ACT sa user issues

[rlieving]

We have a goal here to write some simple Crystal Reports against our Act database running on SQL Server 2005.

Our company has purchased the SA password and I am able to log on to the server.

However, when I create a new database login for Crystal to use to access the data, some type of Act utility comes through and deletes the login from the database.  I am totally confused...

How do I create a Windows Authenticated user name that Crystal can use to access the database AND NOT GET DELETED?  We paid $1,000 for the SA password, and I still feel like we don't own the server or the data.

Does anyone have advice?

[dlunceford]

The SA password isn't required to use Crystal reports.  You can just use the ACTReader utility to access the data.  But the ACT! Reader Utility can only be used to connect to ACT! Premium databases version 2005 (7.x) and higher.

How To Create An ODBC Connection For Use With The ACT! Reader Utility

[rlieving]

David:

I don't want to go into the utility here. Neither the Reader utility or the SA Password utility work in our environment. It took a call to your support desk, plus for your people to download another piece of software to get the password for us.I have now spent the better part of a day trying to get this issue resolved.

---

Please stick to the questions below. 

I am not interested in potential solutions or helpful suggestions.  We already bought the SA Utility. The money is spent.  We are not asking for the money back, just the ability to write a Crystal Report against our database.

• Why is ACT deleting SQL logins that we create from the server?  How do we prevent this from happening?  Where do I turn this 'feature' off?

• How do we create a login on the server with read only access and  windows authentication?  Where are your instructions for doing this?

Any response that answers the question is welcomed.

I am pretty frustrated that it has taken me several hours, plus the purchase of your password, and I don't have the ability to create a read-only user on my own server, accessing my own data on my own database.

[dlunceford]

You don't need to and can't create your own SQL login to the ACT7 instance.  What you are trying to is already there for you.  The ACT! Reader Utility is designed to allow read-only access to most of the data tables within an ACT! by Sage Premium Database. This utility is designed to meet the power-reporting and data-extraction needs of customers that use third-party tools such as Crystal Reports.

[rlieving]

THE READER DOES NOT WORK IN OUR ENVIRONMENT. ACT/SAGE IS UNABLE TO EXPLAIN WHY IT FAILS OR WHERE THE ISSUE IS

---

@dlunceford wrote:

You don't need to and can't create your own SQL login to the ACT7 instance.  What you are trying to is already there for you.  The ACT! Reader Utility is designed to allow read-only access to most of the data tables within an ACT! by Sage Premium Database. This utility is designed to meet the power-reporting and data-extraction needs of customers that use third-party tools such as Crystal Reports.

---

The reader doesn't work in our environment.  I have contacted Act/Sage about it and they cannot tell me why it doesn't work.  

1. If I can't create a login, WHY can't I create it?  I own the server, the database and the data.  Is ACT deleting the new SQL logins from the database?  Why?
2. Please, don't post again about the reader.  Since I have mentioned several times that it doesn't work (see above), we need to use standard database protocols to access the data

[dlunceford]

Please check your private messages.

[GLComputing]

The ACTReader does use standard protocols, just like SA - except the user is ActReader instead of sa

Is it deleting the login (shouldn't be possible) or resetting the password?

The accounts are always there. The sa or ActReader utilities just set the password for the accounts so that you can use to read the tables with ODBC

Remember that the passwords are for the instance, not the database... so they are machine specific.

After setting the password (reader or sa) can you open the database via ODBC with Excel?

the OLEDB interface has views that are a bit easier to understand. For ODBC, you might also find this useful:

http://blog.glcomputing.com.au/2009/04/getting-table-structure-and-links-from.html