adding, re: my post above:

Interestingly, Crystal XI can, in the query panel, see the customized list of values from the universe. The problem – only the first column appearing – comes when a prompt is created on the object with the customized LOV. Using the prompt generates an “Enter Values” screen, whose list only seems to be able to be one column wide, with no horizontal scrolling over to additional columns from the customized LOV.

This is really frustrating - I thought I had this licked last week! :cry:

Thanks,
–a.


Amy Miller :us: (BOB member since 2002-06-07)

I had an interesting webex call with tech support today. The rep agreed it does look like the prompt should handle the multi-column LOV, and she’s going to send it off to the producti group, so I’ll pass on what I hear. A couple other things of note:

  • the multiple columns display fine within an “in list” in the query panel itself because the Crystal XI query panel is really just – as suspected – a stripped down version of WebI. The prompt screen is a Crystal interface, and so has the problem.

  • the rep, who comes from the Crystal side, tried hard to to get Crystal parameter to work with the universe-based query, and, of course it didn’t work. Interesting that she tried, though.

Thanks,
–a.


Amy Miller :us: (BOB member since 2002-06-07)