- Introduction
- Understanding the Value of Parameters
- Creating and Implementing Parameters Fields
- Using Parameters with Record Selections
- Using Parameters with Top/Bottom N Group Selections
- Creating and Implementing Dynamic and Cascading Parameters
- Troubleshooting
- Crystal Reports in the Real WorldCustom Filtering
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
Crystal Reports in the Real World—Custom Filtering
Sometimes a report needs to return all records for a parameterized field where a record selection filter has been created on this parameter. Although it would certainly be possible to create a parameter and select all valid values for the parameter, there certainly must be a better way—and there is. In this example, a filter is added to a report so that if a user enters a specific value or a list of values, only those values are returned. Alternatively, if the user enters an asterisk (*, or other predefined symbol such as All Values), all values are returned. The following steps highlight this capability:
- Open the sample report Chap 5.rpt created in the first half of this chapter. Set the Allows Custom Values property to True and Change the Top N sort condition to All in the Group Sorting Expert.
- From the Report menu choose Selection Formulas, Record. Remove the following line of text.
{Customer.Country} = {?Countries} Replace the text with the following (as shown in Figure 5.15):
(If {?Countries} = "*" Then True Else {Customer.Country} = {?Countries};)
Figure 5.15 The updated Record Selection Formula Editor enables the end user to select All Values with one easy selection.
Click Save and Close.
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When prompted for a new parameter value, remove any existing values, enter the * symbol as a manual custom entry, click the Add (>) button to add the symbol to the list of values, and click OK. You should see something like in Figure 5.16.
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Figure 5.16 The report returns all values when * is passed in as a parameter. In this photo, the chart has been edited slightly from the original report but you can clearly see that all countries were returned.