HP Intelligent Management Center Standard Software Platform User Manual

Crystal Reports 2008 SP3 User's Guide

Crystal Reports 2008

windows

© 2011 SAP AG. All rights reserved.SAP, R/3, SAP NetWeaver, Duet, PartnerEdge, ByDesign, SAP Business ByDesign, and other SAP products and services mentioned herein as well as their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP AG in Germany and other countries. Business Objects and the Business Objects logo, BusinessObjects, Crystal Reports, Crystal Decisions, Web Intelligence, Xcelsius, and other Business Objects products and services mentioned herein as well as their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of Business Objects S.A. in the United States and in other countries. Business Objects is an SAP company.All other product and service names mentioned are the trademarks of their respective companies. Data contained in this document serves informational purposes only. National product specifications may vary.These materials are subject to change without notice. These materials are provided by SAP AG and its affiliated companies ("SAP Group") for informational purposes only, without representation or warranty of any kind, and SAP Group shall not be liable for errors or omissions with respect to the materials. The only warranties for SAP Group products and services are those that are set forth in the express warranty statements accompanying such products and services, if any. Nothing herein should be construed as constituting an additional warranty.

2011-05-12

Introduction to Crystal Reports 2008 27Chapter 1

About Crystal Reports................................................................................28

About the Crystal Reports documentation.................................................29

What's New in Crystal Reports 2008 SP3 31Chapter 2

Introduction................................................................................................32

Locate information quickly....................................................................29

Sample Reports....................................................................................29

Flash printing........................................................................................32

Unicode-supported interface................................................................32

Enhanced publishing interface.............................................................32

XML and Web Services Database Driver.............................................33

Viewer Accessibility..............................................................................33

Option to distinguish between empty and non empty rows for SAP

NetWeaver BW Data............................................................................33

HTML interpretation tag <a></a> is now supported.............................34

Installing Crystal Reports 2008 SP3 35Chapter 3

Installation overview..................................................................................36

Installing Crystal Reports 2008 SP3..........................................................36

Installation requirements............................................................................37

Installing Crystal Reports on a local machine............................................37

Creating an installation point and installing from a network server...........40

Creating an installation point for Crystal Reports.................................40

Installing Crystal Reports from a network............................................41

Customizing your installation.....................................................................43

Crystal Reports 2008 SP3 User's Guide 3

Contents

Running a silent installation.......................................................................45

Setting custom banners.............................................................................51

Upgrading Crystal Reports components....................................................52

Quick Start 53Chapter 4

Learning how to use Crystal Reports........................................................54

Sample data - Xtreme.mdb..................................................................54

Report Creation Wizards...........................................................................55

Standard...............................................................................................55

Cross-Tab.............................................................................................56

Mailing Label........................................................................................56

OLAP....................................................................................................56

Quick start for new users...........................................................................56

Before you begin..................................................................................57

Creating the report...............................................................................57

Record Selection..................................................................................71

Grouping and sorting............................................................................76

Completing the report...........................................................................80

Quick start for advanced users..................................................................82

Choosing a report type and data source..............................................82

Working with report elements on the Design tab..................................83

Using other reporting features..............................................................85

Report Design Concepts 89Chapter 5

Basic report design....................................................................................90

Deciding on the content of the report........................................................90

Stating the purpose..............................................................................90

Determining the layout of the report ....................................................92

Finding the data....................................................................................92

Manipulating the data...........................................................................94

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Determining printing area characteristics.............................................95

Developing a prototype on paper..............................................................97

To design a paper prototype.................................................................98

Introduction to Reporting 99Chapter 6

Report creation options............................................................................100

Report Creation Wizards....................................................................100

Another report....................................................................................100

New report..........................................................................................101

Report Creation Wizards....................................................................101

Another report....................................................................................101

New report..........................................................................................102

Choosing data sources and database fields............................................102

The Database Expert.........................................................................102

