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Crystal Reports: Analyze your address book with Crystal Reports

You can use a wide variety of data sources for your Crystal Report. Recently, we used Crystal Reports to analyze the mailing list for Crystal Clear. We just wanted to see where Crystal Clear is distributed. 

The first step was to use Outlook as our data source, and the Contact Folder where we keep all your email addresses.  A simple formula picked up the top level domain (.nz, .com, .au, .uk, etc.) from the address, we then made the report a summary/drill down report. 

There are many of you. Our local New Zealand readership is the largest group followed closely by all the .com addresses (which is primarily in the United States). We have a large readership from Australia, United Kingdom, Canada and the Netherlands. It was also interesting to see individuals from over 20 other countries. You know who you are and we are delighted we have a newsletter you appreciate.

This is one way to use Crystal Reports to analyze a common data source, the e-mail address book. But what if you want to do more analysis of your hard drive contents?

There is a tool that provides you with the ability to analyze and document all of your data. It's called Report Analyzer.

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Report Analyzer for Crystal Reports Screenshot

While originally developed for Crystal Reports, Report Analyzer became a far more powerful analysis tool with the Version 5 release.

Just a couple of areas where it is useful, for example:

Improve report performance
  • Automatically detect reports that do not take advantage of server side database processing.
  • Detect record selection formulas which use data type conversion functions.
  • Detect group fields which use formulas instead of SQL Expression fields.
  • Find report tables which use less than an optimal number of fields.
  • Discover special fields which cause an additional pass over the report data source.
  • Plus more
    •

 Improve report reliability and reduce maintenance effort

  • Discover unused Formulas, Fields, and Variables.
  • Identify group settings which cause blank pages and footers.
  • Identify missing standard Crystal documentation best practices (Report Title, Author, Description special fields).
  • Locate reports which may use the "Convert null field to default" setting inconsistently.
  • Keep versions of your documented reports for historical comparison.

 
This article is copyrighted by Crystalkeen, Mindconnection, and Chelsea Technologies Ltd. It may be freely copied and distributed as long as the original copyright is displayed and no modifications are made to this material. Extracts are permitted. The names Crystal Reports and Seagate Info are trademarks owned by Business Objects.
 

Uses for Report Analyzer

Report Analyzer empowers you to:
  • Simplify and optimize. Use the complexity matrix to remove unnecessary complexity. Remember, as complexity goes up, reliability and performance usually go down.
  • Identify, analyze, and record the attributes of design objects. Over 700 kinds of them! Report Analyzer will provide you with detailed information, so that you aren't operating in the dark. Know what you need to know about report databases, SQL codes, fields, formulas, and various design elements. How many times have you pulled an all-nighter trying to do the same thing manually? Get it right and do it fast, with Report Analyzer.
     
  • Perform cross-referencing of Objects, Fields, and Formulas. Let Report Analyzer's comprehensive cross-referencing show you where and how all objects, tables, fields, parameters, and formulas are used throughout your entire report. You can examine this information by using any of the cross- reference reports, or by using the XRef feature. 
     
  • Perform detailed formula analysis. Wouldn't it be great if someone came up with a way for you to have formula flow diagrams that show how your formulas call or reference each other? Well, guess what? Report Analyzer provides that functionality! Report Analyzer's comprehensive formula analysis will document formula code, functions, fields/parameters referenced, and section formulas. Formula flow diagrams will show you exactly how formulas call or reference each other. 
     
  • Generate user-friendly error analysis. Report Analyzer examines your report code for errors. So far, so good, right? What will blow you away is how you can see these errors. In the Formula window, they'll be underlined in red! Not only that, they'll have design suggestions. 
     
  • Detect and correct. Detect potential design errors and common report setting mistakes, including unused objects, invalid database server settings, invalid printing settings, use of heavy weight objects such as OLE objects and Sub Reports, using special fields such as TotalPageCount (requiring extra passes over data) and many others. 
     
  • Do a cleanup. Let Report Analyzer identify unused formulas, inappropriate use of formulas for grouping/sorting and record selection, and data type conversions in record selection. You'll get complete function cross referencing, call tree diagrams, and have the ability to produce professionally-formatted printouts of all code.
     
  • Find things. You can search any report object or settings across all reports including text, formulas, tables, fields, parameters, running totals, and subreports.
     
  • Export. Report Analyzer allows you to export report layouts and specifications to Word, Excel, HTML, XML, PDF and Ascii formats. You can export drawing files in the jpg or bmp format. You can export entire Worbenches or folders as HTML documentation to share over the network or intranet.
 
Report Analyzer Screenshot 1

Click to enlarge

 Report Analyzer Screenshot 2

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Report Analyzer also provides you with:
  • Suggestions to improve your report performance.
  • Powerful viewing and reporting of documentation.
  • An included library of standard documentation reports written in Crystal Report format
  • Documentation Explorer, which includes property information, diagrams (report layouts), formula code, suggestions, cross referencing and complexity for the currently nominated design object in the explorer.
 
Use Report Analyzer for development and maintenance.

Large report projects have numerous design elements and complex relationships between data and code. Consistent, automated documentation and analysis reduces development time and maintenance costs. Report Analyzer is designed to provide automated solutions. Do you really want any other kind of solution?
Development
  • Catalog design elements into the Report Analyzer database. This creates a repository of valuable information
  • See clearly how to re-use formulas, determine database layouts/structures, and maintain consistency across reports.
  • Measure just how complex a report is, using Report Analyzer's complexity metrics.
Automatically detect:
  • Potential performance issues in your report design settings, including record selection formulas, grouping options and database options.
  • Reports that do not take advantage of server side database processing
  • Record selection formulas that use data type conversion functions
  • Group fields that use formulas instead of SQL Expression fields.
  • Special fields which cause an additional pass over the report data source.
 Maintenance
  • Reduce maintenance learning curves with the report blue prints, formula diagrams, and specification reports
  • Perform instant impact assessment for database changes and formula changes across all documented reports.
  • Apply the complexity metrics. These assist with test case planning and maintenance estimates. Reports with large numbers of formulas with lots of dependencies and conditions are typically more costly to maintain than simpler reports.
  • Discover unused Formulas, Fields, and Variables.
  •  Identify group settings that cause blank pages and footers.
  • Locate which reports use specific functions, parameters, and design settings
  • View dependencies between report objects such as formulas; SQL expression fields, parameters and database fields.
  • Select design objects and view/print settings, formula code (including conditional formatting formulas), dependencies with other design objects, and call stacks (for formulas only).
  • Use interactive diagrams (trees) of formula hierarchies, object dependencies and report design elements.
 
System Documentation Report Analyzer does most of the work for creating professional system documentation for your report projects.
  • You can generate summary and detailed documentation.
  • Easy to use documentation explorer to browse and compare report design settings.
  • Print report design diagrams.
  • Print report data dictionaries.
  • Extensive formula printouts including call trees, object cross references, formatted listing, and conditional formulas.
  • All documentation can be exported in a variety of formats including PDF, HTML and Word.