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CRYSTAL REPORTS® 2008
OFFICIAL GUIDE
Whether you’re a DBA, data warehousing or business intelligence professional,
reporting specialist, or developer, this book has the answers you need. Through
hands-on examples, you’ll systematically master Crystal Reports and Xcelsius
2008’s most powerful features for creating, distributing, and delivering content.
One step at a time, long-time Crystal Reports insiders take you from the basics
through advanced content creation and delivery using Xcelsius, Crystal Reports
Server, crystalreports.com, and the offline Crystal Reports Viewer.
Every significant enhancement introduced in Crystal Reports 2008 is covered, including its new visualization options and more robust Web services capabilities. The book concludes by showing how to use Crystal Reports’ powerful .NET and Java SDKs to customize and extend enterprise reporting in virtually unlimited ways.
• Learn hands-on, through step-by-step examples and exercises–and discover tips and tricks proven in real-world enterprise environments
• Master new Crystal Reports 2008 features, including interactive report viewing, Xcelsius dashboarding, Flex, and Flash integration, Report Designer improvements, report bursting, and more
• Publish professional-quality reports against virtually any data source, including relational and OLAP databases, Universes, SAP, PeopleSoft, JavaBeans, .NET/COM objects, XML, and more
• Discover advanced visualization techniques using Xcelsius, charts, and maps
• Learn methods for distributing reports and integrating content into other applications
• Learn about the latest reporting addition to the Business Objects family–Xcelsius and begin creating dynamic and interactive dashboards
NEIL FITZGERALD has spent several years working at Business Objects and with one of Business Objects’ largest providers of custom BI and enterprise reporting solutions.
BOB COATES currently works as a Sales Consultant for Business Objects, an SAP company, where he has been employed for more than eleven years.
RYAN GOODMAN is the founder of Centigon Solutions, Inc., and remains one of the top Xcelsius experts and evangelists in the world.
MICHAEL VOLOSHKO is a senior presales consultant for the financial services team at Business Objects.
ON THE WEB
Find all this and more at informit.com/sams:
• Java and .NET sample reports and code samples for all examples in the book
• Bonus chapters, tips, tricks, and links to great reporting resources
CATEGORY: Database
COVERS: Crystal Reports 2008, Crystal Reports Server 2008,
Crystal Reports Viewer, crystalreports.com, Xcelsius 2008
USER LEVEL: Beginning–Intermediate
informit.com/sams
Crystal Reports 2008: Formatting Multidimensional Reporting Against OLAP Data
Download the sample pages (includes Chapter 16 and Index)
Introduction
Introduction to Information Delivery
Spectrum of Business Objects Product Usage
Custom Information Delivery Applications
Enterprise BI Initiatives
Spectrum of BI Tool Users
Content Creators (Information Designers)
Information Analysts
Information Consumers
The Product Family from Business Objects
What Is in This Book
Part I: Crystal Reports Design
Part II: Formatting Crystal Reports
Part III: Advanced Crystal Reports Design
Part IV: Report Distribution and Advanced Report Design with Crystal Xcelsius
Equipment Used for This Book
Web Resources
Intended Audience
Requirements for This Book
Conventions Used in This Book
I Crystal Report Design
1 Creating and Designing Basic Reports
Introducing the Crystal Reports Designer
Crystal Report Sections
Using Toolbars and Menus
Report Design Explorers
Locating and Using the Report Design Explorers
The Workbench and Dependency Checker
Understanding Data and Data Sources
Understanding Direct Access Drivers
Understanding Indirect Access Drivers
Introducing the Database Expert
Creating a New Connection
Using My Connections
Adding Database Objects to Your Report
Reporting on Tables
Reporting on Views
Reporting on Stored Procedures
Reporting on SQL Commands
Joining Database Objects
Understanding the Different Join Types
Using the Report Creation Wizards
Getting Started with the Report Wizards
Using the Standard Report Creation Wizard
Creating a Report Without Wizards
Troubleshooting
Crystal Reports in the Real World–HTML Preview
Crystal Reports in the Real World–SQL Commands
2 Selecting and Grouping Data
Introduction
Understanding Field Objects
Accessing Database Fields
Accessing Formula Fields
Access