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[Steph128]

We just purchased Crystal Reports XI and my bosses want to me become good at the program. I have never used Crystal Reports before. Any tips, suggestions on how to use it or a good training program?

 

[Tatertot45]

Welcome to Crystal! To get the full benefit of having Crsytal, i would recommend a class or two from Business Objects. I took a 7 day class with Training Camp, and it was great. Taught me a lot! I'm so glad i did that. I would have never figured out how to use all the features within Crystal. to get started on your own, use the Wizards within Crystal. They can help you connect to the DB, build a report or add charts. Also, get a good book on Crystal.

I don't want to seel you on anything, so i'll let you research this stuff on your own. If you want further, let me know. I'll watch this thread for a while.

 

[Steph128]

Thanks for the tips. I have a book called Using Crystal Reports XI. I don't know if you have ever heard of it or not. How long did the class and training camp run total? Did you have to travel overnight for it?

 

[Madawc]

I learned the basics from CD-ROM course from CBT Training. But I got familiar with the language by writing test reports using a database I already knew well, finding ways to show the data neatly.

Crystal is a reporting tool, and allows you to produce neat-looking reports very quickly. It isn't a full programming language, though it does include a lot of options that you can control in a subtle way.

Crystal will do a lot of complex things automatically, saving work that would have been expended with a regular report written using a programming language. It also stops you doing things that would seem quite simple, because it uses a fixed cycle that you are not allowed to change.

Madawc Williams (East Anglia, UK). Using Windows XP & Crystal 10

 

[dgillz]

I recommend Ken Hamady.

http://www.kenhamady.com.

The best trainer around IMHO.

Software Sales, Training, Implementation and Support for Macola, eSynergy, and Crystal Reports

http://www.gainfocus.biz

"If you have a big enough dictionary, just about everything is a word"
--Dave Barry

 

[Steph128]

Thanks for the advice. Any other tips?

 

[Tatertot45]

Training Camp was a 7 day course. It was long and somewhat intense. I think it really helped me, because someone was able to thuroughly go over how everything worked. Also, going over all the capabilities is great because Crystal does more than i could pick up on my own. This was key because i'm not a programmer, and don't claim to be. Learing how to use Variables, Arrays, Running totals, Parameters, SubReports, and other things was really helpful.

To give you some background, i have a degre in Environmental Biology/Natural Resources. Yeah, not a lot of programming there. now i'm a business Analyst writing all the Crystal reports for the comapny and deploying web based reporting tools.