Override datasource doesn't appear to work

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mikeP

Veteran Member

Posts: 151

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

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

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

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

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

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.