The Crystal Reports Underground

For the past 2 years I have been helping customers find expert independent instructors and consultants to help them with Crystal Reports projects. Some have asked about getting help with other Business Objects Software products. So I am pleased to announce that my newest associate is not only an expert in Crystal Reports, but is also an expert in Business Objects Enterprise and Crystal Reports Server. One of my customers sent the following feedback:
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Consultants for BO Enterprise and CR Server

I worked with a customer yesterday who had a Zebra TLP 3842 printer to print individual labels. They recently upgraded from CR 9 to CR12 (2008) and with that upgrade they lost the ability to print labels correctly. After many attempts to isolate the problem we got down to this.

1) The preview in CR12 is correct, but the label contents print rotated 90 degrees. It seemed like an
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CR 2008 doesn’t like Zebra Label Printers?

All of my students learn how to use the VAL() function, which converts numeric characters into true numerics. The VAL() function works by starting at the left of the string, reading the digits, and stopping when it hits the first alpha character. It then converts the numeric characters it has found into numbers. However, if it finds a dash before it finds an alpha character, it flips the sign of the numeric result to negative and keeps reading the digits.

The problem comes when the dash is among the numeric characters.
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The effect of dashes on the VAL() function

I normally install multiple versions of Crystal Reports on my current machine. This allows me to test reports for clients who may be using older versions of Crystal. Currently I have versions 8.5 through 12 on my Vista laptop and have only had minor problems running them. But as of this week versions 9 and 10 no longer load. I get an error related to keycode.dll. From what I gather I have to uninstall and reinstall these versions to solve the problem, but that means uninstalling 4 versions so that they can be reinstalled in chronological order. Fortunately version 8.5 still works fine and that is the one I use most after version 12. This is because 9-11 are all compatible with v12.

So, I can’t say for sure what caused the change because I haven’t used these versions in a few weeks, but I did get some updates from Microsoft just one day before those versions stopped working. If anyone else has recently seen this error drop me a note. Maybe we can figure out the cause.

I think today was the first time I showed someone a practical use for the Report Explorer. I was shown a PDF export that had a short stray line along the left margin. The line didn’t appear in the preview mode or in the design mode of the report, but I have seen strange things happen with objects. I have seen objects located “below zero” on the design screen (so far left they are off the form), or hidden completely behind layers of other objects. So, I figured the quickest way to find it was to look in the complete list of the objects in each section - the Report Explorer. That way I could
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Using the Report Explorer

My public classes have always been offered as a 2-day Intro or a 2-day Advanced class. In September I am going to see how many students would be interested in taking a 3-day combined class.  This 3-day class, which covers the same material as both of my 4-day public classes, is my most requested class for on-site training, so it may prove popular in the classroom as well. It is ideal for:

1) Self taught students who want advanced material while “filling in the gaps” of their basic training
2) Students who already understand database concepts or have worked with another reporting tool.
3) Student who like a faster pace

This first class is going to be held September 3-5 and will cost $1,720 per student. This costs the same amount as taking the 4-days of my normal class, however the class size will be limited to 3 students. If more than 3 people are interested or if those dates don’t work for some students, I may offer another accelerated class in October.

Drop me a line if you are interested.

Crystal Reports 2008 (v12) has a handful of new features that affect parameters. There is now an Interactive parameters panel that allows the user to change parameter choices interactively, without requiring the user to refresh the data. There are also sort controls that allow the sorting and grouping order to be changed by the user in preview mode.

I have just updated the Expert’s Guide to Subreports, Parameters and Alerts with a short addendum that explains how to use these new features. If you recelty purchased the guide and you are using CR 2008 (v12) drop me a note and I will send you a copy of the addendum at no charge.

I probably use the “Guidelines” feature of Crystal Reports more than most people. Guidelines are the invisible (or visible) lines that project out from those tabs on the rulers. They are similar to “Snap to Grid” in that you can ’snap’ objects to these guidelines to keep rows and columns aligned. You can then slide the tabs to adjust the position of the row or column.

The problem comes when you need an object to be close to a guideline but not attached. As soon as you get close to a guideline Crystal wants to snap the object into place. I just rediscovered today that if you hold down your ALT key while you are dragging an object, then the guidelines are no longer “sticky” and the objects won’t try to snap to them. It is as if the guidelines are temporarily removed. And it works for “Snap to Grid” as well, so you can position objects between the dots if needed.

This feature is only available in versions 10 and later.

As of March, Logicity 1.6 is available. Logicity is a combined viewer and scheduler. It now features CR 2008 compatibility. Logicity has a free version and a paid (supported) version.

As of July, DataLink Viewer 2008 is available.  DataLink Viewer now features CR 2008 compatibility

CR Chart 3.5 is now available.  CR Chart enhances the charting capabilities of Crystal Reports and is made by the folks who create the charting feature for Crystal Reports.  CR Chart 3.5 is CR 2008 compatible and has 30 new macro features to enhance your charts.

As of June Easy View 2.0 is available.  Easy view is a combined viewer and scheduler.  It now supports CRXI along wth several other improvements. It runs $39 for a single copy.

See my LINKS page for more info on these products.

As I mentioned last month, the promotional price of Crystal Reports Server XI was a clear indication that CR Server 2008 was about to be released. The official release of Crystal Reports Server 2008 came on 7/16 and there is a 30 day free trial now available on the Business Objects web site.

The main improvement
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Crystal Reports Server 2008 (& prices)