crystal reports v3.0

The New Standard in Quality Education

Crystal ReportsCrystal Reports

Version 3.0

2 The New Standard in Quality Education

Crystal Reports Overview

Pre-requisites

Introduction

Objectives

“To enable you to develop your own reporting solutions in Crystal Reports with confidence”

Course Overview

1 Data Structure

2 Simple Report Creation

3 Crystal Report Functions

4 Running Reports

Scala Data StructureScala Data Structure

Section 1

Section Overview

What is a Database? How do we connect to the Database? Scala data file structure

How Do We Connect to the DB?

Scala5.x Modules

Data Management

Scala ClientWin95, 98, NTWeb Browser

Scala Program Layer

Btrieve or SQL datamanagement layer

Database

How Do We Connect to the DB?

Database

Crystal Reports

DDF’s – Describe Database (Btrieve) ODBC – Connects to Database table SY SO BJEC TS

Read Only

Data File Structure

Scala Table Naming Definition

MMNNCCYY

Module

Unique Number Company Code

Financial Year

Data File Structure

Format of Data files

Data File Structure

Format of Fields

Data File Structure Database to Interpret field and file

names ScaDBconv.exe Scala5eu.mdb in Scala root directory Table in SQL database

SCA_TAB_COLUMNS

Data File Structure

Scala5eu.mdb welcome screen

Data File Structure

Section Review

What is a Database? How do we connect to the Database? Scala data file structure

Simple Report Simple Report CreationCreation

Section 3

Section Overview

Report Style SQL Data Files Scala Data Files Scala Data Fields Preview Report

Report Creation

Report Style

Report A - Stock Listing

Step 1Step 1 - Choose report style- Choose report style

Data Source

Step 2Step 2 - Select Data Source- Select Data Source

Data Source

Step 3 - Choose Data SourceStep 3 - Choose Data Source

Note the different database options!!

Data Source

Step 3 - Choose Data SourceStep 3 - Choose Data Source

Need to supply user name and password

Step 4 - Select Scala Data TablesStep 4 - Select Scala Data Tables

Scala Data Files

ClickTo

Finish

Select File(s)

Select Single or Multiple Tables

Scala Data Files

Confirmation of Selected Files

Click Next

Scala Data Fields

Step 5 - Select FieldsStep 5 - Select Fields

Scala Data Fields

Report 1 Stock Listing– Stock Code SC01001– Description Line 1 SC01002– Price Local Currency

SC01004– Stock Balance SC01042

Scala Data Fields

Select Fields

Choose Add

Field Tab

Preview Report

When all fields are selected choose FINISH

Report Creation

Report Creation You can return to the report expert at

any time by using the function Recommend that the report is saved

before returning to the expert

Section Review

STEP 1 - Report Style STEP 2 - SQL Data Source STEP 3 - Scala Data Tables STEP 4 - Scala Data Fields STEP 5 - Preview Report

ExerciseExercise

Exercise 1

Customer Listing

Crystal ReportsCrystal Reports

Section 3

Section Overview

Design & Preview Report Options Guidelines Refreshing Data Right Click Sections

Design & Preview Tabs

Design & Preview Tab

Preview Tab

Report Options

Options Report Options

Options

Guidelines

Refreshing Data

F5 Refreshes Data or Preview Sample

Refreshing Data

Preview Sample

Right Clicking

Useful in many areas of Crystal

Short Cut to menu options

The Magic Button

Undo / Redo

Sections

Left-hand side of design tab shows report sections

ReportSections

Sections

Right-hand clicking in the sections area brings up menu

Format sections command gives further details of sections.

Section can be hidden allowing drill down function or suppressed

Sections

Section Review

Design & Preview Report Options Guidelines Refreshing Data Right Click Sections

FormattingFormatting

Section Overview

Adjusting Headings Increasing Field Width Adding new fields Adding Special fields Selection Expert Sorting Grouping Parameters

Adjusting Headings

Highlight field To rename double click or | edit |

text object As with many windows products

Crystal Reports supports drag and drop and copy and paste

Increasing Field Width

Highlight the field

Place pointer on blue boxes it changes to arrow

Field width and height can be adjusted by dragging arrow

Adding New Fields

Text Field

Drag And Click to Drop

Adding New Fields

Field Explorer

Adding New Fields

Database fields

Select field

Adding Special Fields

Adding Special Fields A number of the special field values are

set in Summary info from file menu

Selection Expert Choose Select Expert

Then choose field to select items from. Report on non-report field

Selection Expert

Default to AND can change to OR through formula

Selection Expert

Example of Selection terms

Sorting Records

You can sort by multiple columns.

