I've got an .rpt file that I did not write and can find no documentation about. I want to be able to review the SQL that is generated from this report so that I can figure out, well, what data it was pulling and what WHERE clause parameters were used.
I can open it up and see the report layout. But when I select Database|Show SQL Query... the report tries to connect to the data source. The problem is, the data source being used is unknown to me, probably an ODBC connection used by whoever wrote the query. All I can do at that stage is 'Cancel' and I'm back to looking at the report designer.
Am I missing something? Can I get to the SQL query without connecting to the datasource? It seems like viewing the selection criteria shouldn't be dependent on a data connection.
Thanks.
version: Crystal Reports 2008
I know that this is an old thread, but I encountered this same problem. Effectively we used to have a database/application that has since been aquired by an external agency.
Although they now have the database/application they don't have access to crystal reports, so we can't just send them the old report that we used to run. Likewise we can't run it as we don't even have the database set up anywhere.... So instead our plan was just to extract the SQL code generated by the report and forward that on.
We experienced the same problem, but the solution is actually pretty simple.
If you don't have access to the original data source, just create a new 'blank' datasource (such as an ODBC connection). As long as the connection to the datasource works (i.e. it is some kind of valid datasource this it works fine). When running the 'Show SQL' option point the report to this datasource. As long as you don't try to actually run the report (and only show the SQL) the operation wont fail. This worked for our situation anyway. (Crystal Reports 2008)
(I can give more details if it helps in any way.)
It should be possible to find out some details about the existing datasource, by selecting Database > Set Datasource Location... .
As well as enabling you to change the datasource location, this should show you some information about the current datasource, such as which type of datasource is being used, and possibly (dependant on the type of driver) the name of the database. It is likely to be less helpful if (as you surmise) the datasource is ODBC, but if it uses a native driver there may be something useful.
Without the password, I'm not sure how much you can do. It seems "Show SQL Query" requires to report to run first, then generate the SQL plan.
It's not ideal, but you could go to Database > Visual Linking Expert to at least see the tables and how they are joined, and the go to the Record Selection Formula Editor and see what the custom WHERE statements are.
Viewing the SQL of a Command in a Crystal Report File
There are times you have just the report file, but not the associated database structure that the report uses.
This is common when dealing with example reports of functionality you wish to mimic.
This is a workaround ONLY to allow you to see the SQL of a Command that a Crystal Report is based on, when you don't have the underlying database connection that the report is based on.
In essence, the dialog box has to be satisfied before it will show the SQL, so we fool it with a legitimate Data Source, just not one that would work with the SQL that is actually in the SQL Command.
Why does a report use a command? Doesn't Crystal Reports have the ability to link tables?
When a Crystal Report is based on a record set that is too complex for the table linking functionality within Crystal Reports, the report can instead be based on a SQL Query, usually developed/tested in another editor tool and pasted into the command. This allows advanced SQL functions to be utilized.
If you don't already have a Data Source on your computer set up that you can connect to, you will need to build one first.
A simple Microsoft Access .mdb file saved in a simple location will suffice.
I placed mine with the path C:\A_test\test.mdb to make it easy to find.
If you don't have one, google for a sample mdb file and download it, saving it with a name and location you can remember. (You won't ever actually open this file, but just connect to it.)
Once you have the file saved, open the ODBC Administrator and create a New Data Source.
(you can get to the ODBC Administrator quickly from Start > type ODBC in the Search)
On the User DSN tab, click the Add button.
Scroll down the driver list to Microsoft Access Driver (*.mdb), select it and click the Finish button.
In the Data Source Name box, type a name (I used MyTest).
Click the Select Button and select the mdb file you saved from a previous step, click OK.
Click OK again. You will see your new Data Source listed by the name you gave it. Click OK.
You now have the data source you will need for the next steps.
Open the Crystal Report you want to see the SQL command for, and click on Database Expert button or Database>Database Expert Menu.
Under Selected Tables, right click on the Command and choose View Command
The Data Source Selection Box appears. Select the Data Source you created (or one you already use) and click the Finish button. The View Command box should open with the SQL in the left pane. Copy the SQL into your favorite text editor.
Whats happening is that the crystal reports needs a database to connect to regardless if its the original source DB or not.
Create a local database or use a database stored on a server, added it to your ODBC Datasources and use it when connecting. After a successful connection you should be able to view the SQL query without an error.
Related
Our project is moving from MySQL to MS SQL and after a long time working with MySQL Workbench I really miss some features in SQL Server Management studio (2014).
Do you know whether they exist in SSMS or there is an alternative/replacement application for SSMS to work with database?
Functions are listed below:
Generate update data script to review and to be able to copy-paste it. Do not update data when I move to another row when the table is opened for editing.
