Crystal Report 2016 : Fundamental Report

Design, and Advanced Report Design

Date
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About This Handbook

This handbook is intended to complement the instructor-led presentation of this
course, and serve as a source of reference. It is not suitable for self-study.

Typographic Conventions
American English is the standard used in this handbook. The following typographic
conventions are also used.

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Example text Words or characters that appear on the screen. These

include field names, screen titles, pushbuttons as well as
menu names, paths, and options.
Also used for cross-references to other documentation
both internal and external.

Example text Emphasized words or phrases in body text, titles of

graphics, and tables

EXAMPLE TEXT Names of elements in the system. These include report

names, program names, transaction codes, table names,
and individual key words of a programming language,
when surrounded by body text, for example SELECT
and INCLUDE.

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 Example text Screen output. This includes file and directory names
and their paths, messages, names of variables and
parameters, and passages of the source text of a program.

Example text Exact user entry. These are words and characters that
you enter in the system exactly as they appear in the
documentation.

<Example text> Variable user entry. Pointed brackets indicate that you
replace these words and characters with appropriate
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About This Handbook

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The following icons are used in this handbook.

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Procedures

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 Contents
Course Overview .....................................................................................................vii
Course Goals .........................................................................................................vii
Course Objectives ..................................................................................................vii

Unit 1: Exploring the Crystal Reports Interface .................................................... 1

Explore Crystal Reports
Use Crystal Reports Help
Customize Report Settings

Unit 2 : Working with Reports .............................................................................................

Create a Report
Modify a Report
Display Specific Report Data
Work with Report Sections

Unit 3 : Using Formulas in Reports ...................................................................................

Create a Formula
Edit a Formula
Filter Data by Using a Formula
Work with Advanced Formulas and Functions
Handle Null Values

Unit 4: Building Parameterized Reports...........................................................................

Create a Parameter Field
Use a Range Parameter in a Report
Create a Prompt

Unit 5: Grouping Report Data..............................................................................................

Group Report Data
Modify a Group Report
Group by Using Parameters
Create a Parameterized Top N Report

Unit 6: Enhancing a Report..................................................................................................

Format a Report
Insert Objects in a Report
Suppress Report Sections
Use Report Templates

Unit 7: Creating a Report from Excel Data.......................................................................

Create a Report Based on Excel Data
Modify a Report Generated from ExcelData
Update Data in a Report Based onExcel Data
 Unit 8: Distributing Data .......................................................................................................
Export Data
Create Mailing Labels

Unit 9: Creating Running Totals .........................................................................................

Creating Running Totals
Modify a Running Total Field
Create a Manual Running Total

Unit 10: Working with Cross-Tabs .....................................................................................

Create a Cross-Tab Report
Format a Cross-Tab Report
Create Groups in Cross-Tab Reports

Unit 11: Adding Subreports

Insert a Subreport
Edit a Subreport
Share Variables

Unit 12: Creating Drill-Downs in a Report

Create a Drill-Down
Create Headings for Drill-Down Data

Unit 13: Using SQL Statements in ReportProcessing

Create a Report Using SQL Queries
Summarize Report Data
Create Joins Using SQL
Create Subqueries
Create an SQL Expression Field

Unit 14: Creating Complex Formulas

Work with Loops
Work with Arrays

Unit 15: Adding Charts to Reports

Create Charts
Create a Chart with Drill-Down
Create a Top N Chart
Create a Cross-Tab Chart
Create Charts for Grouped Data

Unit 16: Enhancing Report Functionality

Organize Data Based on a Hierarchy
Create a Dynamic Image
Create a Report Alert
Create a Geographic Map

Course Overview
Crystal Reports 2016 is a powerful, dynamic, actionable reporting solution that helps you design,
explore, visualize, and deliver reports via the web or embedded in enterprise applications. This two-
day instructor led course is designed to give you comprehensive skills and in-depth knowledge to
plan and create reports that will helpyou analyze and interpret data.
As a business benefit, you will find that this course is an in-depth approach to the entire report
creation cycle from planning a report prototype to distributing a report.

Target Audience
This course is intended for the following audiences:
• Business Analysts
• Report Writers
• Report Designers
• Application Developers
• BI System Administrators

Course Prerequisites
Required Knowledge
• Basic knowledge of database concepts

Recommended Knowledge
• Crystal Reports 2016: Report Design II

Course Goals
This course will prepare you to:
• Gain the fundamentals of report design
• Acquire the basis for more advanced courses in the BI curriculum

Course Objectives
After completing this course, you will be able to:

Unit 1
Planning a Report
Unit Overview
This unit provides the getting started fundamentals of planning and developing areport in
Crystal Reports.

Unit Objectives
After completing this unit, you will be able to:
• Explore Crystal Reports

• Use Crystal Reports Help

 • Customize Report Settings

About Crystal Reports

Crystal Reports 2016 (Crystal Reports) is designed to work with your database to help you analyze
andinterpret 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
expertsguide 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 offormats 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.

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'simportant to them.

Crystal Reports Help

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 yourbasic 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 viewall the sections that relate to the keyword.
● Access a PDF version of the Crystal Reports documentation online at help..com.
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.