Brings up sort box

Automatic sort by column 1

Sort Expert

ReportFields

SortFields

Sort Direction

Grouping

Used to group data together Similar to sorting but adds headers and

footers

Grouping

Used in Sub-Totaling User can define the order

Grouping

Define Order

Extra Options on Date field

Grouping

Specified Grouping – User defined order

Select Groups

Grouping

Example of Grouping

Parameters

Used with selection terms Provides an easy way to change

selection terms when a report is refreshed

Parameter can be used as a field in the report. For Example in the report title.

Compatible with compiled reports or web based reports

Parameters

Then click icon to create new parameter

Parameters

Text that appears when report is run

Allows parameter to hold single value or multiple values and Ranges. Experiment to see affect

Next Screen

Parameters

Warning on Usage

Parameters

Example of Usage

Parameters

Enter Parameter as selection terms Parameter field denoted as (? Field)

Now refresh data

Parameter

Section Review

Adjusting Headings Increasing Field Width Adding new fields Adding Special fields Selection Expert Sorting Grouping Parameters

ExerciseExercise

Exercise 2

Totalling and Totalling and Formula’sFormula’s

Section 6

Section Overview

Strings Converting Strings Totalling / subtotalling and

summaries Converting Dates

Strings Scala 5.1 SQL holds the majority of

fields in the correct format. However due to historical reasons some fields will need to be converted

Strings are collections of characters alpha and/or numeric

Strings need to be converted to numbers for Crystal to perform operations

Converting Strings to Numbers

Create a new formulaClick New

Give the formula a name

Tip - Give your formula name the column name

This then brings up formula editor box

Operators

Formula Text

Fields

Functions

To convert a string to a number type

ToNumber({Field name})

Be careful of Brackets– (,) = function– {,} = field– [,] = field value (Seen later)

Function Field

Unfortunately this formula does not always work.

Scala leaves blanks in database instead of zeros.

Therefore we need to add to the statement

If {field_name} = “” Then 0

Else ToNumber({Field_Name})

ExerciseExercise

Exercise 3

Totalling and Sub-totalling

Sub total or grand total fields must be numeric.

Highlight the field you require a total for and select totalling from insert drop down menu.

Totalling and Sub totalling Right hand clicking on the report

field will also bring up a shortcut method to enter totalling.

If the options are missing on the menu you have not chosen a numeric field

Sub-totalling Entering a sub-total

Totalling Insert grand-totals

Choice of sum, maximum, minimum, average etc. Field printed in report footer

Summaries Similar to subtotal

but will give same

totalling options as

grand total function

Converting Dates

Again the majority of dates in Scala database are held as datetime or date fields. However some may need conversion from a string field

1998091519980915

YYYYMMDDYYYYMMDD

Converting Dates

Conversion requires following formula:

– If {Field_Name} = “” then – Date(0,0,0) Else– Date(ToNumber({field_name}[1 to 4]),– ToNumber({field_name}[5 to 6]),– ToNumber({field_name}[7 to 8]))

Section Review

Strings Converting Strings Totalling / subtotalling and

summaries Converting Dates

ExerciseExercise

Exercise 4

Formatting Numbers & Formatting Numbers & DatesDates

Section 7

Optional

Section Overview

Formatting Strings Formatting Numbers Formatting Dates Conditional Formatting Highlight Expert Top N Selection Report Alerts Running Totals SQL Expressions

