Multiple Starting Points not Generally Supported

[dabineri]

I am making a fundamental error in using CR9 RDC with VB6 and I wonder if anyone can help.
I have a temporary table that I stuff with Header Information for a report and then a second table that contains the data for the body of the report. These tables are NOT linked.
When I go to Data Base Expert in the report designer and click LINKS it shows that there are no links and as I leave it says that "THERE ARE MULTIPLE STARTING POINTS.... NOT GENERALLY SUPPORTED"
I would like to understand first what this means and second a way to fix this situation. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you,
David Abineri

 

[lbass]

The message appears because the two tables are not linked. If the header information is for a group header, then there must be a field that ties to the detail information in the other table, and you would use this common field to link the tables.

Otherwise, if you have no basis for linking and your header information is for a report header, you can insert an unlinked subreport and place the header table in that.

-LB

 

[dabineri]

Thanks, LB. The header information is not a group header, it is a page header for the top of each page in the report.

Given this information, can you elaborate a little on the best way to to go. How do I "insert an unlinked subreport"?

Thanks again for your help, David Abineri

 

[dabineri]

LB, Another question if I may.
I have created a sub report called HEADER and I assume that I may use that same subreport in multiple reprots to attain some uniformity.
Would the way I was doing this previously have caused some records to have been missed in my reports since I was having this problem quite consistently?

Thanks again for you help.
David Abineri

 

[lbass]

So the information will be the same on the top of each page? Insert a subreport by going to insert->subreport. Add the header table and then the fields you want displayed. Suppress the subreport sections you do not want displayed, and then place the subreport in the page header.

-LB

 

[lbass]

Missed your second response. I'm not sure what you mean when you say you were having this problem consistently--were you still able to run the report but with inconsistent results for the header? If this is the case, I'm not sure what the impact would be on results.

By the way, if you are creating a separate report to act as the subreport, using the header table only, then when you want to add it to the main report, you would go to insert->subreport->choose a report and select your subreport from the dropdown.

-LB

 

[dabineri]

The reports would look fine, including the header, with the exception that that last few records of the data in the body of the report were missing. Could this have been because I was not using a subreport and I was missing the links mentioned in the original post.

What is the main purpose of a subreport?

Thanks again, you have been a tremendous help.

David Abineri

 

[lbass]

Possibly. Are you getting the correct results using the subreport for the header?

I don't know whether there is a general rule about when to use subreports. Many times you will see people recommend against the use of subreport because they slow reports, and in general, they are right, but there are some cases when using a subreport actually speeds up reports. Some cases when subreports make sense:

1-To avoid a geometric increase in records due to joining multiple tables that have one to many or many to many relationships. If you have two tables joined by an ID field and there are two or more records in the first for each ID, then if you join it to a table with two or more records per ID, the records from the second table would repeat for each record in the first table. Instead you can use a subreport for the second table, place it in a group header for a group based on ID, link the subreport to the main report by ID, and the display will be limited to one set of records for the second table.

2-To show a limited set of information in the report header. For example, to show description fields for a parameter based on a numerical value.

3-To link data from two different datasources that otherwise cannot be linked, because CR doesn't support the the use of multiple datasources in the visual linking expert, e.g., data from an Excel database and from an Oracle database.

4-To link data from two tables where one field is of a different datatype or length and therefore must be converted by formula in order to be linked to a second table. Again, you can't do this in the visual linking expert, but you can link a formula and a field in the subreport links.

5-Subreports also can help in complex reporting situations--
charting on print-time formulas, creating ranks of data without sorting the displayed data, grouping on the number of records on a page, limiting the vertical display of multiple column data, etc.

6-To display a summary report that displays summary data from many different analyses based on different datasets or based on different selection criteria.

7-On-demand subreports can be used to display detail on an as-needed basis.

8-To display data from two tables where there are no fields that can be linked.

9-To allow the sequential display of all records from one table, followed by all records from another.

10-To create multiple copies of the same data, e.g., on different pages.

11-To allow drill-down on each of several values in the same row.

This is all I can think of for now. Subreports are sometimes very useful, and even essential in many situations. Besides the (usually) slower speed caused by subreports, another downside is that to use subreport data in calculations in the main report, you have to use shared variables, which can become quite complex.

-LB

 

[dabineri]

Wow, Thanks for all this, I had not realized how useful they might be.

One more question. I have the option to save the subreport which I have done. Does the main report pick up the subreport dynamically as it is printing/viewing or is the subreport saved with the main report?

Thanks once again. David Abineri

 

[lbass]

There is a good explanation of this in the help files->subreport->re-importing. You can either establish an option (file->option->new report->re-import) for all reports that subreports will be re-imported upon opening a main report, or you can set it for a specific report by going into format subreport->subreport->re-import. If you choose the re-importing option, you are making the subreport dynamic in that it will reflect any changes you have made to the standalone version of the subreport.

-LB

 

[dabineri]

LB, using a subreport for a header I am getting a "logon failed" when trying to preview the report. Any ideas on what this might be?

Thanks for your time.

David Abineri

 

[lbass]

Are you saying this only occurs when you use a subreport?
I'm not sure what would cause that. Try doing an advanced search using "logon failed" as the keywords and check exact phrase and "just my forums". That should get you started.

-LB

 

[dabineri]

I just realized what is happening but need some help around it.

I have always specified a location for the database when designing the report and I did the same for the subreport. However when running in another environment (another user) it still insists on looking in the location that I had set during the design. This has never happened before. Is there a way to specify the location of the database during run time for a subreport? I use DB.LOCATION = path currently.

Thanks so much, David Abineri

 

[lbass]

Did you try going to database->set database location? I don't really know too much about this. You might want to start another thread or do a search if this doesn't solve the issue.

-LB