For the love of God, does anyone know how to declare variables? 1

[Frostburn]

Please, if you know how to declare variables, and use them in a formula, please tell me.

 

[darwin101]

This is from CR's Help file....
How to use variables in formulas

Variables can be used to solve many formula problems, but they have two primary uses:

1. streamlining formulas, and

2. expanding formula capabilities.

Unlike a constant value which is fixed and unchanging, a variable can be repeatedly assigned different values. You assign a value to a variable and the variable maintains the value until you later assign a new value. Then the variable maintains the new value until you later assign a newer value, etc.

Using variables to streamline formulas

Using variables, you can write formulas much more efficiently than you can without them. For example, to evaluate the {customer.FAX} field to determine if the area code is for Washington state (206, 360, 509) or British Columbia, Canada (604, 250), without the benefit of variables, you must write a formula similar to the following:

If {customer.FAX}[1 to 3] = "604" or
{customer.FAX}[1 to 3] = "250"
Then
"BC"
Else
If {customer.FAX}[1 to 3] = "206" or
{customer.FAX}[1 to 3] = "509" or
{customer.FAX}[1 to 3] = "360" Then
"WA"
Else
""

See How to create If-Then-Else formulas.
You have to write out the instructions for extracting the area code from the telephone number field ({customer.FAX} [1 to 3]) every time you want the formula to use the area code from the current record.
By using a variable (for example, AreaCode), you write those instructions one time. Using those instructions, the program automatically extracts the area code from the {customer.FAX} field, and stores it in the variable each time it reads a new record. You simply reference the variable AreaCode whenever you want to use the area code from the current record in your formula. Here's an example of the formula using a variable:

StringVar AreaCode:={customer.FAX}[1 to 3];
If AreaCode = "604" or AreaCode = "250"
Then
"BC"
Else If AreaCode = "206" or AreaCode = "509" Then
"WA"
Else
""

Not only does the streamlined version take less time to write, but it takes less time to process as well, so your report prints more quickly.

 

[DjangMan]

It depends on what version of Crystal you're using. In 7 and later you have scopes to worry/rejoice about:

//global variables can be accessed by the 
//main report but not sub-reports
global numberVar MyGlobalNumberVar;

//shared variables can be accessed by all 
//reports and sub-reports
//replaces Store and Fetch functions
shared numberVar MySharedNumberVar;

//local variables can only be accessed by
//the current formula
//This allows you to re-use the same variable names 
//in your formulas without affecting the results 
//in other formulas.
local numberVar MyLocalNumberVar;

DjangMan