Crystal Report 10.5 [included with Visual Studio 2008] Selection by Image column

Question

Hi
I have an Image column (Allow Null = true) in SQL Server 2005. I am using Crystal Reports designer (ver 10.5) that comes with Visual Studio 2008. Crystal sees the column as blob field and puts an image object for the column. When I am trying to limit the record selection by using

 NOT ISNULL({Employee.Picture})

as Selection Formula, I get the following error:

Error in formula .
'NOT (ISNULL({Employee.Picture}))'
This function cannot be used because it must be evaluated later.

Is there a way to filter out rows with out pictures?

Thanks,
Kishore A

Answer 1

since no one is jumping in on this I'll try (note: i can't test these possibilities at the moment).

• if you can get a size out of the field using the formula editor, try size greater than 0 or whatever.

• if you pull the field on the report, does it show a pic?

• if you look at the database, are the empty field actually null or could CR be reading them as "0"?

Answer 2

The ISNULL function is more like the SWITCH function in in VB. What you are looking for is probably something more along the lines of:

WHERE NOT Employee.Picture IS NULL

Two separate words for IS NULL.