August 2003
 The
Repository comes out every four to eight weeks. It
features Crystal tools tips and tricks, news about Crystal Reports,
Seagate Info and Crystal Enterprise. Check our Promotions sections for
education and solutions offerings. This month's highlights:
- Crystal Reports Boot
Camp - See George
Peck's words and our News section.
- I Didn't
Know... - our Crystal
knowledge and techniques toolbox.
- The Mergers Continue
- Hyperion announces
its plans to acquire Brio. Our News section has the story.
Newsletter suggestions? Crystal questions? Just send us an email
- we welcome your feedback.
From George Peck, author of
Crystal Reports: The Complete Reference and Crystal Reports
Professional Results:
Hello,
I sincerely hope you enjoy our regular copies of The Repository
newsletter. We try to provide you with truly valuable tips and tricks,
Crystal-related information, and news.
For this edition, I wanted to make special note of our Crystal Reports
Boot Camp, taking place in the beautiful Rocky Mountains. This four-day,
intensive heads-down Crystal Reports training program takes place at
Keystone, Colorado October 7th through 10th.
I'll be joining four other top-notch instructors for this serious
training program. We've set up the program with a block-scheduling
approach (just like High School!) to allow you to pick and choose just the
topic areas you want to concentrate on. And, although there are
Introductory and Advanced tracks to help you choose an appropriate
instructional path, you are absolutely free to pick and choose the
detailed sessions in either track that you wish to attend. For example, if
you need some rudimentary help with Cross-tabs but want a serious advanced
session on Formulas, you are absolutely welcome to participate in both
sessions.
One of the reasons I wanted to highlight the Boot Camp in the
newsletter is the fast-approaching early registration deadline. You can
save $200 off the registration price if you sign up by August 31. And,
we're also offering discounts if you bring your own laptop with Crystal
Reports installed, as well as for multiple registrants for the same
company.
Fall in the Rockies is beautiful. Why not enjoy it while getting
the best possible Crystal Reports education experience available? During
these tough economic times when you need to make the absolute best
business decisions as quickly as possible, this opportunity to hone your
Crystal knowledge will give you a serious return on your investment.
If you have any questions, feel free to email me personally or call (800)
773-3472. I hope you'll join me for the Crystal Reports Boot Camp.
Sincerely,
George Peck
...you could get the "green bar"
effect on a Crystal Report
Remember green bar paper? Those horizontal stripes can be very
helpful when a report has a bunch of tabular data, especially when it's
printed in landscape mode. You can achieve the same effect with Crystal
Reports using conditional formatting and custom colors.
Select Format Section (Section Expert in CR9) for the Details section,
select the Color tab, and click the conditional formula button next to the
color selector. Type in the following conditional formula:
If Remainder(RecordNumber,6) in [0,4,5] Then RGB(222,244,222) Else
crNoColor
Save the formula and close the Section Expert.
You should see three rows of data on white, then three rows of data on
green, etc. You can make adjustments to the Remainder function and "array
of comparison" numbers to see shading on every 2 lines, every 4 lines,
every line, and so forth. You can also change the color of the shading by
modifying the numbers supplied to the RGB function.
... how to format a
field object within a text object
When you drop a
field object (a database field, formula, parameter field, and so forth)
inside a text object, whatever formatting the field object had BEFORE you
dropped it inside (either default formatting coming from the Field
Explorer or whatever formatting you applied to the object on the report
before you moved it) will be retained inside the text object.
To format the object if you've already placed it in a text object, you
must edit the text object and format the individual field object within
the text object.
- Edit the text object by double-clicking it.
- Within the text object, select the individual field object. You'll
know you've selected it when the field object inside the text object
turns black.
- Right-click. A pop-up menu will appear. Choose Format field
object name from the pop-up menu.
- The Format Editor will appear. Make any desired formatting changes
and click OK.
- End text object editing by clicking anywhere outside the text
object.
Tips and
tricks came to The Repository from Crystal
Reports Professional Results and Ablaze Group consultants. You can
win a copy of Crystal Reports Professional Results or Crystal
Reports: The Complete Reference and see YOUR name here. How? Just
submit your favorite Crystal tip, trick or technique. If it's selected
you'll see it and your name in the next release of The Repository and
we'll send you a copy of either Crystal Reports Professional
Results or Crystal Reports: The Complete Reference.
Crystal Reports Boot Camp
2003 - October 7th through October 10th
Crystal Reports Boot Camp is
a four day Crystal Reports educational experience. Are YOU ready for the challenge? Boot
Camp - Tuesday, October 7th through Friday, October 10th at noon. Boot
Camp 2003 takes place at Keystone Resort and Conference Center in the
Colorado Rockies. Call or email us for details. Here is a partial list of
courses being offered:
- An Introductory For New
Developers
- Maximizing Advanced
Formulas
- Fine Tuning Reports
- Cross Tabs
- Simplifying Database
Dilemmas.
Learn more.
Crystal Reports Professional Results in stores
now
Crystal Reports
Professional Results is a collection of Crystal Reports tips and tricks from the simple
to the sophisticated. Readers have praised The Function Appendix.
Crystal Reports Professional Results has ten chapters as well as
the Function Appendix. Hungry for more? Please visit Table of
Contents and read the Sample
Chapter. You can download the Report Samples that are referenced
throughout the book.
Buy Crystal Reports
Professional Results, by George Peck, at your favorite book store,
through our website, or amazon.com
Learn more.
Hyperion Announces Plans to
Acquire Brio
Announced July 2003.
Right on the heels of Business
Objects' announcement of its plans to acquire Crystal Decisions is the
announcement of Hyperion and Brio combining forces. Apparently feeling
left out of merger mania, these two companies will also become one,
reducing even further the number of players in the Business Intelligence
space. Can Cognos be far behind?
Learn more from Hyperion.
Learn more from
Brio. Crystal Decisions User Group North America
CDUGNA members learn from and
network with each other. CDUGNA boasts over 1,800 members. Visit the CDUGNA website to learn
about Crystal User Groups in your area.
Learn
more. 
Ablaze Group
Support
Ablaze Group Support - Buy It
By The Block! We're
offering blocks of Ablaze Group Support: Quick Fix, Basic, Enhanced, Power
and Premier. Enjoy blocks of our technical support, report design and/or
modification, workshops, contact via our (800) number or email. Buy blocks
of support for special projects, to strengthen your team or as an
additional knowledge resource. Call or email
for details.
Ablaze Group
Education
Onsite? Webinars? Custom
courses? Workshops? It's your choice!
The Ablaze Group offers Crystal Reports, Seagate Info
and Crystal Enterprise courses. Courseware can be customized to your
organization's needs.
- Introductory
- Intermediate
- Header to Footer - Crystal
Reports Fine Points
Call or email us for
details.
Crystal Reports: The
Complete Reference attends class! When you book
an onsite Ablaze Group Crystal Reports class each attendee receives
courseware AND a copy of Crystal Reports: The Complete Reference.
This is an Ablaze Group exclusive! Call us at (800) 773 3472 for details.
Learn
more. |
