Understanding the Repository

Crystal Reports' Repository feature is the answer to these questions in the prior section. The Crystal Repository is a central library of report objects for report designers to access, update, and share between reports. This feature can be shared among multiple report designers as well.

The Crystal Repository is a database that contains common report objects that can be shared. The types of report objects that can be shared in the repository are

• Text Objects Reusable text, such as company addresses or confidentiality text, as examples.

• Images Pictures or logos.

• Custom Functions Business logic that could be reused by passing in new fields as variables.

• SQL Commands Encapsulated database commands that produce tables to report from. They might contain complex SQL statements. These commands could even be parameter driven.