Crystal Tips and Best Practices - RANDUG · Best Practices November 2018 Millie Ferrare, QA Director. HOW TO INSERT A SUBREPORT IN CRYSTAL. HOW TO INSERT A SUBREPORT IN CRYSTAL 3

Crystal Tips and Best Practices

November 2018

Millie Ferrare, QA Director

HOW TO INSERT A

SUBREPORT IN

CRYSTAL

HOW TO INSERT A SUBREPORT IN CRYSTAL

3

1. Bring up the report to be modified

2. Select Insert Subreport


4

3. We recommend that you select the ‘Choose an existing report’ option. Make sure the

subreport you’re going to introduce works on its own before introducing it into the main

report


5

4. Click on the Link tab and add the same links that exist in the original report


6

5. Sometimes when you bring

in subreports it creates a

blank header and footer,

remove these as well

6. Right click on the subreport

and select Format

Subreport, go to the Border

tab and select None for

each of the 4 line styles


7

7. Click on the Subreport tab

and choose ‘Suppress Blank

Subreport. This will ensure

that the spacing the

subreport will take will be

eliminated if there is no data

to print


8

8. Go to Database->Set DataSource

Location...

• In the top area (Current Data

Source), click on the first

database that is not your

actual RADB database name

• In the bottom area (Replace

with) of the Set Datasource

Location screen, click on

your RADB database

• Press the Update button (it

may ask you for the

database password)

• Repeat the same process

until the main report and the

subreports point to your

RADB database

• When finished, press Close


9

9. Save your report

How To Insert a

Graph In Crystal

How To Insert a Graph In Crystal

11

1. In order to insert a graph, the

information you want the

graph on will need to reside

in the section prior to the

actual placement of the

graph. The example below,

taken from PSTDP9.RPT,

displays a graph of allocation

percent for each current

investment. Notice the graph

is at the employee level while

the actual graph calculations

are based on the groups

above (fund name and asset

class)


12

2. To make changes to the

"look" of the graph, you will

need to right click on the

existing graph and go to

Chart Expert


13

3. To change to the doughnut style, Select Doughnut for the Type, click on Doughnut

Chart and press OK. Your graph will then default to the Doughnut style


14

4. Color Schemes -Graph

slices –You can change the

color of a graph slice, by

right clicking on the desired

slice and selecting Format

Pie Slice. However, if your

graph will have more colors

than what Crystal currently

displays, you need to

modify the color and texture

of a graph slice, in Print

Preview Mode. The process

is the same, but since you

are working with live data,

all your color slice options

will be available


15

The Foreground Color is the color of the actual slice


16

5. See samples of how to

apply a pattern to an

area of the graph. These

may also be viewed by

pressing the Help button

of the Format Pie Slice

Screen


17


18


19

Conditional

Reporting

Conditional Reporting

21

1. The number of records that are pulled into a report may be restricted or

conditioned through Report->Selection Formulas->Record. For example, if you

only want to bring in records with fund ABC, you would add the code:

{RPTPLANACCT.FUNDID}=‘ABC’

Please note that summation formulas and shared fields are not allowed in

this area because these items have not yet been calculated when Crystal

processes this level of the report.

Conditional Reporting

22

2. To suppress only a specific area of your report, go to the desired group level and on the blue area to the left right click and choose Section Expert. The most commonly used is the Suppress (No Drill Down) check box. Press the x+2 button to add the formula that will cause the suppression of the section. It is then good practice to check the box Suppress Blank Section so that whenever a row will not print because it meets the criteria, it will not generate a blank instead. For example, if you only want to print the row if an employee has a total balance greater than zero, then the following could be used:

{RPTEE.TOTBALAMT}=0

NOTE: If you are going to have a grand totals line for an item on the conditional section such as compensation, please remember that you will not be able to use Insert-> Summary… because the Insert Summary will take into account all compensations, including those of employees without balances. Instead, you will need to Insert-> Running Total… and add a formula to only sum the compensation for employees with a balance. The formula, would be opposite what you had in the suppression because the suppression omits, the running total includes.

{RPTEE.TOTBALAMT}<>0

Exporting to Excel

Exporting to Excel

24

To format a report for

Excel, all columns

must align exactly. The

fields must touch each

other. Every field on

the row must be

located at position 0

(the Y when you right

click on the field and

select Size and

Position…) and the

section fitted to avoid

blank lines.

