Report Notes/Explanations

[richiew13]

What do other people do to remember how they built their report?

I don't have a good system.

I will write a report, often times a complicated report. Something will change in the way my company records sales or SKU's, etc. and I often forget to thoroughly update my reports to reflect the new systems.

Any advice?

 

[IdoMillet]

One option is to place comments in a suppressed section. This way, anyone who opens the report in design view sees the "documentation".

- Ido

Visual CUT & DataLink Viewer:
view, e-mail, export, burst, distribute, and schedule Crystal Reports.

http://www.MilletSoftware.com

 

[Madawc]

I put my documentation in as comments in a formula field which also displays the date run.

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

 

[synapsevampire]

I do the following:

Insert a new Report Header, suppress it and insert a text object using a red font to create a flower box which states the basics of the report, name, author, revision history, much as you would for many software development environments.

Then once a report is in production, I always export the report to a Report Definition Format, and add in a section which includes the SQL used. This allows for searching all of the definition files for specific column names.

Then within each formula add in comments. This doesn't work for Running Totals, and I do sheat on very basic formulas, but in general it pays off long term.

Finally I always keep a control document which lists all reports with links to all documentation. This can be table based, or Excel or whatever you prefer.

If you're using Stored Procedures and Views, you can also use a Stored Procedure to search the SQL within for specific column names of all SPs and Views.

Between those I can quickly assess how changes made will impact the reports.

-k