The Field Explorer..............................................................................105

About the report design environment......................................................108

Design tab..........................................................................................108

Preview tab.........................................................................................112

HTML Preview tab..............................................................................117

Creating a new report..............................................................................118

Selecting the data source...................................................................118

Adding tables......................................................................................119

Linking multiple tables........................................................................120

Placing data on the report .................................................................122

Formatting data .................................................................................131

Record selection.................................................................................131

Grouping, sorting, and summarizing data..........................................131

Using the drill-down option on summarized data...............................132

Using the zoom feature......................................................................133

Inserting page headers and footers...................................................133

Adding a title page to the report ........................................................134

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Contents

Adding summary information to the report.........................................135

Exploring reports and working with multiple reports................................136

The Report Explorer...........................................................................136

The Workbench..................................................................................138

The Dependency Checker..................................................................140

Opening and docking explorers.........................................................142

Beyond basic reports...............................................................................143

BusinessObjects Enterprise Repository 145Chapter 7

What is the BusinessObjects Enterprise Repository? ............................146

Work flow............................................................................................146

Accessing the BusinessObjects Enterprise Repository...........................148

To open the BusinessObjects Enterprise Repository.........................148

Toolbar................................................................................................149

Adding subfolders and subcategories to the repository...........................150

To add a new subfolder or subcategory.............................................150

Adding items to the repository.................................................................151

Adding a text object or bitmap image.................................................151

Adding a text object or bitmap image - another method....................152

Adding a custom function ..................................................................153

Adding a command ...........................................................................153

Using repository objects in reports .........................................................154

Adding a text object or a bitmap image to a report............................154

Adding a custom function to a report.................................................155

Adding a command to a report...........................................................155

Adding a list of values to a parameter................................................156

Modifying objects in the repository..........................................................156

To modify a repository object..............................................................157

Updating connected repository objects in reports ..................................157

To set the update option.....................................................................158

Deleting items from the repository...........................................................158

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To delete an object from the repository..............................................159

Using Undo in the repository...................................................................159

Designing Optimized Web Reports 161Chapter 8

Overview..................................................................................................162

Key strategies for optimizing web reports..........................................163

Scale with BusinessObjects Enterprise...................................................163

Evaluation times for date functions in BusinessObjects Enterprise....165

Making the right design choices..............................................................166

Using faster report formats.................................................................166

Choosing between live and saved data.............................................167

Designing summary reports...............................................................169

To hide details in a summary report...................................................170

Using subreports carefully..................................................................170

Using other design elements effectively.............................................172

Designing reports to maximize data sharing......................................173

Streamlining your reporting environment.................................................174

Selecting the fastest database and connection..................................174

Using table indexes............................................................................174

Improving table-linking choices..........................................................174

Using thread-safe database drivers...................................................176

Using stored procedures for faster processing..................................177

Using enhanced record selection formulas ............................................177

Pushing down record selection—an example....................................178

Record selection performance tips.....................................................179

Strategies for writing efficient record selection formulas ...................180

Incorporating parameter fields into record selection formulas ..........182

Using SQL expressions where appropriate........................................185

Improving grouping, sorting, and totaling ...............................................186

Performing grouping on server...........................................................186

Benefits of grouping on server—an example.....................................187

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Using SQL Expressions for groups, sorts, and totals.........................188

Using SQL Expressions for Case Logic.............................................188

Inserting summary and running total fields where possible...............189

Record Selection 191Chapter 9

Selecting records.....................................................................................192

Options for selecting records..............................................................192

Determining which field(s) to use.......................................................192

Using the Select Expert......................................................................193

Using formulas...................................................................................195

Interaction of the Select Expert and the Formula Editor....................196

To view the Select Expert formula......................................................197

Saved data selection formulas...........................................................199

Using formula templates..........................................................................199

Record selection formula templates...................................................199

Pushing down record selection to the database server...........................202

Troubleshooting record selection formulas .............................................203

