jas.;7275 wrote:
There is so much to Crystal that it's unlikely that any training class will specifically address these types of issues. You're better off posting specific questions to forums such as this.

Drew

DrewAllen;7285 wrote:



oh definitely--now that i've discovered this place and registered and whatnot, you better believe those questions are coming...

thanks again

So, a year and a half after I posted this and with much more Crystal experience under my belt, we had a small amount of grant money to be used for technology purposes, so we booked some advanced Crystal XI training through ONLC Training Centers. In two days we did:

* running totals, both using the running total function and manually using variables * cross-tabs * subreports * drill-downs * Basic SQL statements * Charts * Using Excel data in CR * Prompts (which is approximately 100 times better in XI than it is in 8.5) * General functionality enhancement --hierarchical grouping, dynamic images, alerts

it was really pretty enjoyable, and although I knew some of the stuff, having an instructor there who really knew CR through and through and could answer some of our more complicated questions was excellent. In addition, they have a deal where once you pay, you can go back and audit the class again any time they offer it, so that's pretty cool.

Unfortunately due to mandatory meetings I missed the SQL part of the training, which was a good part of what I wanted to learn. So I'll be going back to that part, I think.

So anyway, I figured I'd post that up here in case anyone is looking for info on them.

jas.;17258 wrote:

Bummer, this is what I was going to ask you about. I can't say that I knew that you could write SQL in a Crystal Report. I would have liked to know what they trained you on in this session. Let us know if you get to go back to the training again.

I get the impression it works differently in 8.5 than XI. Or at least, it's more obvious where to do it in a situation where everything is provided for you in a classroom setting... Anyway, I can tell you what the book says:

Time to resurrect an old thread!

I wanted to gather some opinions of users who have been in James' similar situation regarding training needs. My situation is this: I've been reporting from the RE front end for a good year now, and feel like I've got a pretty good handle on its capabilities and limitations. I've done some custom reporting and had moderate success with some of the more basic reports, but my very basic knowledge of Crystal has limited some of the things I can do. I am generally pretty technically proficient and can usually figure something out on my own, but the time investment required in this do it yourself style has limited the time I can devote to figuring out the more complicated side of Crystal and RE reporting.

So, I wanted to get some training that will give me a more functional knowledge base of Crystal (everything I know is self-taught, in pieces) that will allow me to write more effective reports in RE. My goal is to be able to move away from Excel lists, canned reports, ad-hoc reports, manual querying, and create a functional reporting system that will allow me to create comprehensive, reproducible reports that are ultimately end-user driven. Any suggestions/recommendations are appreciated.