Customer Reviews

Crystal Reports XI Official Guide

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Remember back in the "good old days" of shrinkwrapped software when the box was mostly full with a big printed reference manual? Well, this is the book that should have come inside the now-nearly-empty box. The book is a standard reference-type manual designed to provide an overview of every feature within the product including the newest features such as Dynamic and Cascading Parameter Generation. Besides the standard overview type stuff, it includes some basic tutorials on often-confusing topics such as report integration (in .NET and J2EE environments); you won't become an expert using these tutorials, however. The book also includes a lot of information on how Crystal Reports integrates with Business Objects' larger software platforms (which, I suspect, will be a useless topic for 99% of users).

Beginning users will find the manual easy to use and full of interesting information. Intermediate users will find solid suggestions here and there. Advanced users will probably give it a flip-through and stuff it on the shelf next to all the other references where it will be used for occasional consultation. All in all a solid offering in a fairly crowded field, but one that is authoratative and complete. But I just can't shake the feeling that the manual should have come in the box. Heck, it even looks and feels just like the typical software documentation of days gone by...

This is a valuable book for learning and using Crystal Reports. I found lots of useful information in it. The explanations are clear and practical.

However, be aware that about half the book is on other topics than creating reports - such as Crystal Reports Server, BusinessObjects Enterprise, etc.

This text presents a thorough look at every facet of Crystal Report creation. It is very helpful for beginning and intermediate users. However, for more experienced users the authors fail to provide a useful summary of the built-in functions which are heavily used for manipulating the reports.

I found this book to be an outstanding tool for learning Crystal Report. It's an easy read and has many easy and relevant examples.

Furthermore, since this is my first few weeks of using BOXI, I find myself referencing this book a lot. So far I have not been disappointed!

This book is same as Using Business Objects Crystal reports XI.No CD available.The book presents topics with examples and not just an explanation of features like the (The Complete reference Crystal reports XI).One who is planning to buy (Using Business Objects Crystal reports XI) which is now very costly.Can manage with this book.

I'm returning it. The index is missing many items mentioned in the book.

It assumes you already know about many procedures. Example: I tried to find out about declaring and using global variables in Crystal Reports. Nothing. It tells you where to use them, but not how!

If you already know a lot about Crystal Reports then this may be okay for you. That's the only reason I gave it two stars and not one star.