Introduction to Crystal Reports

An introductory course in Crystal Reports for non-technical users.

This course provides a rapid introduction to Crystal Reports for users who are completely new to the product. This is a hands-on, workshop-style class. You will work along with the instructor, creating and testing a variety of useful reports.

Suggested length: Two days

Delivery

We can bring this course to your site, anywhere in the UK, the rest of Europe, the USA or Canada. The course is also available for one-to-one training at our office in Edinburgh. Please contact us for further information.

What you will achieve

At the end of the course, delegates who meet the pre-requisites will be able to produce good-looking reports with the minimum of effort. You will learn how best to present your data, and how to organise and summarise your reports in the most effective way. You will also learn how to take advantage of some of the more advanced features of Crystal Reports.

Pre-requisites

To benefit from the course, you should ideally have experience of using other Windows packages, such as Word or Excel, although this is not essential. You do not need any technical programming or database knowledge.

Course contents

Your first report

• Easy step-by-step guidance on creating a simple listing-style report.

Enhancing the report

• Fine-tuning the report's layout; re-arranging columns, etc.
• Choosing the fonts, colours and styles.
• Altering the headers and footers.

Grouping, totals and summaries

• Organising your report into groups (such as customers within region).
• Adding sub-totals, grand-totals, counts and summaries.
• Changing the order of the data within the report.

Selecting the data that appears in the report

• Using selection criteria to filter the report (e.g. to show only invoices more than 30 days overdue).
• Showing 'Top N' data (such as the top ten customers by turnover).

Parameters

• Using parameters to control the report (e.g. prompting for a date range).

Advanced formatting and presentation

• Enhancing the report with graphics, rules, borders and bullets.
• Creating watermarks.
• Avoiding 'ugly' formatting (such as headers at the bottom of the page).
• Conditional formatting (e.g. to show overdue invoices in a different colour).
• Using 'special fields' (for example, to show the date of printing or the report author's name).

Introduction to formulae

• Using formulae to create calculated fields.
• Using the formula editor to simplify the writing of formulae.

Sharing and exporting reports

• Creating Word documents, Excel worksheets, web pages and Acrobat PDF files from a report.
• Sending reports by email.

Charts and cross tabs

• Adding pie charts, bar charts, etc. to the report
• Creating cross tabs (a simple way of presenting complex multi-level summaries, such as average sales per customer per country per year).

Miscellaneous

• Tips for producing great-looking reports.
• Tips to save you time.

Version

The course is available for all versions of Crystal Reports, from 8.5 to XI.