To troubleshoot record selection formulas.........................................203

Correcting selections that do not generate data................................205

Sorting, Grouping, and Totaling 209Chapter 10

Sorting data.............................................................................................210

Understanding sort options................................................................210

Sorting single and multiple fields........................................................213

Sort controls ......................................................................................215

Grouping data..........................................................................................217

Group and sort direction.....................................................................218

Creating custom groups.....................................................................220

Sorting groups conditionally...............................................................221

Sorting records within groups.............................................................223

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Group selection..................................................................................224

Grouping data in intervals..................................................................229

Grouping by the first letter of a company name.................................231

Grouping data hierarchically...............................................................233

Editing groups....................................................................................241

Summarizing grouped data.....................................................................241

To summarize grouped data...............................................................242

Ordering groups by summarized values............................................243

Selecting top or bottom N groups or percentages .............................244

Selecting top or bottom groups or percentages conditionally............247

Subtotaling...............................................................................................248

Subtotaling data.................................................................................248

Extending prices and subtotaling the extensions...............................249

Percentages.............................................................................................251

Calculating a percentage ...................................................................251

Group headers.........................................................................................253

Creating group headers .....................................................................253

Suppressing group headers...............................................................257

Drilling-down on group headers.........................................................257

Running Totals 259Chapter 11

Understanding running totals...................................................................260

How running totals work.....................................................................260

Creating running totals.............................................................................262

Creating running totals in a list ..........................................................262

Creating running totals for a group.....................................................263

Creating conditional running totals ....................................................265

Creating running totals in a one-to-many linking relationship............267

Creating running totals using a formula...................................................268

To create running totals using a formula............................................269

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Contents

Multiple Section Reports 273Chapter 12

About sections.........................................................................................274

Working with sections..............................................................................274

Inserting a section..............................................................................275

Deleting a section...............................................................................275

Moving a section................................................................................276

Merging two related sections..............................................................276

Splitting and resizing sections.................................................................277

Splitting a section...............................................................................278

Resizing a section..............................................................................278

Using multiple sections in reports ...........................................................279

Keeping variable length objects from overwriting each other.............279

Eliminating blank lines when fields are empty ...................................281

Adding blank lines conditionally ........................................................281

Form letters..............................................................................................282

Working with text objects....................................................................283

Creating a form letter using a text object...........................................285

Printing conditional messages in form letters.....................................291

Formatting 293Chapter 13

Formatting concepts................................................................................294

Using a template......................................................................................294

Applying a template............................................................................295

Removing an applied template...........................................................296

Reapplying the last template selected...............................................297

Using Template Field Objects.............................................................297

Template considerations.....................................................................299

Using the Report Design Environment....................................................302

Section characteristics.......................................................................302

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Making an object underlay a following section...................................303

Pre-printed forms................................................................................305

Multiple columns.................................................................................305

Hiding report sections.........................................................................306

Hiding report objects..........................................................................307

Placing text-based objects.................................................................310

Placing multi-line, text-based objects.................................................314

Importing text-based objects from a file.............................................315

Spacing between text-based objects.................................................315

Overflow Field Representation...........................................................322

Selecting multiple objects...................................................................323

Vertical placement..............................................................................324

Inserting character and line spacing..................................................324

Setting fractional font sizes................................................................325

Setting page size and page orientation..............................................326

Setting page margins.........................................................................327

TrueType fonts....................................................................................328

Printer drivers.....................................................................................328

Formatting a report for web viewing...................................................329

Formatting properties...............................................................................330

Working with absolute formatting ............................................................330

Adding borders, color, and shading to a field ....................................331

Making a report, section, area, or object read-only............................331

Locking an object's size and position.................................................332

Changing your default field formats...................................................333

Adding and editing lines ....................................................................335

Adding and editing boxes...................................................................336

Expected behavior of line and box formatting....................................337

Adding shapes to a report..................................................................341

