Crystal Reports: Using tool tip text

You can format any field to display Tool Tip text, first introduced in version 7 of Crystal Reports. The result is that when you hold your cursor over the field, either text or data resulting from a formula will be displayed. You are probably familiar with this feature from many applications, such as MS Outlook toolbars.

One of the strengths of Tool Tip text is that it can be based on data in the database. To demonstrate this in a training course, we display a list of debtors and $ values owed, and the Tool Tip text displays the customer phone number. We can see some exciting potential uses of this feature. You could even use a parameter to control what the Tool Tip text displays.

This approach can be a design alternative to drilldowns or subreports, when you have a little more information or data than you want to display and your goal is to keep your report from looking cluttered.

Of course, if you have users who have pathological need to use up dead trees by printing out e-mails, reports, and other items best handled electronically, then this feature isn't going to be of much use to them. 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.

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