Designing Crystal Reports from .nsf databases 1

[australia3]

I would like some advice on how to design Crystal reports from data in Notes databases. I am not familiar with Notes or non-relational databases. For example, I understand there may be problems reporting on date fields as these are text fields and linking tables(is there a way around this?) Really need to understand the basics so that I can build reports and then perhaps move onto more technical designer stuff. Can anyone recommend a textbook, maybe online course?

 

[lespaul]

Think of a check book. Each check contains the same information. In a relational database you would create a table that contains all the fields on the check (check number, date, amount, pay to, memo) and you would store all the check information together. Notes is a document based database. Each check is created as its own document. Each document contains the fields (check number, date, amount, pay to, memo). The backend document (NotesDocument Class) is the raw document:

Check Number 1234
Date 12/01/2005
Amount $500.25
Pay To Me!!
Memo
Form Check

(Form is a Notes field that is present in all documents along with creation date, modified date, author, etc.)

In order to see this document you have to create a form to display it. This form will contain the same fields as the document and the field values can be seen in the form.

So, in order to get information from a Notes Database, first you have to know which documents you want to review. You can create a selection of documents that all have the same form name and then for each document in that "collection" search for some specific information.

Now, in response to your question - there are no tables to link, each document is it's own separate entity. If you have access to the Notes mail environment, look at the INBOX - this is a NotesView, right click on any email in the INBOX, go to properties and then select the second tab in the box that opens. This is a listing of all the fields contained in the document.

What kind of information are you trying to report on?

Leslie

 

[australia3]

I am reporting specifically from databases within Maximizer Enterprise for Notes. Does anyone have any experience of reporting from this?