SEAGATE CRYSTAL REPORTS 8：希捷水晶报表8.doc

SEAGATE CRYSTAL REPORTS 8 NEW FEATURES INTRODUCTION SEAGATE CRYSTAL REPORTS 84Legal Notices & Disclaimer4NEW FEATURES AT A GLANCE4Significant Performance Improvement4Enhanced Web-based Reporting4Boosted Reporting Power5UI & Usability Enhancements6Developers Tools7DETAILED DESCRIPTION8REAL-TIME REPORTING8VERSION 7 COMPATIBILITY8Save As Crystal Reports 7 Format8Export to Crystal Reports 7 Format9Text Object Formatting Compatibility9INTERNATIONAL FORMATTING SUPPORT10Text Rotation10Line Indentation12Line and Character Spacing13Import for Text Objects14Interpreting Data Pre-formatted in HTML & RTF14Conditional Fonts15New Shapes15Fractional Point Font Support16Date Formatting for Japanese16USER INTERFACE ENHANCEMENTS18Welcome Dialog Box18New Report Gallery19Creating Reports with the Data Explorer19Open & Save to Personalized Folders23Displaying Preview on Opening Report24Displaying Properties on Opening Report26Tool Bars26Group Name Formula27Displaying Tables by Name or Description31Displaying Tables & Database Fields Alphabetically31Field Explorer32Moving and Resizing Objects34Selecting Multiple Objects35OTHER USABILITY ENHANCEMENTS36Accounting Conventions36Automatic Driver Conversion for Set Location38Autosave Reports38Default Report Directory39Enhanced Browsing39Enhanced Field Formatting39Help for Report Experts43Improved Design Tab of Multi-column Report43Inserting Running Total43More Image Formats43Seagate Software Support on the Web43String Search44FORMULA LANGUAGE45SUMMARIES46Inserting Subtotal, Summary, Grand Total47Percentage Summary Fields47ADD-INS FOR ACCESS AND EXCEL50Access Add-in50Excel Add-in51PRINTING57WYSIWYG vs non-WYSIWYG Output57EXPORTING57SUBREPORTS58On-demand Subreports on Creation58Linking Subreports58HYPERLINKS60Linking to a Web Site or E-mail Address60Linking to Another Crystal Report62CHARTS63Zoom In / Out63Format Charts66Detailed Tool Tips73Legend Enhancements73Multiple Curve Types for a Series74Enhanced Charting on OLAP Grids75Miscellaneous Improvements75MAPS77Detailed Tool Tips77Data Mismatch Resolved77Map Navigator80Mapping on OLAP Grids82Non-polygon Map84Miscellaneous Improvements84OLAP GRIDS / CROSS-TABS85Sample Grid Styles85Grid Formatting86Conditional Cell Formatting90Page & Filter Dimensions93OLAP Labels99Synchronized Set Location for Relational Database and OLAP Cube101SQL DATABASES101Select Distinct Records101Browse Distinct Records102SQL Query Update103Smarter Visual Linking Expert103ENTERPRISE RESOURCE PLANNING105Hierarchical Grouping105WEB VIEWING107Crystal Report Viewer for HTML107Crystal Report Viewer for Java108Crystal Report Viewer for ActiveX108DEVELOPERS TOOLS110REPORT INTEGRATION CONTROLS FOR VISUAL INTERDEV110Installation110Adding Reports to the Current Project110Report Source110Report Viewer112CRYSTAL REPORT PRINT ENGINE API114Launch Seagate Analysis114Seagate Crystal Reports 8 Enhancements114REPORT DESIGNER COMPONENT115Unbound Fields115Report Creation116Data Environment Support for Adding Database116More Events116Report Variables117Set OLE Object Location117Show Object Names for Fields117Miscellaneous Enhancements117Appendix A: Seagate Crystal Reports 8 Formula Language125Introduction125What is Basic Syntax?125How does Basic Syntax Differ from Crystal Syntax?125New Functions130New Operators151New Control Structures153End Select154Optimization of Constant and ParameterSubexpressions in Formulas155Appendix B: Changes to Crystal Report Print Engine API (CRPE API)156New Error Codes156Report Options157Report Options157PEGroupOptions new member variables158PEGetNSectionsInArea New Function Call159PESectionOptions - New Members160PESubreportInfo new options & members161PEFontColorInfo162PEGet/SetGraphTextDefaultOption New Calls163PEGraphOptionInfo Legend Layout Changes164PEGraphAxisInfo Autoscale Options Added165Documentation Changes for Parameter Fields Calls166Print Window Options167PEFreeDevMode New Call for Printing168Report Summary Info169New Events Hyperlink and Launch Seagate Analysis170CRPE Preview Window Cursors171Formula Syntax New Feature172INTRODUCTION SEAGATE CRYSTAL REPORTS 8 The key design goal for Seagate Crystal Reports 8 is to make it easy to use and make it accessible to many users simultaneously. This document describes the major features that have been added to Seagate Crystal Reports 8. The first section, “New Features in a Glance”, is an outline of the major features from the end users benefits point of view. The second section is a detailed description of each of the features, categorized by component within Seagate Crystal Reports. Following is a Developers Tools section that describes the enhancements in the Report Integration Controls for Visual InterDev, the Crystal