Crystal Reports Introduction Training

This Crystal Reports Introduction Training course is designed for students who will be designing reports using Crystal Reports and who have little to no experience using the tool, or may have used a previous version and want to brush up on their skills.

Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

• Explore the Crystal Reports interface.
• Create a basic report and modify it.
• Use formulas for filtering data.
• Group report data.
• Format a report with graphics, lines, boxes and other effects
• Create a report that accepts user input.
• Distribute reports.

1. Exploring Crystal Reports
   • Crystal Reports Interface
     • Report Development
     • Touring Crystal Reports
   • Toolbar Overview
   • Program Customization
   • Viewing a Sample Report
   • Report Layout
     • Navigation Tabs
     • Conditionally Formatted Fields
     • Grouping
     • Subtotals
     • Design Tab
     • Preview Tab
     • Close the report
2. Creating and Modifying Reports
   • Creating a Report
     • Defining a Report
     • Data Sources
     • Creating a Report
     • The Database Expert Tool
   • Exploring the Design tab
     • Report Sections
   • Adding Fields to a Report
   • Adjusting Field Position and Size
     • Resizing Fields
     • Moving Fields
   • Previewing Field Data
   • Aligning Field Data
     • Selecting Fields
     • Aligning Fields
   • Creating a Text Object
   • Saving the Report
     • Saving the Data with the Report
   • Previewing Report Data
     • Preview Data Methods
     • Navigating the Previewed Data
     • Locally Stored Data
3. Formatting Number-based Fields
   • Formatting Introduction
   • Accessing the Formatting Options for a Field
   • Formatting Numbers
   • Formatting Currency
   • Formatting Date and Time
4. Grouping, Sorting and Filtering
   • The Importance of Grouping Records
     • The Group Expert
   • Sorting Records with the Record Sort Expert
   • Filtering Records with the Select Expert
     • The Stages of Filtering
     • Select Expert Filter Methods
     • Implementing Record Filters with the Select Expert
     • Filtering Records with Multiple Criteria
     • Modifying Existing Filter Criteria
     • Deleting Filter Criteria
     • Changing Multiple Filter Criteria Logic
   • Creating Group Summary Calculations
     • Summary Operators
     • Grand Totals
     • Group Totals
   • Cleaning Up the Report
   • Calculating Percentages in Summaries
   • Sorting Groups According to Subtotal Rankings
5. Additional Formatting Objects
   • Adding Lines
     • Accessing the Formatting Options for a Line
     • Adding Vertical Lines to a Report
   • Adding Boxes
     • Accessing the Formatting Options for a Box
   • Inserting Graphics
   • Formatting Page Options
     • Printer Options
     • Page Options
     • Margins
   • Combine Fields with Text Objects
   • Insert Special Fields
     • Special Fields
     • Document Properties
6. Working with Formulas
   • Creating a Formula
     • Crystal Formula Syntax
     • Formula components and syntax
   • The Formula Workshop
     • Toolbars
     • Workshop Tree
     • Formula Editor
     • Tables and Fields
     • Functions
     • Operators
   • Simple Formulas
     • Checking for Syntax Errors in Formulas
     • Recycling Formula Fields
   • Handling NULL Values
     • Crystal Reports How Nulls are handled
     • Handling Nulls via formulas
7. Working with Multiple Tables
   • Understanding Database Components
     • Fields
     • Tables
     • Records
     • Keys
   • Joining Tables and Join Types
     • Outer Join
     • Inner Join
     • Left Join
     • Right Join
   • Adding Multiple Tables with the Database Expert
     • Linking Multiple Tables
8. Conditional Formatting
   • Formatting Section Behavior
     • Common Tab
     • Paging Tab
     • Color Tab
     • Layout Tab
   • Formatting Sections with Conditional Logic
   • Suppressing Sections Conditionally
     • Hiding vs. Suppressing
   • Formatting Fields Conditionally
9. Summary Reports and Charting
   • Creating a Summary Report
     • Hide: (Drill-Down OK)
     • Suppress (No Drill-Down)
   • Utilizing Drill-Down to View Report Details
   • Creating Charts with the Chart Expert
     • Placing and Sizing Charts
   • Formatting and Editing Charts
     • The Data Tab
     • The Type Tab
     • The Axes Tab
     • The Options Tab
     • The Color Highlight Tab
     • The Text Tab
     • Modifying Existing Charts
     • Zooming In and Out on Charts
   • Formatting Individual Chart Objects
     • Chart Expert
     • Format Chart
     • Format Background
     • Chart Options
     • Auto-Arrange
10. Exporting Reports
    • The Need to Export
      • Export Types
    • Export Formats
      • Character Separated Values
      • Crystal Reports (RPT)
      • RPTR
      • RTF
      • Microsoft Excel
      • HTML (3.2 and 4.0)
      • PDF (Portable Document Format)
      • Text
      • Microsoft Word
      • XML
      • Record Style Column with spaces
      • Record Style Column without spaces
      • Report Definition
    • Export Destinations
      • Application
      • Disk File
      • Exchange Folder
      • MAPI (Messaging Application Programming Interface)
    • Previewing with HTML

Students should have experience navigating in a Windows environment. Some experience with Microsoft Access or an understanding of database concepts is also helpful, but not required.