Chreos client cannot connect to Chreos server even though the server is running

Chreos system freezes on some screens

Firewall software (including the Windows firewall) some times blocks communication between Chreos and its Firebird SQL database server. These can cause a number of symptoms with the most common being either...

Failure to start Chreos with a cannot communicate to Server message.
A number of screens to freeze for no apparent reason.

The freezing issue can effect all connected users even if only one machine has a firewall issue.

If you are experiencing these problems please follow these steps to correctly configure your firewall software.

On the Server (computer running Chreos Server)

1. In the Firewall add a port to the exclusions list for TCP/IP port 3050. This can be called 'Firebird' where your firewall requires a name.
   
   
2. Add a second port exclusion for TCP/IP port 49667. This can be called 'Firebird events' where your firewall requires a name.
   
   
3. Edit the following file \program files\Firebird\Firebird_n_n\firebird.conf. Find RemoteAuxPort and change the associated number to 49667 and removed the leading #. Save this file. Your computer may need to be restarted for changes to fully take effect.

On each Chreos client computer

1. In the Firewall add a port to the exclusions list for TCP/IP port 3050. This can be called 'Firebird' where your firewall requires a name.
   
   
2. Add a second port exclusion for TCP/IP port 49667. This can be called 'Firebird events' where your firewall requires a name.
   

Images in PDF files created from Crystal reports are poor quality

A Crystal Report that contains graphic images, logos or the like is exported to PDF or some other format where the quality of the images needs to be retained. The quality of the resolution of the images in the exported report is determined by two settings in the Windows registry.

Chreos uses Crystal Reports v 8.5. Most transactions such as Invoices, Suppliers orders and Debtor Statements are converted to PDF format prior to being emailed out. If you are using Chreos in this way and some of your reports contain images or logos then the following settings may be of interest to you.

Please note that in Chreos the change needs to be made on each machine that creates PDFs from Crystal Reports. This is primarily going to be the machine running Chreos Server.

To change the output resolution complete the following steps:

1. Close all Crystal Reports.

2. From the Windows Start menu, select 'Run', type 'regedit' and click 'OK'. This takes you to the Windows Registry Editor.

3. Navigate in the Windows Registry to the following location:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ SOFTWARE \ SEAGATE SOFTWARE \ CRYSTAL REPORTS \ EXPORT
Within the Export folder there are 2 keys called BitMapMagnifDenominator and BitMapMagnifNumerator.

If you do not see the 2 registry keys at the paths specified above, you can manually create them. Right-click the 'Export' registry key and then click 'New' > 'DWORD Value'.

4. Double click BitMapMagnifDenominator to open the 'Edit Dword Value' dialog box and set the 'Value Data' to 1.

5. Double click the BitMapMagnifNumerator to open the 'Edit Dword Value' dialog box and set the 'Value Data' to 2. You can set the 'Value Data' to 3 or 4 but your export from CR may take longer to process.

6. Close the Windows Registry Editor and reboot your computer. Go back into the Windows Registry Editor to ensure the settings are saved.

7. Export a report to PDF and check the resolution. We have found setting BitMapMagnifNumerator to 2 provides an immediate improvement. Setting it to 3 is even better. On our computer the differences become hard to see between 3 and 4 although the file size continues to grow.

Increasing the BitMapMagnifNumerator value causes the above objects to increase in size by a factor based on the number that you changed. If you are exporting a report to HTML, change the numerator and denominator values back to one.


These changes only apply to Crystal 8.5.

I have Crystal reports designer but can't open some reports

This problem occurs in reports containing OLE documents. It is not a Crystal reports error but is caused by various versions of Nortons antivirus. To stop the problem occuring in future replace OLE documents with pictures where possible or disable 'Script Blocking' in Nortons. To disable script blocking do the following.

1. Start Norton AntiVirus.
   
   
2. Click Options. If a menu appears when you click Options, then click Norton AntiVirus. The Norton AntiVirus Options dialog box appears.
   
   
   
   
3. Click Script Blocking.
   
   
4. Uncheck Enable Script Blocking (recommended).
   
   
5. Click OK.