Scaling, cropping, and sizing objects.................................................342

Using conventional accounting formats.............................................343

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Repeating report objects on horizontal pages ...................................344

Using white space between rows ......................................................346

Working with conditional formatting.........................................................348

Conditional on or off properties..........................................................349

Conditional attribute properties..........................................................350

Changing fonts conditionally..............................................................352

Changing margins conditionally.........................................................352

Changing X position conditionally......................................................353

Creating footers after the first page....................................................354

Using the Highlighting Expert.............................................................356

Undo/Redo activities..........................................................................360

Using the Format Painter ........................................................................361

To copy and apply formatting.............................................................362

Working with barcodes............................................................................363

Adding a barcode...............................................................................363

Changing the appearance of a barcode.............................................364

Removing a barcode..........................................................................365

Charting 367Chapter 14

Charting concepts....................................................................................368

Charting overview...............................................................................368

Chart layouts .....................................................................................369

Chart types.........................................................................................370

Where to place a chart ......................................................................373

Drill-down with charts.........................................................................374

Drill-down with legends......................................................................374

Creating charts........................................................................................374

Charting on details or formula fields (Advanced layout).....................375

Charting on summary or subtotal fields (Group layout) .....................377

Charting on Cross-Tab summaries (Cross-Tab layout) .....................378

Charting on an OLAP cube (OLAP layout) ........................................380

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Working with charts.................................................................................381

Editing charts using the Chart Expert.................................................381

Editing charts using the Chart Options menu items...........................382

Editing charts using other menu items...............................................382

Using the zooming features with bar and line charts.........................384

Auto-arranging charts.........................................................................385

Formatting charts...............................................................................385

Using the underlay feature with charts...............................................386

Mapping 389Chapter 15

Mapping concepts....................................................................................390

Mapping overview..............................................................................390

Map layouts........................................................................................390

Map types...........................................................................................391

Where to place a map........................................................................394

Drill-down with maps..........................................................................395

Creating maps.........................................................................................395

Mapping on details fields (Advanced layout) .....................................395

Mapping on group fields (Group layout).............................................399

Mapping on Cross-Tab summaries (Cross-Tab layout)......................400

Mapping on an OLAP cube (OLAP layout)........................................401

Working with maps..................................................................................403

Editing maps using the Map Expert...................................................403

Changing the map title.......................................................................403

Changing the map type......................................................................404

Changing map layers.........................................................................404

Resolving data mismatches...............................................................406

Changing the geographic map...........................................................407

Zooming in and out on a map.............................................................407

Panning a map...................................................................................408

Centering a map.................................................................................408

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Contents

Hiding and showing the Map Navigator ............................................408

Formatting Maps................................................................................410

Using the underlay feature with maps................................................410

OLE 413Chapter 16

OLE overview..........................................................................................414

OLE terminology.................................................................................414

Types of OLE objects.........................................................................415

General OLE considerations..............................................................416

Inserting OLE objects into reports...........................................................416

To copy and paste OLE objects .........................................................417

How OLE objects are represented in a report.........................................417

Editing OLE objects in reports.................................................................418

In-place editing...................................................................................418

Dynamic OLE menu commands........................................................418

OLE and the Insert Picture command................................................419

Working with static OLE objects..............................................................419

Inserting a static OLE object..............................................................420

Making a static OLE object dynamic..................................................420

Converting a static OLE object to a bitmap image object..................421

Working with embedded vs. linked objects..............................................422

Embedded objects..............................................................................422

Linked objects....................................................................................423

Integrating Shockwave Flash (SWF) objects...........................................425

Printing Shockwave Flash (SWF) objects..........................................426

Adding an Xcelsius SWF object to a report .......................................426

Using data binding to bind an Xcelsius SWF object to a report.........427

Cross-Tab Objects 429Chapter 17

What is a Cross-Tab object?....................................................................430

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Cross-Tab example..................................................................................431

