Crystal Reports 7: The Complete Reference

Crystal Reports 7: The Complete Reference is the best Crystal Reports book around for users who have progressed beyond the "baffled novice" level. Even for newcomers to Crystal Reports who are willing to experiment a bit, this book will prove satisfactory. It's worth the cover price. Particularly praiseworthy are the sections on programming with formulas, in which the author explains details of the Crystal Reports formula language (such as variable scope, time functions, and sorting) that other books don't cover adequately.

This book also goes into detail on doing analysis with cross-tabs, performing geographic analyses, getting user input with parameter fields, and importing data from online analytical processing (OLAP) cubes. Though it lacks much of a tutorial on Structured Query Language (SQL), coverage extends beyond Crystal Reports Designer to include Seagate Analysis and Crystal SQL Designer.

Peck deftly balances how-to information (in the form of step-by-step procedures) with documentation (lists that explain what options do and what interface elements are for). Often, the author labels interface elements in screen shots, making it absolutely clear what they mean and do. He's also absolutely comprehensive in his survey of the Crystal Reports suite, adding coverage of the Report Designer Component, the Crystal ActiveX Control, the Report Engine Automation Server and its Report Engine API. The advanced coverage is geared toward the Visual Basic developer integrating Crystal Reports resources into a larger system. --David Wall

Topics covered: Formula construction, layout control, charts, subreports, drill-down reports, user interaction, extracting data from SQL databases, OLAP cubes, Seagate Analysis, and Visual Basic integration tools.