Crystal Reports Tips, Tricks & More

July 9, 2021 - How to export a Crystal Report's report definition

Click the export button circled below:

Select the Report Definition as the Format and Disk File for the Destination.

The Report Definition format exports your report to a text file that contains a brief description of the report’s design view.

July 2, 2020 - How to connect Crystal Reports to an XLSX spreadsheet

Click the link below to read about connecting Crystal Reports to an XLSX spreadsheet.

https://apps.support.sap.com/sap/support/knowledge/public/en/1669329

February 4, 2019 - Error "A Required Resource was Unavailable" in Crystal Reports

Error Details:

  • Unable to run reports, intermittently receives error message “A Required Resource was Unavailable”.
  • Crystal Reports freezes while adding objects like tables and sub-reports. This problem was duplicated by one of our consultants recently, and the workaround linked below was the solution.

https://apps.support.sap.com/sap/support/knowledge/public/en/1768189

February 5, 2018 - Crystal Reports for QuickBooks
Need to create customized reports for QuickBooks?  One of our most recent projects involved a client using QuickBooks.  The client requested a highly customized invoice form and two other reports which we designed using Crystal Reports.  The QODBC driver worked great.  If you need customized Crystal Reports for QuickBooks, we recommend using the QODBC driver.

Click the link below for more details:

http://www.qodbc.com/

January 25, 2018 - Crystal Reports Formula to Display the Current Date in a Specified Format
To display a date in the format specified below, use the formula listed below.  For example, if the current date is January 25, 2018, the formula results will be as follows:

This 25th day of January, 2018.

Here is the formula syntax:

whileprintingrecords;
stringvar day_number;
stringvar day_number := totext( CurrentDate, “d” );

stringvar day_suffix;

if day(CurrentDate)in [1,21,31] then day_suffix := ‘st’ else
if day(CurrentDate)in [2,22] then day_suffix := ‘nd’ else
if day(CurrentDate)in [3,23] then day_suffix := ‘rd’ else day_suffix := ‘th’;

“This ” & day_number & day_suffix & ” day of ” & totext( CurrentDate, “MMMM” ) & “, ” & totext(CurrentDate, “yyyy.”)

December 29, 2017 - How to display multiple parameter values in Crystal Reports
 

If you have a parameter that allows multiple values (parameter option), you can create a formula to display the multiple values on a report.

Use the Field Explorer to create a formula.  The formula syntax to display multiple parameter values is as follows:

join ( {?parameter name} )

Replace “{?parameter name}” with your parameter.  Add the formula above to a report by dragging the formula in the Field Explorer to the report design area.

In this example, each parameter value will be separated by a space.  If you would like to separate each value with a comma or another text string, you can use the delimiter argument in your Join function formula.

For instance, to separate each parameter value by a comma and a space, your formula should look like the example below:

join ( {?parameter name} , “, “)

Join

Basic and Crystal syntax.

  • Join (list)

  • Join (list, delimiter)

Arguments
  • list is a String array containing substrings to be joined.

  • delimiter is an optional String used to separate the sub-strings in the returned string. If omitted, the space character (” “) is used. If delimiter is a zero-length string (“”), all items in the list are concatenated with no delimiters.

 

 

December 8, 2017 - How to display range parameter values in Crystal Reports
 

 

Use the Field Explorer to create a formula.  The formula syntax to display the starting and ending range parameter values is as follows:

minimum({?date}) & ” – ” & maximum({?date})

In the above example, the parameter “date” is used in conjunction with the minimum and maximum summary functions.  The minimum function returns the starting date range value, and the maximum function returns the ending date range value.  This formula example also uses the concatenate operator (&) which instructs the formula to combine other parts of the formula.  In this case, the formula displays the starting and ending parameter range values, with each value separated by a space and dash.  To display the formula values on a Crystal Report, simply drag and drop the formula into the desired report section.

 

 

July 18, 2017 - How to increase the number of dynamic parameters in Crystal Reports
In Crystal Reports, the default dynamic parameter list is limited to the first 1,000 values. In some cases, this limit needs to be expanded.

Change the number of values to see in your dynamic parameter using the following step.

Proceed with caution when modifying your computer’s registry.  Always make a backup of your registry before making changes.

Crystal Reports 2008, 2011, 2013, and 2016

1. Close Crystal Reports.

2. Create a registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\SAP BusinessObjects\Suite XI 4.0\Crystal Reports\DatabaseOptions\LOV.

Note:  for Crystal Reports XI, the registry key should be HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\BusinessObjects\Suite 11.5\Crystal Reports\DatabaseOptions\LOV.

3. Add a string value “MaxRowsetRecords” and modify the value to the maximum number of values that you need for your report. For example, a value of 10,000 will return up to 10,000 values in the lowest level of a cascading parameter.

4. After making changes to the registry, open Crystal Reports.

Note:  the registry key on 64 bit Operating Systems is:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\SAP BusinessObjects\Suite XI 4.0\Crystal Reports\DatabaseOptions\LOV

July 19, 2017 - How to show large buttons in Crystal Reports toolbars

Crystal Reports XI, Release 2 includes a nice feature that has been omitted for quite some time, until recently.  The option to show large buttons on the toolbars is now included in Crystal Reports 2013 SP9 and higher and Crystal Reports 2016 SP3 and higher.  To enable large buttons, select the View – Toolbars menu.

Crystal Reports Tips
July 26, 2017 - Crystal Reports Viewer
Open, view, and analyze reports using Crystal Reports Viewer.  The Crystal Reports Viewer is a free download.  Click here to download the viewer and try it for yourself.  Use the viewer to analyze data without needing a Crystal Reports Designer license.  Additionally, the viewer allows users to print or export to various formats including PDF and Excel.  Furthermore, drill-down from summary level data and charts using the Crystal Reports viewer.  Save the data with your report file (rpt extension) by enabling the “Save Data with Report” option in Crystal Reports Designer’s File menu.  Once the data is saved with the report, the viewer will open the report for viewing, exporting, printing, etc.
July 30, 2017 - Add Selection Formulas to Reports
 

While designing a report using Crystal Reports, occasionally I like to view the report’s selection formula in the preview screen.  An easy way to add the selection formula to a report is to simply insert the “Record Selection Formula” special field into the Report Header or Page Header section.  Additionally, if your report contains a group filter, insert the “Group Selection Formula” special field.

 

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