Some changes are still made in database in our project, and sometimes it's easier to add some rows manually in 5 tables, get the script, test it and run the script at production environment. I don't want to write a script for each update and I don't want to make a mistake when copying data to production server using edit table option.
Review update table script BEFORE the changes were made, not after (I am talking about Tools - Options - Designer - Auto generate change scripts).
Upload a file using select file dialog into a binary field.
Again, I know about using OPENROWSET function, just interested how to do it as I used to.
Ability to view large text fields in a convenient way in SSMS. Now I have to copy data from a field and paste it into notepad. (For example, error message with a long trace log)
Save a few tabs with some useful scripts and open all of them when I open SSMS.
Is there any way to organize tabs to be able to work with 10+ tabs more effectively? Now only 6 of them can be shown on the screen (compate it to 15 tabs in MySQL WB).
Simple 'search field' (like Ctrl+F in Excel) to be able to search data in all fields displayed on the screen.
I would appreciate any ideas.
Thank you.
This isn't a coding question, so much as it is a functionality question.
I'm a bit new to Powerpivot and I'm attempting to use Powerpivot as a way to deliver reports to my team rather than SSRS because in our company, the only SSRS ReportServer I can use is officially "owned" by a team that is hostile to my team.
I have written numerous SQL ad-hoc queries that we are using for reports in SSRS, but been I've trying to migrate them to Powerpivot. For some of the reports, I've been able to paste the SQL query into the powerpivot window and make a pivottable out of these. However, I'd like to be able have some workbooks just contain the results of the query (they don't deal with numbers, as some of them are a data dump or a large collection of text strings), so that they look like the powerpivot window's dataset, but that they can be filtered, sorted, etc. Is this possible, or can I only use pivottables? I can't seem to find a way that I can just get Excel to directly display what is in the Powerpivot window without pivoting it - I know it is called Power*pivot* but because the PP window just shows the query results itself, I'm hoping there is a way to use it as an alternative to SSRS.
Also is there anyway to check if our Sharepoint server is capable of running Powerpivot so that I can deploy reports there for users to use without having Powerpivot installed on their computers other than by saving it to Sharepoint and seeing if a user can run it? If not, how difficult would it be to have an IT team update the SP server so that it can handle PP?
Any help is appreciated, as I'm in a position where I cannot contact IT or project management, and I can't raise any red flags with IT/BI/PM. Thank you very much for your time.
It sounds like you just want to get the results of your SQL query directly into an Excel spreadsheet, where you can use the Excel filter and sort capability. It doesn't appear that you want to use any of the functionality that PowerPivot provides, so you can achieve what you described by using an existing Excel component, Microsoft Query. It's a bit of a clunky old interface but it works. Here's some instructions to use:
In an Excel spreadsheet, click on the Data tab, select the "From Other Sources" button on the Get External Data area of the ribbon.
Select "From Microsoft Query"
On the "Choose Data Source" click OK to create a new data source
On the "Create new data source" window select the appropriate driver and database details for your data source
If using a SQL Server data source, don't select anything for the optional step 4 (select a default table).
Click OK to return to the Choose Data Source window, then OK again to select the new data source.
You're now prompted to choose columns for your query, but if you already have some SQL then click Cancel - this will display a prompt to continue editing in Microsoft Query - click Yes.
The Add Tables window pops up, click Close
You're now in the Microsoft Query interface. If you click on the SQL button, you can paste in your SQL. Click the Return Data button to run the query, the results will be displayed in an Excel worksheet.
Once this is set up, you just need to click "Refresh Data" on the Data tab to re-run the query and update the spreadsheet.
So this is a homework question but I'm probably missing something really simple. I am working on a project where I was given a database. I'm not in the programming part of the assignment but I have to write the test case scenerios for the project before starting the project. Because I am working with an SQL Database that was provided. I am supposed to write the expected output from the database. If the user chooses shampoo from the products menu then the different brands of shampoo should then populate in my datagrid.
Because they gave us a sample database. How do I view it? I am I supposed to be able to write the expected output if I don't know what has been pre-programmed into the database?
Thanks in advance. I have already designed my layout and I guess I'm just stuck because I have been taught to plan your output before you program that way you know the program is working correctly. I don't want to write the assignment to find my output in case I did it wrong I guess, if that makes sense.
Here is how to do it in Visual Studio 2010
To create a data connection to the Northwind database—SQL Server
database file (.mdf)
On the View menu, click Server Explorer/Database Explorer.
In Server Explorer/Database Explorer, right-click Data Connections and
click Add Connection.
After you click Add Connection, either the Add Connection dialog box
or the Choose Data Source dialog box will appear.
If the Choose Data Source dialog box appears, select Microsoft SQL
Server Database File, and then click OK.
If the Add Connection dialog box appears, verify that the Data source
is set to Microsoft SQL Server Database File (SqlClient). If it is not
set to Microsoft SQL Server Database File (SqlClient), click Change to
open the Change Data Source dialog box, click Microsoft SQL Server
Database File, and then click OK.
