Symptom
- Strange characters displays on the report.
- When reporting off native connection to Sybase, the report shows incorrect characters.
- Report shows question marks, squares, or incorrect characters when expecting to see Chinese, Korean, Japanese, or Arabic characters.
- When refreshing a report in Crystal Reports based on a Sybase open Client, the Unicode Characters are displayed incorrectly.
For Example : Arabic, or Chinese characters are displayed as: ???
Environment
- SAP Crystal Reports 2008
- SAP Crystal Reports 2011
- SAP Crystal Reports 2013
- SAP Crystal Reports 2016
- Sybase ASE 15
- Sybase Open Client 15.0
Reproducing the Issue
- In Crystal Reports, create a new report.
- In Database Expert window, under new connection, double click on "Sybase Server"
- Connect to the Sybase database, and select a table.
- Insert a Database Field on the report Details section that contains unicode data, like Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Arabic characters.
- When refreshing the report, notice the Unicode Characters are displayed incorrectly.
For example : Arabic characters are displayed as ???
Cause
- In Crystal Reports, the Sybase Open Client ( Sybase Native Connection ) does not support Unicode Characters, and this is why it is displaying incorrect characters on the report.
- For reference, see the Crystal Reports PAM corresponding the version of Crystal Reports used.
Resolution
- To display Unicode Characters in Crystal Reports that are store in Sybase data source, use an ODBC connection to Sybase.
- In Microsoft ODBC Administrator, create an ODBC DSN to a Sybase data source.
- In Crystal Reports, open the report based on a Sybase Native connection.
- Under the menu "Database", select "Set Datasource Location..."
- Under the section 'Current Data Source', select the current connection.
- Under the section 'Replace with', expand "New Connection", and double click on "ODBC (RDO)"
- Select the ODBC DSN to the Sybase data source.
- Connect to the Sybase data source.
- To update the connection from the Native Sybase connection the ODBC connection, click on the button: 'Update'
- Close the 'Set Datasource Location' window.
- Save the report.
- Note: If after connecting via ODBC to Sybase, it still displays incorrect characters, then ensure the database fields are using a unicode font that contains the characters for the language the data is stored in Sybase.
Keywords
Arabic characters, ???, Sybase open client, Sybase ASE, Sybase Native client. , KBA , BI-RA-CR , Crystal Reports designer or Business View Manager , Problem
Product
Crystal Reports 2008 V1 ; SAP Crystal Reports 2011 ; SAP Crystal Reports 2013 ; SAP Crystal Reports 2016