Creation of Crystal Report based on a Work book on Crystal Report Enterprise 4.0

Purpose of the document:

The purpose of this document is to make the new user of Crystal Report Enterprise 4.0 comfortable.

Introduction:

In this Part we will understand that how to create Crystal Report on a SAP Workbook in Crystal Report Enterprise 4.0.

The prerequisite to refer this document is that the user should have knowledge of SAP BEx (Business Explorer).

This document helps to a new user that how to start work with Crystal Report Enterprise 4.0

Prerequisites for the Creation of Crystal Report:

To create a Crystal Report on a Work Book, below are the steps that a user should follow to start work on Crystal Report Enterprise 4.0.

We have to create one Crystal Report in CRE (Crystal Report Enterprises 4.0) on a Workbook.

The work book view is:

To get the output in this format it is using VLookUp formula in Excel i.e. applied on the below BEx Query

So to start preparation of CRE you require an IDT (Information Design Tool) connection.

For the Preparation of IDT connection you can refer Creation of Crystal Report on Crystal Report Enterprise 4.0 (Part-1)

http://scn.sap.com/docs/DOC-46125

Now we have to proceed for Crystal Report Preparation.

Creation of Crystal Report:

Now Login to Crystal Report Enterprise 4.0, then click on the File Tab and select New Report Tab.

Here select your connection and click on Next.

Then drag the required field from Universe window to Result Object for Query window and click on OK.

When you click on “OK” Tab then you will get a prompt that like a variable selection screen that you will get when you run a BEx Query.

Then you can enter the selection and you will get the below screen as output.

Here you will not get all the fields that you Dragged in Result Objects for Query Screen.

So you have to manually drag the fields from the Left Screen i.e. Result Objects (refer the circled portion in the screenshot) into the Body Section of the Crystal Report.

You can also do this kind of Back end activity and required formatting using the Structure tab that you will get at the Left side of the report (refer the circled portion in the  screenshot).

To adjust the place of the fields in the Structure you can use the Smart Guidelines (refer the circled portion in the screenshot just above the Inc (dec) Plan field).

You can get the Smart Guidelines either by default or you can get it manually by clicking on the Edit Tab then choose the Report Options. Then you have to check the option “Show Smart Guidelines”.

Now after clicking on OK Tab you will the Smart Guidelines those are nothing but the rulers that you can use to adjust the fields for formatting purpose.

Now click on the Page Tab. Then the data gets retrieved and you will see the data into your Crystal Report.

As you know that we have to prepare the Crystal Report based on the Workbook and you will observe in the above screen shot that the fields in the “Consolidated Statement of Cash Flow” Column are not coming in the required pattern.

Actually the “Consolidated Statement of Cash Flow” column contains one Hierarchy and this hierarchy has many Parent and Child Nodes.

So to distinguish the Parent and Child Node we have to use Group Header Section that we can see in the Structure portion of the Crystal Report, so click on the Structure Tab.

So to display the data into the column “Consolidated Statement of Cash Flow” in a proper manner, we have to create a Formula. You can create the Formula by Right Click on the Formula Tab into the Data Explorer Window at the left side of the screen.

Here you choose the New Formula option and write the formula so that the “Group Header”  section can identify that which Child Node should appear in the Body section when a Parent node comes.

Then the below screen will appear and you can write the code to display the required Fields:

(In the below screen the code is written to display the fields in the Group Header Section)

Then you can use the Formula by drag and drop into the Group Header Section.

In the same manner we can create various Formulas for different fields to display the required data or formatting like Hide some rows or fields that you do not want.

To apply the Underline into the selected fields (for ex: Operating activities in the below screenshot), we have to check the option “Underline”

That option you can get by Right click on the selected field and select the option of “Format Formula Element”.

Inside that choose the option ‘Font’ and select the Check box of “Underline”.

If you want to use for the Top Line, Bottom Line or Both the lines in the selected rows in a column then also you have to write a Formula.

Now your Crystal Report is ready to be publish.

References:

  Crystal Report Enterprise 4.0 and www.google.com