Formatting Strings

Right-hand click

on field or chose

format field from

format menu

Formatting Numbers

Extra Format

Formatting Numbers

Formatting Dates Extra Format

Tab Choose

Customize

Conditional Formatting

Conditional

Vs Absolute

Select a number field for this example

Brings up the Formula Editor Box

Button Changes to Red indicating value is controlled conditionally

Conditional formatting can be used throughout Crystal reports

Advanced technique that is particularly useful in dealing with Sections

Highlight Expert

Works similarly to previous example of conditional formatting

Gives a Traffic Light effect to the data

Highlight Expert

Report Alerts

Similar to Highlight expert but a window appears when a report is run to indicate records correspond to a certain set of conditions

For Example – when printing a customer statement shows customers with a balance exceeding £1000

New functionality in Crystal 8.5

Report Alerts

When report data is refreshed the report will then produce an exception report

Top N Expert

Used for finding the top N on any column. For example the top 20 outstanding supplier balances on purchase ledger.

Top N Selection You must create a sub total or

summary before the top N selection will work.

Specify value of N

Running Totals

Used to create cumulative totals in reports

Totals will be dependent on the grouping of the report

Running Total

SQL Expression Fields Used only with SQL compatible

databases Allow SQL syntax to entered in Crystal

report Improves report performance when

grouping, selecting or sorting data as query is run on server instead of workstation

Limited in functionality compared with crystal formulas

SQL Expression Fields Creating a new SQL expression

SQL Expression Fields

Note limited functionality

Field Explorer

Insert

BrowseData Only New Edit Rename Delete

Toggle FieldType

Field Explorer ? denotes Parameter field @ denotes formula field Σ denotes SUM or group field # denotes running total % denotes a SQL expression

Section Review

Formatting Strings Formatting Numbers Formatting Dates Conditional Formatting Highlight Expert Top N Selection Report Alerts Running Totals SQL Expressions

ExerciseExercise

Exercises 5

Linking TablesLinking Tables

Section 8

Section Overview

Why link tables Rules of linking What is an indexed field How to link tables

Why Link Tables

Scala holds data in multiple data files

For the majority of reports data files need to be linked.

Warning! Linking files will slow down report speed. Keep the number of data files to a minimum.

Rules Of Linking

Not all data files can be linked directly

Data files must have common element

Performance is improved if the common element is an indexed field

Rules of Linking

Linking must be done in a logical sequence

It must flow through the report Jot down blueprint of report before

starting to build it

Linking Tables How do we link the following tables

together – Start with SL01

OR03 SL01

Order NoStock Code

Customer Code

What is an indexed field?

A field that the data file uses as a sort or search key

Example Telephone directory

Smith A J 23 North Parade, Horsham 01403 215998

= The Index (Ordering)

Smith A J 23 North Parade, Horsham 01403 215998

= The Primary Key

What is an indexed field?

2307 Clive's Coffee Shop Customer Address

2087 Arnot Limited Customer Address

2498 Drew PLC Customer Address

2190 Blackmore Electronics Customer Address

Key 1 Key 2

Index 1

2307 Clive's Coffee Shop Customer Address

2087 Arnot Limited Customer Address

2498 Drew PLC Customer Address

2190 Blackmore Electronics Customer Address

Key 1 Key 2Index 2

Arnot Limited

Drew PLC

Blackmore Electronics

Clive's Coffee Shop

Drew PLC

How to Link Tables

To an existing report

SelectIn this example use report with SL01 and link SL03

How to Link Tables

Select

How to Link Tables

How Link Tables

How to Link Tables Smart Linking works on following

conditions– Field name is same in both tables– Field size is the same in both tables– Field type is the same in both tables

Note: Because of this you may receive warnings when linking tables because of different data type

Linking can only be done between database fields. (NOT FORMULA’S)

How to Link Tables

Drag and Drop from SL01001 to SL03001

Linking Tables

Crystal supports different join typesOne to One (equal)One to Many (Left Outer)Many to One (Right Outer)And others….

