Function Structure

The structure of a function begins with the function name. The function name is then followed by an opening parenthesis, the arguments for the function (separated by commas), and a closing parenthesis. Figure C-1 displays an example of a function structure:

Figure C-1: The structure of a function

Note

In Figure C-1, the curly brackets surrounding the Orders.Order Date field designate a database field. Refer to the following table for a summary of reserved characters and the types of arguments they represent. This information was presented in Chapter10.

Table C-1: Reserved characters of the Crystal Reports and Basic languages

Reserved Character	Name	Description
{ }	Curly brackets	Used to contain the report objects (such as the database or formula fields). For example: {Employee.First Name}
[ ]	Square brackets	Used to create computational formulas. Another common use for them is to return the character of a string field. For example, {Employee.First Name}[1] returns the first character of this string field.
( )	Parentheses	Used with operators to contain the different parts of a formula and define the order the calculations should take place.
.	Period	Separates the table name from the database field. For example: {Employee.Last Name}
""	Quotation marks	Used to surround text that you wish to display within your formulas. For example, "USA" would display the text USA within your report.
,	Comma	Used to separate multiple parameters within a formula.
@	Formula	Designates formula fields. For example: {@Name_of_Formula}
?	Parameter	Designates parameter fields. For example: {?Name_of_Parameter)
#	Running total	Designates running total field. For example: {#Name of Running Total}
∑	Summary	Designates a summary field. For example: {∑Name_of_Summary_Field}
%	SQL expression	Designates an SQL Expression field. For example: {%Name_of_SQL_Expression}

The following sections summarize the different functions available within Crystal Reports.