Report Settings and Options

You can use these guidelines to jumpstart the planning process.
• Define the overall purpose of the report.
The purpose statement helps you focus on your primary needs, and it gives thereport both a
starting point and a goal.
• Define the readers of the report. Plan the report so it includes the informationeach user is
looking for.
• Define the data used in the report.
What type of data source will you need to connect to?
• Determine the report title.
Write out a working title for the report. You may decide to change it later, but atleast you will
have a title to use when creating the prototype report.
• Define header and footer identifying information.
Header information typically includes a company logo, a print date, and the titleof the report.
Page numbers usually appear in footers.
• Define specific data that should appear in the body of the report.
The body should contain all the data needed to fulfill the statement of purposeyou wrote for
the report. It should also contain all of the data needed by the various users that you have
identified.
• Determine if the data is organized into groups.
How? By customer? By date? By hierarchy? Or by other criteria?
• Determine if the data is sorted based on record or group values.Data can be
sorted based on a specific record or on a group.
• Determine if the data exists or if it needs to be calculated.

Report Requirements Checklist

You can use these guidelines to jumpstart the planning process.
• Define the overall purpose of the report.
The purpose statement helps you focus on your primary needs, and it gives thereport both a
starting point and a goal.
• Define the readers of the report. Plan the report so it includes the informationeach user is
looking for.
• Define the data used in the report.
What type of data source will you need to connect to?
• Determine the report title.
Write out a working title for the report. You may decide to change it later, but atleast you will
have a title to use when creating the prototype report.
• Define header and footer identifying information.
Header information typically includes a company logo, a print date, and the titleof the report.
Page numbers usually appear in footers.
• Define specific data that should appear in the body of the report.
The body should contain all the data needed to fulfill the statement of purposeyou wrote for
the report. It should also contain all of the data needed by the various users that you have
identified.
• Determine if the data is organized into groups.
How? By customer? By date? By hierarchy? Or by other criteria?
• Determine if the data is sorted based on record or group values.Data can be
sorted based on a specific record or on a group.
• Determine if the data exists or if it needs to be calculated.

Module 1 : Exploring the Crystal Reports Interface

Lab Scenarios :
As a report designer, you want to build a new report based on the Customer table and the
Orders table from the Xtreme Sample Database (via an ODBC data sourceconnection).
Exercise 1: Build a Report / Getting familiar with SAP
Crystal Report.
Task 1: Build a New Report
You will build a new report based on the blank report option in SAP Crystal Reports.
1. Start a new report based on the blank report option.
a) Click Start -> Programs -> Crystal Reports 2016 -> Crystal Reports 2016
to launch SAP Crystal Reports.
b) From the Start Page tab, click Blank report.
2. Add the Customer table and the Orders table.
a) From the Database Expert dialog box, select the ODBC (RDO) connectionto Xtreme.
Note: If this is not listed as a data source, create a new connectionvia ODBC to
Xtreme sample database.

b) From the Xtreme tables, double-click Customer and thenOrders. Click OK.
c) From the Links tab, accept the automatic linking. Click OK.
3. Add these database fields to the report:

Figure 10: Build a New Report

a) Open Field Explorer. Click View -> Field Explorer.

b) Expand Database Fields -> Customer. Expand Database Fields -> Orders.Select the
 specified fields from the Customer and Orders tables.

Hint: For multiple selection of fields, press the CTRL key downas you click
each field.

c) Drag the fields to the Details section.

Note: When you drag the fields to the Details section, field labelsare
automatically created and simultaneously placed in the Page
Header section. You can delete or move these tables as needed.

Task 2: Preview and Explore the Report

From the Design view, you will preview and explore the new report.
1. Preview the report.
a) From the top menu, click View -> Preview Sample.
b) When prompted for the number of records to include in the preview sample,accept the
default All records option. Click OK.

Caution: If you are expecting a large number of records, specify alimit to the
number of records to preview as a sample.

2. Open the Report Explorer to view a list of the report objects.

a) From the top menu, click View -> Report Explorer.
3. Change the magnification in the Preview tab.
a) From the top menu, click View -> Zoom.
b) From the Zoom dialog box, select the Fit One Dimension option to viewthe report
based on its page width. Click OK.
Task 3: Save the Report
You will add summary information, save a preview or snapshot, add the report toWorkbench and
check for errors.
1. Add summary information.
a) From the top menu, click File -> Summary Info.
b) In the Document Properties tab, specify summary data as desired. .
c) Ensure that the Save Preview Picture checkbox is selected. This will save asnapshot of the
report. Click OK
Note: The Save Preview Picture checkbox is selected by default.

2. Save the report as Creating a report.rpt.

Note: Save all activity reports to My Documents.

a) From the top menu, click File -> Save.

3. Add the report to the Workbench.
a) Click View -> Workbench.
b) From the Workbench panel, click Add.
c) Select the report from My Documents.
Note: A new project folder is automatically created.
d) Rename the project folder to Report Design I.
e) Select Creating a report.rpt and click the Check Dependencies icon fromthe Workbench
toolbar.