Overview
This 2-day workshop is designed for experienced Crystal Report users. The intent of the course is to increase the design skills and expand into the expert features and powerful functionality of Crystal Reports. This workshop delves into the most complex techniques used for creating reports and solving reporting problems, as well as hands-on practice time with formula solutions.
Prerequisites
Working knowledge of Windows 9X environment and a thorough understanding of relational database (tables, fields and records) and reporting concepts are required. Successful completion of the Quick Start Workshop is strongly recommended
Audience
Administrators, developers and end-users who need to create dynamic reports from varying data sources.
Course duration
2 days
Course outline
- Refresher Exercise
- Review of Planning a Report
- Creating the Report
- Placing Fields on the Report
- Creating the Formulas
- Advanced Grouping
- Selecting Certain Records
- Helpful Hints for Formatting the Report
- Adding and Working with Text Objects
- Hiding and Suppressing Sections
- Guidelines
- Using the Excel and Access Add-Ins
- Understanding the Crystal Reports Add-Ins
- Installing the Microsoft Excel Add-In
- Installing the Microsoft Access Add-In
- Creating a Report in Excel
- Creating a Report in Access
- Power Formatting with Multiple Sections
- Using Multiple Sections in Reports
- Using the Section Expert to Work with Sections
- Conditionally Formatting Multiple Sections
- Working with Cross-Tab Reports
- Understanding How Cross-Tabs Affect Your Data
- Creating a Cross-Tab Report
- Creating a Cross-Tab with Multiple Rows or Columns
- Applying a Formatting Style to the Cross-Tab
- Customizing the Cross-Tab Format
- Changing Background Colors
- Formatting Individual Cells
- Changing the Summary Operation
- Suppressing Rows, Columns or Totals
- Repeating Row Heading for Multi-Page Cross-Tabs
- Using Alias Names for Column and RowHeadings
- Charting Cross-Tabs
- Using the Running Totals Feature
- Understanding Running Totals
- Creating Running Totals for a List of Numbers
- Conditional Running Totals
- Prompting with Parameters
- Parameter Fields Overview
- Parameter Field Considerations
- Creating a Parameter Field
- Using a Parameter to Select Records
- Using a Parameter Field
- Creating a Pick List for Parameter Values
- Importing a Pick List
- Adding Parameter Values to Text Objects
- Allowing Multiple Values in Parameters
- Using Multiple Parameter Fields in Reports
- Specifying and Limiting a Range for a Parameter
- Limiting the Range for a Parameter
- Using Parameters in Conditional Formatting
- Using an Edit Mask to Limit String Parameters
- Sorting with a Parameter
- Using Advanced Formula Features
- Understanding How Crystal Reports Processes the Data
- What Is a Pass?
- Using Evaluation Time Functions
- Working with Variables
- Declaring a Variable
- Assigning a Value to a Variable
- Using a Variable in a Formula
- Variable Scope
- Separating Statements in Complex Formulas
- Working with Arrays
- Using Subreporting as a Workaround Solution
- Understanding Subreports
- Unlinked versus Linked Subreports
- Creating an Unlinked Subreport
- Linking a Subreport
- Database Links versus Subreports in One-to-Many Situations
- Passing Data from the Main Report into a Subreport
- Creating On-Demand Subreports
- Creating Hyperlinks
- Using Subreports to Link "Unlinkable" Data
- Using Structured Query Language and the Crystal SQL Designer
- Understanding SQL and ODBC
- Why Use a Query?
- Using the SQL Designer
- Editing the SQL Statement for a Query
- Writing a Report Against the Query
- Appendix A - Advanced Linking
- Using the Visual Linking Expert
- Adding and Removing Databases from the Report
- Adding Tables to a Report Multiple Times
- Changing the Join Type for a Link
- Appendix B - Creating Powerful Group
- Customizing the Group Name Field
- Using a Field Name to Customize the Group Name
- Using a Formula to Customize the Group Name Field
- Creating Custom Groups
- Grouping on a Formula Field
- Using Group Selection to Filter the Records in the Report
- Grouping Hierarchically
- Appendix C - Using the Version 8 Control Structures
- Review of If...then...else... Expressions
- Simplifying Conditional Formulas with Select Expressions
- Appendix D - Running Reports Efficiently
- Understanding What Crystal Can Pass to the Database and How That Affects Report Performance
- Strategies for Efficient Report Performance
- Interpreting the SQL Query
- Using an SQL Statement to Make a Report More Efficient
- Using the Switch Function to Pass a Conditional Statement to the Database
- Appendix E - Working with Crystal Dictionaries
- Understanding Crystal Dictionaries
- Creating a New Dictionary
- Linking the Tables
- Customizing the View
- Adding Graphics Images to a Dictionary
- Including Sample Data
- Creating a Report from a Dictionary
- Appendix F - Remapping Database Fields
- Appendix G - Creating an ODBC Data Source to Attach to a Database
- Appendix H - The Xtreme Sample Database
- Appendix I - Function and Operator Locations
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