Question

Suppressing blank fields and duplicate rows

Asked by: almaler

I am using Crystal Reports XI and have Table A linked to Table B using a left outer join.  Table A contains the name of an asset record and Table B contains the names of people assigned to that asset record.  For example:

Asset Record                                       Contact
===========                                       =======
CI-0000000001                                     John Smith
                                                              Mary Jane

It may be that there is no contact in Table B or one or many contacts in Table B.  For some reason, my report output is showing up like this:

Asset Record                                       Contact
===========                                       =======
CI-0000000001                                    
                                                             
CI-0000000001                                     John Smith

CI-0000000001                                     Mary Jane

I would like to remove the blank field - I don't know why that is show up.

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Asked On
2008-03-12 at 08:14:59ID23235333
Tags

Business Objects

,

Crystal Reports

,

XI

Topics

Crystal Reports Software

,

Business Objects

,

SQL Reporting

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Answers

 

by: zephyr_hexPosted on 2008-03-12 at 08:50:50ID: 21107293

it's showing up because you're using a left outer join...

have you tried putting a suppression formula in the section editor for that section?  the formula would be something like:
isNull({Contact_Field})=true

 

by: almalerPosted on 2008-03-12 at 08:58:25ID: 21107374

I actually did try that and it had no effect.  The results still show up the same way.

 

by: zephyr_hexPosted on 2008-03-12 at 10:36:17ID: 21108592

can you test the blank field and see if it's really NULL?  Null is different than empty...
to test, you could put a color formula on that field....

if it's not really Null, then you'll need to change your suppression formula....

 

by: almalerPosted on 2008-03-12 at 12:07:00ID: 21109571

Ok, I think I may need to go into a little more detail.    Here are the three tables I'm working with:
net_res = Asset table
ctct = Contact table
lrel = relationship table

From net_res, I need the nr_prim_search_key field which is the asset name.  There is also a field called nr_prim_c_id which links to the contact table id field.  There can only be one primary contact per asset so I made that an Inner join.  The problem is that when a primary contact is chosen, a record is also placed in the lrel table.  I think this may be part of the problem.  So, in order to get the asset name and primary contact, I link net_res.nr_prim_c_id -> ctct.id.  I put net_res.nr_prim_search_key in the detail section along with ctct.c_last_name and everything is working fine.  I get output like this:

NAME                        PRIMARY CONTACT
=====                        =================
CI -0000000001         John Smith
CI-00000000002        Mary Jane

That is working fine because there is only one primary contact per record so I have no blank lines.
Now onto adding the Alternate Contact(s).  There can be none, one, or many.  The alternate contact records are stored in the lrel table so I link net_res.persid -> lrel.r_persid  and lrel.l_persid -> ctct_1.persid.  I make them all inner joins.  After I make these joins and before adding any fields, I refresh the data.  I now have two rows for each asset and the primary contacts are listed twice.  I am assuming this is because a record is created in the lrel table for the primary contact.

NAME                        PRIMARY CONTACT
=====                        =================
CI -0000000001         John Smith
CI -0000000001         John Smith
CI-00000000002        Mary Jane
CI-00000000002        Mary Jane

I suppose this is the first problem I need to correct.  If I add the Alternate Contact, I see output like this:

NAME                        PRIMARY CONTACT                  ALTERNATE CONTACT(S)
=====                        =================                 =====================
CI -0000000001         John Smith                                  
CI -0000000001         John Smith                                  Tyler Grant
CI-00000000002        Mary Jane
CI-00000000002        Mary Jane                                   Ty Dickens


 

by: almalerPosted on 2008-03-12 at 12:32:42ID: 21109832

Eureka!  I figured it out.  I added a != link from ctct.persid -> lrel.l_persid.  Deep breath..Thanks for your help zephyr_hex!!

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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