Business Automation and Software Blog

Suppress Crystal Subreports without losing hidden Shared Variables

Up until two hours ago, using Crystal Reports was giving me fits! I had a subreport that contained a shared variable which was filling my report with blank rows which I could not hide without messing up the data in the main report. It looked terrible with all the extra blank spaces in it, but I needed the subreport with the shared variable to make it all work.

The last decade has produced countless improvements in business technology providing an ever expanding mountain of data. From ERP and CRM applications to the newer cloud based and social network data-streams, companies need help in making sense of it all. After all, data can only guide your company in the right direction if it is presented in the right context.

Crystal Reports is a great business reporting application, however sometimes challenges get in the way of the reports you need. We recently learned something new for Crystal version 10 and up that is a huge time saver!

An all-but-overlooked provision of the health reform law is threatening to swamp U.S. businesses with a flood of new business reporting tax paperwork. Section 9006 of the health care bill -- just a few lines buried in the 2,409-page document -- mandates that beginning in 2012 all companies will have to issue 1099 tax forms not just to contract workers but to any individual or corporation from which they buy more than $600 in goods or services in a tax year.

Using Business Objects (Crystal Reports) for business reporting, we often run into the situation where a sub report is required that is based on the parameters requested in the main report. There may not be a direct link from a data element in the main report and data sub report. This seems to occur most often when the sub report is in the report footer. For example a check register is created that is selected by check date range. A summary report is required after the checks are printed to show the total expenses by general ledger account paid for by these checks.