Using the Cross-Tab Wizard

Let's work through an example for the Xtreme Mountain Bike Company—the
fictitious company that corresponds to the sample database provided
with Crystal Reports.
Xtreme management needs a summary report to provide a quick glance at
its shipped orders. The managers want to know how much has been spent
by country for every six-month period, but they only want to see the
top 10 countries . The following steps show you how to create this report:
1. Create a new report by choosing File, New and when the Report
Gallery appears, choose As a Blank Report and then click OK.

2. The Database Expert appears. In the Available Data Sources list,

expand the following nodes: Create New Connection, ODBC. Select the
Extreme Sample database 10, click Next, and then click Finish.

3. Expand Tables, and double-click on Customer and Orders. Click OK.

4. The Database Expert dialog appears again. Click OK again to accept

the default linking.

5. Insert a cross-tab by choosing Cross-Tab from the Insert menu, or

click the Insert Cross-Tab button on the Insert toolbar (the fourth item
from the left). This should present the Cross-Tab Expert dialog.

6. Set up the initial cross-tab. In the Cross-Tab tab of the Cross-Tab

Expert, enter the grouping and summarizing fields for the Xtreme
report. The rows of the report are the countries, so
select Country from the Available Fields and then click the arrow
button (>) under Rows. The column grouping is going to be by order
data, so choose Order Date from Available Fields and then click the
arrow button (>) under Columns. Because the OrderDate is supposed
to be by quarter, click on the Group Options drop-down under Columns
and change the third list box from Each Day to For Half Year. Finally,
choose Order Amount from Available Fields and click the arrow button
(>) under Summarized Fields so that the cell 's summary is also
selected. The final result looks like Figure 10.3.

Figure 10.3. Cross-Tab Expert—Cross-Tab tab.

7. Data input is practically done. Now that you've specified the necessary
items, click the OK button to close the Cross-Tab Expert. Then place
the object connected to your mouse in the top-left corner of the Report
Header section. Press F5 to refresh the report and see the result in the
report Preview as shown in Figure 10.4.

Figure 10.4. Cross-tab in Preview.

 8. Before continuing, save your work. Choose File, Save As. Call
this cross-tab1.rpt and then click OK.

Using Top N with Cross-Tabs Reports

Group sorts can be done on a report level so that the records are sorted and
removed as necessary. However, there are times when the records are
needed in the overall report but not in a cross-tab.
1. Right-click in the top-left corner of the cross-tab where there is no
data or words and choose Group Sort Expert. Choose Top N for the
primary list box and change 5 to 10 in the Where N Is field. In this
example, make sure that the Others option is not selected.

2. Click OK in the Group Sort Expert to view the final result, as shown in
Figure 10.5.

Figure 10.5. Cross-tab with a Group Sort applied.

 3. Save your work by choosing File, Save As. Call this cross-tab2.rpt and
then click OK.

Using Advanced Cross-Tab Features

Crystal Reports version 9 introduced significant cross-tab improvements. The
advanced features gave cross-tabs improved flexibility and functionality
to satisfy even more reporting requirements.
Setting Relative Position
When it comes to planning the width or length of cross-tabs, remember they
expand dynamically. With the addition of new information or data,
the number of rows or columns can grow or shrink. This
makes putting objects at the end of a cross-tab very difficult because it's
unclear when the object will be overwritten if new data appears.
For the same issue at the bottom of a cross-tab an easy solution exists.
Place the new object in thenext report section—even if it means adding a
new section. By default, objects in Crystal Reports do not overwrite a
section.
However, you often need to specify an item in the far-right column. In this
report you might want a logo to be displayed to the right of the cross-tab.
But, in Design, the size of the cross-tab doesn't match what you see in
Preview. Follow these steps to set the Relative Position:
1. Open crosstab2.rpt. Start with your last saved document by choosing
it from the File list onthe File, Open menu.

2. Insert a text object by opening the Insert menu, and then selecting
Text Object.

3. Preview the report. Click F5 to see the result. It's not exactly as you
intended (see Figure 10.6).

Figure 10.6. Design with cross-tab and text field in improper location.

4. Set the Relative Position property. Right-click on the Report Header

label (on the left where it says Report Header, or RH, in the gray
area). Choose Section Expert. Toggle the RelativePositions check box
and click OK. To see the resulting report, refer to Figure 10.7.
 Figure 10.7. Preview of the cross-tab and text field as requested .

