Crystal Report doesn't prompt for SAP credentials / errors out on refresh

Question

2 Environments tested with same results:
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BOE XI 3.1 SP2 & BOE XI 3.1 SP2 FP2.5<br>
SAP Intg Kit on mirrored SP/FP levels in each environment.
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We've been successfully creating Crystal Reports against BEx queries in BW for months now as well as ECC master data.  We've also built universes and have WebI reports actively working against similar BEx queries in the same.  However, we're getting some curious behavior when we refresh the Crystal Reports against BEx queries in BW.  Verified all necessary transports and authorizations have been provided for both authoring, as well as refreshing/viewing on demand, etc.
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We've setup all the Crystal Reports we're testing to:
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a) Use custom database logon information specified here.<br>
b) Specify a custom driver, leveraging the crdb_bwmdx driver<br>
c) Prompt the user for database login
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We have not enabled SNC as of yet.
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1) When we refresh a WebI report hitting a BEx query with security applied, it doesn't prompt for the credentials, but we confirmed through tracing on the SAP side that if the user hits a paramater it has access to, the data comes through and when we hit a paramater they do not have access to, we can clearly see SAP reject it and it spits out a logical error on the BO side in InfoView and in the WebI logs on the BO server. 
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2) When we refresh a Crystal Report hitting ECC data, we are prompted for the SAP credentials and everything works as expected
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However:
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3) When we refresh a Crystal Report hitting a BEx query in BW, we are not promtped for SAP credentials.  We immediately get the "LOV" prompts.  Now, if we use a test user in SAP that has NO SECURITY restrictions at all and open access to the query, the data comes through.  However, as soon as any security is applied to the query level, even if it is SAP ALL, we cannot retrieve the data.  Tracing is also strange, as we can see on the SAP side it buffer the selected paramaters, but unlike with the WebI reports, it never shows it reaching the point where it checks each paramater against what the role has access to.  An error is then spit back.  We run the same queries with the same users within SAP and get normal behavior.  It's as though as soon as we apply security to the query the mdx driver doesn't like it.  Dependant on the type of InfoView viewer we use, the errors we consistently get on the BO side are:
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Interactive Viewer: "Error in File %reportname%: Encapsulating Page Failed"<br>
Java Viewer:  "Error in File %reportname%: Database Connection Error"
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Nothing glaring in the event logs on the BO servers or in the Crystal logs that I can see, however just because it isn't spitting a specific error in the crystal logs doesn't mean I'm not missing something because I don't know what to look for behavior wise. To reduce the liklihood that it has to do with the way the report was built, we've tried against the same query by building a report using standard methods, as well as the SAP Toolbar using a very plain jane report.  Same behavior.
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Thoughts?
Edited by: Jay Riddle on Mar 1, 2010 8:55 PM

Answer 1

Hi,
1) When we refresh a WebI report hitting a BEx query with security applied, it doesn't prompt for the credentials, but we confirmed through tracing on the SAP side that if the user hits a paramater it has access to, the data comes through and when we hit a paramater they do not have access to, we can clearly see SAP reject it and it spits out a logical error on the BO side in InfoView and in the WebI logs on the BO server.
>> Which authentication are you using to logon to InfoView ? Whats the configuration in the Universe Connection for Authentication ?
2) When we refresh a Crystal Report hitting ECC data, we are prompted for the SAP credentials and everything works as expected
>> The user is using which authentication ? and against which system does he log on ?
However:
3) When we refresh a Crystal Report hitting a BEx query in BW, we are not promtped for SAP credentials. We immediately get the "LOV" prompts. Now, if we use a test user in SAP that has NO SECURITY restrictions at all and open access to the query, the data comes through. However, as soon as any security is applied to the query level, even if it is SAP ALL, we cannot retrieve the data. Tracing is also strange, as we can see on the SAP side it buffer the selected paramaters, but unlike with the WebI reports, it never shows it reaching the point where it checks each paramater against what the role has access to. An error is then spit back. We run the same queries with the same users within SAP and get normal behavior. It's as though as soon as we apply security to the query the mdx driver doesn't like it. Dependant on the type of InfoView viewer we use, the errors we consistently get on the BO side are:
>> The user is using which authentication ? and against which system does he log on ?
>> You mentioned security restrictions and I assume we talk about BI authorizations in form of data level security. If so - does the BW query include the authorization variables ?
Ingo