Crystal Reports 2008 (v12) has a handful of new features that affect parameters. There is now an Interactive parameters panel that allows the user to change parameter choices interactively, without requiring the user to refresh the data. There are also sort controls that allow the sorting and grouping order to be changed by the user in preview mode.

I have just updated the Expert’s Guide to Subreports, Parameters and Alerts with a short addendum that explains how to use these new features. If you recelty purchased the guide and you are using CR 2008 (v12) drop me a note and I will send you a copy of the addendum at no charge.

I probably use the “Guidelines” feature of Crystal Reports more than most people. Guidelines are the invisible (or visible) lines that project out from those tabs on the rulers. They are similar to “Snap to Grid” in that you can ‘snap’ objects to these guidelines to keep rows and columns aligned. You can then slide the tabs to adjust the position of the row or column.

The problem comes when you need an object to be close to a guideline but not attached. As soon as you get close to a guideline Crystal wants to snap the object into place. I just rediscovered today that if you hold down your ALT key while you are dragging an object, then the guidelines are no longer “sticky” and the objects won’t try to snap to them. It is as if the guidelines are temporarily removed. And it works for “Snap to Grid” as well, so you can position objects between the dots if needed.

This feature is only available in versions 10 and later.

As of March, Logicity 1.6 is available. Logicity is a combined viewer and scheduler. It now features CR 2008 compatibility. Logicity has a free version and a paid (supported) version.

As of July, DataLink Viewer 2008 is available.  DataLink Viewer now features CR 2008 compatibility

CR Chart 3.5 is now available.  CR Chart enhances the charting capabilities of Crystal Reports and is made by the folks who create the charting feature for Crystal Reports.  CR Chart 3.5 is CR 2008 compatible and has 30 new macro features to enhance your charts.

As of June Easy View 2.0 is available.  Easy view is a combined viewer and scheduler.  It now supports CRXI along wth several other improvements. It runs $39 for a single copy.

See my LINKS page for more info on these products.

A customer recently asked me to adapt formula 17 on my site so that they could add business hours or minutes instead of just business days. In their example they wanted to add 90 minutes to a DateTime value when a case was opened. If the DateTime was within 90 minutes of the end of the workday, they wanted to skip time when the shop was closed and pick up the 90 minutes the next business morning. So a case the opened at 4pm on Friday would be due 90 “work minutes” later, at 9:30 am on Monday. They had a 9-5 workday. They also wanted to skip holidays.

So below is my adaptation of formula 17 Continue Reading »
Adding Business Hours/Minutes to a Start DateTime