Sams Teach Yourself Crystal Reports 9 in 24 Hours will guide the Crystal Reports users through conceptual topics, such as understanding data sources, to creating simple reports using the provided report wizards to custom reporting creation, modification and design techniques. This book will cover the latest version of Crystal Reports. The newest release includes unprecedented technological advances and user interface design improvements - making for the most significant release enhancement to date.
Developed by Crystal Decisions, Crystal Reports can access data from the most widely used databases and can integrate data from multiple databases within one report. Crystal Reports has been endorsed as the standard program for reporting with over 250 third party vendors. These vendors include Microsoft, SAP, PeopleSoft, Baan, IBM's Lotus, and many others.

• I. INTRODUCTION TO CRYSTAL REPORTS 9.0.

• Hour 1. The Value of Crystal Reports 9.
• Hour 2. Getting Started with Crystal Reports 9.
• Hour 3. Accessing Your Data.
• Hour 4. Using the Default Report Wizards.

• II. FUNDAMENTALS OF THE CRYSTAL REPORTS DESIGN ENVIRONMENT.

• Hour 5. Creating and Designing Basic Reports.
• Hour 6. Selecting and Grouping Data.
• Hour 7. Filtering, Sorting, and Summarizing Data.

• III. FORMATTING REPORTS.

• Hour 8. Fundamentals of Report Formatting.
• Hour 9. Working with Report Sections.
• Hour 10. Understanding and Implementing Formulas.
• Hour 11. Visualizing Your Data with Charts and Maps.
• Hour 12. Implementing Parameters for Dynamic Reporting.

• IV. ENHANCING CRYSTAL REPORTS.

• Hour 13. Custom Formatting Techniques.
• Hour 14. Using Cross-Tabs for Summarized Reporting.
• Hour 15. Using Record Selections and Alerts for Interactive Reporting.
• Hour 16. Using Subreports.
• Hour 17. Using Formulas and Custom Functions to Implement Complex Business Logic.
• Hour 18. Working with the Report Component Repository.
• Hour 19. Designing Effective Report Templates.

• V. ADVANCED REPORT DESIGN CONCEPTS.

• Hour 20. Multidimensional Reporting Against OLAP Data.
• Hour 21. Additional Data Sources for Crystal Reports.
• Hour 22. Optimizing SQL Queries in Crystal Reports.

• VI. SHARING AND DISTRIBUTING CRYSTAL REPORTS.

• Hour 23. Distributing Crystal Reports.
• Hour 24. Crystal Reports in Applications—a Developer's Perspective.

• VII. SUPPLEMENTAL CRYSTAL REPORTS TECHNOLOGIES.

• Appendix A. Crystal Reports for Visual Studio .NET.
• Appendix B. Common Crystal Reports FAQs and Tips.