Crystal Reports: Set Print Date and Time

Some report problems occur only on specific dates. We have seen examples of calculations that product incorrect results on the first of the month (or year), or when two field values match.

Sometimes it is not possible to drop all those other outstanding tasks and head on-site to solve that problem when it occurs.

So you need a mechanism to run your report and set the date back (or forward) in time. Of course you do not want to change the machine date as that would have too many other repercussions. Crystal Reports has this feature already available. On the report menu, look for Set Print Date/Time.

When you go to select the print date, change the month number first. Why? Because the day selection will display only the valid number of days for that month. If you change the month to a value where the day is invalid, the day will automatically reduce to a valid value for that month.

For example: if you have selected 31 May and you change the month to February, the day will slip back to 28 February (or the 29th if it is a leap year).

Setting the month first makes everything slip into place easily.

Now, this raises the question of why people are printing in the first place. It's really quite wasteful.

Some users who have a pathological need to use up dead trees by printing out e-mails, reports, and other items best handled electronically. If you have such people in your company, there are some ways you might convince them to spare a few trees.

You could put a disclaimer on each report, stating something like "Think before you print. Printing takes resources and contributes to climate change, landfill shortages, and pollution." We see more of this kind of disclaimer on e-mails, these days.

Another approach that is increasingly common is managers in companies are getting the message out repeatedly. In some companies, this is incentivized by tracking print requests from a given department and tying the increase/decrease to the manager's performance goals.

Along with any approaches your company is using to reduce the pointless waste of paper, toner, and electricity entailed in printing and faxing, using Tool Tip text gives users one more reason to view documents electronically rather than reflexively printing everything.

The key to this is how well you implement that text. Some things to consider:

• Conciseness. A big block of text isn't helpful. If the formula produces a big block, find a way to reduce the resulting text. Aim for no more than 100 words.
• Usefulness. Quentin Tarantino is famous for gratuitous gore in his movies. Don't emulate that in how you use Tool Tip text. It needs to serve a purpose.
• Added value. Don't use the Tool Tip text to merely repeat what's already in the report. Use it to add something that makes it worth reading.

It's also important to review your report to see if it's providing useful business information that answers business decision questions, or if it's merely reformatting data that users will want to play with instead of doing their jobs. Don't rely on the Tool Tip text to accomplish the business intelligence purpose. Design the report to do that, and then use the Tool Tip text to add a little something extra.