Crystal Reports Course Outline

• Overview of Crystal Reports
  • Formatting and summarizing data
  • Filtering, sorting and grouping data
  • Customizing reports with business logic
  • Connecting to SQL Server, Oracle and Access databases
• The Crystal Report Writer

Writing a basic report

• • Selecting a format
  • Adding text and fields
  • Connecting to remote data sources
  • Configuring the reporting environment

Formatting and styling

• • Tailoring sections within a report
  • Designing fields for quality presentations
  • Highlighting data with Highlight Expert
• Linking Crystal Reports to Data

Connecting to popular data sources

• • SQL Server
  • Oracle
  • Access
  • Web logs
  • XML
  • Reporting from stored procedures and views

Establishing data connections

• • Creating a connectivity checklist
  • Configuring ODBC and OLE DB
  • Integrating SQL commands in a report
• Interpreting Structures and Retrieving Data

Navigating complex data

• • Deciphering data structures
  • Identifying data relationships

Gathering the right data

• • Merging data from multiple tables
  • Building business queries
• Combining Powerful Report Techniques

Organizing and summarizing reports

• • Sorting user sort control and grouping
  • Summary and Rolling Total fields

Building advanced reports

• • Embedding linked and unlinked subreports into reports
  • Creating crosstab and drill-down reports
  • Designing dynamic and cascading prompts
  • Hyperlinking Reports and Multilingual Reports
  • Achieving reusability with templates

Visualizing complex data

• • Simplifying data with charts and graphs
  • Organizing fields into sections
  • Adding, merging, suppressing sections
• Programming Data Functionality

Coding in formula language

• • Working with variables and operators
  • Deciphering formula syntax
  • Adding and modifying formulas
  • Calling and working with functions

Writing effective formulas

• • Building if/then/else statements
  • Converting and comparing data
  • Debugging the code
  • Employing the Formula Workshop

Converting to Basic Syntax

• • Writing formulas with Basic Syntax
  • Laying a foundation for complex reporting logic