Date Extension on Crystal Output Filename in Scheduler

Question

Post Author: mek
CA Forum: General
We use Crystal Reports 10. When we schedule reports through the CMC scheduler we add the date to the output filename by selecting the DateTime option from the variable properties list ( ex. ExpoSalesSummaryReport_%DateTime%.xls generates a file named ExpoSalesSummaryReport_2007-04-25-10-46-33.xls).  The date format that is automatically concatenated onto the filename by Crystal is not what we need. We do not want the time in the date extension and we want the date format simplified, without dashes.
Our team needs to have additional values available in the variable properties list of the report scheduler that would allow us to select a specific date format to be concatenated to the filename when we schedule reports. For example, we would like to have the following selections in the picklist (new options that we want to add and use are bolded), ex:
Title
ID
Owner
DateTime
FileExtension
DateMMDDYY
DateMMDDYYYY
DateMONDDYY
DateMONDDYYYY
Is it possible to create new parameters for the scheduler picklist that can add a date extension to the filename in the format we want? I would think that there must be some way to customize the file extension mask behind the scenes in Crystal 10.
Thanks in advance for your help.

Answer 1

Hi Raafje,
Like I've already discussed in my Blog ,Using Date Expressions on Filenames of Burst Query has its own limitations. This date expression that you have tried for sysdate-1 (%d-1%m%y) will not hold good to the requirement. Anyways you can resolve the issue using other work arounds.
Method I (Using CAST and DATE Functions)
1.Previous Day -> CAST(DAYOFMONTH(TIMESTAMPADD(SQL_TSI_DAY, -1, CURRENT_DATE)) AS CHAR)
2.Month of Previous Day -> CAST(MONTH(TIMESTAMPADD(SQL_TSI_DAY, -1, CURRENT_DATE ) ) AS CHAR)
3.Year of Previous Day -> CAST(YEAR(TIMESTAMPADD(SQL_TSI_DAY, -1, CURRENT_DATE)) AS CHAR)
Sample Code
+'ReportName'||'-'||CAST( DAYOFMONTH(TIMESTAMPADD(SQL_TSI_DAY, -1, CURRENT_DATE)) AS CHAR)||'-'||CAST(MONTH(TIMESTAMPADD(SQL_TSI_DAY, -1, CURRENT_DATE ) ) AS CHAR)||'-'||CAST( YEAR(TIMESTAMPADD(SQL_TSI_DAY, -1, CURRENT_DATE)) AS CHAR)||'.pdf'+
Method II (Using Server Variables)
1. Create a Dynamic Repository Variable like Previous_Date(Non-System Session variables can also be used)
2. Create a Initialization blocks
In Data Source Section - Edit Data Source and place the below query
Select TO_CHAR(SYSDATE-1,'MM/DD/YYYY')
FROM Dual (you can use any date format as required)
3. In Variable Target Section
Edit Target -
Give the Name as Previous_Date (as you created in Step1) and Enable the Radio Button as Dynamic
Place date in Default Value like '9/22/2010'
4. Now use this Repository Variable in the filename parameter of the burst query as VALUEOF("Previous_Date") for Repository Variable
and VALUEOF(NQ_SESSION.Previous_Date) in case you have created a session variable for the query
Thanks & Regards,
Goushalya
http://obiee-bip.blogspot.com/2010/05/dynamic-delivery-file-naming-in-bi.html
Edited by: Goushalya on Sep 29, 2011 7:09 AM