Linking Tables

Once the tables are linked click OK The fields in the table then become

available to report on To return to the visual linking expert

Section Review

Why link tables Rules of linking What is an indexed field How to link tables

ExerciseExercise

Exercise 6

DAY 2 - Overview

Scala Database Structure Simple Report Creation Crystal Functionality Formatting More formatting and field types Linking Tables

Section Review

Pictures and Logo’s Hyperlinks Lines / Boxes Charting Mapping Function Report Style / Auto Arrange

Extra Functionality

Picture files can be embedded in report to give them a professional finish

Crystal supports

bitmap BMP, jpeg

JPG, tiff and png files

Extra Functionality

In the properties of the picture or any field a hyperlink can be set so when clicking on the logo it takes you directly to the web site

Extra Functionality

Lines and Boxes

These extra formatting tools are available from the insert menu

Lines and Boxes

Charting

Tool can be used to create professional looking graphs and charts that can be embedded into the Crystal report

Drill down functionality can be used in conjuncture with charts

Charting works on subtotal values in the report however the whole report can be suppressed with just the chart being visible

Charting

Exercise

Exercise 7

Running ReportsRunning Reports

Section 9

Section Overview

Exporting What is compilation and

Distribution? Compiling Report Distribution Expert Web Reporting

Exporting

Crystal has links with other software including excel, adobe, HTML, RTF, text and XML

To export report file | print | export or

Exporting

The report can also be emailed or saved to an exchange or lotus notes folder for publication

What is Compilation?

Reports can be saved as an executable

Report users then need no knowledge of Crystal design tools - they can just run the report

Selection terms or parameters can be changed

Compiling Historically Seagate software has

included the compiling and distributing tool as part of the standard product

In Version 8 & 8.5 this tool was replaced by web reporting however due to demand they included an update to the product which can be downloaded at

http://www.crystaldecisions.com/

Compiling

Select compile report from report menu

Compiling

Brings up compile box

Click OK to compile

File name

Compiling

Users can run compiled reports only if they have crystal reports installed on their workstation

Compiling

Defaults to refresh if no data saved with report

Report Distribution Expert

Can be used where user does not have Crystal installed

Copies program files that report needs to run.

Users who run report will need to ODBC connection to the Scala Database set-up

Can Distribute more that one report at a time

Indicate shared destination directory

This expert will then run the report in the background and prepare a list of dll’s it needs to run the report. It warns about ODBC components but doesn’t include them

You can adjust the included dll’s but this is not recommended

Then click on build which produces a setup.exe file which then needs to be run on clients

Web Reporting

Crystal Version 8.5 requires crystal enterprise in order to run web reports

If you purchased the Professional or Developer edition of Crystal Reports, then you also received the Crystal Enterprise Standard CD, along with five free concurrent access licenses of Crystal Enterprise Standard.

More information is available on the fact sheet

Web Reporting

Scala’s new product iScala Web reporter uses Crystal enterprise technology

Crystal enterprise is not currently included in this course

Section Review

Exporting What is compilation Compiling Report Distribution Expert Web Reporting

ExerciseExercise

Exercise 8

Database FeaturesDatabase Features

Section 11

Section Overview

Crystal Report Functions Crystal Data Dictionaries Crystal SQL Designer SQL Views Scala SQL View Manager

Crystal Report Functions

SQL query produced automatically when building the report

This query can be viewed and manually edited in Crystal reports

Crystal Report Functions

Verifying Database

If database is changed while user is connected in Crystal need to run function in order to update Crystal

SQL Views

Can only be written by a system manager of the SQL server

Similar in design to Crystal SQL designer however far more powerful

Are important for reporting in certain area of Scala as they cut down the number of sub-reports needed and cut down on complexity of report

SQL Views

Improve Crystal report performance as sorting and linking completed on the server

Need access to SQL enterprise manager in order to build views

SQL Views

Tables and Linking

Select Columns sorting and criteria

SQL Query

Result Set

SQL Views

SQL Views are particularly useful for– Creating Alias for column names

» E.g. SL01001 = Customer Code– Changing data types for Columns– Working with tables SY24 general code file

and SL23 payment / delivery terms– Working with General ledger transaction

file GL06 which contains a binary field type for transaction type

Scala SQL view Manager

Include on the application CD– Convert\SQL view manager.exe

Translates column numbers into meaningful names by the way of creating SQL views for each table

Views need to be created for each company

Recreate views when a new financial year is created in Scala

Recreate views when a service release is applied to Scala

Section Review Crystal Report Functions Crystal Data Dictionaries Crystal SQL Designer SQL Views Scala SQL View Manager

