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

30 Crystal Reports 2008 SP3 User's Guide

What's New in Crystal Reports 2008 SP3

Introduction

This section provides a high-level overview of the components, features, and benefits that are provided by the latest release of Crystal Reports.

The following is an overview of the new features in Crystal Reports 2008 SP1.

•

Flash printing

•

Unicode-supported interface

•

Enhanced publishing interface

•

XML and Web Services Database Driver

•

Viewer Accessibility

Flash printing

Crystal Reports 2008 allows you to print SWF objects in your report without the need to first export the report to PDF.

The printing option can print SWF objects that have data binding as well as SWF objects that do not have data binding.

Unicode-supported interface

Crystal Reports 2008 now has a Unicode-capable interface that allows you to use User Function Libraries (UFLs) for multilingual information processing.

For example, in a multilingual report, you can use the UFLs to access and translate the multilingual text.

Enhanced publishing interface

The Crystal Reports 2008 Publishing page now allows you to set parameter values for all recipients from the Personalization page. Other improved usability functions include selecting destinations, PDF merging, and a better shared publishing workflow.

32 Crystal Reports 2008 SP3 User's Guide

What's New in Crystal Reports 2008 SP3

Introduction

XML and Web Services Database Driver

Web services created with SOAP 1.2 are now accessible to Crystal Reports XML and Web Services driver. This includes new architectures such as .NET

3.0 (Windows Communication Foundation).

Also, the Crystal Reports XML Web Services driver recognizes a Web Service that returns an ADO.NET DataSet.

Viewer Accessibility

The Webform (DHTML) viewer is now accessible. The enhanced cross-tab objects can now be navigated by a screen reader.

Option to distinguish between empty and non empty rows for SAP NetWeaver BW Data

When you want your report to show all SAP NetWeaver BW data records, including the empty ones, you can use the new “Show Empty Data” option. This option has been added to the SAP NetWeaver BW MDX driver to allow empty data records to be displayed.

The “Show Empty Data” option can be selected when you create the connecetion (on SAP System Login).

When the “Show Empty Data” option is selected, empty data rows will be displayed in the report as valid data.

Note:

Setting “Show Empty data” to true will downgrade the data retrieval performance, so the default value for the option is False. This also applies when opening a report created with previous versions of this product.

Crystal Reports 2008 SP3 User's Guide 33

What's New in Crystal Reports 2008 SP3

Introduction

HTML interpretation tag “<a></a>” is now supported

When you add a hyperlink to your report, you can now use the “<a></a> ” tag to display text instead of the hyperlink.

Example:

Note:

Only the “href” linking property is supported; other HTML 4.01 linking properties are not supported.

34 Crystal Reports 2008 SP3 User's Guide

Installing Crystal Reports 2008 SP3

Installation overview

The Crystal Reports Installation Wizard works with Microsoft Windows Installer to guide you through the installation process. The Installation Wizard automatically recognizes your computer's operating system and updates files as required.

Note:

Data-Direct ODBC driver installers are not included as part of the Crystal Reports installer. Instead, you must download and run these installers separately.

Installing Crystal Reports 2008 SP3

This section provides step-by-step instructions for installing Crystal Reports and shows how to customize your installation. The main topics are:

•

Installation requirements

•

Installing Crystal Reports on a local machine

•

Creating an installation point and installing from a network server

•

Customizing your installation

•

Running a silent installation

•

Setting custom banners

•

Upgrading Crystal Reports components

As one of the final steps in the installation process, you'll be asked if you want to register the product. Follow the on-screen instructions to complete this process.

36 Crystal Reports 2008 SP3 User's Guide

Installation requirements

Minimum installation requirements

Operating Systems

Installing Crystal Reports 2008 SP3

Installation requirements

Windows Vista and Vista SP1

Windows XP Professional SP2

Windows 2003 Server

Windows 2008 server

Computer/Processor

Memory

Disk space

Note:

The Java components require a J2EE 1.6 compatible runtime, which is automatically installed at the same time as Crystal Reports.

450 MHz or higher Pentium-compatible CPU

At least 128 megabytes (MB) of RAM. 256 MB recommended. 4 gigabytes (GB) maximum

1.0 gigabyte minimum. 1.5 gigabytes recommended

CD-ROM or DVD driveDrive

Installing Crystal Reports on a local machine

If you are installing Crystal Reports on a computer running any of the supported operating systems (see Minimum installation requirements above), you must have Administrator privileges. The installation process creates

Crystal Reports 2008 SP3 User's Guide 37

Installing Crystal Reports 2008 SP3

Installing Crystal Reports on a local machine

registry entries and may update some system files that require Administrator rights.

Close all currently running programs and stop as many services as possible when installing Crystal Reports.

If you want to limit the features you install, see Customizing your installation.

To install on a local machine

1. Unless Autoplay is enabled for your CD-ROM drive, run Setup.exe from

the win32_x86 directory of your product distribution.

Note:

Depending on the configuration of your current system, you may receive a dialog box informing you to update existing files. If this happens, click Yes and restart your machine. The Installation Wizard updates the required files.

2. Choose the language in which you want to install Crystal Reports.

3. Indicate whether or not you want to create a log file during installation (it

is enabled by default ).

4. Click OK.

5. When the Welcome dialog box appears, click Next.

6. Read and accept the License Agreement to proceed with the installation.

7. In the User Information dialog box, type your name, organization, and the

product activation keycode.

8. Click Next.

9. In the Choose Language Packs dialog box, select the languages that you

want to install.

10. Click Next.

The Select Installation Type dialog box appears.

38 Crystal Reports 2008 SP3 User's Guide

Installing Crystal Reports 2008 SP3

Installing Crystal Reports on a local machine

11. Choose the type of installation that you want to perform:

• Typical installs the most common application features.

• Custom enables you to choose the features that you want installed,

to specify where they will be installed, and to check the disk space required by each feature. For details, see Customizing your installation .

12. Click Browse if you want to install Crystal Reports to a directory different

from the default location.

The default location for Crystal Reports is C:\Program

Files\Business Objects\

13. Click Next.

The Start Installation dialog box appears.

Note:

If you install Crystal Reports in Custom Installation Mode on a machine with an Internet connection, you can choose to disable the automatic Web Update Service feature. This features lets you check for updates and

Crystal Reports 2008 SP3 User's Guide 39

Installing Crystal Reports 2008 SP3

Creating an installation point and installing from a network server

service packs each time you open Crystal Reports; if you disable it, you cannot activate it later.

14. Click Next to begin copying files to your local drive.

Creating an installation point and installing from a network server

Installing Crystal Reports from a central network location involves two steps:

1. Make a copy of your Crystal Reports product distribution on a server

machine on the network (this copy becomes your installation point). See

Creating an installation point for Crystal Reports.

2. Access the server machine from a workstation, and run Setup.exe to

install Crystal Reports on the workstation. See Installing Crystal Reports

from a network.

Creating an installation point for Crystal Reports

This procedure must be performed by a network administrator who has write access and network privileges. When this procedure is complete, end users will be able to access Setup.exe from the network to install Crystal Reports onto their local machines.

Note:

If users do not have the Microsoft Windows Installer configured on their machines, the setup process detects the workstation's operating system and installs the appropriate Microsoft Windows Installer package.

To create an installation point

1. Create a folder on your network, and share this folder for the users who

need to run the Setup.exe.

2. Copy the entire contents of your Crystal Reports product distribution to

the folder that you created in step 1.

3. Assign rights to the users who need to install Crystal Reports from this

folder.

40 Crystal Reports 2008 SP3 User's Guide

Installing Crystal Reports 2008 SP3

Creating an installation point and installing from a network server

Note:

Restricting access to this folder lets you stay within your license limit.

Installing Crystal Reports from a network

If your network administrator has copied Crystal Reports to the network, make sure you have read privileges to that network before beginning this process.

If you are installing Crystal Reports on a computer running any of the supported operating systems (see Minimum installation requirements), you must have Administrator privileges on the computer. The installation process creates registry entries and may update some system files that require Administrator rights.

