Crystal Report and dBASE Plus Level 7 Tables

Q: Can newer versions of Crystal Reports use Level 7 tables?

A: Users have found that newer versions of the Microsoft dBASE ODBC Driver (version 3.0 or newer) can be used to read level 7 tables in newer versions of Crystal Reports. (Even though it is not 'officially' reported as such.)

Therefore you should be able to use the Microsoft dBASE ODBC Driver to connect to data through Crystal Reports.

Before creating a DSN for your Dbase tables, please ensure that your ODBC Driver is 3.0 or higher.

How to check the ODBC Driver version?

- Start -> Control panel -> Administrative tools ->Data sources (ODBC) -> ‘Driver’ Tab
- From the ODBC Administrator (the same dialog that configures your datasource), .select the "Drivers" tab. Highlight the "Microsoft dBase Driver". The version column lists the current version as a four part number. Leading zeros in each part are not significant.

How to create an ODBC DSN for dBASE file?

1. Click Start -> Control panel -> Administrative tools ->Data sources (ODBC)
2. Click ‘Add’, Select ‘Microsoft dBase Driver’ from the driver list, Click ‘Finish’.
3. A new dialog window will appear, give a name to Datasource name, eg “Dbase”
4. Now check off ‘Use Current Directory’, Click on ‘Select Directory’ and provide the path where your dbase file resides.
5. Click ‘OK’, Click ‘OK’, Click ‘OK’.
6. Now open Crystal Reports.
7. Click ‘Blank Report ‘, you will see a ‘Database Expert’ dialog box.
8. double click on ‘ODBC(RDO)’
9. A ‘ODBC(RDO)’ dialog box will appear, select your DSN from the list.
10. Click ‘Finish’
11. Now you will see the ‘Table’ under your DSN name.
12. Now select tables you want for reporting.
13. Click ‘Finish’