Chapter 3: Designing Your First Report

Overview

Are you a control freak, taking control of an entire workload yourself? Or do you believe delegating duties is the most productive way to work? Neither work philosophy is necessarily correct or incorrect — it's all just a matter of personal preference.

Crystal Reports understands this. No matter what type of work personality you are, Crystal Reports has you covered. In Crystal Reports, you'll find building options for both the "control freak" and the "diligent delegator" in all of us.

In this chapter, we jump headfirst into the world of report design. As you begin your report building, you learn that Crystal Reports provides the following two options for developing reports:

• You can build a report from scratch.

• You can build a report using one of the Report Wizards.

Once you explore these two methods, you may use either one when designing reports. The choice is up to you. We look at both options before the end of Part I.