Close all currently running programs and stop as many services as possible when installing Crystal Reports.

To install Crystal Reports from a network

1. Access the folder on the network that contains the Crystal Reports

installation files.

2. Double-click Setup.exe.

Note:

3. Choose the language in which you want to install Crystal Reports.

4. Indicate whether or not you want to create a log file during installation (it

is enabled by default ).

5. Click OK.

6. When the Welcome dialog box appears, click Next.

7. Read and accept the License Agreement to proceed with the installation,

then click Next.

8. In the User Information dialog box, type your name, organization, and the

product activation keycode.

Crystal Reports 2008 SP3 User's Guide 41

Installing Crystal Reports 2008 SP3

Creating an installation point and installing from a network server

Tip:

You may need to contact your Administrator for the product activation keycode.

9. Click Next.

10. In the Choose Language Packs dialog box, select the languages that you

want to install.

11. Click Next.

The Select Installation Type dialog box appears.

12. Choose the type of installation that you want to perform:

• Typical installs the most common application features.

• Custom enables you to choose the features that you want installed,

to specify where they will be installed, and to check the disk space required by each feature. For details, see Customizing your installation .

13. Click Browse if you want to install Crystal Reports to a directory different

from the default location.

42 Crystal Reports 2008 SP3 User's Guide

Installing Crystal Reports 2008 SP3

The default location for Crystal Reports is C:\Program

Files\Business Objects\

14. Click Next to begin copying files to your local drive.

Customizing your installation

Selecting the Custom installation option invokes the Select Features dialog box, which allows you to install specific features, to change the default location of various features, and to check the amount of disk space required by each feature.

Customizing your installation

The icons in the feature tree indicate whether the feature and its subfeatures will be installed or not:

• A white icon means that the feature and all its subfeatures will be installed.

• A shaded icon means that the feature and some of its subfeatures will

be installed.

• A yellow 1 means that the feature will be installed when required (installed

on demand).

Crystal Reports 2008 SP3 User's Guide 43

Installing Crystal Reports 2008 SP3

Customizing your installation

• A red X means that the feature or subfeature is either unavailable or will

not be installed.

Crystal Reports uses an "install on-demand" technology for some of its features. As a result, the very first time a particular feature is used after being installed, there may be an extra wait for the "install on-demand" to complete. This behavior will affect new installations only once and will not occur when features are restarted.

To select the configuration and location of a feature or subfeature, click its icon.

Note:

Each feature or subfeature can have its own configuration and location.

Use the following table to determine your installation options for each feature or subfeature:

Description of what is installedType of feature installation

•

Installs the feature on the local hard drive.

Will be installed on local hard drive

Entire feature will be installed on local hard drive

Feature will be installed when required

Entire feature will be unavailable

44 Crystal Reports 2008 SP3 User's Guide

•

Uses the Typical install settings to install some of the feature's subfeatures to the local hard drive.

•

Installs the feature and all of its subfeatures on the local hard drive.

•

Installs the feature or subfeature from the product distribution/network when first used.

•

Neither the feature nor its subfeatures are installed.

Note:

Subfeatures are listed below each feature. A subfeature can have a different type of installation than its parent feature.

Running a silent installation

A silent installation is one that you can run either from the command line or by use of a response file to automatically install Crystal Reports on any machine in your system, without the installation program prompting for information during the installation.

The silent Crystal Reports installation is particularly useful when you need to perform multiple installations and do not want to interrupt people who are working on machines in your system. You can also use the silent installation command in your own scripts. For example, if your organization uses scripts to install software on machines, you can add the silent Crystal Reports installation command to your scripts.

Note:

• The silent installation is not available from the Crystal Reports Setup

program and is intended only for experienced administrators of Crystal Reports.

• When you perform a silent installation, you accept the Crystal Reports

end-user license agreement by default. You can find a copy of the license agreement in the Docs folder of your product distribution.

• Silent installations are intended for new installations; do not use them for

upgrades.

Installing Crystal Reports 2008 SP3

Running a silent installation

Command line silent installation

The silent installation command consists of the command setup.exe, followed by a number of parameters that provide information about the installation. The following example creates a sub-directory /Crystal

Reports and installs Crystal Reports into it:

setup.exe ADDLOCAL=ALL CLIENTLANGUAGE=<%langcode%> IN STALL.LP.<%langcode%>.SELECTED="1" REBOOT=ReallySuppress

PIDKEY=<%keycode>% INSTALLDIR="C:\Program Files\Business

Objects" /qn

• <%langcode%> Replace this variable with a valid language code from

the following table.

Crystal Reports 2008 SP3 User's Guide 45

Installing Crystal Reports 2008 SP3

Running a silent installation

• <%keycode%> Replace this variable with a valid product activation

keycode.

The example uses the most common parameters. You can choose any number of valid parameters, but it is good practice to keep the silent installation as simple as possible.

The following table lists the most common parameters used in a command-line silent installation. To use a parameter, place it on the command line after the setup.exe command.

Note:

Parameters that are not listed in this table may be available, but they have not been tested. Untested parameters are not supported.

46 Crystal Reports 2008 SP3 User's Guide

CLIENTLANGUAGE=

Installing Crystal Reports 2008 SP3

Running a silent installation

DescriptionInstallation parameter

Use this to specify the language version code for the install.

•

For English, enter EN.

•

For French, enter FR.

•

For German, enter DE.

•

For Spanish, enter ES.

•

For Japanese enter JA.

•

For Simplified Chinese, enter zh_CN

•

For Traditional Chinese, enter zh_TW.

•

For Italian, enter IT.

•

For Korean, enter KO.

•

For Dutch, enter NL.

•

For Portuguese (Brazilian), enter PT.

•

For Swedish, enter SV.

Note:

If you don't enter this parameter, the regular language-selection screen appears at the beginning of your install, even if you specified the parameters for a no-prompt installation.

Crystal Reports 2008 SP3 User's Guide 47

Installing Crystal Reports 2008 SP3

Running a silent installation

INSTALLDIR="filepath"

DescriptionInstallation parameter

Specifies the machine and directory where you want to create the Crystal Reports sub-directory, Crystal Reports and install Crystal Reports into. Replace filepath with the path where to create the installation subdirectory. For example, setting filepath to, C:\Program Files\Business Objects would create the path, C:\Program

Files\Business Objects\Crystal Reports\ and install the files

there.

PIDKEY=00000-00000000000000-0000

REBOOT=ReallySuppress

/qn+

/qn

Specifies your product activation keycode.

Prevents Crystal Reports from prompting the user to reboot the machine.

Performs the installation silently, but prompts the user when the installation is complete.

Performs the installation silently, without prompting the user.

48 Crystal Reports 2008 SP3 User's Guide

Installing Crystal Reports 2008 SP3

Running a silent installation

DescriptionInstallation parameter

Specifies a list of features, delimited by commas, that you want to install.

For example, ADDLOCAL=ALL

ADDLOCAL

EXCLUDEDOTNETFILES

INSTALL.LP.<%langcode%>.SE LECTED="1"

Note:

When using any of the EXCLUDE parameters in this table, you must also use ADDLOCAL.

For example, ADDLOCAL=ALL EXCLUDEJAVAFILES =1

Specifies whether the .NET developer components should be installed.

For example, EXCLUDEDOTNETFILES=1

The default value is 0, which indicates that the .NET developer components should be installed. The value 1 indicates these components should not be installed.

Specifies a particular language pack to install.

A silent install log file is created in the %TEMP% folder to capture all placeholder DLL errors. If the installation is successful, it is copied to the logging folder. If the installation fails for any reason, the installation log file remains in the %TEMP% folder.

Response file silent installation

During an installation, you can optionally indicate that you want the installer to create an INI file to act as a response file during subsequent installs. The

Crystal Reports 2008 SP3 User's Guide 49

Installing Crystal Reports 2008 SP3

Running a silent installation

installer then records the installation options you select as you install Crystal Reports, and saves the file to disk.

