Product Description

This best-seller has been fully updated for Crystal Reports XI (extreme insight) -- the first jointly developed release of this leading report writing and analysis software since the acquisition of Crystal Decisions by Business Objects. Readers will learn to create visually appealing reports that communicate content effectively using helpful features such as charts, complex formulas, custom functions, sorting and grouping, Business Views, and more. Publishing and viewing reports on the Web is also explained in detail. NEW coverage includes: All the new user interface elements; New Dynamic/Cascading Parameter Fields; and, Using Crystal Reports with Business Objects Enterprise XI.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #167686 in Books
• Published on: 2005-10-19
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 1002 pages

From the Back Cover

• Design, manage, and deliver enterprise database reports
• Publish dynamic reports on the Web using Crystal Reports Server
• Integrate with Visual Studio .NET and Visual Basic

THE MOST COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE TO CRYSTAL REPORTS XI

Create and publish visually effective, high-fidelity reports with help from this one-stop resource. Now you can produce and share professional-quality documents by maximizing the many useful features of Crystal Reports XI, including dynamic and cascading prompts, custom functions, cross-tab objects, the repository, enhanced Business Views, and much more. You can even create reports based on Microsoft Exchange Server, ACT! contact manager, Microsoft Outlook, or Web server activity logs. This must-have desktop companion to the most popular enterprise reporting tool on the market will help you access data, format it, and deliver it as dynamic business information.

• Design and publish high-quality reports that effectively communicate content
• Share formulas with other report users by taking advantage of reusable custom functions
• Store report objects in the repository for company-wide accessibility
• Build reports based on a variety of unique sources including XML data, Windows Server and XP event logs, and Microsoft Exchange databases
• Simplify complex database structures using Business Views
• Export reports in different file formats for use with Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Acrobat Reader, and HTML
• Use simple and complex formulas including case statements, variables, and other advanced formula techniques
• Publish and schedule reports on the Web with the new Crystal Reports Server
• Integrate reports into custom Web and Windows applications using Visual Basic and Visual Studio .NET.

About the Author
After more than ten years as an internal consultant and trainer in a large corporation, George Peck founded his own consulting and training firm, The Ablaze Group, in 1994 (www.AblazeGroup.com). He has trained, consulted, and developed custom software for large and small organizations throughout the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Puerto Rico.

George works as both a trainer and consultant exclusively with Crystal Reports, Crystal Enterprise, and Crystal Reports Server/BusinessObjects Enterprise. This is his sixth title in the Crystal Reports: The Complete Reference series, best-sellers published by McGraw-Hill/Osborne. He is also the author of Crystal Reports Professional Results, also published by McGraw-Hill/ Osborne.

Prior to his computer career, George was a broadcaster. His voice may still be heard on various national radio and TV commercial and promotional campaigns.

Customer Reviews

Standard Revision of Solid Reference
The text is one of the first available for Crystal Reports XI, and is largely a revision of the same material which has been presented in previous editions (which covered earlier versions of Crystal Reports). As you would expect, it does a solid job of covering all the basics. It even goes into some intermediate details in a few sections.

If you are a beginner to Crystal Reports, then the book will be a valuable reference to you. If you're an experienced Crystal Reports developer or you have used previous versions of Crystal Reports, then this book will not get much use. The book does not have many "hints" or "secret tips" that make developing in Crystal Reports easier. However, the amount of material covered is good in that there is not much left out entirely, so even an advanced developer will find bits of useful information, particularly when using Crystal Reports in new ways or on new platforms, etc. For example, the new features presented in Crystal Reports XI are covered in considerable detail, particularly the various methods of implementing new report parameter features. And, thankfully, the sections detailing now-deprecated software components have been removed or minimized.

If you're familiar with the earlier renditions of this book (i.e., for Crystal Reports version 10, etc.), then you will find this rendition exactly as expected.

Not for beginners
Previous reviews led me to believe that this would be a good overall book, for both training and reference. However, this book is obviously aimed at people who have experience with previous versions of Crystal Reports, not for people who are just starting out. I will probably keep it as a refence guide, but will need to find something else to use as a beginners guide.

Great reference book for any serious Crystal developer
I have worked with Crystal Reports since version 8.5 and for about 4 years now. I am currently a Crystal Reports developer and create reports all day for my job. This book is a great tool for learning and provides me access to all the Crystal Syntax functions and other hard to reference materials. This book is also very in-depth and will provide a total knowledge to someone just learning.

The hardest thing with Crystal is that buidling reports is more an art form then science considering the vast amount of options the developer has to solve any given business problem. The best way to learn is get this book and dive in to making reports.