Can I get OSQL if I install SQL Server Client Tools?

Citrix, Mail Merges, and You

• I’m having a hell of a time getting a bunch of mail merge documents to play nice with a Citrix Presentation Server setup, and I’d appreciate any thoughts anybody might have. The facts: 1. I administer a freshly-installed app built by a third party out of MS Office components. The bulk of the app is an Access .mde reading data out of an SQL database, outputting data into an .rtf that feeds several mail merge templates, all of which are set to look for $universalfilename.rtf 2. Because we’re an all-Mac institution, we had to install the app on a Citrix Presentation Server. The SQL db sits on a second server. People within the museum access the app through a Citrix desktop client. While this is a non-standard installation, our vendor tells us it’s been done before. 3. Everything works well except: The aforementioned mail merge documents are the basis for the app’s reporting functions. In a standard installation, the app and the templates sit on one local machine that reads data from a SQL installation on a server. The are templates in C:\appname\templates, feeding their data from c:\Temp\$universalfilename.rtf . In our installation, though, the templates sit on the Citrix box, M:\appname\templates; to prevent multiple users from overwriting each others’ report results, their rtf output is set to go into a W:\ drive that gets mapped on the SQL server whenever they open their Citrix client. 4. This doesn’t work. The merge templates on the Citrix box don’t connect reliably to the .rtf on the SQL server. When I open one and get the “can not find data” message, I can easily navigate over to W:\temp . I can save this reconnected template without an error. But when it’s reopened, it can’t find the datasource. 5. Other pertinent facts: the locked-down nature of the app prevents me from just setting up my own fucking reports in Access, which I’d much prefer; this merge/RTF business is clunky, but it’s what I’m stuck with. And while the vendors are the logical people to ask for help with this, their standard response has been “figure it out yourself.” Both servers are running Windows Server 2003 SP2 Anybody have anything?

• Answer:

  Does the application need you to set up a DSN on the Citrix server? This may be where you're running into trouble, since it seems like you are trying to get a DSN for each and every user. Not a problem, necessarily, but they would need to be set up beforehand.