Crystal Reports 2008 For Dummies by Allen G. Taylor

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For the many people who don’t have high-speed color printers, this provides a way to access the full richness of a report’s contents. To view an existing report (on a computer with Crystal Reports installed), follow these steps: 1. Launch Crystal Reports from your computer’s Start menu. Crystal Reports appears, displaying the Start Page, as shown in Figure 1-1. You can choose to start a new report or open an existing report. Several existing reports that have been used recently are listed, or you can go to a larger list of report files if you don’t see the one you want in the list.

First Things First: Finding the Sample Database Starting Crystal Reports 2008 Creating a Report with the Blank Report Option Printing a Report Where to Go from Here Chapter 3: Report Design Guidelines Defining an Effective Report Design Defining Your Audience Defining the Report’s Purpose Choosing Content for Your Report Choosing the Report Appearance Chapter 4: Starting Your Report Using the Report Creation Wizard Starting with a Blank Report Connecting Your Report to Its Data Source Part II : Moving Up to Professional-Quality Reports Chapter 5: Pulling Specific Data from a Database Get Data Quickly with Select Expert Using Formulas to Retrieve Data Using Parameter Fields to Retrieve Data at Runtime Troubleshooting Tips When Retrieving Data Chapter 6: Sorting, Grouping, and Totaling Report Data Sorting Report Data Adding Sort Controls to a Report Grouping Related Items Calculating Percentages Drilling Down for Detail Keeping Track of Things with Running Totals Troubleshooting Sorting, Grouping, and Totaling Problems Chapter 7: Mastering Report Sections Changing the Size of a Section Formatting with the Section Formatting Menu Using Section Expert for Easy Section Formatting Placing Groups Where You Want Them Hiding Details with Summary and Drill-Down Reports Generating Barcodes Creating Mailing Labels Saving Money on Postage with a ZIP Sort Chapter 8: Enhancing Your Report’s Appearance Absolute Formatting Conditional Formatting Using the Format Editor Creating Emphasis with Highlighting Expert Adding Pictures to Your Report Aligning Preprinted Forms Adding Text from a File Formatting Options Special Fields Contain Report Metadata Raising a Red Flag with Report Alerts Using Report Templates to Save Time and Effort Part III : Advanced Report Types and Features Chapter 9: Displaying Your Top Ten (Or Top N) with Group Sort Sorting Groups Based on Performance Going with the Percentages A Choice of Group Sorts Troubleshooting Group Sort Problems Chapter 10: Adding Formulas to Reports Formula Overview and Syntax Lessening the Workload with Functions Creating a Custom Function in Formula Workshop Changing and Deleting Formulas Data Types Variables in Formulas Control Structures Chapter 11: Creating Reports within a Report Combining Unrelated Reports Linking a Subreport to a Primary Report On-Demand Subreports Boost Efficiency Passing Data between Reports Troubleshooting Subreport Problems Chapter 12: Combining Report Elements with OLE Overview of OLE Static OLE Objects Embedded OLE Objects Linked OLE Objects Embedding or Linking an Object Taken from a File Integrating Shockwave Flash Objects into Your Reports Chapter 13: Creating and Updating OLAP Reports What’s OLAP, and Why Might You Need It?

2. Select the report that you want to view and then click OK. If you don’t see the report you want, click Open File and use the Open dialog box to select any report available on the system. Crystal Reports retrieves and displays the report, as shown in Figure 1-2. Figure 1-1: The Start Page offers several options. Figure 1-2: Viewing a report is a snap. 3. Move through the report. Scroll around the report, and move back and forth among its pages. You can drill down into any summary report that supports drill down.