The created INI file can be read by the installer to silently install Crystal Reports with the same options specified during the creation of the file. This is helpful for quickly producing a Silent Installation of Crystal Reports without having to figure out complicated command-line parameters.

Once created during an installation, the INI response file must be included with the set of Crystal Reports installation files.

The following table lists the parameters used to create and use an INI response file for silent installation. To use a parameter, place it on the command line after the setup.exe command.

-w "filepath"

DescriptionInstallation parameter

Creates an INI response file at the path specified by filepath.

Note:

You can follow all the steps of the installation up to the final dialog in the sequence, then cancel the installation. This creates the INI response file without installing Crystal Reports.

-r "filepath"

50 Crystal Reports 2008 SP3 User's Guide

Reads the INI response file at the path specified by filepath, and installs Crystal Reports based on the settings in the file.

Note:

In the INI response file, there is a section "others". Set the key to /qb to perform an install with a progress meter. Set the key to /qa to perform a completely silent install.

Installing Crystal Reports 2008 SP3

Setting custom banners

DescriptionInstallation parameter

To be used with the -r parameter. Creates a silent install log file at the path specified by filepath.

-l "filepath"

Setting custom banners

The installer can be configured to display customized or re-branded banners along the top and as the background of the Crystal Reports installer. Typically, this functionality is intended only for partners who have signed agreements with Business Objects.

In order to use custom banners, find the directory where the MSI installer is located. Create a sub-directory called res and copy your banner images to it:

top.bmp

If this parameter is not set, the default location for the creation of the silent install log file is the %TEMP% folder.

This log captures all the placeholder DLL errors.

DescriptionImage filename

Banner that is shown along the top of the installation window.

Size: 500 x 59 pixels

full.bmp

Banner that is shown as the backdrop for the installation window.

Size: 1024 x 768 pixels

Crystal Reports 2008 SP3 User's Guide 51

Installing Crystal Reports 2008 SP3

Upgrading Crystal Reports components

DescriptionImage filename

The Crystal Reports splash screen

splash.bmp

The images must be in Windows bitmap format.

that is shown after installation.

This must be placed in the win32x86 folder.

Upgrading Crystal Reports components

If you have purchased an upgrade product activation keycode, you will find that the installation program does not remove your previous version of Crystal Reports. In general, upgrading Crystal Reports components provides you with a side-by-side installation (that is, an installation in which you can run either your old or new version of Crystal Reports).

Note:

Crystal Reports 2008 SP1 side-by-side installation is supported when upgrading from Crystal Reports XI R2 , Crystal Reports XI,Crystal Reports 10, or Crystal Reports 9.

This side-by-side behavior applies to Crystal Reports and the various Software Development Kits (SDKs). Crystal Reports 2008 for Visual Studio .NET can be used in side-by-side mode at runtime (that is, applications written using Crystal Reports XI R2 or Crystal Reports 10 for Visual Studio .NET will continue to run with Crystal Reports XI R2 or Crystal Reports 10 for Visual Studio .NET assemblies). However, Visual Studio integration is not side by side; only one version of Crystal Reports can be integrated into the Visual Studio .NET IDE at any given time.

Note:

For further information that may pertain to your reporting environment, consult the Release Notes included with your product distribution (re lease_en.pdf).

52 Crystal Reports 2008 SP3 User's Guide

Quick Start

Learning how to use Crystal Reports

You can teach yourself how to use Crystal Reports by choosing from the methods available in this section:

• You can study the sample reports and sample database included with

Crystal Reports.

You will find the sample reports and sample database for Crystal Reports at the Business Objects Technical Support web site:

http://support.businessobjects.com/samples/

•

You can use the detailed descriptions and instructions in the Quick start

for new users.

•

You can use the summaries and topic cross-references in the Quick start

for advanced users—especially useful if you're already familiar with

reporting concepts.

Each method is a helpful way to learn and understand Crystal Reports and, although any one might be enough to get you up and running, you can always come back to this section and consult the other methods as you need them.

Sample data - Xtreme.mdb

A sample database, Xtreme.mdb, is available for you to use while you are learning Crystal Reports. Xtreme.mdb is a Microsoft Access database and all of the necessary drivers are included. You should be able to open the database directly and begin designing reports. Virtually all of the examples in this manual are based on Xtreme.mdb data.

Xtreme.mdb is located on the Business Objects Technical Support web site

http://support.businessobjects.com/samples/.

Xtreme.mdb is a database that contains data for Xtreme Mountain Bikes, a fictitious manufacturer of mountain bikes and accessories.

Note:

The sample data has been designed to illustrate various reporting concepts in a training environment, not to teach database design. While there are

54 Crystal Reports 2008 SP3 User's Guide

alternative ways of designing a database, this design was selected to keep the tutorials and examples focused on reporting, not on data manipulation.

Report Creation Wizards

The tutorials in this section show you how to build a report from scratch. As a complement or an alternative, however, you may want to use the Report Creation Wizards available on the Start Page. There are four Report Creation Wizards:

•

Standard

•

Cross-Tab

•

Mailing Label

•

OLAP

Each wizard guides you through the creation of a report by providing a series of screens. Many of the wizards have screens unique to a specific type of report. For example, the Mailing Labels Report Creation Wizard has a screen that allows you to specify the type of mailing label you want to use.

Quick Start

Report Creation Wizards

Standard

Note:

After you've clicked the Finish button in a Report Creation Wizard, you can click the Stop button on the Navigation Tools toolbar if you don't want the program to gather all the data from your data source. This is useful if you want to make adjustments to the report layout that the wizard created.

The Standard Report Creation Wizard is the most generic of the wizards. It guides you through choosing a data source and linking database tables. It also helps you add fields and specify the grouping, summarization (totals), and sorting criteria you want to use. Finally, the Standard Report Creation Wizard leads you through chart creation and record selection.

The Templates screen contains predefined layouts for you to apply to your report to give it more impact.

Crystal Reports 2008 SP3 User's Guide 55

Quick Start

Quick start for new users

Cross-Tab

Mailing Label

OLAP

The Cross-Tab Report Creation Wizard guides you through the creation of a report in which your data is displayed as a cross-tab object. Two special screens (Cross-Tab and Grid Style) help you create and format the cross-tab itself.

The Mailing Labels Report Creation Wizard lets you create a report that is formatted to print on any size mailing label. You can use the Label screen to select a commercial label type, or you can define your own layout of rows and columns for any multi-column style report.

The OLAP Report Creation Wizard lets you create a report in which your OLAP data is displayed as a grid object. Although similar to the Cross-Tab Report Creation Wizard in several ways, the OLAP Report Creation Wizard appears to be different due to the requirements of working with OLAP data sources. You first specify the location of your OLAP data, and then you choose the dimensions you want to include in the grid. Next you filter the report data and choose the style of the grid object, which you can also customize. Finally, you can define labels for your grid and insert a chart, if you wish.

Quick start for new users

The following tutorial has been designed to give you confidence when creating your first report.

In this tutorial, you will get an introduction to the program as you create a Customer List report. The Customer List is one of the most basic business reports and typically has information such as Customer Name, City, Region, and Contact Name.

56 Crystal Reports 2008 SP3 User's Guide

You begin by learning the basic concepts: selecting a database, placing some fields on the report, and then selecting specific records to be included. You will then learn how to:

• Insert and move database fields.

• Add and format a title.

• Display a report in the Preview tab so you can fine-tune your work.

• Use the Select Expert to ensure the report includes only the data you

need.

• Move objects.

• Group and sort data.

• Insert pictures.

• Print a report.

Before you begin

Quick Start

Quick start for new users

This tutorial assumes you are familiar with Microsoft Windows and uses conventional terms and procedures common to the Windows environment. If you are not familiar with Windows, please refer to the documentation that came with Microsoft Windows for further explanation.

The default font for all report sections in the program is set to Arial, 10 point. If you have changed the default font, or if your printer does not support this font, the field size, field spacing, and screen shots will look different than those included in this tutorial.

