[RESOLVED] Supressing text fields when blank

[callydata]

I am having trouble getting the supress text when blank feature to work. I have a couple of text fields which have a formula embedded. I then did everything the crystal book said to, but its not working. Well, the text doesn't show up but a big ol space is left behind. I was under the impression from the reading that supress would remove the big ol space as well. How do I remove the space?

[brucevde]

I am not sure I understand the problem. Are you expecting other fields to the right of the textbox to shift over and fill in the gap?

Maybe post a picture of the problem.

[callydata]

Yeah, exactly. I guess thats what I thought supress meant. I have a text box with a formula text object embedded in it. ANd when the formula returns a blank value I want the other text box below it to move up in its spot. Is this possible?

[callydata]

Is anyone out there?

[brucevde]

There are some ways to get around this problem. It will depend on your report but maybe this will give you some ideas. Are you familiar with "Underlaying Sections"?

Assume your report looks like this

Details - Field1 Field2 Field3
                 Field4

You can add another details section by right clicking Details and selecting Insert Section below. The designer would like like

Details a - Field1 Field2 Field3
Details b -        Field4

Now right click Details a and select Format Section menu.
Click the Formula button for "Underlay Following Section"
Use the same formula here as you did to suppress Field2.

Field4 will now print where Field2 is located if Field2 was suppressed. Note however that this assumes there are no other fields in Details b as they will overwrite the printed data in Details a.

Another option is to adjust the contents of the embedded formula.

A Text Box can contain multiple fields. If Field2 is embedded with your formula, then also embed Field4 into the textbox, ensure that it appears immediately after Field2 (no space between the two). Set the Can Grow option for Field2 and remove the suppression formula.

Now adjust the embedded formula for Field2 to include a carriage return if its contents are not blank. Field2 prints on line 1 and Field4 will print on line 2. If Field2 is blank, Field4 prints on line 1.

I hope this makes sense. I use version 8.5, other versions may have better options.

[callydata]

Now adjust the embedded formula for Field2 to include a carriage return if its contents are not blank.

Hi,
how do you program this? I can't find anything about this. What does a carriage return look like in crystal syntax?

[brucevde]

Use the Chr function

"There is a Carriage return after this line " + Chr(13)