Question Re: unable to drill down in a Crystal report chart in Technology Q&A

unable to drill down in a Crystal report chart

keithfisherdsc — Fri, 21 Mar 2025 17:08:53 GMT

I have recently installed a Crystal Server environment for a client - CS 2020 SP4 patch 11 on Windows Server 2019 with a SQL Server CMS.

When testing the environment they found that in reports where they had charts with grouped information that should have allowed drill-down, drill-down via the charts did not work. The drill down icon did not appear when hovering over the charts. Drill down worked normally when done from tables.

The problem affects both the Fiori viewer and the old DHTML viewer. It happens in the Launchpad and when run from the CMC.

The charts worked fine in the original system (Crystal Server 2016 SP6) even when being viewed via the same browser on the same machine as when they don't work on the new environment.

I installed a test system at the same patch level (CS 2020, SP4 patch 11, on Windows Server 2019) and checked the World Sales report and the drill down from the charts worked fine.

So the issue does not appear be linked to any of the patch level of the platform, the browser used (both Chrome and Edge were tested), or the operating system where the reports were being viewed.

Does anyone have any ideas?

thanks

Keith

Re: unable to drill down in a Crystal report chart

DonWilliams — Mon, 24 Mar 2025 14:08:52 GMT

On the new Server if you hit refresh when viewing the report what happens?

If you create a new simple report with a chart does that work?

It could be something has changed, possibly the Database Client?

Or maybe you need to log in first and then view the report.

Does a scheduled report when viewed work?

Re: unable to drill down in a Crystal report chart

keithfisherdsc — Tue, 25 Mar 2025 09:36:04 GMT

will be testing creation of new reports tomorrow. It's been a scheduled output as well as the original report that we've been testing so far, they both exhibit the behaviour.

Re: unable to drill down in a Crystal report chart

keithfisherdsc — Tue, 25 Mar 2025 09:37:27 GMT

the database client on the new server is ever so slightly different (a more recent version of SQL server native client driver), but that shouldn't be an issue once the data is refreshed and in the report, surely

Re: unable to drill down in a Crystal report chart

DonWilliams — Tue, 25 Mar 2025 23:16:33 GMT

Actually MS often breaks their Clients, sometime OLE DB work and ODBC doesn't and the reverse.

And Current versions of Crystal Reports no longer support MS Native Connector, only ODBC or OLE dB is now supported.

Check the PAM to see if the DB client is supported:

Data Access
Please consult the file:
CR 2020 Data Access
Notes:
• Crystal Reports 2020 is offered as a 64-bit native binary. It requires 64-bit data source middleware
connectivity on all operating systems.
• Crystal Reports 2020 uses the 64-bit ODBC registry on all versions of Windows. To administer 64-bit
ODBC DSNs on 64-bit versions of Windows, run the 64-bit ODBC Administrator, located here:
C:\Windows\System32\odbcad32.exe

Re: unable to drill down in a Crystal report chart

keithfisherdsc — Wed, 26 Mar 2025 14:42:10 GMT

Thanks Don - however the issue is happening with the World Sales Report demo file, which isn't connected with the slightly different driver that's in play with the customer's own report.

Re: unable to drill down in a Crystal report chart

keithfisherdsc — Wed, 26 Mar 2025 14:44:27 GMT

I took a copy of the World Sales Report and checked the drill down from the pie chart and bar chart worked in Crystal Reports 2020 itself (it did) and then saved it back to the platform, where the same problem was still visible. I thinking it must be a problem with a corrupt file somewhere on this particular environment, as it all works fine on a test platform at the same patch level

Re: unable to drill down in a Crystal report chart

DonWilliams — Thu, 27 Mar 2025 15:37:33 GMT

Ah good point, just be sure to use the same DB client, it can cause issues. I doubt it's a dll problem, it's more likely a permission issue. Does it work on any PC using Any Account? Try logging in as the CRS Admin and see if that works.

Re: unable to drill down in a Crystal report chart

keithfisherdsc — Thu, 27 Mar 2025 16:37:59 GMT

permissions in an interesting avenue to check. So far we have tried it with the Administrator account and a couple of different user accounts (who both have full control rights to the folders in question), and the rights were migrated with the report where the issue was first spotted, so shouldn't be a problem (World Sales wasn't migrated) - but I will take a look. We've had the same issue happening on the desktop of the server and on a laptop. In all cases, in a different browser tab on the same machine the old system works fine for drill down and the new one doesn't

Re: unable to drill down in a Crystal report chart

DonWilliams — Thu, 27 Mar 2025 23:40:42 GMT

Your original post is interesting:

The drill down icon did not appear when hovering over the charts. Drill down worked normally when done from tables.

Although you said it didn't work with multiple browsers????

