How do I force CR 8.0 to show groups that have no information?

[TCope]

Hello... I am new at this Crystal Reports stuff, so please forgive me if I am asking a dumb question here. Here goes:

I am trying to make a list of my sales department that shows me who does not have a laptop assigned to them in my database. I have been able to sort by the laptop types, but as soon as I do this, the people that do not have laptops disappear from the list completely.

Is there some way to force the groups that do not have any data attached to them to show up?

Any help is GREATLY appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[synapsevampire]

It sound like you want to have the laptops left outer join by laptop to the departments data, where department.laptop is null.

It's hard to show you without example data.

-k

 

[davesm]

Did you get to the bottom of this? I have exactly the same problem, the LEFT OUTER join refuses to show PARENT records if they don't have at least one CHILD associate.
davesm@freeuk.com

 

[lbass]

Let's say the tables are Department and Laptop with each table having an employeeID. Create a left join from {Dept.EmpID}->{Laptop.EmpID}.

Then create a formula {@laptoptype}:

if isnull({laptop.EmpID}) then "No laptop"
else {laptop.type} //this assumes {laptop.type} is a string

In details, display {Dept.EmpID}, {Dept.EmpName}, etc., and {@laptoptype}.

This simulates a record in the Laptop table and forces the display of the record in the Department table.

-LB