Mastering Business Analysis with Crystal Reports 9 (Wordware Applications Library)

Once you've decided the orientation of your report page, it's time to focus on your report objects. You've spent the last two chapters adding database field objects to your reports. Let's explore another useful report object found in reports: the text object.

Text objects help describe information on your report and aid in improving presentation. Text objects don't pull anything from your database; essentially, text objects are labels for your report. A common use for a text object is as a title for your report.

To get an idea of how text objects work, let's continue with the report that you saved in the last chapter: EmpProfile.rpt. You can also pull up a copy of this report from the companion files (www.wordware.com/files/crystal).

Once you've pulled up this report and are looking at it in the Report Design area, perform the following steps:

1. Select Insert, Text Object from the menu bar.

   You'll notice a rectangular object frame appear at the tip of your cursor.

2. Position the text object in the Report Header section.

   Align the object frame to the 2.5" mark of this section.

3. Release your mouse button to place the text object.

   You should see a blinking cursor within this object frame. If not, click somewhere within the object frame to access the blinking cursor. A blinking cursor means that you may now begin typing text into the text object.

   Note

   The first time you add a text object, Crystal Reports automatically lets you begin adding text. After this initial placement, you'll need to click once within the text object to bring up the blinking cursor.

4. Type the following into the object frame: Employee Profile Report.

Once you've typed in the text, click outside the object frame. You're now out of the text-editing mode. Preview your report. Figure 5-2 displays the results of your work.

Figure 5-2: Adding a text object to your report

So, what do you think?

To be honest, you're probably thinking that the title isn't very impressive. The text object uses Crystal Reports' default settings, which makes the text appear in a black Arial font. This doesn't seem to work with your current report; the black is hard to see against the blue background.

Also, the title you typed in is too large for the text object. Instead of "Employee Profile Report," you're only seeing "Employee Profile."

Don't worry; these aren't huge problems. You just need to apply a little formatting to your report. The next sections look at formatting these and other report objects.