Exporting to Excel

25

If you want to show

grid lines on the Excel

file, select File-

>Export->Report

Export Options.

Choose Microsoft

Excel (97-2003) from

the dropdown, check

the Show gridlines box

and press OK. If you

prefer, you can also do

this while inside Excel.

Exporting to Excel

26

To display the header and data nicely in Excel, select File->Export->Report Export

Options. Choose Microsoft Excel (97-2003) Data-only and only check the boxes Export

object formatting, Maintain relative object position (this is optional), Maintain column

alignment and Export page header and page footer.

Exporting to Excel

27

Cheat Sheet

“Included” Tables

“Special” Tables

Database Tables Report

Database Fields Report

Unique Identifiers

Database fields in these tables are already associated with an existing Crystal

report used in Relius Administration. If information from these tables is

desired, it may be easier to use and/or modify an existing Relius

Administration report.

The group of tables designed to gather information from Relius Administration

in preparation for running a Crystal Report from the Relius front-end. Also

called the “RPT” tables. Reports with these tables must be run from within

Relius Administration.

An existing Relius Administration report listing all database tables

alphabetically and displaying all database fields contained in that table. (This

report can be found under the file name, DBTable.rpt.)

An existing Relius Administration report listing all database fields

alphabetically and cross-referencing every database table that contains each

field. (This report can be found under the file name, DBField.rpt.)

Database fields that are used to link the tables. Also called “Primary Keys” or

“Key Identifiers.” Examples include:

• SSNUM

• PLANID

• ACCTID

• FUNDID

• ERID

• ADMINID

• YRENDDATE

• RPTNAM29

Cheat Sheet

Tables, Fields & Linking

Field Explorer The Field Explorer is used to insert, modify or delete fields on the Design and

Preview tabs of Crystal Reports. You'll see the Field Explorer after you have:

• Selected a data source for a new report

• Clicked View/Field Explorer button on the Standard toolbar

The Field Explorer displays a tree view of database fields and special fields

that you can add to your report. It also shows formula fields, SQL expression

fields, parameter fields, group name fields, and running total fields that you

have defined for use in your report. Fields that have already been added to

the report, or fields that have been used by other fields (such as formula

fields, groups, running total fields, summaries, and so on) have a check mark

in front of them.

30

Cheat Sheet

Running Total

Parameter

Section Expert

Running totals are a flexible and powerful way to create specialized

summaries and continually incrementing totals. These summaries can also be

designed to re-start for a new group, employer, plan or participant.

A special kind of field that prompts the user for a value. You can use

parameter fields for report titles, record selection, sorting, and a variety of

other uses. Using parameter fields enables selection criteria to become

variable—changing with every request—rather than absolute.

This expert appears when you choose the Section command from the Format

menu. Use the Section Expert to make formatting changes that affect entire

sections of your report.

31

Cheat Sheet

ReportWriter Front-EndUsing a “display tree” format, all versions of all ReportWriter reports in Relius

Administration can be accessed here. Also, this is where custom reports are

selected and/or added to the list of available choices.

32

Cheat Sheet

Default Choice

Output Naming Convention

The pre-selected choice for every type of report in the ReportWriter front-end.

Any available version of a report can be selected as the default choice, but

the assignment is workstation specific.

Options chosen by each user to designate how files will be named when

printing ReportWriter reports to a file.

33

Cheat Sheet

Toolbars

Toolbars

35

Standard

Toolbar

Toolbars

36

Insert

Toolbar

Toolbars

37

Navigation

Toolbar

Toolbars

38

Formatting

Toolbar

Toolbars

39

Expert

Toolbar

40

Questions?

©2018 FIS and/or its subsidiaries. All Rights Reserved. FIS confidential and proprietary information.

41

Survey on Guidebook

©2018 FIS and/or its subsidiaries. All Rights Reserved. FIS confidential and proprietary information.

Documents

Crystal Tips and Best Practices - RANDUG · Best Practices November 2018 Millie Ferrare, QA Director. HOW TO INSERT A SUBREPORT IN CRYSTAL. HOW TO INSERT A SUBREPORT IN CRYSTAL 3