I just discovered a new trick for getting Crystal Reports.NET to automatically format a number as a percentage. For example, let's say you have a number 55.99 and you want it to be printed as 55.99%. What I have done in the past is convert the number to a string and concatenate the '%' character to the end. Not bad if you only have to do this to one number, but a pain if you have to do this to more than one field. I was jealous of how Crystal Reports stand-alone version has a '%' button that you click and it formats it automatically.

I went into Crystal Reports 10 and analyzed what is happening behind the scenes when you click on the '%' button. I found out that the button tells Crystal Reports that the field is a currency value and it replaces the '$' with a '%'instead. Plus, it tells it to right-align the “currency symbol“. Wow, what a discovery. Here's how to format report fields in Crystal Reports.NET. It looks like a lot of steps, but after you doing it the first time it is a breeze.

To format a number as a percentage in CR.NET:

1. Right-click on the numeric field and select Format.
2. Go to the Number tab and click Customize.
3. Click the Currency Symbol tab.
4. Click Enable Currency Symbol.
5. Change the Currency Symbol to '%'
6. Change Position combobox to '-123%'
7. Click OK, OK to exit and save.