Report of order data - no sorting/grouping.........................................432

Report of order data - grouped by region...........................................433

Report of order data - grouped by product.........................................434

Report of order data - grouped by region and product.......................434

Order data in a Cross-Tab object.......................................................435

Creating a Cross-Tab report....................................................................437

To create a new cross-tab report........................................................437

To add a Cross-Tab to an existing report...........................................437

Specifying the data source.................................................................439

Modifying the links..............................................................................440

Adding a chart....................................................................................440

Selecting records................................................................................440

Defining the structure of the Cross-Tab..............................................441

Applying a predefined style and finishing the report..........................442

Adding a Cross-Tab to an existing report using the Cross-Tab Expert.442

Working with Cross-Tabs.........................................................................445

Showing values as percentages........................................................445

Abbreviating large summarized fields ...............................................446

Customizing row/column labels..........................................................447

Using running totals in Cross-Tabs....................................................448

Printing Cross-Tabs that span multiple pages ...................................449

Formatting Cross-Tabs............................................................................450

Changing width, height, and alignment of Cross-Tab cells ...............450

Formatting background color of entire rows/columns........................450

Formatting fields individually .............................................................451

Formatting several fields at one time.................................................451

Suppressing Cross-Tab data..............................................................451

Displaying summarized fields horizontally.........................................453

Advanced Cross-Tab features.................................................................453

Calculated Members..........................................................................454

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Contents

Embedded Summaries.......................................................................458

Building Queries 461Chapter 18

Connecting to a universe.........................................................................462

To connect to a universe....................................................................462

Defining the data selection for a query....................................................463

To build a simple query.......................................................................463

To create a combined query...............................................................464

Quick reference to objects..................................................................465

Editing an existing query..........................................................................466

To edit an existing query.....................................................................467

Viewing the SQL behind a query.............................................................467

To view the SQL when you create a query.........................................467

To view the SQL after you have created a query...............................468

Query filters and prompts........................................................................468

Creating query filters..........................................................................468

Building prompts.................................................................................469

Combining query filters and prompts.................................................471

Using And or Or to combine query filters...........................................471

Quick reference to query filter operators............................................472

Editing and removing query filters......................................................475

Filtering data using subqueries and database ranking............................476

What is a subquery?...........................................................................476

Building a subquery............................................................................477

What is a database ranking?..............................................................480

Creating a database ranking..............................................................480

Creating and Updating OLAP Reports 485Chapter 19

OLAP reporting with Crystal Reports.......................................................486

OLAP grid objects..............................................................................486

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Contents

Creating an OLAP report.........................................................................487

To create an OLAP report...................................................................487

Specifying the data source.................................................................487

Defining the structure of the grid........................................................488

Setting sliced dimensions and specifying the number of grids...........490

Applying a predefined style................................................................492

Inserting a chart..................................................................................493

Updating an OLAP report........................................................................493

To update a cube location in an OLAP grid object.............................494

Updating the database location..........................................................495

Formatting data in an OLAP grid.............................................................495

Changing the background color of a dimension.................................496

Creating an alias for a dimension.......................................................497

Formatting grid lines...........................................................................498

Labelling dimensions..........................................................................498

Changing the view of OLAP data ...........................................................498

To show or hide dimension members ................................................499

To create asymmetry in an OLAP grid...............................................499

To add totals to an OLAP grid............................................................499

To change the display format for member names..............................500

To alter the data displayed in the OLAP grid......................................500

To pivot an OLAP grid .......................................................................500

To define the order of fields in the OLAP grid ...................................500

Sorting and filtering OLAP grid data........................................................501

Sorting data in an OLAP grid .............................................................501

Filtering data in an OLAP grid ...........................................................503

Adding calculations to OLAP grids .........................................................504

Printing, Exporting, and Viewing Reports 505Chapter 20

Distributing reports...................................................................................506

Printing a report..................................................................................506

