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(For recent updates read my BLOG, The Crystal Reports Underground )

The Crystal Reports Underground News - Volume 2005.07 (July 2005)
an independent source for Crystal Reports Information by Ken Hamady
Contents for July, 2005:
** Updates on the "Don't Pay Twice" campaign:
   *Why I fight a policy that could increase my own revenue
   *DC Users Group responds in writing to BO's new policies   
   *Companies that have decided to ignore BO's new license fees
   *BO refuses to clarify the existing Crystal license   
   *Court ruling allows use of Screenshots without permission
** Watch out for overpriced training manuals
** My on-site training classes
** Inexpensive Web Deployment using Reportal CR
** A New MS Access Report Converter
** My Library of Crystal Reports materials
** Force groups to start on the odd page number
** Suppress column headings on the last page when there are no details
** "New Page After" on group 2 orphans group footer 1
** Read back issues at http://www.kenhamady.com/news.html

Updates on the "Don't Pay Twice" campaign:
A) Why I fight a policy that could increase my revenue:
It might surprise you, but from a business standpoint I would actually make out better under the new BO program.  When BO makes public classes more expensive it makes my on-site classes even more competitive.  Custom on-site training is most of my business.  So why do I want the program to end?  Because it is unfair to Crystal users and (in the long run) it is bad for Crystal Reports.

B) The board of the Washington, DC area users group went on record against the new BO program.  Their excellent written response is posted on the link below.  Ask your user group board to take a stand!

C) Several companies are confident that they don't have any legal obligation to pay BO's new fees.  Check out the growing list on the link below.

D) BO claims that a specific phrase in the license forbids public classes, but then refuses to clarify what that phrase actually means.  Sounds like they are unsure of their own argument.  Read the Email exchange on the link below and see what you think.

E) I found a court case where the judge ruled that you don't need permission to use screen shots from a software package - even if the screen shot is used for commercial purposes by a competitor.  Read more on the link below. 

F) An article about this topic was just published by IT Business Canada (www.itbusiness.ca)

For details on all of these updates go to:
   http://www.kenhamady.com/licensingissues.html


Watch out for overpriced training materials:
I recently saw a courseware vendor bragging about being "selected" as a Business Objects courseware provider.  They went so far as to say they were selected based on the quality of their materials.  They didn't mention that BO could only find 2 providers willing to sign up.  I spoke with a third provider who was also "selected" by BO but then decided that the program was a lousy deal.  So this provider doesn't have to increase their book price by 50% to pay the BO fees.  So, when you purchase course books from one of BO's "approved" providers the only thing you can be sure of is that you are paying more money.  The link in the previous article shows the names of 2 publishers who continue to sell books without inflating their prices to cover BO's fees.

And if you want to know what BO really thinks you should be paying for course books, you should  ask one of the BO authorized training centers how much they pay for the official books they use in their classes.  In the unlikely event that BO succeeds in taking control of all course books on the market, you can expect to pay $200 per book.


Expert On-site Training:
My specialty is teaching Crystal Reports at your office, with your data.  And I charge by day, not by student.  So, if you have 4 or more students you may find the cost of an on-site class less than the cost of sending the same students to a public class.  Even if you have fewer students you might find the benefits of working with your own data worth the extra cost.    

If you only have one or two students you can come to my public classes in Frederick, MD.  The next series is the last week of August.  See the "Public Classes" page on my web site for dates and details.

Do I teach a good class?  I have personally taught 1960 satisfied students, including students at the National Institutes of Health, the Library of Congress and the Executive Office of the President.  I am also the all-time, top ranked Crystal Reports expert at Tek-Tips.com.  For more information you can call me at (540) 338-0194.


Inexpensive Web Deployment using Reportal CR:
Shahrabani and Associates has released version 3.1 of Reportal with a special edition called Reportal CR.  This tool provides many of the same features as BO Enterprise like user/group level security and scheduling.  But it also adds features that are either not available or cost extra in Enterprise like:
   Report bursting
   Automatic filtering by user login
   Dynamic and cascading parameters for any version of CR
The best part is that it only costs $2,600 for unlimited users on a single server.  If you purchase before the end of July you can take an additional $300 off of the price.  The one thing that is not made clear on the web site is what Crystal components you need to install on the server so ask that question before you decide to evaluate the product.  See the LINKS page of my web site (Web Related Products) for more information.


A New MS Access Report Converter:
Microtools of Santa Clara, CA has just released a report conversion tool that converts MS Access reports into Crystal Reports. I have not tried it but they say it can convert charts, subreports, formulas and most other features.  There is a free trial version that is limited to the Northwind database, and the full version only costs $149.  Note that you must own an appropriate Crystal license and these are listed by version on their website.  See the LINKS page of my web site (Other Utilities) for more information.


My complete Library of Crystal Reports Materials:
Expert's Guide to Formulas  ($36)
Expert's Guide to Subreports, Parameters and Alerts ($28)
Expert's Guide to Totals ($24)
Expert Techniques Vol. I  ($19)
Expert Techniques Vol. II ($19)
Quick Reference to Crystal Reports in Visual Basic ($16)
Quick Reference to Crystal Reports in .NET ($14)

       http:/www.kenhamady.com/tools.html


Force groups to start on the odd page number:
There are times when you want all groups to start printing on an odd page number.  Usually this comes up when you are printing on both the front and back of the paper.  You always want a new group to start on the front side.  The solution is to split the Group Footer into two sections (A and B).  You put the normal "New Page After" on B.  You don't check "New Page After" on A but instead you give the "New Page After" a formula condition:

   Remainder (PageNumber,2) = 1

This way, when the group ends on an odd page, the report will put in an extra blank page so that the group ends on the even, and the new group starts on the odd.


Suppress column headings if there are no details on the last page:
Sometimes there are details on the last page and sometimes the last page is just the Grand Totals.  You may not want column headings on the last page if the Grand Totals are all alone.  You can fix this in several ways, but may ways I have tried will fail if the last page contains only one detail record. My approach is to split the Details band into A and B subsections.  You suppress A and use B for your fields.  Then you put the following formula field onto Report Footer A:

   WhilePrintingRecords;
   BooleanVar Ending := OnLastRecord

Then you suppress Page Header B with the following formula:

   WhilePrintingRecords;
   BooleanVar Ending

The variable is False by default.  The variable is only True once the report has passed the last Detail A, which means that the last record has printed.  If there is a page header after that point it will be suppressed, because the "Ending" variable is now True. 


"New Page After" on group 2 orphans group footer 1:
If you have two group levels and you put a "New Page After" on Group Footer #2, you will find  that Group Footer #1 gets orphaned onto it's own page.  To fix this put a "New Page After" on Group Footer #1.  Then instead of putting the same checkmark into Group Footer #2 you use the following condition on the "New Page After" property:

   {Your.Group#1DatabaseField} = Next ({Your.Group#1DatabaseField})

Of course you use your own database field from Group #1 in the formula.  This prevents Group #2 from doing a page break on the last record of the group.  On that record the next value for Group #1 is different, so the page break is handled by Group #1.

Contact Information:
Ken Hamady, MS
525K East Market St. 
PMB 299
Leesburg, VA 20176
(540) 338-0194
ken@kenhamady.com
http://www.kenhamady.com

Copyright 2005 by Ken Hamady
All rights reserved - Republishing this material requires written permission