SAP Knowledge Base Article - Public

1894876 - Suppress Blank Section option not respected when exporting to MS Excel - Data Only format from Crystal Reports

Symptom

  • Blank rows in MS Excel.
  • When exporting a report to MS Excel, it generates empty rows.
  • In Crystal Reports 2008 and below, when exporting the same report it does not generates blank rows.

  • When exporting a report from Crystal Reports to MS Excel - Data Only format, the MS Excel document generated contains blank rows that corresponds to the sections that are suppressed on the report using the section option "Suppress Blank Section".

Environment

  • SAP Crystal Reports 2011
  • SAP Crystal Reports 2013

Reproducing the Issue

  1. In Crystal Reports, create a report off any data source that contains some blank / NULL database field values.
  2. Insert a database field that contains NULL values in the data set in the details section.
  3. When previewing the report, notice there is some blank rows, due to some of the data being blank. This is normal.
  4. Format the details section to Suppress Blank Section.
    • Under the menu "Report", select "Section Expert..."
    • In the "Section Expert" window, check the option "Suppress Blank Section" for the details section.
       
      BlankSection.png
          
  5. When previewing the report, now the rows that contained NULL data are suppressed.
  6. Export the report to MS Excel (97-2003) - Data Only format.

  7. When opening the exported document in MS Excel, notice that blank rows appear where the detail section was suppressed on the report with the option "Suppress Blank Section".

Cause

  • The issue has been identified and logged under Problem Report ID ADAPT01700145

Resolution

  • The issue is resolved in the following product updates:
      
    • Crystal Reports 2011:
      • Support Pack 08
          
    • Crystal Reports 2013:
      • Support Pack 02
           
          
  • If you cannot apply the above product update for some time, then to workaround this issue, export the report to MS Excel - Data Only format from the SAP Crystal Reports Viewer.
       
    1. Download and install the SAP Crystal Reports Viewer.
      To download the SAP Crystal Reports Viewer, click here.
    2. Open your report in Crystal Reports designer, and save the report with data.
    3. Open the report with saved data in the SAP Crystal Reports Viewer.
    4. Export the report to MS Excel Data Only format.

      When opening the exported report in MS Excel, the sections that are suppressed with the option "Suppress Blank Section" will not be exported to MS Excel.

Keywords

CR4E, CRFE, CR for Enterprise , KBA , BI-RA-CR , Crystal Reports designer or Business View Manager , Bug Filed

Product

Crystal Reports 2008 V0 ; Crystal Reports 2008 V1 ; SAP Crystal Reports 2011 ; SAP Crystal Reports 2013