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dave_wright
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   Topic: After Advice on if a report will be possible
Posted: 28 Mar 2008 at 8:24am |
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We have our existing reporting system which has been specifally written to cope for this report and all it's needs, I can see Crystal will do all our other reports without too much problem but this one is boggling me. For me to know if Crystal could do this I will need to invest alot of time into it and if the end answer is "No we can't" I can guess my boss wouldn't be impressed.
This is an example of the current report:
http://www.directorsdeals.net/Examples/MSQ_GB%20Media%20Square%2004Apr07.pdf
The Fundamentals bit is set, that would be easy
The Trade Bulletin is simple as long as less than 6 directors trade, if more than 6 do they need to be consolidated which I can't see as being too hard
The Graph has three series, the two line and then the markers which should different symbols for directors buy/sell/etc, and the grey markers area which are close periods for the company (this is the main thing I'm unsure of)
The board can expand/shrink to fit the all board members (can't see any issue there)
The bottom two parts are plain and simple
I envision the report as a main report with a few sub reports, but would like some people who use Crystal alot's feedback.
Next week I'll be signing up the members area here for the books but wanted to ask here about this particular report and it's things which I've never had to do before.
Thanks in advance.
NOTE: We won't be looking to reproduce the look exactly but the core data such as the graph is key
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BrianBischof
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Posted: 28 Mar 2008 at 8:53am |
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You are right in all your assumptions. This will be a mashup using subreports. You are also correct that the chart is definitely the hard part. CR is known for having terrible charting capabilities. You can plot multiple lines on the chart, but to get it just the way you want it might be tricky with the markers. To be honest, I hate CR charts and I avoid them. (I only use them when I have to write about them in my books....) Either someone else needs to chime in on the chart part, or if you try to do it and can't then there are third-party charting tools which are CR compatible (it's the same company that did the CR chart but you just have to upgrade it) and the new controls can do any chart you want.
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BrianBischof
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Posted: 28 Mar 2008 at 8:56am |
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Oh yeah - I don't know what the grey areas on your chart represent, but CR definitely can't do that.
And one more thing. If you have trouble plotting the markers on top of the line series, then you should be able to place one chart on top of another (the markers) and make it transparent. That way two charts look like one. You just have to set the X range to be fixed so that they both line up with each other.
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dave_wright
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Posted: 28 Mar 2008 at 9:27am |
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The grey areas are close prices for a company.
The dark line is the companys share price over a 2 year period, in that time there are what are called "closed periods" where a director isn't allow to buy or sell shares to try and avoid possible insider trading.
Thanks for the very quick reply though, I'll check the more advanced charting options, though overlaying charts could work well enough if the boss is happy to lose the close period grey markers. If you could remember the name of the 3rd party charting company that will integrate to crystal that would be perfect, I've found crystal google searching a real pain and was so happy when I found this place your your blog/ebook idea (getting the boss to pay for both assuming the physical books are available now in the UK)
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BrianBischof
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Posted: 28 Mar 2008 at 9:43am |
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Yes, the books are available at Amazon.co.uk.
I forget the name of the company the CR uses for their charting tools (and then you just buy the upgrade and everything works like a charm), but here is one company that used to advertise on my site. I haven't used their products, but it's worth checking out. http://www.threedgraphics.com/tdg/products/tools/crchart/crchart.php
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dave_wright
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Posted: 28 Mar 2008 at 10:18am |
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I'd be more keen on buying the upgrade than the $499 for something which will then need installing on every machine as well + I'm guessing extra tweaking. I'll try and track down the people who do the CR Graph and post what I find here which others may fine useful as well.
Oddly I'd found the link you gave having a poke around, and may well fall back on that but I'd rather keep it all 100% in Crystal so to speakm this report is going to be a pain enough as it is without adding extra complications of another 3rd party app (been bitten before)
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