Crystal Reports 2008 SP3 User's Guide 17

Contents

Faxing a report...................................................................................506

Exporting a report...............................................................................507

Working with Web folders...................................................................521

Working with Enterprise folders .........................................................522

Viewing reports........................................................................................525

What are Report Parts?......................................................................526

What is navigation?............................................................................526

The Report Part Drilldown option.......................................................530

The Another Report Object option.....................................................533

Hyperlinks displayed in the viewers...................................................540

Creating an Enterprise Hyperlink.......................................................542

Using smart tags......................................................................................543

To use smart tags with a Crystal Reports object................................544

Report Alerts 545Chapter 21

About Report Alerts ................................................................................546

Working with Report Alerts......................................................................546

Creating Report Alerts........................................................................546

Editing Report Alerts..........................................................................549

Deleting Report Alerts........................................................................550

Viewing Report Alerts.........................................................................550

Referring to Report Alerts in formulas................................................551

Using Formulas 553Chapter 22

Formulas overview...................................................................................554

Typical uses for formulas....................................................................554

Formula components and syntax............................................................555

Formula components .........................................................................556

Formula syntax...................................................................................557

User Function Libraries in formulas.........................................................558

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Specifying formulas.................................................................................559

Working with the Formula Workshop.................................................560

Working with the Formula Editor........................................................566

Creating and modifying formulas.............................................................572

Creating a formula and inserting it into a report.................................572

Creating a formula in the Formula Expert .........................................573

Editing formulas..................................................................................575

Searching for formula text..................................................................575

Copying formulas...............................................................................576

Deleting formulas.....................................................................................578

Removing the working formula from your report................................579

Deleting the formula specification......................................................579

Debugging formulas.................................................................................579

Debugging evaluation time errors......................................................580

Debugging tutorial..............................................................................580

Parameter Fields and Prompts 587Chapter 23

Parameter and prompt overview ............................................................588

Parameter field considerations...........................................................588

Prompt considerations........................................................................590

Data and non-data parameters..........................................................590

Optional parameters...........................................................................591

Understanding dynamic prompts.............................................................592

Understanding lists of values...................................................................595

List-of-values types............................................................................596

Determining which list-of-values type to use......................................599

Lists of values and prompt groups contrasted...................................601

Creating a parameter with a static prompt...............................................602

To create a parameter with a static prompt........................................602

To incorporate the parameter into the record selection filter..............605

To incorporate the parameter into a saved data selection formula.....606

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Contents

Creating a parameter with a dynamic prompt..........................................607

To create a parameter with a dynamic prompt...................................607

Creating a parameter with a cascading list of values..............................609

To create a parameter with a cascading list of values........................610

The Parameter Panel...............................................................................612

Working with lists of values......................................................................613

Sharing common lists of values within a report..................................614

Using separate value and description fields.......................................616

Using command objects as list-of-values data sources.....................617

Null handling.......................................................................................617

Long lists of values.............................................................................618

Best practices for prompting....................................................................619

Unmanaged reports............................................................................619

Managed reports................................................................................619

Converting unmanaged reports to managed reports.........................620

Deploying managed reports with dynamic prompts...........................621

Deleting parameter fields.........................................................................621

To delete a parameter that is not used in a formula...........................622

To delete a parameter used with the Select Expert............................622

To delete a parameter that is used in a formula.................................623

Responding to parameter field prompts..................................................623

Previewing a report for the first time...................................................623

Refreshing report data........................................................................624

Advanced parameter features.................................................................625

Creating a parameter with multiple prompting values........................625

Applying conditional formatting using parameter fields......................626

Creating a report title using parameter fields.....................................627

Specifying single or ranges of values.................................................628

Incorporating a parameter into a formula...........................................629

Defining sort order using parameter fields.........................................630

Defining entry type and format using the Edit Mask...........................631

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Creating a saved-data record filter using parameter fields................633

