Mastering Crystal Reports 9

Overview

Rows and rows of raw data records from a data source do not make for a very interesting or informative report. To impart information, a report takes the original stored data and arranges it in ways that tell a story about the business. The most popular techniques of processing raw data for report purposes involve sorting the data, then grouping it, and finally deriving summary information for the groups based on the originally stored data values. Along the way, the data is transformed into information.

In Chapter 1, “Building Your First Report,” and Chapter 2, “Modifying a Report,” the concepts of sorting, grouping, and summarizing were introduced through the use of the Standard Report Creation Wizard and through simple modifications to the report created by the wizard. In this chapter, we’ll fully explore Crystal’s sophisticated sorting, grouping, and summarizing capabilities. In addition, we’ll look at the subreport design element and use it to segment and manage data within a report.

Featured in this chapter:

• Creating groups with the Group Expert

• Using the Group Sort Expert

• Applying special fields to grouped data

• Selecting the top or bottom records only

• Adding subtotals and grand totals to your report

• Using running totals to move beyond grand totals and subtotals

• Creating subreports

• Linking subreports to main reports

• Sharing data values between subreports and main reports