Subject Re: ODBC & Crystal From Louis James <l.james@lcsnet.net> Date Tue, 18 Feb 2025 05:11:41 -0500 Newsgroups dbase.getting-started Mervyn Bick Wrote: > > Some years ago Ronnie and I experimented with using the Microsoft driver > as well as OLEDB with Microsoft Jet so as to be able to use ADO with > .dbf tables.   An Update! While it may not be the most elegant solution and it's not necessarily free, I've resolved my problem with three (3) programs: *.- SAP Crystal Reports 2016 - (not the latest by the way) (On the Developer Side) When I installed this on my system, lo and behold I was able to access DBF files.  I created an ODBC 32-Bit using the "Driver do Microsoft dBase (*.dbf) driver.  Notice that it's the "Portuguese" version.  This is something from years and years ago.  There are English versions but those don't work.   This was something I remembered from years ago.   Once I created the ODBC User DSN, I was able to access the files via Crystal.   *.-  Report Runner Viewer  (https://reportrunner.com/)  (both developer and client side) This is the viewer I use to display the Crystal Report.  It's a simple command line: "C:\Program Files (x86)\Jeff-Net\Report Runner\Report Runner Unified.Exe" jnReport=c:\MyReports\Report1.rpt jnID=sqlsusan jnPassword=Reports!1 jnParm1=May jnParm2=2022 jnDisableDrilldown=1 In the actual code I wrote: RUN(true,'"C:\Program Files (x86)\Jeff-Net\Report Runner\Report Runner Unified.Exe" jnReport=&cRptFile"')  // &cRptFile is a Private variable with the RPT file Name Using the RUN() command launches the app without the DOS command window *.-  SAP Crystal Reports runtime engine for .NET Framework (32-Bit) That gives you the CRW Viewer on the client side.   When launched, the viewer "looks" like a part of my app and the user is none the wiser that I'm using a third party viewer.   Yes, it costs (for Report Runner) but the client is paying for it.   This helps me solve the ODBC issue, the Crystal Reports Issue and provide a new viewer with features that can allow me parameters passing and emailing reports and exporting.   Why not use the dBase report writer?  Basically: *.- Sorry old dog here!  New tricks are difficult for these old bones (been doing this for 38 years).  Not when I've been using all versions of Crystal even as far back as Ashton-Tate.  That's a long time ago.  I grow up on CRW and all my reports are CRW based.  The conversion cost (me) would be too much. And candidly there are features with CRW that the dBase Report Writer does not have. I would love to see dBase "go back" to an external Report Writer that can be "called" with a function that can pass RPT name, parameters and the sort.  For now, I'm happy. Thank you to ALL that have helped.  Your help is invaluable.  You prompted and prodded into the solutions.  For that, thank you. Louis