This tutorial has been designed using Microsoft Windows 2000. Screen shots may vary slightly if you are using a different platform.

If you are not familiar with the Crystal Reports environment, review Format

ting, which describes working with the grid, using guidelines, and formatting

activities.

Creating the report

1. Click the Start Page tab if the Start Page is not already visible in Crystal

Reports.

Crystal Reports 2008 SP3 User's Guide 57

Quick Start

Quick start for new users

The New Reports area of the Start Page contains a number of wizards to guide you through the creation of specific types of reports. Since you will be learning reporting concepts here, you can skip the wizards and build your report from scratch. After you have completed this tutorial, you may want to build some reports using the wizards to decide which method of report construction you are most comfortable with.

2. In the New Reports area, click Blank Report.

The Database Expert dialog box appears.

Note:

You can create reports based on database files, SQL/ODBC data sources, Business Views, and a variety of other data sources.

Selecting a database to use

The next step in creating a report is to select a database. Use the Xtreme.mdb sample database for this tutorial.

The Xtreme.mdb file is located on the Business Objects Technical Support web site http://support.businessobjects.com/samples/.

Copy Xtreme.mdb to a location on your machine that you can access for the tutorial.

To select a database

1. In the Database Expert dialog box, expand the Create New Connection

folder and then expand the Database Files folder; then search for the Xtreme.mdb sample database.

Note:

• You have to use the Open dialog box to find the Xtreme database.

58 Crystal Reports 2008 SP3 User's Guide

Quick Start

Quick start for new users

• If you wish to see database and server properties after you have

selected a database, right-click the database node in the Database Expert and select Properties from the shortcut menu.

2. Expand the Tables node of the Xtreme.mdb connection to see a list of

tables.

Because you are dealing only with customers in this tutorial, you will select the Customer table.

3. Select Customer and click the > arrow to add it to the Selected Tables

list, and then click OK.

The Design tab of the Report Designer appears.

Click Field Explorer on the Standard toolbar.

The Field Explorer dialog box appears.

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Report sections

Note:

Depending on how it appeared when you last used Crystal Reports, the Field Explorer dialog box might be docked or in floating mode. For more information about docking explorers, see Opening and docking explorers.

The Design tab is divided into five sections: Report Header (RH), Page Header (PH), Details (D), Report Footer (RF), and Page Footer (PF). If at any time you are unsure of the report section in which you are working, simply look at the shaded area to the left of the report which always displays either the section names or the initials that designate the names. See Design tab.

If the Short Section Names check box is selected in the Design View area of the Options dialog box, then the Report Header, Page Header, Details, Report Footer and Page Footer section names will appear as RH, PH, D, RF and PF respectively. If this check box is not selected, follow these steps:

To show short section names

1. On the File menu, click Options.

The Options dialog box appears with the Layout tab active.

2. In the Design View area, select the Short Section Names check box.

3. Click OK to return to the report.

Inserting a field

You'll use the Field Explorer dialog box to insert database fields when you create a new report.

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This dialog box is set to remain on-screen until you close it. All the tables available for use are listed in this box.

You will now start placing objects on the report by inserting the Customer Name field.

To insert a field

1. Expand the Database Fields node in the Field Explorer dialog box and

2. Highlight a field name by clicking the name once.

Quick Start

Quick start for new users

expand a table.

When you highlight a field name, you can review a subset of the values for that field as well as the field type and size by right-clicking the field and selecting Browse Data from the shortcut menu.

3. Click the Customer Name field and drag it into the Details section of the

report.

An object frame appears with the Arrow cursor as you drag the field onto the report:

• The object frame represents the object you have just selected for

placement.

• The size of the object frame approximates the size of the data in the

field selected.

4. Move the object frame as far to the left as you can in the Details section.

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If you move the field too far to the left, the Arrow cursor turns into a Stop cursor, indicating that you cannot drag the field that far. Keep in mind that you cannot place any objects outside the page margin.

The Design tab should look similar to this:

Understanding fields

Before going any further, take a look at the field you just placed in the Details section:

• First of all, the object frame indicates that when the report is printed, a

field value will appear where the box is positioned.

• If you haven't selected the Show Field Names check box on the Layout

tab of the Options dialog box, the object frame contains Xs to indicate that the database field contains a text string. Other data types have different character representations. For example, a currency data type is represented by $55,555.56.

• If your report is not showing field names, the number of Xs in the object

frame is the data width, the maximum number of characters in the field as defined by the database. Whether or not your report shows field names, the width of the object frame is the field width (the amount of space allocated to the field for printing). Initially it is set to the width needed to display the maximum number of characters in the field (using the font selected for the field). You can change this width by resizing the field.

• The size of the characters or Xs indicates the point size selected for the

characters in the field.

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• The font and style (Bold, Underline, and so on) used in displaying the

characters or Xs indicate the font and style selected for the characters in the field. Later in this tutorial you will learn how to make changes to these properties.

• The line spacing is adjusted to the point size selected for the characters

in the field.

Adding additional fields

Next, you will insert two additional fields in the report. This time, however, you will use the Ctrl-click combination to add them at the same time.

To add additional fields

1. Highlight the City field in the Field Explorer dialog box, press the Ctrl key

on your keyboard, and then highlight the Country field. Release the Ctrl key.

If you scroll through the field list, you will notice that both fields remain selected.

Quick Start

Quick start for new users

Note:

Using the Ctrl-click combination allows you to select a non-continuous range of fields. The Shift-click combination can be used to select several fields from the list that are contiguous.

2. Drag the fields to place them.

As the cursor is moved over the report, an object frame appears along with the Arrow cursor.

3. Place the fields to the right of the Customer Name field.

Both fields appear in the Details section of the report in the same order in which they are listed in the Field Explorer dialog box.

Selecting fields

When a field is selected, the object frame appears with a handle (box) on its right, left, top, and bottom edge. These handles indicate that the field is selected, and therefore active. To do anything with a field (change the font, move it, and so on), you first have to select it:

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Resizing fields

• Position the cursor inside the object frame and click once. The handles

appear, indicating the object is selected.

• Move the cursor away from the object frame and click in an empty part

of the window. The handles disappear.

That's all it takes to select and deselect objects.

To resize the field, follow these steps:

1. Click the Customer Name field in the Details section to select it.

2. Press the Ctrl key and click the field heading to select both objects.

3. Move the cursor over the resizing handle on the right edge of the fields

until the cursor turns into a Resizing cursor.

4. Resize the fields to the right until they are approximately two inches in

length.

Reviewing your work

Now let's see how the report looks with three fields placed and positioned.

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Click Print Preview on the Standard toolbar to activate the Preview

tab.

The screen should look similar to this:

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Quick start for new users

Note:

The first time you preview a report, you must click Print Preview on the Standard toolbar to activate the Preview tab. The Preview tab appears to the right of the Design tab. You can then switch between designing and previewing the report by clicking the corresponding tab.

You have the beginnings of a customer list report, but you still have several fields to add.

2. When you are finished reviewing the report, return to the Design tab by

clicking it.

Displaying field names

Field pictures (object frames containing character representations) have been discussed, but there may be times when you want to see the field names in the Design tab.

To display field names

1. On the File menu, click Options.

The Options dialog box appears with the Layout tab active.

2. Select the Show Field Names check box and click OK.

Now in the Design tab you will see the actual field names instead of character representations (X, $, #, and so on).

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Combining database fields in a text object

Instead of adding the Contact First Name and Contact Last Name fields as separate objects, you can insert both fields in a text object. This allows you to control the formatting of both fields by making changes to only one object. When you insert fields in a text object, the fields are automatically trimmed (they do not have any extra white space on either side). This is important because a field is a fixed size but the data in the fields can vary in size, leaving various amounts of unwanted white space.

To combine fields in a text object

2. Insert the field to the right of the fields in the Details section.

Click Insert Text Object on the Insert Tools toolbar. As you move

the cursor over the report, an object frame appears next to it.

