Is it possible to show the contents of a text file in Crystal Reports.

Question

I have a crystal report which contains a list of absolutely referenced text files. There is one text file referenced in each body line.

e.g.

line1    c:\file1.txt
line2    c:\file2.txt

Is there any way to display the contents of these files in Crystal?

i.e. I would like each crystal body line to show the text from the referenced text file.

I'm using Crystal reports 11 with a non-standard database connector (dataflex).

Answer 1

I guess if you have a function that takes a file name as an argument and returns the contents of that file - you could use that function in a Crystal Report formula.

I am not familiar with the current CR, it has been years since I last used it (I last used version 8). In the versions I did use, such a function was not built in. What you would have to do back then, was to create a UFL (user function library) containing the functions you needed. If I remember correctly, you had to do this using COM.

In this day and age, I guess you can extend CR using some other mechanism, perhaps writing .NET code?

I suggest you search the CR documentation for the term UFL.

Answer 2

Another suggestion, then:

• Create a new table FILECONTENTS (filename varchar primary key, contents blob)
• Create a script that on a schedule populates this table with the filenames and contents of all the files (assuming that there is a finite number of files, and that you have a way of knowing about them)
• Modify the report datasource query to join it with the FILECONTENTS table, and add the contents field to the report.

Answer 3

You could setup a file dsn. But this is geared toward tabular file data, not text.

How big are these text files? You want to display the entire contents of each file?

There is probably no easy way to dynamically read in a file from within crystal. You will most likely have to push a dataset to the report which contains the file contents.

Answer 4

You would need to set up a file dsn (in XP it's under Control Panel/Administrative Tools/Datasources (ODBC)) and then use the file dsn (Microsoft Text Driver) for the datasource as an ODBC(RDO) connection.

I set this test scenario up on mine like the following:

**File 1**
column1
1row1
1row2
1row3

**File 2**
column1
2row1
2row2
2row3

I set up the file dsn to point to the c drive and in the datasource screen I added file1.txt and file2.txt to the selected tables. Then the easiest thing to do is clear the links of the tables so that it pulls every row. It will warn you that there are multiple starting points. I don't generally recomend this, but it will work in this case and since it's not reporting off a database it probably isn't the end of the world. If you disregard the starting point message then add the fields to the report, when you run it you should get the following output:

1row1     2row1
1row1     2row2
1row1     2row3
1row2     2row1
1row2     2row2
1row2     2row3
1row3     2row1
1row3     2row2
1row3     2row3

From this you can change your grouping to get the output that you need.

You can also use this same connect against subreports instead of doing this linking where you have the main report pull the info from file1.txt and then put a subreport in the report footer that pulls from file2.txt. This option won't have the text collated, but you'd still have it in the same report.

Hope this helps some.

Answer 5

It's easier than you think. I just set up one myself before I wrote this to make sure I was giving you the right steps. Using CR version XI and a .txt file, I followed these steps:

1. For each text file you want to import, make a subsection in your report (i.e. DetailsA, DetailsB, etc.). If your list of text files is constantly changing (and I don't think it is, based on your description), you'll need another method.
2. Make sure your text file is comma delimited and the first row contains field names. If these text files are actually text (i.e. not tables), then just put a dummy variable name in the first row so Crystal will see the text as a table of data with just 1 row.
3. For each text file you want to display, create a new Subreport (Insert->Subreport)
4. In the database selection menu, go to "Create New Connection"->"Access/Excel (DAO)"
5. Under 'database type', you'll see a 'text' option at the bottom of the screen.
6. Choose your file.
7. Relax! (I'm in a good mood this morning, don't know why)