I don't think its a permission issue now, if you can get to view the report that means you have all of the rights to view it.

This could be a browser setting, not allowing Popup's, but not sure what needs to change or what debug tool you could use to see what is happening with popups....

I tested with BOE 2020 4.3 SP4 and the drill down works for me, as well as the popup... CRS is the same build as BOE, CRS is just limited in what it can expand to...

Try Clearing your Browser cache, it could be something is being cached and not finishing the viewer steps.

Firewall maybe, that could be the cause, try adding CRS to the trust applications, the viewer, although it's java based... mmmmm I'll ping one of the SAP Techs to have a look at this one... very odd...

Re: unable to drill down in a Crystal report chart

keithfisherdsc — Fri, 28 Mar 2025 09:13:04 GMT

thanks for continuing to comment here Don. The weird thing is that if we go to the old server that this new one would take over from, in the same browser (different tab) on the same desktop, the drill down from the charts in the old system is fine. Could be permissions/trust to the new site/URL as you say, I'll ask IT at my customer to look into those settings

Re: unable to drill down in a Crystal report chart

DonWilliams — Fri, 28 Mar 2025 18:59:05 GMT

Hi Keith, what version of Windows OS are they viewing the report from? Or is it on the CRS Server where this is happening? If so can they use a different PC to view the reports on...

Re: unable to drill down in a Crystal report chart

DonWilliams — Sun, 30 Mar 2025 00:38:31 GMT

HI Keith,

I heard back fro Support, try this:

I have heard of one case on Patch 11 where right-click didn’t work in CMC and the plus button also didn’t work.
The cause was found to be a Custom Properties file in C:\Program Files (x86)\SAP BusinessObjects\tomcat\webapps\BOE\WEB-INF\config\custom and incorrect SAML configuration.

is the failing server an upgraded server? It seems the one he build for testing works fine?. Hi can try and see if the right-click context menus don’t work or if folders won’t expand. If so it may be related to the issue in the viewer.

It’s a long shot but maybe worth checking.

https://me.sap.com/notes/3586958

Resolution 1:

Review and fix any issues with server.xml (check a working environment).
Test the functionality on HTTP (8080) connector first before testing on SSL (8443) connector.
Before starting the tomcat, Try clearing the tomcat cache by referring: 1879431 - How to clear Tomcat cache? - SAP for Me
Try restarting the tomcat and see that navigation and right click within CMC starts working

Resolution 2:

If Resolution 1 does not work, You can follow the below steps:

Stop Tomcat
To narrow down the issue, remove any custom properties files. Navigate to the custom directory EG: C:\Program Files (x86)\SAP BusinessObjects\tomcat\webapps\BOE\WEB-INF\config\custom and copy the contents inside custom directory to any other location.
Remove the existing files in custom directory.
Clear the tomcat cache by referring: 1879431 - How to clear Tomcat cache? - SAP for Me
Restart tomcat and see that navigation and right click within CMC starts working.
(Optional) After this, if still required, configure SAML by referring to KBA 2791348 - How To: Configure Front-End SAML Authentication on BI 4.3 - SAP for Me

Re: unable to drill down in a Crystal report chart

keithfisherdsc — Mon, 31 Mar 2025 07:31:31 GMT

Hi Don, the problem happens when accessing via a browser on the server itself (Windows Server 2019) and from a couple of different laptops (Windows 11), thanks, Keith

Re: unable to drill down in a Crystal report chart

DonWilliams — Wed, 02 Apr 2025 13:26:19 GMT

Did you see my reply on thursday from Product teams explaining and possible solution?

Re: unable to drill down in a Crystal report chart

keithfisherdsc — Mon, 07 Apr 2025 13:24:20 GMT

Hi Don, yes, I saw your suggestions about pop-ups and trusted sites etc. I asked my client to check everything they could and it seems their set up is the same for the new system that doesn't work, as it is for their original CS2016 system that does work.

Re: unable to drill down in a Crystal report chart

DonWilliams — Mon, 07 Apr 2025 17:40:44 GMT

Hi Keith, no idea then, it seems odd that it works in 2016 and not 2020 from the same browser...

Because of that one would surmise it's not the browser but both me and R&D don't have the issue your customer has, so if we can't duplicate it we can't fix it....

My thinking is it has to do with the same issue of paging in a WEB app, if PostBack and sessions are not used then you don't get page 2.

In their case the pop-up doesn't show because AV or Firewall is blocking it, something like cross site scripting possibly, for the new CRS site...

Curious are they using a dual monitors? Could be the popup is redirecting onto the second screen.

See if this helps?

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/pop-upsub-window-of-main-window-of-program-off/224264b7-d55a-42a5-8b54-f170dc6525d7

Even if they don't have a second monitor for some reason popups have been redirected to one.

What is their screen resolution?