As you drag the field, the Design tab automatically scrolls to the right, if necessary. When you click to place the object, a text object appears and the horizontal ruler of the Design tab changes to a ruler/tab selector that is used for editing the text object. If you click an empty area of the report or a field object, the standard Design tab ruler appears.

3. Click once on the border of the text object to select it for resizing. Handles

appear on all sides of the object.

4. Move the cursor over the right sizing handle of the text object and increase

the width by about 1 inch. You may need to scroll to the right and continue resizing.

5. Double-click inside the text object to select it for editing. Notice the

insertion point is now flashing within the text object.

6. Select the Contact Last Name field in the Field Explorer dialog box.

Remember, you can move the Field Explorer dialog box by dragging and dropping it by its title bar.

7. Drag the field to the text object.

8. Move the cursor over the text object until the cursor becomes a Drag and

Drop cursor.

9. Release the mouse button to place the field in the text object. The cursor

now appears after the Contact Last Name field, within the text object.

10. Type a comma and a space after Contact Last Name.

11. In the Field Explorer dialog box, highlight the Contact First Name field.

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12. Drag the field to the text object.

13. Move the cursor over the text object until the cursor becomes a Drag and

Drop cursor. Move the cursor to the right of the comma and space you just typed, and release the mouse button. The field will be inserted to the right of the comma and space.

14. Click the Preview tab to look at the fields you just placed.

The report should now look similar to this:

Adding summary information

The next step is to add summary information to your report. Adding summary information allows you to specify the author, title, and subject of the report, as well as any keywords or comments related to the report. When you add summary information, users can find information related to the report quickly.

To add summary information

1. On the File menu, click Summary Info.

The Document Properties dialog box appears with the Summary tab active.

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2. Enter information about your report in the text boxes provided. Be sure

to enter the title "Customer List" in the Title text box. This information will be used in the next section of the tutorial.

3. Click OK when finished.

Adding a title

As you can see, the report looks incomplete without a title. Although you can add a title using a text object, you can also tell the program to take the title information directly from the Title text box in the Document Properties dialog box.

To add a title

1. Click the Design tab.

2. In the Field Explorer, scroll down to Special Fields and expand it.

3. Choose Report Title.

4. Drag the cursor over the report. An object frame appears.

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5. Position the object frame in the upper left-hand corner of the Page Header

(PH) section of the report and release the mouse button to place the object.

6. Click the Preview tab or Refresh to review your changes.

The report title object now displays the title that you entered in the Title text box of the Document Properties dialog box.

Formatting objects

Now you can format the report title. This time, however, you will remain in the Preview tab to do the work. This will make it easier to see your work while you are formatting the title.

To format an object

1. To center the title, you will first need to expand the Title field so that it's

about the same width as the data in your report. To do this, select the object by clicking it.

2. Position the cursor on the right edge of the object until the cursor turns

into a Resizing cursor. Drag the right edge of the field box until it is even with the right edge of the data in the Contact Name field object.

Quick Start

Quick start for new users

You have created a large field that extends from the left edge to the right edge of the report.

4. Right-click the object and choose Format Field from the shortcut menu.

5. When the Format Editor appears, click the Font tab.

6. Set the report title to a larger, bolder version of the active font by selecting

7. Change the color of the text by selecting Maroon from the Color palette.

8. Click OK when finished.

9. Resize the report title object vertically to accommodate the increased

The title is now formatted to stand out on the report.

With the report title object still selected, click Align Center on the

Formatting toolbar. The title is centered within the object.

Bold from the Style list and 16 (or a point size suitable to the font you are using) from the Size list.

Notice that the Sample box shows an example of how the text will look.

size of the title.

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Adding a field heading

As you can see, the Contact Name field is the only field without a heading. In this section you will create a heading.

To add a field heading

2. Insert the text object in the Page Header section directly above the

4. Click your cursor outside the text object.

The Contact Name field now has a heading that looks just like the other field titles.

Click Insert Text Object on the Insert Tools toolbar.

Contact Name field.

Click Underline on the Formatting toolbar, and then type Contact

Name into the text object.

Saving the report

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Click Save on the Standard toolbar to save your work.

Since this is the first time you are saving the report, the Save As dialog box appears displaying the default directory where the file will be saved.

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Notice that a default file name, based on the report title you defined earlier, is also displayed.

2. Type Custlist.rpt in the File name box and click Save.

Your report is saved to the default directory or another directory you chose.

3. Click the Preview tab to view the report.

The report should now look similar to the following:

Congratulations! You have just created a basic listing report. You will continue to refine this report throughout the rest of this tutorial.

Record Selection

Crystal Reports allows you to limit or restrict the records that are to be included in a report. In this section you will learn how to:

• Select the records you want included in the report.

• Save a report, including the selection criteria.

For example, it may be useful to have a customer list that only lists customers from the USA. The sample data contains records from the United States and International customers. It is easy to restrict lists like this using the Select Expert.

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Entering the selection criteria

When you scroll through the report, you will see that it contains information for customers from many different countries. In this step, you will limit the number of countries displayed to the USA.

To enter selection criteria

1. To begin, click the Design tab to return to design mode.

2. Click an empty area of the report to make sure all fields are deselected.

Click Select Expert on the Expert Tools toolbar.

The Choose Field dialog box appears.

This dialog box lists all the fields currently in the report in the Report Fields section and then lists all fields that are available from each table in the database fields section.

4. Since you are going to base record selection on the country field, select

Country in the Fields list and click OK.

The Select Expert appears.

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Imagine that you are completing the following sentence:

Select all records where a customer's country is

You complete the sentence with the condition you want the program to use when selecting records for your report. Right now the condition is any value, which implies there is no restriction on the record selection.

5. Click the arrow on the operators box to see what other options you have.

Since you want only those records where the Country is USA, select the is equal to condition.

A new box appears on the right. The dialog box sentence now reads:

Select all records where a customer's country is equal

All that you need to complete the sentence is the value USA.

6. Click the arrow on the empty list. A list of all the country values appears.

Select USA from the list.

The sentence now reads:

Select all records where a customer's country is equal

to USA

7. Click OK to return to the Design tab.

8. Click the Preview tab to review the results of your work.

The Change In Record Selection Formula dialog box appears.

9. Click Refresh Data.

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Deleting a field

To delete a field

10. Save this version of the report without overwriting the original report by

choosing Save As from the File menu and giving the new report the name USA.rpt.

Congratulations! You have started formatting your report and have added selection criteria to it. More than that, you have learned how to manipulate your data. By now, you have a good idea of the powerful kinds of reports you can prepare.

Now that the report contains only records from the USA, displaying the Country field in the body of the report is not necessary. You can delete this field before continuing.

1. Select the Country field and the Country column heading using the

Ctrl-click combination.

2. Press Delete on your keyboard.

That is all it takes to delete fields from the report.

The report should now look similar to this:

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Balancing field spacing

Now that the Country field has been deleted, there is a large amount of white space between the City and Contact Name fields. You might be satisfied with the spacing as it stands, but it might be more readable if the columns were better balanced across the page.

To balance field spacing

1. Return to the Design tab. Select the Contact Name field and its field

heading by using the Ctrl-click combination.

2. Place the cursor over one of the two highlighted text objects and drag

them to the left, closer to the City field.

3. Click the Preview tab and review your work again.

The report should look similar to this:

Quick Start

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The spacing between the fields is much better, but it looks as if the report title is off-center.

4. Click the report title object to select it.

5. Position the cursor on the right handle of the object until the cursor turns

into a Resizing cursor. Drag the right edge of the object frame until it is even with the right edge of the data in the Contact Name field object.

The report title automatically centers itself based on the size of the object.

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Grouping and sorting

Data in reports can be grouped and sorted in a variety of ways. Sorting and grouping tools provide a great deal of flexibility for customizing reports.

Grouping the report

In many reports you need to break the data into groups in order to make it easier to read and to understand. Crystal Reports lets you do this easily. For this customer list, you will group the customers by region and then sort the customers alphabetically within each group.

To group a report

While on the Design tab, click Insert Group on the Insert Tools

toolbar.

The Insert Group dialog box appears.

