Customer Reviews

Seagate Crystal Reports 8: The Complete Reference (Book/CD-ROM package)

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

 

 

Less than a year after he published his landmark book for Crystal Version 7, George Peck has produced another blockbuster. He has updated his volume to include the new features in Version 8. The new book includes all that was excellent in Version 7 and goes further. It is well worth your time and money.

The book has 800 pages, 30 chapters, 2 appendixes, an index and an companion CD containing examples of finished reports, visual basic routines, active server pages and demonstration web sites. There is even a web site to report errors in the book or download corrections.

The chapters are divided into three parts: (1) A general introduction to the report design components including excellent coverage of the new features in Version 8. (2) Seven chapters explain how to create custom applications using Visual Basic and Crystal. (3) An in-depth explanation covering reporting through the web. Jim Bixby, our Crystal instructor in Portland, Oregon, revised the last section.

What makes this book different from others and the manual that is includes with the software is Peck's refusal to simply describe each of the program's features. He goes to the extra effort to explain why you would want to use a feature. He is not afraid to go into depth when depth is required. A good example is his discussion of linking tables. He not only covers linking within one database type, but also linking between database types. He provides his own point of view and discusses the impact on performance.

The book has hundreds of "Tip" paragraphs that provide extra insight into a reporting problem. There are thousands of screen shots showing how to use dialog boxes. Then there is the "What to do..." boxes that address the "got ya" problems that are likely to crop up. These are troubleshooting guides.

I like the way his uses graphics to describe complex database operations. For example: When introducing Crystal's new ability to group data in a hierarchy, he uses vertical and horizontal lines to create a organizational tree structure. While he has not yet discussed how to create the lines, he points this out so we will not be confused.

Another example: Perhaps the most confusing part of Crystal is the web reporting features. Chapter 28 goes through the various options, their strengths and their pitfalls starting with the simplest (exporting to HTML) and proceeding to the most complex (the report development component). There are extremely helpful tips discussing the way things used to be (in Version 7) and the way things are now (Version 8).

The need for ULF (user function libraries) has diminished now that Crystal has upgraded its formula language. However, there are many applications that need them. In about ten pages he explains how this is done. The companion CD contains several examples.

No reference book would be complete without an index. Peck's book has an excellent index.

If you are involved with a reporting project, or if you a responsible for teaching reporting, or if you consult and your consulting involves reporting you need a reference library. Peck's book must be at the top of your list. It will save you time and aggravation. No IS show using Crystal should be without this book.

I really liked this book because it is not only clear and concise, but it also covers all the things that you need to know to sucessfully create efficient reports. Moreover, I know that crystal report is the de facto standard for report generation in the industry. I started from knowing nothing about crystal report to become an expert report designer just by using this book. It covers not only the basics, but also the advanced features such as putting reports on the web without having the client install crystal report on their computer. It also teaches you how to create dynamic, real-time reports.

I am a Crystal Reports Developer and I believe that "The Complete Reference" is the best book published for Crystal Reports. The documentation Seagate provides with the software does not compare to Peck's book. Seagate is notorious for inadequate and poorly written documentation; Peck's reference makes Crystal Reports usable. I would not recommend using any other book as a Crystal Reports reference.

If you like purchasing 4 or 5 books on a topic to learn something, this one will break that habit. George Peck obviously is writing from experience and his work will guide you into the realm of Crystal Reports 8.0 like you've never seen it before. I bought his book before purchasing the Developer version of the software so when it arrived at work, I was ready to run. I've gone through it twice and found new things to learn each time. My Crystal experience dates back to 1994, but I discovered he can teach a Novice as well as a Guru. If he writes other books on the topic, I'll definitely buy them. I highly recommend this book be part of your library.

I have been developing Visual Basic applications which incorporate Crystal Reports for about a year now. I had tremendous difficulty learning how to integrate reports into visual basic with user defined input. In a fit of desperation I bought this book and i must say that I have never been more pleasantly surprised by a refrence book. Mr. peck explained in detail the solution to my problem in 2 pages. I am now working on a new project which uses CR extensively and have had no problems that are not discussed in this book. If you are a Crystal Reports user follow these simple steps. 1) Throw out the Crystal Reports documentation that comes with the program. 2)Buy this book!

This is an excellent reference book if you are at all interested in integrating your Crystal Reports projects with Visual Basic or the World Wide Web. I had spent quite a few wasted hours going through Crystal Help and the shipped documentation, and still could not figure out how to solve a problem I was having. This book helped me solve it in about 30 minutes. It is easy to read, very well thought out, and a must if you plan on doing any serious development with Crystal Reports.

I had a major hangup on a Crystal Reports 8 project at work which had baffled me and several others for days... Although Seagate's own .pdf documentation was consulted, it proved very difficult to track down the information we needed.

Fifteen minutes' reading at a local book seller - after finding this newly released version of Peck's book - provided the solution we were looking for.

Needless to say, they sold a copy.

This is a great book if you are new to Crystal Reports. The book does seem to be overly verbose in my opinion, and too much of the book is devoted to introductory material that most people could figure out on their own if at all familiar with a GUI interface of any kind. I think the beginning sections were belaboured a bit too much, and this left less room for the more complicated chapters near the end of the book. Still, as far as books go, this is probably the best one and most likely the only one that you will need. Crystal Reports is really a pretty dull topic, but the book covers all that you will really need to know about the subject. Hats off to the author for this one.

I purchased this book for a specific job I needed to do. I have about a year of experience with CR 8, but I use it only in special circumstances. This book helped me learn what I needed to know about subreports. I skimmed some of the other chapters, and they looked pretty good. Particularly chapters geared towards SQL (14, 15, & 18). Overall, it's a good, solid book to help beginner to intermediate users gain a better understanding of CR 8.

As a Crystal Info Administrator, I need to stay one step ahead of my hundreds of internal customers. When I have a problem or question about Crystal Reports, I look at George Peck's book first.
Not only does it provide the answer, it explains the solution.
Without "The Complete Reference", I would have to rely on Crystal Decisions documentation which can't compare to this great manual.
In fact, I recommend this book to my users at all levels.