To create a saved-data record filter using parameter fields...............634

To create a parameter appearing on the Parameter Panel................634

To incorporate the parameter into a saved data selection formula.....635

Adding dynamic grouping using parameter fields..............................636

Subreports 639Chapter 24

What are subreports?..............................................................................640

Unlinked vs. linked subreports...........................................................641

How subreport linking works..............................................................642

Inserting subreports.................................................................................644

Previewing subreports........................................................................645

Saving a subreport as a primary report..............................................645

Updating subreports...........................................................................646

Linking a subreport to the data in the primary report...............................647

To link a subreport to the data in the primary report...........................648

Linking a subreport to the main report without modifying the selection

formula...............................................................................................649

Combining unrelated reports by using subreports ..................................650

Combining two or more unrelated reports..........................................650

Using subreports with unlinkable data.....................................................651

Linking to/from a formula field............................................................652

Linking unindexed tables....................................................................653

Creating an on-demand subreport...........................................................653

To create an on-demand subreport....................................................654

Adding captions to on-demand subreports........................................654

Showing different views of the same data in a report..............................655

Understanding Databases 657Chapter 25

Databases overview................................................................................658

Crystal Reports 2008 SP3 User's Guide 21

Contents

Relational database basics................................................................658

Aliases ...............................................................................................659

Locating files......................................................................................661

Indexed tables....................................................................................662

Linking tables...........................................................................................665

Link from and link to...........................................................................665

Link relationships................................................................................665

Performance considerations in one-to-many links.............................666

Data file considerations......................................................................670

SQL database considerations............................................................673

Performance considerations for all reports........................................674

The Database Expert Links tab..........................................................676

Linking indexed tables........................................................................676

Link processing order.........................................................................677

Linking options...................................................................................678

Using SQL and SQL databases..............................................................696

What is SQL?.....................................................................................696

SQL DBMS.........................................................................................699

How does Crystal Reports use SQL? ...............................................700

The SQL language.............................................................................701

Server-side processing............................................................................704

How server-side grouping affects the SQL query..............................705

Mapping database fields..........................................................................707

About the Map Fields dialog box........................................................707

Remapping processes........................................................................708

Remapping altered database fields....................................................710

Saved Data Indexes................................................................................711

How Report Indexing works...............................................................712

Considerations for using Saved Data Indexes...................................713

Indexing the right field(s)....................................................................713

Unicode support in Crystal Reports.........................................................714

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Contents

For additional information........................................................................714

Accessing Data Sources 715Chapter 26

Introduction..............................................................................................716

Six types of data.................................................................................716

Direct access database files ...................................................................717

Advantages........................................................................................717

Disadvantages....................................................................................718

Three layers.......................................................................................718

Common database formats................................................................719

ODBC data sources ................................................................................730

Advantages........................................................................................731

Disadvantages....................................................................................732

Five layers..........................................................................................732

Installing database clients..................................................................735

To ensure correct ODBC DSN configuration......................................735

Common ODBC database formats....................................................736

JDBC data sources .................................................................................740

JNDI ..................................................................................................740

Five layers..........................................................................................741

Supported JDBC database formats...................................................742

Configuring the Crystal Reports JDBC driver.....................................743

Business Objects universes....................................................................743

Business Views........................................................................................744

Crystal SQL Designer files.......................................................................745

Crystal Dictionary files.............................................................................746

Report Processing Model 749Appendix A

Overview .................................................................................................750

What is a "pass"? ..............................................................................750

Crystal Reports 2008 SP3 User's Guide 23

Contents

Pre-pass 1..........................................................................................750

Pass 1................................................................................................750

Pre-pass 2..........................................................................................751

Pass 2................................................................................................751

Pass 3................................................................................................752

Crystal Reports Error Messages 753Appendix B

Drive:\filename.extension........................................................................754

Drive:\test.rpt...........................................................................................754

Failed to load database connector..........................................................755

