SAP Knowledge Base Article - Public

2196940 - Date Time prompt instead of a Date prompt, when refreshing a report based off an Informix Stored Procedure in Crystal Reports

Symptom

  • Date Time prompt.
  • Parameter prompts for a Date Time value, despite the Informix Stored Procedure parameter is defined as a date data type.
  • In Crystal Reports, when refreshing a report based off an Informix Stored Procedure connected via an ODBC connection, it prompts for a Date Time parameter, instead of the expected Date parameter.

Environment

  • SAP Crystal Reports 2008
  • SAP Crystal Reports 2011
  • SAP Crystal Reports 2013
  • SAP Crystal Reports 2016
        
  • Informix Dynamic Server 11.50
  • Informix Dynamic Server 11.70

Reproducing the Issue

  1. On an Informix Server, create a stored procedure with a date parameter.
  2. Create an ODBC DSN to the Informix data source, using the IBM Informix ODBC SDK Driver version 3.50 or 3.70
  3. In Crystal Reports, create a report off the Informix Stored Procedure with a date parameter.
  4. When refreshing the report, it prompts for a date time parameter instead of the expected date parameter.
     

Cause

  • This is a product defect with the latest updates of the IBM Informix ODBC SDK Driver version 3.50 and 3.70, which send the incorrect data type for the stored procedure parameter to Crystal Reports.
           
  • In more details, when reporting off any data sources using an ODBC connection, Crystal Reports request the field information, and the database and the ODBC driver sends the information back to Crystal Reports, like the data type of each field. In this case, the IBM Informix ODBC driver send the data type: Date Time to Crystal Reports, and this is why Crystal Reports create a Date Time parameter. It is not an issue with Crystal Reports, but of the ODBC driver sending the incorrect data type to Crystal Reports.

Resolution

  • One suggestion to workaround the IBM Informix ODBC driver product defect, and be prompted by a date parameter when reporting off an Informix Stored Procedure with a date parameter, created an ODBC DSN using the CR Informix ODBC Driver.
              
  • This CR Informix ODBC driver is installed with Crystal Reports. If it is not available, modify Crystal Reports installation, and ensure the "Data Direct" option is checked. For more details, see the SAP Knowledge Base Article 1218152

Keywords

CR, Informix, ODBC, stored proc, date parameter, incorrect, datetime , 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