Connect to EnterpriseDB Data from Crystal Reports

Crystal Reports is a business intelligence application by SAP designed to help you analyze your data with well-formatted, pixel-perfect, and multi-page reports. When paired with CData Connect AI, Crystal Reports gets access to live EnterpriseDB data. This article demonstrates how to connect to EnterpriseDB using Connect AI and report on EnterpriseDB data in Crystal Reports.

CData Connect AI provides a pure SQL Server interface for EnterpriseDB, allowing you to query data from EnterpriseDB without replicating the data to a natively supported database. Using optimized data processing out of the box, CData Connect AI pushes all supported SQL operations (filters, JOINs, etc.) directly to EnterpriseDB, leveraging server-side processing to return the requested EnterpriseDB data quickly.

Configure EnterpriseDB Connectivity for Crystal Reports

Connectivity to EnterpriseDB from Crystal Reports is made possible through CData Connect AI. To work with EnterpriseDB data from Crystal Reports, we start by creating and configuring a EnterpriseDB connection.

1. Log into Connect AI, click Sources, and then click Add Connection

2. Select "EnterpriseDB" from the Add Connection panel

3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to EnterpriseDB.

   The following connection properties are required in order to connect to data.

   • Server: The host name or IP of the server hosting the EnterpriseDB database.
   • Port: The port of the server hosting the EnterpriseDB database.

   You can also optionally set the following:

   • Database: The default database to connect to when connecting to the EnterpriseDB Server. If this is not set, the user's default database will be used.

   Connect Using Standard Authentication

   To authenticate using standard authentication, set the following:

   • User: The user which will be used to authenticate with the EnterpriseDB server.
   • Password: The password which will be used to authenticate with the EnterpriseDB server.

   Connect Using SSL Authentication

   You can leverage SSL authentication to connect to EnterpriseDB data via a secure session. Configure the following connection properties to connect to data:

   • SSLClientCert: Set this to the name of the certificate store for the client certificate. Used in the case of 2-way SSL, where truststore and keystore are kept on both the client and server machines.
   • SSLClientCertPassword: If a client certificate store is password-protected, set this value to the store's password.
   • SSLClientCertSubject: The subject of the TLS/SSL client certificate. Used to locate the certificate in the store.
   • SSLClientCertType: The certificate type of the client store.
   • SSLServerCert: The certificate to be accepted from the server.
   
4. Click Save & Test
5. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add EnterpriseDB Connection page and update the User-based permissions.

Add a Personal Access Token

When connecting to Connect AI through the REST API, the OData API, or the Virtual SQL Server, a Personal Access Token (PAT) is used to authenticate the connection to Connect AI. It is best practice to create a separate PAT for each service to maintain granularity of access.

1. Click on the Gear icon () at the top right of the Connect AI app to open the settings page.
2. On the Settings page, go to the Access Tokens section and click Create PAT.
3. Give the PAT a name and click Create.
4. The personal access token is only visible at creation, so be sure to copy it and store it securely for future use.

With the connection configured and a PAT generated, you are ready to connect to EnterpriseDB data from Crystal Reports.

Connect to EnterpriseDB from Crystal Reports using Connect AI

To establish a connection from Crystal Reports to CData Connect AI, you will need to download the JDBC driver.

1. Open the Client Tools page of CData Connect AI.
2. Search for and select JDBC.
3. Download and run the setup file.
4. When the installation is complete, locate the JDBC Connect JAR file in the JDBC driver's installation directory, for example, C:\Program Files\CData\JDBC Driver for CData Connect\lib.
5. Copy the JDBC Connect JAR file (cdata.jdbc.connect.jar).

After copying the JDBC CData Connect JAR file, you will need to paste it into the Crystal Reports installation location and configure the connection to Connect AI.

1. Find the installation directory for Crystal Reports, for example, C:\Program Files (x86)\SAP BusinessObjects\SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise XI 4.0\java\lib
2. Paste the JDBC Connect JAR file into the Crystal Reports installation directory.
3. Go to the parent java folder. For example, C:\Program Files (x86)\SAP BusinessObjects\SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise XI 4.0\java This folder should contain a CRConfig file.
4. Open CRConfig in a text editor.
5. Add the path to the JDBC CData Connect JAR file in the of the CRConfig file, for example, C:\Program Files (x86)\SAP BusinessObjects\SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise XI 4.0\java\lib
6. Log into Crystal Reports and start a blank report.
7. In the Database Expert dialog, click Create New Connection.
8. Select the JDBC data source and the tables you want to add. Click OK.
9. In the Connection dialog, enter the Connection URL (e.g. jdbc:connect:AuthScheme=Basic;user=username;password=PAT;) and Database Classname (e.g. cdata.jdbc.connect.ConnectDriver).
10. Click Finish. The Database Expert dialog displays all available connections.

You can now create reports with the connected data.

Get CData Connect AI

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