Crystal Reports 7: The Complete Reference [Paperback]

George Peck (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0072119780 | ISBN-13: 978-0072119787 | Publication Date: September 1, 1999

This complete reference reveals never before seen information including tips, tricks, and techniques which are explained to help business users create reprots they couldn't complete before this book

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Crystal Reports 7: The Complete Reference is the best Crystal Reports book around for users who have progressed beyond the "baffled novice" level. Even for newcomers to Crystal Reports who are willing to experiment a bit, this book will prove satisfactory. It's worth the cover price. Particularly praiseworthy are the sections on programming with formulas, in which the author explains details of the Crystal Reports formula language (such as variable scope, time functions, and sorting) that other books don't cover adequately.

This book also goes into detail on doing analysis with cross-tabs, performing geographic analyses, getting user input with parameter fields, and importing data from online analytical processing (OLAP) cubes. Though it lacks much of a tutorial on Structured Query Language (SQL), coverage extends beyond Crystal Reports Designer to include Seagate Analysis and Crystal SQL Designer.

Peck deftly balances how-to information (in the form of step-by-step procedures) with documentation (lists that explain what options do and what interface elements are for). Often, the author labels interface elements in screen shots, making it absolutely clear what they mean and do. He's also absolutely comprehensive in his survey of the Crystal Reports suite, adding coverage of the Report Designer Component, the Crystal ActiveX Control, the Report Engine Automation Server and its Report Engine API. The advanced coverage is geared toward the Visual Basic developer integrating Crystal Reports resources into a larger system. --David Wall

Topics covered: Formula construction, layout control, charts, subreports, drill-down reports, user interaction, extracting data from SQL databases, OLAP cubes, Seagate Analysis, and Visual Basic integration tools.

From the Back Cover

The most definitive resource on Crystal Reports available!

Create presentation-quality reports from virtually any database using the most powerful data analysis tool and this authoritative guide. Crystal Reports 7: The Complete Reference explains in detail how to use the software to analyze and format data, generate reports, and perform advanced interactive reporting from the Web. The book also illustrates how to develop custom applications and incorporate any Crystal Report into your Windows applications -- without leaving the Visual Basic development environment. Complete with bonus CD-ROM containing free Seagate software, VB code, utilities, and a sample Web site, this is a resource no Crystal Reports user should be without.

Inside, you'll find out how to:
*Perform powerful data analysis and create professional-quality reports
*Report directly from data sources--including SQL databases--easily
*Maximize report flexibility with advanced formulas and sophisticated reporting techniques
*Use the query, reporting, and multidimensional OLAP features of Seagate Analysis
*Integrate reports into Visual Basic application using the ActiveX Report Designer Component, as well as other integration methods
*Execute interactive, web-enabled reporting with the Crystal Web Reports Server or Microsoft Visual InterDev and Active Server pages

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 771 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Companies (September 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0072119780
• ISBN-13: 978-0072119787
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.5 x 2.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,205,546 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

George Peck is a software trainer, consultant, and developer with more than 20 years of experience in the computer industry. He purchased his first PC (a Radio Shack TRS-80) in 1978 and taught himself to program in one of the earliest versions of Microsoft BASIC. Later, when Microsoft shipped Visual Basic 1.0, George drove to the shipper's warehouse to pick it up, rather than waiting the extra day for delivery.

After more than 10 years as an internal consultant and trainer in a large corporation, George founded his own consulting and training firm in 1994. He has since trained, consulted, and developed custom software for large and small clients throughout the United States and Canada.

George is certified by Seagate Software as both a trainer and consultant for both Seagate Crystal Reports 7 and Seagate Info 7. He was awarded "Training Partner of the Year" by Seagate for 1998-1999.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Reference for All Levels, March 10, 2000

By 

M. Copeland "moreyc" (N. Bellmore, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Crystal Reports 7: The Complete Reference (Paperback)

I bought this book a month after buying Crystal Reports (early 1999). I have used it constantly ever since and it has been my primary resource when I use the software on various consulting jobs. The book starts from the beginning and through a series of well defined chapters takes the reader up to an intermediate/expert stage. I taught myself the ActiveX (Visual Basic) module using the book as my primary reference. If you want a real "Bible" on the subject then it must be in your toolkit.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Easy reading style, LOTS of tips, GREAT graphics, September 25, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (ANCHORAGE, ALASKA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Crystal Reports 7: The Complete Reference (Paperback)

I am an internal auditor and consultant for a large hospital system, and we are undergoing conversions which require working knowledge of Crystal -- like NOW! I have knowledge of SQL from Access and other DSS software, but am certainly no programmer. This book (COMPENDIUM) is perfect! The programmers hired to build the database containing our historical data and set up the connections to Crystal, told us that "they believed that Oracle didn't support inner joins" as an explanation of why triple table joins were not working. Intuitively I knew this was wrong, so I read up on Oracle, and dug into Mr. Peck's book. After digging around in the Crystal options and settings, I read the section in Mr. Peck's book about ODBC drivers. Then I went online with Seagate e-mail support, and sure enough, they sent just the information we needed. Our programmers used an outdated driver that had documented problems with joins. It was Mr. Peck's book that allowed me to (as a layperson) understand the underlying logic and pinpoint the problem. It also explained the logic clearly enough for me to communicate that information to our IS people in terms they could understand. Since they weren't knowledgeable about Crystal themselves, we all benefited hightly. I am recommending that the hospital purchase several copies of Mr. Peck's book for the IS people, and certain power users in Finance. Just this one instance has saved us time and (therefore) money in coming up to speed with data analysis. And considering the size and quality of the book, it's a hot deal anyway. BOTH THUMBS UP!!

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Crystal Reports 7 : The Complete Reference, February 12, 2000

By 

K. A. Tobin (Bend, OR USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Crystal Reports 7: The Complete Reference (Paperback)

There are few technical books on the market that really provide useful information to a developer. This book is one of the few that are complete, organized, and very useful. It covers topics from the introductory level through the advanced level making it a great productivity partner. Clearly and consisely written, it paid for itself in the first hour of use. If you work with Crystal 7, get this for your library.