Report Print Engine API and the Report Designer Component. There are two appendices: Appendix A is on the Formula Language of Seagate Crystal Reports 8, which includes a comparison between the new Basic syntax and the Crystal syntax, and a detailed description of the new functions, operators and control structures added to the Formula Language. Appendix B is a detailed description of the changes and enhancements in the Crystal Report Print Engine API.Legal Notices & DisclaimerMicrosoft, Visual InterDev, ActiveX, Windows, Windows NT, Office 2000, Windows 2000 and Visual Basic are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.Java is either a registered trademark or trademark of Sun Microsystems Inc. in the United States and/or other countries.Adobe and Acrobat are trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated.Netscape is a registered trademark of Netscape Communications Corporation in the United States and other countries.NEW FEATURES AT A GLANCEThe following outlines the major features of Seagate Crystal Reports 8:Significant Performance ImprovementThis release of Seagate Crystal Reports has the capacity to handle larger data sets much more efficiently. You will notice major improvements to report performance in all areas of processing from opening and refreshing to formatting and saving your reports. For example, opening reports with saved data is significantly faster; you can begin viewing the first page of a report even before the entire report has been loaded. Other areas such as formatting (e.g., when going to the last page), refreshing and saving reports are also faster. This is attributed by more efficient SQL expressions, less redundant data returned from the database server, and data decompression. With a new file format in Seagate Crystal Reports 8, report files and temporary files are now much lighter weight. For backward compatibility, you may also choose to save a report in version 7 format.Enhanced Web-based ReportingThis version of Seagate Crystal Reports enhances its reporting capability on the Web. A few of these enhancements include:Real-time ReportingViewing reports on the Web emphasizes performance in real time. Multithreading in the Crystal Report Viewer for ActiveX, for instance, improves response time when viewing large reports.Improved PrintingWith the new Netscape® plugin for Microsoft ActiveX®, you can now use the Crystal Report Viewer for ActiveX on a Netscape browser and achieve close to WYSIWYG quality when printing.Report Integration ControlsThe Report Integration Controls for Microsoft® Visual InterDev® 6.0 is a major overhaul from its predecessor Design Time Control for Visual InterDev. You can now develop Web applications that host Crystal reports and allow end-users to view, print and export these reports in a Crystal Report Viewer for Java or ActiveX.Web FoldersIf you are running Microsoft Windows® 9x or Windows NT® with Microsoft Office 2000®, or if you are running Windows 2000®, you may store, open, update and save reports directly to a Web Folder on a Web server. You no longer have to download reports, edit them locally and upload them to the Web server. Boosted Reporting PowerReporting capability has been boosted with measures included below:Formula Language AugmentationThe Formula Language has been augmented with a new syntax, Basic syntax, which is a Microsoft Visual Basic® Script-like language. If you are new to Seagate Crystal Reports and are familiar with Visual Basic, you will find this new syntax very easy to learn. If you have been using Crystal syntax, you will also be able to benefit from the many useful new functions, operators and control structures that have been added to both Crystal and Basic syntaxes.OLAP and Cross-tab EnhancementsCreating and formatting OLAP grids and cross-tabs is more robust with conditional formatting and grouping with page dimensions, and is easier with the addition of new grid formatting options and sample grid styles that you can apply as templates.Charting and MappingEnhancements have been applied to both charts and maps. You may now create charts and maps based on running totals and OLAP grids. Charts and maps are easier to read with detailed tool tips.In addition, there are chart-formatting options to show amounts in chart legends, and to move and re-size various chart items. You may also chart on all records, zoom in bar and line charts, and drill down in chart legends.Maps are now easier to use since there are a new Map Navigator to show relative location, and non-polygon maps that show points (e.g., cities) with graduated symbols. You can now resolve differences in geographical names between a map and the data, and can map on specified order grouping and running