Click Browse to locate the .mdf file that contains the Northwind
database.
Depending on the requirements of your version of the Northwind
database, either click Use Windows Authentication or click SQL Server
Authentication and type a user name and password to log on to the
computer running SQL Server. For more information, see Add/Modify
Connection (Microsoft SQL Server Database File).
Click OK.
A data connection to the Northwind database is added to Server
Explorer/Database Explorer.
Okay, so this should be pretty straight forward then:
Download and install SQL Management Studio Express.
Attach the database.
I wouldn't normally just list links in an answer, but this one really calls for it. These are very foundational URL's and won't be moving.
Oftentimes I need to troubleshoot a workbook that another person at my company has created and published to our server. To troubleshoot, I need to see their connection details, specifically their Custom SQL, to understand what data they are using in their extract.
Is there any way to view this connection info (specifically their SQL code) when viewing the published workbook on the server (web) version?
I am an admin and I am able to download their workbook to my desktop version of tableau, then open it, then reconnect to the data, then look through the data connections they created, to see their SQL. But it's a really cumbersome process.
All I'm looking to do is, when looking at a published workbook, see the data connection details so that I can see the Custom SQL, without going through the process of downloading I described above.
You can get some details on the SQL statement by creating a performance recording.
From the Tableau Server Admin Guide:
Enable Performance Recordings:
Choose the Admin button in Tableau Server.
Choose Site.
Select a site.
Choose Edit.
In the Edit Site dialog box, select Allow Performance Recording.
Choose OK.
You start performance recording for a specific view by adding ?:record_performance=yes to
the url. For example:
http://server.site.com/views/Variety/BaseballStatistics?:record_performance=yes
Now, notice a new link at the top of your view called "Show Performance Recording".
Click this to open the generated performance workbook dashboard. Click on the bar chart and observe the SQL appear at the bottom of the view. Note, the SQL text will truncate after about 250 characters.
The admin guide suggests viewing the "Tableau Log" to find the full SQL statement.. I have looked at all the server side logs in C:\ProgramData\Tableau\Tableau Server\data\tabsvc\logs but cannot locate the SQL. (please reply if you know where to find this?)
You can also run a database trace to see the SQL that the database sees. For example, for MS SQL Server, run the Profiler tool, setup a default trace, and filter on "Application Name" = "Tableau Protocol Server 8.0" or similar.
I have version 8.1 and this is how I got around this problem. Tableau shows a 'Custom SQL Warning' when you open a workbook that contains the custom SQL. You can copy all the text in this message by simply Ctrl + C as this is any other Windows warning message. And then paste it your editor of choice to analyze it.
I do not know if this works on earlier versions.
I thought you could do this easily, and originally answered that you could, but I didn't pay close attention to your question. You can change some things about data connections without editing the workbook, including the ip address or name of the database server, but there doesn't appear to be a simple way to access custom sql without downloading the workbook.
Go to the Administrator page and select Data Connections.
You can enter some search criteria to filter the list of data connections shown (or not).
Find the workbook in question by scanning the second column -- you can sort the column if that helps.
Then select the corresponding data connection in the 4th column to see the details of the connection.
If it makes sense for the connection, you can also modify the connection directly at the server. This is really useful if you, say, need to move your enterprise database to a new IP address or change a database password, without downloading, modifying and republishing alot of workbooks.
An even better practice is to start using shared data connections hosted on Tableau server instead of having each workbook have its own local copy of connection and related info.
I've inherited a project (without a handy handover) that contains reports published to a Reporting Server (2005).
MY SSRS knowledge is 4 years stale, so I need your help.
I need to edit one of the published reports, is this possible?
I also want to peek into the Data Source on the RS, because that's probably where I can change stuff.
I'll add more info as I get a better understanding of what exactly to ask.
EDIT: I found a project for some of the reports, opened up in VS2005 BI.
Still, how do I see where the Data Source gets its data?
It brings back 56 fields but I don't know which tables/stored procs/queries are used to get these.
Yes you can.
1st - to edit the published reports: Browse to the folder containing the report source you want on report server (web server). On the right side click 'Show Details'. Now click the properties icon under the 'Edit' column. Near the bottom you will see two links: Edit & Update. Click edit and the source RDL file will start to download. This is the actual report source.
You can import this right into a VS2005 report project and have full access for modifications.
2nd - As to the project you found: After opening an RDL file for editing, click the 'Data' tab. directly under that you will see a drop down list labeled 'Dataset:'. A report can have one or more datasets. These are the actual queries that generate report data. Also clicking '...' will allow you to see other properties of each dataset, such as parameters, etc.
You can run a profiler on your server, then run your report. The profiler give you most info about your query or stored procedure.