Subtitles of the Movie

In this movie we're going to cover the solution to the Database Change Problem 1. Using my support file, Modification Report 1. RPT, I'm going to go to Database and set my Data Source Location. From here I'm going to scroll up and I'm going to create a New Connection. I'm going to make a new connection and find my Crystal Beginner DB Remodified Database, and click Finish. From here I highlight the name of that database and click the Update button. From here, Crystal's identified the proper tables and has identified field name changes. In this case, my client is going to map to Client Name. My ClientNum will map to Client Number, and then press OK. The next message we get is some tables could not be replaced as no match was found. We've seen this before. Let's go ahead and answer it, and press Close. Crystal will fail to retrieve data simply because it has removed the main table that we linked to. From here we simply go to Database Expert, we highlight the Revenue Transaction Table under the Crystal XI Data Source, and we remove it. It will send me a warning saying it's going to remove the fields from the port. Press OK. From here I go to my Crystal Remodified, which is in my Direct Access Connections. I'm going to add the new and improved RevTransaction Table. I need to go to my Links. I'm going to rearrange my table slightly so I can get a good organizational feel for what needs to be linked, and I'm going to clear them all. I'm going to scroll up on each of the tables, and from here I'm going to link my Site Number to OfficeNum, and then my Client Number to Client Number and press OK. I'll Refresh my report data and I'll get this message. This means that one of my prior groups before I made the database change was from the Revenue Transaction Tables opposed to the Rev Transaction Table, and press OK. I go to my Design view and click on my Group Header 1. Notice it has a question mark that's letting you know that there's something wrong. I right-click it to get my menu and I say Change Group. From here I can choose from all the fields available in my tables. From here it's Revenue Date, and I want to see it for each Year, and press OK. Now from here, things are still not quite done. I go to my View, my Field Explorer, and I need to insert a few fields that are missing. So I'm going to scroll over here and I'm going to place in the Revenue Amount and my Refund Amount. Once I click Preview I can actually now pull data back and I get all my information with the new mappings and the New Table. Again, this is something small, such as moving a table or changing the name of the field, or goodness help you someone changes the name of a table on a whim, but this helps you deal with it. The main thing about these changes is you have to realize that they've changed and how they map to the old system. As a general rule, database changes are very, very difficult, especially if you have a front-end application pointing to them, not just Crystal. These are few and far between. However, databases can also be cheap. You can also have multiple data sources that may change location every once in a while. It might be a new database server, or a map drive; it could be any number of things. It's good to realize this and know how to deal with it effectively. That way you can take an existing report and just simply re-point it if necessary.