The Relative Position property works on the left, top, and right borders of
the cross-tab. Remember that the bottom border of the cross-tab is handled
by the end of a section.
Relative positions can be used in many situations. For example, showing a
chart on the information in the cross-tab can be very useful.
Inserting a "Percentage of" Summary
Summary values can also be displayed as percentages of either the total
rows or total columns:
1. Add another summary. Right-click in the top left of the cross-tab
where no data appears and choose Cross-Tab Expert. In the Cross-Tab
tab, choose to add the Order Amount to the Summarized Fields list
box by clicking the arrow (>) button. Notice that it looks like it
duplicates the summary above it, so choose the
Change Summary button.
2. Change the Summary to a Percentage Summary. In the
Edit Summary dialog in the Options box, select Show As
Percentage Summary. Notice that it has an option for Row or Column.
In this case you want to know by country (row) where the percentage
 split is, so keep Row selected as shown in Figure 10.8.
Figure 10.8. The Edit Summary dialog.

3. Preview the results by clicking OK on both dialog windows . It should

look like Figure 10.9.
Figure 10.9. Percentages by country.
Notice that the USA is consistently the largest percentage of Xtreme's
orders. It's very easy to see this when percentages are added to the cross-
tab.
Horizontal and Vertical Placement
Because the percentages add up to 100% down the page, it would be easier
to understand if the summaries could be displayed side by side instead of
one on top of the other. That way, thenumbers down the page could be
added up easily.
Crystal Reports allows the toggle between horizontal and vertical placement
of summaries:
1. Launch the Cross-Tab Expert. Right-click in the top-left of the cross-
tab again and choose Cross-Tab Expert. Select the Customize Style
tab. Under Summarized Fields, choose Horizontal; select the Show
Labels option.

2. View the report. Click the OK button to see the changes made to the
cross-tab (see Figure 10.10).

Figure 10.10. Horizontal placement of summaries.

Inserting Summary Labels
Notice that on the report in Figure 10.10, both titles for the percentage and
the summary are exactly the same (Order Amount). This is because Crystal
Reports is showing the field that a summary is acting on. In this case, where
the field is being acted on twice, it's not a good choice.
Crystal Reports enables you to edit these labels right on the cross-tab in
both Design and Preview modes:
1. Edit the Summary's Title. Right-click on the first Order Amount field in
the cross-tab and choose Edit Text. Delete the Order Amount Text and
add Sum instead. Then choose the Align Center button on the toolbar
while the item is highlighted. Click off the object and see the result.
2. Edit the Percentage Title. Repeat the previous step for the second
Order Amount field, but instead of changing the text to sum, change it
to %, as shown in Figure 10.11.
Figure 10.11. Cross-tab with both labels changed.
Adding a Display String
Cross-tabs are based on the need for numbers or currency to be
summarized, but there are times when the numbers don't need to be seen
to get the point across. Crystal Reports has a feature for all fields called
Display String. This formatting feature allows a different representation for a
field than its underlying value. For example, a teacher might want to see a
grade letter beside a percentage mark, as shown in Figure 10.12.
Figure 10.12. Math 101 marks with letter grades as display strings.
As previously mentioned, cross-tab cells are always an intersection of rows
and columns with a summary because the strings are the visual
representation of the underlying summary being computed in the cross-tab.
You can affect this string using the advanced Cross-Tab features of Crystal
Reports.
Crystal Reports can now separate the data value from its display. This is a
powerful feature and isnot limited to cross-tabs, although it plays a major
role in cross-tabs because of the requirement of summaries.
To complete this report, ensure that all $0.00 amounts be shown as NONE on
the report.
1. Format the Order Amount Summary. Right-click on one of the $0.00
amounts on the report and choose Format Field. Choose the Common
tab and then choose the Conditional Formatting (x+2) button to the
right of Display String. The Formula Workshop appears.

2. Format Formula for strings. Use an If - Then - Else formula structure

to accomplish the task. The final result is If CurrentFieldValue = 0 Then
"NONE" Else ToText(CurrentFieldvalue) (see Figure 10.13).

Figure 10.13. Display String formatting formula.

 TIP
Try to avoid using explicit field names in these formulas so that they
can be reused in other places.
Also, remember that these are string formulas. That's why
the ToText is needed around theCurrentFieldValue .
Both Then and Else clauses must contain similar data types.
3. Close the dialog windows. Choose the Save and Close button on the
Formula Workshop and then click OK on the Formatting dialog. The
result is shown in Figure 10.14.

Figure 10.14. $0 changed to NONE by using the Display String feature.

 4. Save the report as Crosstab3.rpt by choosing File, Save As.

TIP
The same technique that you used to change the display value of
the cell can be used on any area, and you can combine the interactivity
provided by parameters and other formula functions to drive any section or
field in the cross-tab.