2. Select Region from the Customer table in the first drop-down list.

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The program takes all records with the same value in the region field and places them together in a group on the report.

3. Select in ascending order from the second drop-down list.

The region grouping will be displayed on the report in alphabetic ascending order.

4. Click OK.

Notice that two new sections now appear in the Design tab: GH1 (Group Header #1) and GF1 (Group Footer #1). This is how the program shows that the report has been grouped.

5. Click the Preview tab to see what the report looks like.

You can view the group of interest by clicking on the group name in the Group Tree. For example, to see the Texas customer group, click TX in the Group Tree. The program jumps to the Texas group, displaying that group in the Preview tab. The Group Tree allows you to quickly jump to a specific group of interest instead of scrolling through the report looking for the group. For more information on the group tree, see Group Tree.

If the group tree is not visible, select Toggle Group Tree on the

Standard toolbar to see the groups included in the report.

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Note:

For many reports, you will want to insert summaries, subtotals and grand totals. For example, when creating a sales report rather than a customer list, you would want to calculate the total sales amount for each region. See

Sorting, Grouping, and Totaling.

Understanding "live" group headers

When a group is inserted, a group name field is automatically inserted in the Group Header section of the report. The group name field displays the current group's name. For example, if you group by region, and preview the report, the group header for the CA (California) group shows "CA."

The group field name is automatically formatted to stand out from the records in the group.

Sorting records

In a typical customer list report, customer names are listed alphabetically. In this example, you will sort the customer names alphabetically within each region.

To sort records

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While on the Preview tab, click Record Sort Expert on the Expert

Tools toolbar.

The Record Sort Expert appears.

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Quick start for new users

The Available Fields list box displays all fields currently on your report and all the fields in the data source. You can choose to sort based on any of these fields.

The Sort Fields list box displays the fields that are already sorted in the report. Since the region field has already been sorted, the sorting you are about to do will be within each region, and not for the entire report.

2. Highlight the Customer Name field and click the > arrow button to add

it to the Sort Fields list.

3. Select Ascending for the Sort Direction and click OK. The report should

now look similar to the following:

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Notice that the records within each group are in alphabetic order.

Completing the report

You have just one step left to complete the report. A company logo needs to be added to the first page of the report.

Inserting a company logo

In this section, you will place a company logo at the top of the first page of the report.

To insert a company logo

2. Choose a bitmap logo (.bmp) file and click Open.

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While on the Design tab, click Insert Picture on the Insert Tools

toolbar.

The Open dialog box appears.

An object frame appears as you move the cursor over the report. The object frame represents the logo you will place.

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3. Position the object frame in the upper left-hand corner of the Report

Header (RH) section of the report and click once to place it.

Placing the logo in the Report Header (RH) section ensures that the logo is printed only on the first page of the report.

Note:

Although there does not appear to be enough room in the Report Header (RH) section when you place the graphic, the section will automatically expand to accommodate the picture.

4. Click the Preview tab to view the report.

The final report should look something like this (with the logo that you chose in step 2):

5. Save the report by clicking Save on the Standard toolbar.

You have just completed your first report.

For more information

• For information about distributing reports (printing, exporting, and so on)

see the printing topics in Formatting and Printing, Exporting, and Viewing

Reports.

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If you are an experienced Windows user who wants to get right into the program, follow these steps to set up a report for the first time.

If you're not an experienced user, check the Quick start for new users.

Choosing a report type and data source

1. In Windows, click Start > Programs > BusinessObjects XI Release 3

> Crystal Reports, and then select Crystal Reports 2008.

2. Click Blank Report to open the Database Expert dialog box.

As an alternative to creating a blank report, you can choose one of four Report Creation Wizards.

After choosing a wizard, you can build your report on a variety of data sources.

3. Browse through the contents of the Database Expert to find the data

source you want to use for your report.

4. Select a table you want to use in your report and click the > arrow to add

it to the Selected Tables list.

5. After you have added all the tables you want to work with, click OK on

the Database Expert.

Note:

If you select more than one table in the Database Expert dialog box, the Links tab appears. For more information on linking, see Linking multiple

tables.

The Design tab appears with Report Header, Page Header, Details, Page Footer, and Report Footer areas. A report is created by inserting and formatting items in each of these areas.

Note:

To use additional database tables for a report and match them up on a record-by-record basis, click Database Expert on the Expert Tools toolbar, select the table(s), and then set up the links on the Links tab when it appears.

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Working with report elements on the Design tab

2. To turn the grid on or off, choose the Options command from the File

3. If you are working with the grid off and you want to use snap-to guidelines

Each of the default report areas contains a single section. To add additional sections, click Section Expert on the Expert Tools toolbar and use the Section Expert to add the desired sections.

Once you have added sections to an area, you can move, merge, and delete them in the Section Expert. See Designing with guidelines .

menu and select or clear the Grid check box in the Design View area of the Layout tab when the Options dialog box appears. See Using the grid.

for positioning objects, click the top or left ruler wherever you want guidelines to appear.

Some further ways you can use guidelines:

• Drag a field to a guideline until it snaps to the guideline.

• Drag the guideline arrow to move the guideline (and any objects that

are snapped to it).

• Drag the guideline arrow away from the ruler to remove the guideline.

See Designing with guidelines .

If the Field Explorer dialog box is not visible, click Field Explorer on the Standard toolbar.

Expand the Database Fields node to display a list of fields. To speed the entry of multiple fields, this box will remain on-screen until you close it. This dialog box can be moved to a new location or resized, if you wish. See Placing data on the report .

5. Select the field(s) you want to appear on the report.

You can select and place them one at a time, or use the Shift-click combination to select a number of contiguous fields, or the Ctrl-click combination to select fields from the list at random. Drag and drop is also active. Place the fields in the Details section where you want them to appear.

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6. Once the objects are in place, you may want to adjust the report sections.

When you place multiple fields, they appear in the same order that they appear in the Field Explorer dialog box. The program marks the position of each field with a rectangular frame. The characters in the frame indicate whether the field is text (XXX...), number (555...), currency ($555...), date (12/31/99), time (00:00:00), DateTime (12/31/99 00:00:00), or Boolean (T/F).

Note:

• The field names and field types can be viewed by selecting the Show

Field Names check box on in the Options dialog box (Layout tab).

• The program automatically places field titles in the Page Header

section unless the Insert Detail Field Headings check box is not selected in the Options dialog box (Layout tab).

• If additional Details sections are added to the report, field titles will

only be placed in the Page Header section for fields in the Details A (the original) section of your report.

To do this, right-click the shaded area to the left of the section ruler and use the shortcut menu that appears:

• To expand a section to accommodate an additional line, choose the

Insert Line command.

• To have the program automatically align the objects in the section

horizontally, choose the Arrange Lines command.

• To reduce the size of a section to eliminate unnecessary white space

above and below objects, choose the Fit Section command. See Using

white space between rows .

7. To generate a report title, you must first enter the title in the Document

Properties dialog box. On the File menu, click Summary Info. Enter a title in the Title text box of the Document Properties dialog box. Click OK.

8. Choose Report Title from the Special Fields list in the Field Explorer. A

rectangular placement frame appears when you move the cursor over your report. Click once in the Report Header (RH) section to place the report title. The report title field contains the text that you typed in the Title text box of the Document Properties dialog box. See Adding a title

page to the report .

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To see how the results will print, click Print Preview on the Standard

toolbar.

To speed processing time while building a report, you can preview the report using only a small subset of the available data. To do this, go to the File menu, point to Print and then click Preview Sample. See Preview

tab.

In either case, the program takes you to the Preview tab. You can fine-tune a report in the Preview tab while viewing the results as actual report data. You can also close the Preview tab and continue working on the report in the Design tab.

Using other reporting features

1. If you want to format a field, change the placement or width of a field, or

insert a summary, click the field to select it. Handles appear on the top, bottom, and sides of each selected field:

• To change the placement of the field(s), use the mouse to drag the

field placement frame to its new position.