Exercise

Exercise 9

Report ExpertsReport Experts

Section 11

Optional

Section Overview

Standard Form Letter Form Cross-Tab Sub-Report Mail Label Drill Down OLAP

Report Experts

Drill down report created by hiding sections

Mail Label Report – Self Explanatory OLAP report (On-Line Analytical

Processing). – Uses cubes of data to report on – Cubes Create with SQL server – Advanced Technique

Form Report

Form report asks for bitmaps for different sections of report. These bitmaps need to be created first outside Crystal

An example of a report using Form expert is in Section 6 of the course binders

Get Similar result inserting pictures into sections

Form Letter

Used for sending out letters with data from database

Design the report as usual getting the basis or the report together with the Expert

Example in Section 6 of Course Binders Form Letter creates one large text block

per section

Form Letter

Cross Tab

Cross Tab combines the use or rows and columns along with a summarized field

Expert creates the cross tab in report header section

Example of Cross Tab in section 6 of the course binders

Cross Tab

Summarized field format

Cross Tab

Sub Report Can be used to combine any two

reports together Example In Section 6 of Course

Binders A Sub report can be entered into an

existing report using the function on the insert menu

Sub Reports can be linked using a common element ( parameter field )

Sub Report

The sub report is inserted into a section on the main report and is run every time that section occurs

The sub Report is an advanced technique but can provide good results.

Data can be passed from the sub report to the main report by the use of variables

Section Review

Standard Form Letter Form Cross-Tab Sub-Report Mail Label Top N OLAP

ExerciseExercise

Exercise 10

Appendices

Appendix AAppendix A

Section 14

Reporting on Accounting Reporting on Accounting StringsStrings

Accounting Strings

In Scala 5 accounts cost centres etc are not in separate fields they are held in one long field.

Therefore to produce reports you may need to Separate this field into each dimension.

Before you start you need to know the exact length of each dimension

Accounting Strings

To separate accounting string you will need to use formulas

Accounting Strings

If account code is longer than 6 just adjust the field values at end of formula

Continue on like this for cost centre, product, project etc.

Accounting Strings

You may get problems with the previous formula if you are using alpha numeric cost centres, products or projects.

As we have seen before these does not convert to a number

If this is the case then use the next formula

Accounting Strings

The trim function does exactly what it says it trims a field down to the lengths controlled by the square brackets [].

ExerciseExercise

Exercise 11

Appendix B

Converting Reports from Btrieve to SQL

Crystal Reports

Converting report from BTR to SQL Open up the crystal report and select

convert database driver from the database drop down menu

Crystal Reports

Select the correct data source

Crystal Reports

Then get error as below– Solution set location of data files in

database drop down menu (remove the .dat at the end)

Crystal Report

Crystal Reports

Map the fields across to the SQL database

The SQL database holds all field names as numbers e.g. SC01001 for stock code. Therefore use the scala5eu.mdb database to lookup the correct field codes for field names

Alternatively create views from the SQL database using the SQL view manager and map your fields to theses

Crystal Reports

Once all data files are mapped across check the visual linking expert for the correct file linking

Then run report. The report will probably give errors due to the different types of field type e.g. Numbers are formatted as numbers in SQL not as strings

Then check report is returning the same information / totals

Btrieve

Btrieve Data Tables

Data File Structure Btrieve

Scala5

GL06ccyy.DATcc = Company Codeyy = Financial Year

Btrieve DDF Files

Description of files, fields, indexes

Gives location of Data Btrieve Information database Scala5

File.ddfField.ddfIndex.ddf

Crystal Report Errors

SolutionSolution– Set Location of Scala’s data files

Set Location

Select File Location

Set Location

The setting of location only needs to be done once.

Each subsequent time the report is ran Crystal will find the data.

DDF Builder Scala 5.1 Btrieve does not come with

the data dictionary files (DDF) these files need to be created using a program called Scala DDF Builder

The Scala DDF Builder can create DDF’s for companies, years and modules

Crystal Reports

To install DDF Builder

Crystal Reports

Help for DDF builder– If you install DDF builder to the Default

location help can be found in » C:\program files\DDFstart\ddfbuilder.hlp

At year end you can add the next years DDF files to you current files

This program saves a lot of time over smithware DDF builder although it is not as reliable

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