Crystal Reports 2008: The Complete Reference

Book excerpt: Your One-Stop Guide to Enterprise Reporting with Crystal Reports 2008 Transform disconnected corporate data into compelling, interactive business intelligence using all of the powerful tools available in Crystal Reports 2008. Through detailed explanations, real-world examples, and expert advice, this comprehensive guide shows you how to create, maintain, and distribute dynamic, visually appealing enterprise database reports. Crystal Reports 2008: The Complete Reference explains how to select and gather pertinent business data, organize it into manageable groups, and assemble it into user-friendly business reports. You will learn how to improve report interactivity with sort controls and the parameter panel; solve complex reporting problems with cross-tabs and subreports; integrate Crystal Xcelsius dashboards; reduce development time; and publish your results to Web and Windows applications. Integrate pictures, multimedia files, graphs, and charts Allow user-controlled report sorting with new sort controls Develop sophisticated formulas and custom functions with the Formula Workshop Embed Flash files, including Xcelsius 2008 interactive dashboards Create complex cross-tab reports with new derived rows and columns Export reports into Word, Excel, Acrobat, and updated XML formats Enhance Web interactivity with the new parameter panel and optional parameter fields Work with SQL databases, OLAP cubes, and proprietary systems Centralize design elements and auto-update reports using the repository Schedule and distribute reports with the latest BusinessObjects Enterprise XI 3.0 Embed reports in Web and Windows applications using Visual Studio 2008