Crystal Reports Charting Fundamentals
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Published: 22 Apr 2009
Abstract
We all know that what managers like best about reports are the colorful charts. The data presented could mean that the company is struggling for sales, but hey, it is presented in a fancy chart. This article introduces the Crystal Reporting charting basics, and then goes beyond and introduces a way to use third party charting controls.
by Jeff McWherter
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Introduction

Rendering data in a report can be a tricky task. There are many options, such as using a logical grouping to display similar data together, displaying the data in a cross tab, or even using a chart to represent the data as a visual rendition of your data. Visualizing data in a chart format is an excellent way to help simplify data. How the data is displayed in the report is often times dependent upon what type of data you are trying to display. Bar charts are handy to show comparisons and trends, where as pie charts can be used to show fractions of a whole or percentages. In this article we are going to explore the fundamentals of creating charts in Crystal Reports 2008. After we have covered the basics, we will dive a bit deeper and explore more advanced techniques that can be used if the charting logic that is built into Crystal Reports 2008 is not adequate for your charting needs.


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User Comments

Title: i agree andy!   
Name: Pooja
Date: 2011-02-26 12:24:52 PM
Comment:
you mentioned every comment, but you could have went little more indepth.
like i had problems in understanding the working of various things in data tab, bt u did not explain anything in detail.
Title: Yes, but documentation is rather poor   
Name: Andy Foreman
Date: 2009-07-17 10:23:34 AM
Comment:
Your article on Crystal Reports 2008 charting was very good, and very honest too. However, two things you did not mention are rather important...

1 - Documentation for Crystal 2008 is overall, rather poor. Although they give you the basics, the inevitable detail questions that popup are not covered. For example, I did a chart on Crystal 2008 where some of my formulas were available for the chart, while others were not. Why? I have no idea - its not documented and indeed the documentation suggests that ALL formulas can be used, but in fact, they cannot. And that leads to...

2 - Support for Crystal is well, horrible. You have to go through SAPs web forums and if you have ever visited the SAP web site - well, there is an example of a web site run amock! You submit a question there and if you are lucky, you will get an answer a day or so later - sometimes not at all.

Amazing to spend this much money for Crystal and they cannot provide good documentation or support.

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