Become a Crystal Reports 2008 Star!
Transcript of Become a Crystal Reports 2008 Star!
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Introduction and Agenda
• What makes you a star?
• Enhanced user experience
• Designer enhancements
• Additional features
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What Makes You a Star?
• Know the product• Take advantage of opportunities for learning Crystal Reports 2008
• Improve the consumer experience
• Simplify your design process
• Deploy fantastic reports!
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Enhanced User Experience
• Interactive Sorting
• Interactive Parameters
• Support for long list of values (LOV)
• Optional parameters
• Xcelsius Integration
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Interactive Sorting
• How was it done before?• It wasn’t – one report/sort order required
• Through on demand subreports as the header for each column
• Through parameters and formulas
•
Detriments to these approaches?• Multiple copies of reports to maintain
• Extra database and network traffic
• Complicated report design
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Interactive Sorting
• How is it done in Crystal Reports 2008?
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Interactive Sorting
• Advantages• Uses the existing recordset
• One object to maintain
• No subreports!
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Interactive Parameters
• How was it done before?• It wasn’t – one report/parameter requirement
• In an external application
• In the designer by an end user!
• Detriments to these approaches?
• Multiple copies of reports to maintain
• Extra database and network traffic
• Dependency on external applications
• Possible data corruption
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Interactive Parameters
• How is it done in Crystal Reports 2008?
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Interactive Parameters
• Advantages• Uses the existing recordset
• One object to maintain
• No subreports!
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Support for Long List of Values (LOV)
• How was it done before?• It wasn’t – one giant list of values with no filters
• LOV was broken up into manual batches
• Multiple parameters
• Complicated selection criteria
• Detriments to these approaches?• Customer frustration
• Poor performance
• Complex formulas
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Support for Long List of Values (LOV)
• How is it done in Crystal Reports 2008?
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Support for Long List of Values (LOV)
• Advantages• Happier users!
• More efficient prompting
• Single parameter
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Optional Parameters
• How was it done before?• It wasn’t – separate reports for each set of requirements
• Custom record selection criteria
• Through subreports
• Detriments to these approaches?
• Multiple copies of reports to maintain
• Complicated selection criteria
• Inconsistent syntax between versions
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Optional Parameters
• How is it done in Crystal Reports 2008?
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Optional Parameters
• Advantages• Higher degree of interactivity and on demand analysis
• Reduced database and network traffic
• Consistent Syntax
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Xcelsius Integration
• How was it done before?• It wasn’t – this is a new feature
• Create Xcelsius Report from data in Excel through Crystal Reportsvia Live Office
• Detriments
• No direct integration
• Convoluted method of obtaining Crystal Reports data to use inXcelsius
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Xcelsius Integration
• How is it done in Crystal Reports 2008?
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Xcelsius Integration
• Advantages• Happier users!
• Visually stimulating reports
• Higher degree of interactivity
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Designer Enhancements
• Multi-Value Parameters in SQL Commands• Web Pagination
• Enhanced Crosstabs
• Built-in Barcode Support
• New database support
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Multi-Value Parameters in SQLCommands
• How was it done before?• It wasn’t – multi-value parameters were created as Crystal Reports
parameters, not Command parameters
• Create a single long delimited string parameter and parse out thevalues in SQL
• Detriments• Detracts from the power of a SQL Command
• Reduced efficiency
• Complex kluge to work around SQL limitation
• High degree of user input error
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Multi-Value Parameters in SQLCommands
• How is it done in Crystal Reports 2008?
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Multi-Value Parameters in SQLCommands
• Advantages• Increased efficiency
• Reduced database processing
• Reduced network traffic
• Simplified SQL
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Web Pagination
• How was it done before?• Custom Page sizes
• Install printer drivers and create a custom printer
• Custom Page Orientation
• Create separate reports and run independently or schedule as a Report
Package in Enterprise• Custom Page Breaks
• Convoluted formulas
• Remove white space at end of report
• Couldn’t do it
• Detriments• High degree of complexity – workarounds
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Web Pagination – Custom Page Size
• How is it done in Crystal Reports 2008?
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Web Pagination – Custom PageOrientation
• How is it done in Crystal Reports 2008?
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Web Pagination – Custom Page Breaks
• How is it done in Crystal Reports 2008?
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Web Pagination – Remove White Space
• How is it done in Crystal Reports 2008?
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Web Pagination
• Advantages• Greater control over the look-and-feel of your reports
• Simplified design
• Better “webification”
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Enhanced Crosstabs
• How was it done before?• It wasn’t – “other” tools were used
• Manual crosstabs were created
• Detriments
• Unhappy customers
• Labor intensive manual crosstabs
• Maintenance concerns
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Enhanced Crosstabs
• How is it done in Crystal Reports 2008?
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Enhanced Crosstabs
• Advantages• Improved Analytic Functionality
• Reduced dependency on external tools
• Easier design and deployment
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Built-in Barcode Support
• How was it done before?• Purchase and install bar code fonts from external vendor
• Detriments
• Additional cost
• Manual font conversion
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Built-in Barcode Support
• How is it done in Crystal Reports 2008?
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Built-in Bar Code Support
• Advantages• Simplified implementation
• Additional purchased fonts can be automatically converted, too
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Key Learning Points
• What makes you a Crystal Reports 2008 Star?• Know the product
• Enhance the user experience
• Simplify your design and deployment
• Training Resources
• Sample Reports and Databases from SAP
• User Groups
• Classes
• Technical Forums
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Contact information
• http://crystaladvantage.com
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