Download Tips on Using Crystal Reports and Tips

Table of Contents
Introduction.......................................................................................................................................................................4
Using the Correct Version of Crystal............................................................................................................................4
Other Documentation You Should Have......................................................................................................................4
Expediting the Report Development Process..............................................................................................................5
Running Reports from within the Tigerpaw Business Suite.....................................................................................6
Section 1. Tips on Using Crystal Reports .........................................................................7
Crystal’s Help Text ..........................................................................................................................................................8
The Undo and Redo Buttons (Very Useful).................................................................................................................8
Opening a Report ..............................................................................................................................................................8
Modifying Existing Reports ...........................................................................................................................................9
Custom Reports Naming Conventions..........................................................................................................................9
Options File Settings (Very Important)......................................................................................................................10
Report Options (Very Important) ................................................................................................................................11
“Setting the Location” of the Database (Very Important).......................................................................................12
The “Verify Database” Operation (Very Important)................................................................................................15
Working With Specific Data Records.........................................................................................................................16
Working With Subreports .............................................................................................................................................17
Store and Fetch Commands ..........................................................................................................................................20
Shared Variables – a replacement for the Store and Fetch Commands ................................................................20
Inserting Objects on a Report .......................................................................................................................................21
Eliminating Tables That Are Not Used In A Report ................................................................................................21
Adding Tables to a Report ............................................................................................................................................21
Creating Links Between Tables ...................................................................................................................................22
The Format Section Expert ...........................................................................................................................................23
Printer Considerations...................................................................................................................................................24
Reports for Dot Matrix Printers ...................................................................................................................................25
Snap To Grid, Showing the Grid, Guidelines, and Rulers, etc...............................................................................25
Using Zoom.....................................................................................................................................................................25
Tips on Drawing Evenly Spaced Lines.......................................................................................................................25
Aligning Objects.............................................................................................................................................................25
Making Objects the Same Size.....................................................................................................................................26
Memo Fields....................................................................................................................................................................26
Date Fields.......................................................................................................................................................................27
Time Fields......................................................................................................................................................................27
Print/Print Preview Speed Tips....................................................................................................................................28
Adding a Company Logo or other graphic to a report .............................................................................................30
Section 2. Tips on Converting Custom Reports to the Tigerpaw
Business Suite 9, 32-bit Database Structure ................................................................31
The Text Point Size and Alignment Problems ..........................................................................................................32
First Things First – Before You Convert a Report ...................................................................................................32
Printing a Screen Shot ...................................................................................................................................................33
Converting a Report to Our 32-bit Database Structure............................................................................................33
Mapping table.field Names that Have Been Changed or Deleted, to New table.field Names ..........................33
Creating Links that Disappeared from the Converted Report.................................................................................35
Restoring Fields That Disappeared From The Converted Report ..........................................................................35
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