Why This Book Was Written

Glance through the shelves of your favorite bookstore, and you'll undoubtedly see a fair share of books about Crystal Reports. "So, why another book?" you might ask. "Aren't there already enough books out there about the subject?"

True, there are several excellent books about Crystal Reports. The difference is that these existing books are aimed at techies or raw novices. What is missing is a Crystal Reports book that provides a context and reference useful to mainstream business users.

In this book, we discuss how to use the features and functionality of Crystal Reports, along with the necessary database concepts to apply Crystal Reports to your specialized database environment. We learn about Crystal Reports by working through detailed, reporting exercises. By the end of this book, you'll have developed a number of real-world reports, suitable for those in accounting, sales, marketing, and a number of related fields.