reporting

[lcheela]

I am trying to put together a report. it is
20+ columns of data. my problem is that I
can`t fit more than about 12 columns on a
single page. Is there some way to design a
report in Crystal such that the columns can
span multiple pages?

[Malim]

I'm not sure if you can go across multiple sheets or not. I have my doubts because there is an option in report options that is for fit to width, fit to size or fit to paper. I would think if you could go across multiple sheets, that is where the setting would be.

What size paper are you using? What's report the orientation? I have plenty of reports that have 20+ columns of data that I print on legal size paper with a small font (say 6 - 8 pt.) I know it depends on the length of each field.

My users would much rather have it on one page than across multiple sheets. Do you have a printer in your office where you can load paper larger than legal size in width, like computer paper?
:)

[lcheela]

Malik, this is not for printing purposes only. This is for the user to view the data. You have mentioned that you have had more than 20 columns, so how did you go about designning the report. I would really appreciate any kind of help. Thanks.

[Malim]

Is the orientation of the page portrait, or landscape? If you set the report to landscape and change the papersize to legal you should have plenty of room to format the report. Change the font size of the fields to a small size, like 6 or 8 pts.

To change the orientation of the page: Right click in the white space in report designer. Select designer > Printer SetUp > Change paper size to legal and the orientation to landscape.

You will still have to fiddle with the formatting you want, but you should have no problem getting all the fields you need on the paper (assuming they aren't very large field sizes)

You can also, reevaluate your field selection. Say your doing a sales by store report and you have the store location on the report plus the street address. If it's not really necessary to have the address remove it. Just a suggestion.

After you've done one report you can format additional similar reports from the first report and you won't have to reformat.

That's how I do it. I'm sure there are many different ways.

P.S. It has been my experience that the typical user wants to print a report and look at a report on a screen. I find that they most often print them out. And, you'll always have one or two that want a printed copy.

Good luck! :)

[lcheela]

Malim, Thanyou so much.
I did do the report to landscape, but I had not changed the size to legal. I will change that and also use a smaller font.
I think this will work. I appreciate your help. Thankyou.

If I need any other crystal report help, can I contact you directly or is this the best way to do it. Let me know. Thanks once again.

[Malim]

You can contact me directly. But, I would still post here. There are a lot of really smart programmers using vbforums, and somone will most likely have a better, faster way of doing things than I do!