3 Steps in Creating Your First Report

So, you’ve been told you need to start using Crystal Reports. It’s installed on your machine and you’ve opened it.  Now how do you get started?

The good news is that you don’t need to be a programmer or a database expert. However, you will need to be aware of the business requirements
for the report, how the report will be distributed, and be familiar with the data in the database.  Assuming you have this knowledge, you can jump right in:

To begin, within Crystal Reports, indicate to Crystal what kind of a database it is and where it is stored.  You will likely need to get this information from someone else in your organization.The second step is to choose the tables that store the required data and be sure the tables are joined correctly to provide the correct records that will meet the requirements for the report.Once that is accomplished, place the necessary fields on the report and manipulate those fields to design a professional,attractive and understandable report.

When you select Print Preview, Crystal Reports  will generate the report by retrieving the records from the  database and display the requested data on the report.  It then is the time to be sure that the newly designed report meets all the business requirements per the request.  Changes to the report, additions and deletions are simple to employ. If all is good, you can then export the report to several different Windows applications or to HTML.  There is even a free Crystal Reports Viewer for those who don’t have a copy of Crystal Reports.

We provide plenty of practice creating basic reports in our Introduction to Crystal Reports 2008 class.

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