Sage 100

When working on a report setting in design view, its using a work table from Sage 100 (4.5 Crystal XI), so when you preview in Crystal you see nothing (except some text fields. Is there a way to populate the work table then go to Crystal design view? In the old days Crystal 8.5 I recall we could generate a form to preview then go into Crystal and design view and have preview data to work with.

Yes. Here's how I do it. I preview the report so it populates the temporary work table. Then, while the preview is on the screen, I rename the original work file to .safe, and also rename the temp file as the work file. I usually do this in a backup company if on a live system. Then I can preview in Crystal against a populated table. Once done, I rename the files back to their original names.

If you preview the report in Sage 100, it creates a worktable with a bunch of data after it, e.g. XXXXXXWrk[co./user, date/time, etc].m4t. If you copy the original XXXXXXWrk.m4t table then rename the file with the extra data to simply XXXXXXXWrk.m4t, you can THEN run it in Crystal. (I'm not sure about all the data but you'll see a string after the original file name.) Does that make sense? If not, let me know!

Ah, the good ol days............................... Dan Burlsen solved this problem for the group many many moons ago. When you are in MAS preview mode, go into Win Explorer to the module data folder for that company. There will be a copy of the WRK folder with a timestamp. Make a copy of the temporary table as it should disappear when you close the preview. Close the preview. Rename the original wrk file. Rename the time stamp temporary wrk table to the original name. Now you can update your Crysal in designer with populated data.....

OMG - A NEW response record!!!!! Three within scant seconds of posting.

At least we all have the same answer....

That was amazingly fast....wow. It's a great tip that I've been looking for a long time to find. Thanks @ThereseLogeais, @BillPfahnl and @JeffSchwenk you're my heros today!

Thanks @ThereseLogeais, @BillPfahnl and @JeffSchwenk! Great tip.

Sometimes, all you have to do is ask! Someone in the group is likely to have an answer. Gotta love this group!!

I use the same method for pulling data into Excel. Way easier than attempting to export a previewed report.

@BillPfahnl - I never rename the original report back to its original name. It hasn't bitten me yet. It's always there if I ever need to test the report again. @JeffSchwenk - One downside of this method is that the run time variable substitution is not available to the report. That means that some formulas like CompanyCode and such will remain blank. When my testing requires values for those formulas I fill in a value (e.g. formula = ""ABC"") so that any dependant logic works. The substituted runtime values will override any default so I leave that debris around as well. Thanks Jeff for the mention! @GeneUlrich - I don't understand what you mean. Can you give a bit more detail?

I frequently want data that is in a report, but of course the report doesn't export cleanly. So I use the method described above to populate the worktable, then I can use Excel to query the worktable. I am pretty sure someone in this group shared the technique many moons ago.

NOW I get Gene's response! Good idea. Thanks for asking for clarification, Dan!

Interesting! I never cease to be amazed at the wealth of information in this group!