totals. Maps are loaded faster than before too.Access and Excel Add-insUsing the Access Add-in and Excel Add-in, you may now create reports from an Access database and Excel worksheet respectively, and when the data is changed, you can refresh the reports and have them updated.Hierarchical GroupingYou may now use hierarchical grouping to arrange data in a report to show hierarchical relationships in your data. In essence, you still have all the elements in the hierarchy in the same table, but the relationships in the hierarchy are now also displayed. This is useful, for instance, in reporting off a Human Resources database to show the hierarchy within a company.SubreportsVarious enhancements to subreport linking have made subreports more versatile. You may now create in a report a hyperlink to another Crystal report, which is essentially an on-demand subreport. Data refresh for an on-demand subreport is efficiently managed such that data is only retrieved from the server on drilling down of the subreport. Other improvements include that when you create a subreport, you can specify it as an on-demand subreport. You also have the option to update a subreport upon loading of the main report. This will be convenient when the same report is inserted as a subreport in a number of different reports, as any changes to the former can be reflected in each of the latter upon loading of the corresponding main report.ExportYou may now export a report to Adobe Acrobat Portable Document Format (PDF).Support for RTF and HTML DataYou may now include RTF or HTML data in string or memo fields in your reports, and these fields will be interpreted and displayed appropriately with respect to specifications for the font, size, style, color and paragraph. UI & Usability EnhancementsThere are a number of features that improve immensely the usability of the Crystal Report Designer. Among them is a range of features that support formatting text for the international market. The more prominent new features are outlined below.International FormattingThis set of enhancements applies to all languages supported by Seagate Crystal Reports including English, but is in particular geared toward the Japanese market. You may now format text vertically, use fractional point font size, use different fonts conditionally, indent lines, control line and character spacing, format dates in a way typical to Japanese, and insert new shapes into reports conventionally used in Japanese for specific purposes.Accounting ConventionsYou now have an option to format number and currency fields using common accounting conventions, regarding the display of the negative symbol, currency symbol, zero value and reversing the sign of numbers (for debits and credits).Data ExplorerWhen you create a report or do a set location, you now use the new Data Explorer to manage your database connections. The Data Explorer provides an integrated tree view of all data sources available to you. Within the Data Explorer, there are also Current Connections, Favorite and History data sources that make connecting to a commonly used data source more convenient.Field ExplorerThe new Field Explorer provides a unified interface to insert, modify and delete all types of fields (including database, formula, SQL expression, parameter, group name, special and running total fields) in a report. In particular for database fields, it provides a clear tree view of displaying tables and database fields that are available to the report.Displaying Names of Tables and Database FieldsYou may now display table names alphabetically by name, description or both. You may also choose to display database fields alphabetically.Select Distinct and Browse DistinctYou now have an option to select only unique records from a table, and browse a larger set of unique records as well.Group Name FormulaYou may now choose to use a database field or a Group Name Formula to name a group. This name should be able to better identify a grouping and will appear in the group tree and in the group header. Opening and Saving Reports to Personalized FoldersYou may now open and save reports to the Desktop and personalized folders that your operating system supports: History, Personal, Favorites and Web folders.Displaying Preview and Properties on File OpenWhen opening a report, you may now have the option to preview the first page of a report and view its properties in the file open dialog box.Autosaving ReportsYou now have an option to have your report saved automatically after a specified interval of time.More Image FormatsMore types of formats are supported for blob fields, including JPEG, PNG and TIFF.String SearchIn both the Design and Preview Tabs, you may now search for strings in text