• To change the width of the field, use the mouse to drag the right or

left handle.

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Quick start for advanced users

• Right-click the field to format or to summarize it. A shortcut menu

appears listing commands for formatting and summarizing the field.

Tip:

Many font and formatting options are available on the formatting toolbar.

Note:

To apply formatting only under certain conditions, click Conditional Formula next to the formatting property in the Format Editor, and create a formula that defines those conditions. See Working with conditional

formatting.

2. To create a formula that makes data calculations or comparisons, select

Formula Fields in the Field Explorer.

Note:

You can also click Formula Workshop on the Expert Tools toolbar

to work with formulas, custom functions, SQL expressions, and so on.

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5. When you are finished editing, click Save and close to return to the Field

Click New. The Formula Name dialog box appears. Enter a name for the formula and click OK. The Formula Workshop appears with the Formula Editor active.

Enter the formula in the Formula Editor. Enter fields, operators, and functions by selecting them from their respective lists or by typing them in. You can check the formula syntax by clicking Check.

Explorer dialog box.

Click Insert to Report to place the formula just like you would a

database field. See Using Formulas.

To insert a subreport (a report within a report), click Insert Subreport on the Insert Tools toolbar and choose an existing report to import as a subreport or use the Report Creation Wizard to create a new subreport. See Inserting subreports.

If you want the records in a subreport to match up with the records in a primary report, click the Link tab of the Insert Subreport dialog box and specify the link when the tab appears.

To insert a cross-tab object in a report, click Insert Cross-Tab on the Insert Tools toolbar and set up the cross-tab in the Cross-Tab Expert when it appears. See Cross-Tab Objects.

To create a parameter field (a field that prompts you for a value whenever you retrieve data for a report), click Field Explorer on the Standard toolbar, then select Parameter Fields in the Field Explorer dialog box when it appears. Click New to set up a parameter field. Once created, you can insert the parameter field in a report like a database field or select it from the Fields list in the Formula Workshop.

Parameter fields can be used in reports (as title or label prompts), in selection formulas (as selection criteria prompts), and in formulas (for a variety of purposes including specifying sort fields). See Parameter Fields

and Prompts.

10.

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To add a chart, click Insert Chart on the Insert Tools toolbar. See

Charting.

Quick Start

Quick start for advanced users

11.

12. To insert a spreadsheet, picture, or other OLE object that you can edit

13.

14.

15.

That's it! It is that easy to build a report.

To add a map, click Insert Map on the Insert Tools toolbar. See

Mapping.

from within the Report Designer using the tools from the object's native application, choose OLE Object from the Insert menu. See OLE, and

Working with static OLE objects.

To change the record sort order, click Record Sort Expert on the Expert Tools toolbar. The Record Sort Expert appears. Highlight the field(s) you want to use for sorting the report data and the sort direction. See Sorting single and multiple fields.

To limit the report to specific records (for example, the records of California customers who have year-to-date sales greater than $10,000), click the first field on which you want your selection to be based and then click Select Expert on the Expert Tools toolbar. When the Select Expert appears, set up the record selection criteria.

To print the report, click Print on the Standard toolbar.

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Quick Start

Quick start for advanced users

88 Crystal Reports 2008 SP3 User's Guide

Report Design Concepts

Basic report design

The purpose of this section is to suggest a structured approach to preparing a Crystal report. This approach includes the following elements:

• Deciding on the content of the report.

• Developing a prototype on paper.

This section has been designed to provide a conceptual understanding of the reporting process.

Deciding on the content of the report

Before you do anything else, you should outline the information you want the report to provide. The following sections provide a guide to making that outline.

Stating the purpose

What is the overall purpose of the report?

Reports are management tools. Their purpose is to help you quickly grasp the essential elements and relationships found in raw data, to help you make effective decisions. For a report to be effective, it has to present the correct data in a logical way. If it presents the wrong data, or if it presents the right data in a haphazard manner, the report may slow the decision-making process or may even encourage incorrect decisions.

A good starting place in the development of a report is to write out the purpose of the report in a sentence or two. The purpose statement helps you focus on your primary needs, and it gives the report both a starting point and a goal.

Here are some examples of purpose statements.

• The purpose of this report is to show monthly and year-to-date sales by

sales representatives, compare this year's numbers to last year's, and flag representatives whose sales figures do not meet company standards.

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• The purpose of this report is to show sales activity for each item in

inventory, and to suggest reorder quantities based on that activity.

• The purpose of this report is to calculate bowling averages and handicaps

for each member of the bowling league.

Defining the purpose of the report before you start is a critical step in the overall process.

Who is going to read the report?

A single report is often used by many individuals. A detailed, company-wide sales report, for example, may be used by sales representatives, the regional sales manager, the national sales manager, and the Chief Operating Officer (COO).

These individuals will be interested in different aspects of the report:

• A sales representative will use the report to evaluate individual sales

performance and compare this performance to that of other representatives in the region.

Report Design Concepts

Deciding on the content of the report

• The regional sales manager will use the report to evaluate regional

representatives and compare the region's performance to that of other regions.

• The national sales manager will use the report to evaluate the performance

of regional managers and compare overall sales to the current sales forecasts.

• The COO will use the report to evaluate the performance of the

Vice-President of Marketing and the sales department as a whole, and to project such things as manufacturing needs and warehouse locations.

Since each user of the report has different interests, it is important to plan the report so it includes the information each user is looking for.

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Report Design Concepts

Deciding on the content of the report

Determining the layout of the report

What is the report title going to be?

Write out a working title for the report. You may decide to change it later, but at least you will have a title to use when creating the prototype report.

What identifying information is needed in the header and footer?

You may wish to include the print date, information on who prepared the report, a block of text to describe the purpose of the report, the range of data covered, or something similar. If you are going to include such information, write it down so you can use it in preparing your prototype.

The information can come from a variety of sources, depending on the kind of information you plan to use.

• Information on who prepared the report might be drawn from individual

data fields in the database table(s) used. If it is to be drawn from a database table, what table? Or, what combination of tables?

• A block of text can be created as a text object and placed anywhere on

the report.

• Crystal Reports can generate information such as the print date or page

numbers.

Finding the data

What data do you want to use in the report?

Do you know the type of database you are reporting from? Will you be reporting off a data file, SQL/ODBC, or another data source?

If you do not know, ask the database administrator in your organization for help in setting up the database type and location of the data. For more information, see Accessing Data Sources in the Crystal Reports Online Help.

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Report Design Concepts

Deciding on the content of the report

Are you familiar enough with the data to find the necessary information? When looking for a Customer Contact name, can the field be found in a database table?

If not, your MIS professional, database administrator, or co-workers will have to help you become familiar with the data.

What specific data should appear in the body of the report?

The body should contain all the data needed to fulfill the statement of purpose you wrote for the report. It should also contain all of the data needed by the various users that you have identified.

This step requires you to look at the available database table(s). Crystal Reports allows you to combine data from different databases when you create reports, so you have a great deal of flexibility in your work.

• Much of the data in a typical report is taken directly from data fields. Which

data fields will be used, and where are they located?

• Other data will be calculated based on data fields. Which data fields will

be used in the calculations?

• Still other data will be placed directly into the report using text objects

(headings, notes, labels, and so on).

Does the data exist or does it need to be calculated?

Some report information can be drawn directly from data fields (sales information, for example); other information will have to be calculated based on data field values (for example, sales commission, based on the relationship of sales to quota). In your planning, it can be helpful to segregate or flag data that needs to be calculated from that which can be used directly. See

Specifying formulas.

What types of fields contain data?

You should take the time to get to know the data type for data fields that will be used in your calculations. Since formula functions and operators work with specific kinds of data, it is important to recognize the data type you are

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Report Design Concepts

Deciding on the content of the report

working with, before you start any calculations. For example, some functions require numeric data, while others work with only string fields. For more information on specific functions and operators, search for "Functions" and "Operators," or for the function or operator by name in the Crystal Reports Online Help.

Manipulating the data

Do you want the data organized into groups?