Failed to open the connection. Details: [Database Vendor Code: <vendor

code number>].........................................................................................755

Failed to retrieve data from the database. Details: [Database Vendor Code:

<vendor code number>]...........................................................................756

Creating Accessible Reports 759Appendix C

About accessibility ..................................................................................760

Benefits of accessible reports............................................................760

About the accessibility guidelines......................................................762

Accessibility and Business Objects products.....................................763

Improving report accessibility..................................................................763

Placing objects in reports...................................................................764

Text.....................................................................................................766

Color...................................................................................................770

Navigation..........................................................................................772

Parameter fields.................................................................................773

Designing for flexibility.............................................................................773

Accessibility and conditional formatting.............................................774

Accessibility and suppressing sections..............................................775

Accessibility and subreports...............................................................776

Improving data table accessibility............................................................777

24 Crystal Reports 2008 SP3 User's Guide

Contents

Text objects and data table values.....................................................777

Other data table design considerations..............................................783

Accessibility and BusinessObjects Enterprise.........................................784

Setting accessible preferences for BusinessObjects Enterprise........785

Accessibility and customization...............................................................785

Resources................................................................................................787

More Information 789Appendix D

Index 793

Crystal Reports 2008 SP3 User's Guide 25

Contents

26 Crystal Reports 2008 SP3 User's Guide

Introduction to Crystal Reports 2008

About Crystal Reports

Crystal Reports is designed to work with your database to help you analyze and interpret important information. Crystal Reports makes it easy to create simple reports, and, it also has the comprehensive tools you need to produce complex or specialized reports.

Create any report you can imagine

Crystal Reports is designed to produce the report you want from virtually any data source. Built-in report experts guide you step by step through building reports and completing common reporting tasks. Formulas, cross-tabs, subreports, and conditional formatting help make sense of data and uncover important relationships that might otherwise be hidden. Geographic maps and graphs communicate information visually when words and numbers are simply not enough.

Extend reporting to the Web

The flexibility of Crystal Reports doesn't end with creating reports — your reports can be published in a variety of formats including Microsoft Word and Excel, E-mail and even over the Web. Advanced Web reporting lets other members of your workgroup view and update shared reports inside their web browser.

Incorporate reports into applications

Application and web developers can save time and meet their users needs by integrating the report processing power of Crystal Reports into their database applications. Support for most popular development languages makes it easy to add reporting to any application.

28 Crystal Reports 2008 SP3 User's Guide

Introduction to Crystal Reports 2008

About the Crystal Reports documentation

Whether it's the web master in IT, the promotion manager in marketing, the database administrator in finance or the CEO, Crystal Reports is a powerful tool designed to help everyone analyze and interpret the information that's important to them.

About the Crystal Reports documentation

The Crystal Reports documentation includes procedures for typical reporting tasks such as placing fields, formatting reports, and sorting records. It also contains information on more specific areas of interest such as advanced formula creation and accessing different types of data. Use the documentation as a reference for your basic reporting needs as well as an introduction to new concepts in report creation.

Locate information quickly

• Access online help from the Crystal Reports help menu.

Use the Contents tab to view all major sections in the online help and drill down to specific headings within each section, the Index tab to view topics in alphabetical order, and the Search tab to enter a keyword to view all the sections that relate to the keyword.

• Access a PDF version of the Crystal Reports documentation online at

http://support.businessobjects.com/documentation.

The PDF version contains a subset of the topics found in the online help, along with additional sections—such as a Quick Start—that can help you learn Crystal Reports.

Sample Reports

Many topics in the Crystal Reports documentation include a list of related sample reports. Use these reports to illustrate concepts the topic describes. The sample reports can be adapted to your own needs.

Sample reports are located on the Business Objects Technical Support web site http://support.businessobjects.com/samples/.

Crystal Reports 2008 SP3 User's Guide 29

Introduction to Crystal Reports 2008

About the Crystal Reports documentation

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