I recently stumbled on an article on the site “Joel on Software” that I found interesting.  He lists 12 questions to help you rate the quality of a software team.  It is in response to what he considers the overly complex, time consuming methods that are often used to try and measure quality.   I thought some of you would find it interesting.

I recently was rereading some Tek-Tips.com FAQs and spotted a FAQ by synapsevampire that I didn’t remember.  It had to do with creating a combined list of detail values that can print as a single string.  I have a formula for this on my site, but it happens WhilePrintingRecords, which means you can only display the combined values at the bottom of the report.  With this method you populate an array during the WhileReadingRecords step of report processing.  Because this array is complete before printing starts it can be Continue Reading »
Building arrays WhileReadingRecords

There is a link on my library page that explains how to enhance the mapping feature in Crystal reports to include maps by zip code or county.  Unfortunately, adding these features isn’t free.  You have to purchase additional map ‘layers’ for the MapInfo module in CR.  MapInfo is now part of Pitney Bowes.

One of my readers, Robert Meyer, just let me know that he called Pitney Bowes and found that my pricing information was out of date. They used to sell zip codes and county maps one state at a time.  A zip code map for a single state was $395 for one user.  Now you can get a zip code map for all 50 states for $2,250 (still one user).  Not that this is cheap but it is much better than before.   A county map used to be $125 per state per user and it is now $495 for all 50 states.

I recently wrote a blog post to remind developers that you can’t integrate CR into a VB.NET application if you are using the .NET Express Edition.   So I was surprised when a developer wrote to me that he was using the Express Edition to run my sample apps.  These are simple apps that I created for my guide to Crystal Reports in VB.NET.  He said VB wouldn’t let him add a the CrystalReportViewer control onto a form, but if the control was already there he could use it.  He then used the free runtime files Continue Reading »
Using Crystal Reports in VB.NET Express Edition

Have you ever copied a group of objects and then pasted them to another section or another report?  When you click “paste” you only see one of the objects on your cursor and the rest appear when you click on the page.  So which object is the one you see first? The one on the right? The left?  So you guess and select a spot for that object (oops), click undo, try again (oops), etc.  Wouldn’t it be nice to know exactly which object is on your cursor so you know how to align the group?  Or even better, wouldn’t it be nice to select this “cursor” object at the time of the copy?

The same challenge comes up Continue Reading »
Selecting multiple objects (to copy or align)

If you are using a dual monitor or changing your monitor resolution, it is possible to ‘lose’ your Formula Editor.  This is because the window tries to remember where it was last positioned, and it is possible that the last coordinates are now outside your current monitor’s visible area.  You have to set the coordinates of the Formula Editor window to be within your current view.  [update 8/2013 – I have posted another method you can try before digging into the registry as suggested below.]

If the  method in the updated post doesn’t work, you will have to Continue Reading »
Formula editor window disappears

Several of my customers have had docking problems and I have always known that the solution was in the registry, but because of the way the registry entries are named, it has been hit or miss to figure out the solution. So when I found some articles in the SAP/BO KB for solving these problems I decided to share them. They are all very similar solutions but there are some differences in the details.

Versions 11 and 12:
If a window in the formula editor won’t dock, start with the simple option. First right-click in the middle of the window and make sure that “Allow Docking” is checked. Then double click on the window title bar and see if that puts it into place. If this doesn’t work you will have to go into the registry, which is Continue Reading »
Formula field tree that won’t dock