How? By customer? By date? By hierarchy? Or by other criteria? Crystal Reports provides several options for grouping data in a report. See Grouping

data.

Do you want the data sorted based on record or group values?

Crystal Reports gives you both alternatives. See Understanding sort options.

Do you want the report to contain only specific records or groups?

Crystal Reports gives you the opportunity to base a report on all records in a given database, or on a limited set of records from the database. Crystal Reports can be used to select records based on simple date ranges or comparisons, or to create complex formulas to identify the records to be included. Take a few minutes to determine the records needed for the report and list the criteria to be used for selecting those records. See Selecting

records.

Do you want to summarize the data?

Do you want to total, average, count, or determine the maximum or minimum value included in all the values in any column on the report?

Crystal Reports allows you to do this, and it also allows the grand total (or the grand total average, grand total count, and so on) to be placed at the

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Deciding on the content of the report

bottom of the selected column. See Calculating a percentage and Selecting

top or bottom N groups or percentages .

What information should be flagged on the report?

You may want to call attention to some data by flagging it on the report. For example, non-moving inventory items are often flagged on inventory reports so they can be given special attention. You might want to flag each item that has shown no activity during the last month, during the last three months, or during some other defined period. To flag information, identify it and any conditions that will trigger the flagging.

How do you want information flagged?

You may want to flag items with an asterisk or some other symbol, or you may want a word to appear as a flag. In any case, you should write out flagging instructions so they are handy.

Crystal Reports gives you the opportunity to underline report elements, and change the font type, size, or color used for specific report items. It allows you to put borders around items and to draw lines and boxes (to break the report into sections), set off headings, and so on. All of these formatting tools can be used to highlight key data on a report. See Formatting.

Report Design Concepts

Determining printing area characteristics

Each report area has its own printing characteristics. It is important to understand these characteristics because they affect when and how often different report objects get printed.

In what order will the areas print on the report?

Areas print in the order they appear on the Design tab (top to bottom). If there is more than one section in an area, the sections print in the order they appear. For example, if you have three Report Header sections, all three of those sections will print, in order, before the section(s) in the Page Header area begin to print.

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Report Design Concepts

Deciding on the content of the report

How often do report objects print?

The way objects print will determine how you design your report. This will help you decide where to place charts, Cross-Tabs, and formulas to get specific results.

Report Header

Objects placed in the Report Header area print once, at the beginning of the report.

• Charts and Cross-Tabs placed in this area contain data for the entire

report.

Note:

Both charts and Cross-Tabs can filter report data by using a Group Sort; in such cases, the data shown in the chart or Cross-Tab is a subset of the data for the entire report.

• Formulas placed in this area are evaluated once, at the beginning of the

report.

Page Header

Objects placed in the Page Header area print at the beginning of each new page.

• Charts or Cross-Tabs cannot be placed in this section.

• Formulas placed in this area are evaluated once per page, at the beginning

of each new page.

Group Header

Objects placed in the Group Header area print at the beginning of each new group.

• Charts and Cross-Tabs placed in this area contain data just for the group.

• Formulas placed in this area are evaluated once for each group, at the

beginning of the group.

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Report Design Concepts

Developing a prototype on paper

Details area

Objects placed in the Details area print with each new record.

• Charts or Cross-Tabs cannot be placed in this area.

• Formulas placed in this area are evaluated once for each record.

Group Footer

Objects placed in the Group Footer area print at the end of each group.

• Charts and Cross-Tabs placed in this area contain data just for the group.

• Formulas placed in this area are evaluated once for each group, at the

end of the group.

Report Footer

Objects placed in the Report Footer area print once at the end of the report.

• Charts and Cross-Tabs placed in this area contain data for the entire

report.

Note:

Both charts and Cross-Tabs can filter report data by using a Group Sort; in such cases, the data shown in the chart or Cross-Tab is a subset of the data for the entire report.

• Formulas placed in this area are evaluated once, at the end of the report.

Page Footer

Objects placed in the Page Footer area print at the bottom of each page.

• Charts and Cross-Tabs cannot be placed in this area.

• Formulas placed in this area are evaluated once per page, at the end of

each new page.

Developing a prototype on paper

While a paper prototype is useful regardless of your level of expertise with Crystal Reports, it is particularly valuable when you are first learning the program. With the paper prototype in hand, you can put your full effort into

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Report Design Concepts

Developing a prototype on paper

learning and using the commands, rather than into trying to design and learn at the same time.

To design a paper prototype

1. Get the same size paper you will be using for the finished report.

2. Position the title and other descriptive header information, using boxes

or lines to represent report elements.

3. Position the footer information.

4. Review the page layout for balance.

5. Look at the information you intend to include in the body of the report:

• Count the number of fields being used and estimate the appropriate

spacing between fields.

• Use rectangles to pencil in the fields within the estimated spacing.

• Change the spacing if you need to.

• Decide on a logical sequence for presenting the data in the body of

the report.

• Label the fields to indicate that sequence.

6. Use small boxes to indicate group values and totals.

7. Place random flags in the column where you want flags to appear.

8. Darken any elements you want highlighted to make them stand out from

the rest of the prototype.

9. Review the finished product for layout and balance, and make changes

as needed.

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Introduction to Reporting

Report creation options

Each time you create a new report, you have three options:

• Use a Report Creation Wizard.

• Use another report as a model.

• Create a report from scratch.

You will probably use each option at some time.

Report Creation Wizards

The Report Creation Wizards help create reports as quickly as possible and many new users and developers alike prefer to create the majority of their reports using them. All you have to do is choose the wizard that most closely matches your report type. The wizard walks you through the process of creating reports step-by-step.

Another report

To build a new report based on one that already exists, another report can be used as a model. Open the report you want to use in this way by selecting the Open File option and save it to a new file using Save As (found on the File menu). This method is useful to:

• Create a new report with a different grouping or different record selection

than that of an existing report.

• Reconstruct a report based on an earlier time period using the same

report structure used today.

• Create an entirely new report based on a set of databases that are linked

in another report. You can create a report and delete the fields without disturbing the underlying links. Then, without relinking, you can build all your new reports based on this report.

Crystal Reports also lets you format a report by applying a template. See

Using a template for more information.

100 Crystal Reports 2008 SP3 User's Guide

HP Intelligent Management Center Standard Software Platform User Manual

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual

Contents

Introduction to Crystal Reports 2008

About Crystal Reports

About the Crystal Reports documentation

Locate information quickly

Sample Reports

What's New in Crystal Reports 2008 SP3

Introduction

Flash printing

Unicode-supported interface

Enhanced publishing interface

XML and Web Services Database Driver

Viewer Accessibility

Option to distinguish between empty and non empty rows for SAP NetWeaver BW Data

HTML interpretation tag “<a></a>” is now supported

Installing Crystal Reports 2008 SP3

Installing Crystal Reports 2008 SP3

Installation overview

Installation requirements

Installing Crystal Reports on a local machine

To install on a local machine

Creating an installation point and installing from a network server

Creating an installation point for Crystal Reports

To create an installation point

Installing Crystal Reports from a network

To install Crystal Reports from a network

Customizing your installation

Running a silent installation

Setting custom banners

Upgrading Crystal Reports components

Quick Start

Learning how to use Crystal Reports

Sample data - Xtreme.mdb

Report Creation Wizards

Standard

Quick start for new users

Cross-Tab

Mailing Label

OLAP

Before you begin

Creating the report

Selecting a database to use

To select a database

Report sections

To show short section names

Inserting a field

To insert a field

Understanding fields

Adding additional fields

To add additional fields

Selecting fields

Resizing fields

Reviewing your work

Displaying field names

To display field names

Combining database fields in a text object

To combine fields in a text object

Adding summary information

To add summary information

Adding a title

To add a title

Formatting objects

To format an object

Adding a field heading

To add a field heading

Saving the report

Record Selection

Entering the selection criteria

To enter selection criteria

Deleting a field

To delete a field

Balancing field spacing

To balance field spacing

Grouping and sorting

Grouping the report

To group a report