Creating a Custom Report

1. From the Quick Launch Toolbar, click the Crystal button to launch SAP Crystal Reports. The Welcome to Crystal Reports dialog opens.
2. Select As a Blank Report and click OK. The Data Explorer dialog box opens.
3. Click the plus sign to expand Favorites.
4. Click the plus sign to expand Abra HRMS Data Access.
5. Scroll through the list until you find the tables you want to include in the report and click once to highlight the tables. For this example HRPERSNL.
6. Click Add. A check mark is added to the tables you selected for the report.
7. Click Close when you have finished selecting the tables you need for the report.
8. The report opens in Design mode with the Field Explorer dialog box visible.

1. From the SAP Crystal Reports main menu, select Insert > Text Object. The field appears as a floating object.
2. Drag the field to the location on the report, for this example to the upper right hand corner of the Page Header band line and click once to anchor it in place.
3. Double-click in the text box and enter Employee Original Hire Date List.
4. Drag your cursor over the title to highlight the text.
5. From the main menu, select Format > Font. The Text Format dialog box opens.
6. From the Size drop-down list, select 14. Click OK.
7. If you need to expand the field to accommodate the larger text, move your cursor anywhere inside the text box and click once. The text box is highlighted and the crosshairs cursor displays.
8. Move the cursor to the right border of the text box until it changes to a left/right arrow.
9. Click and drag the cursor to resize the text box.

1. From the SAP Crystal Reports main menu, select Insert > Text Object. The field appears as a floating object.
2. Drag the field to the desired location on the report, for this example to the lower left most position on the Page Header band line and click once to anchor it in place.
3. Double-click in the text box and enter Employee Name.
4. Drag your cursor over the title to highlight the text.
5. From the main menu select Format > Font. The Text Format dialog box opens.
6. From the Style drop-down list, select Bold. Click OK.
7. Repeat steps 1 through 6 to create a column heading for Original Hire Date, placing the column heading in center of the Page Header.

1. From the main menu, select Insert > Field Object. The Field Explorer dialog box opens.
2. Click the plus sign to expand Database Fields and HRPERSNL.
3. Left-click and drag p_fname to the desired location on the report, for this example to the left most position of the Details band line. This will insert the employee's first name on the report.  
4. From the main menu select Format > Font. The Text Format dialog box opens.
5. From the Size drop-down list, select 8. Click OK.
6. Repeat steps 1 through 5 to create columns for the employee's last name using p_lname and date of birth using p_orighire.

1. Place your cursor over the separation line between the Page Header band line and the Details band line. The cursor changes to an up and down arrow.
2. Click once and drag the separation line down about 1/8 inch.
3. From the main menu, select Insert > Line. The cursor changes to a pencil.
4. Place the cursor on the Page Header band line under the Employee Name column heading.
5. Hold down the left mouse button and draw a line from the left side of the report to the right side of the report.
6. Right click on the line and select Format Line. The Format Editor dialog box opens.
7. Change the width to the widest option and click OK.
8. Repeat steps 1 through 7 using the Page Footer.
9. From the SAP Crystal Reports main menu, select File > Save As and save the report.
10. From the main menu, select File > Print Preview to see the result.

If the report contains data from two or more database files, the database files must be linked. Database files are linked so records from one database match related records from another. When you link database files, a field is used that is common to both databases.

For example, you might want to add benefit plans descriptions and employee benefit premiums to the Employee report. When you add the Employee Benefit table (HBENE) and the Benefit Plan table (HBEPLAN) to the Employee Personnel table (HRPERSNL), the databases are linked so that each employee (from the Employee Personnel table) can be matched up with their benefit descriptions (from the Benefit Plan table) and each benefit description (from the Benefit Plan table) can be matched up with the employee benefit premium (from the Employee Benefit table) .

1. From the SAP Crystal Reports main menu, select Database > Add Database to Report. The Data Explorer dialog box opens.
2. From the Data Explorer dialog box, click the plus sign to expand Favorites.
3. Click the plus sign to expand Abra HRMS Data Access.
4. Scroll through the list until you find the tables you want to include in the report and click once on each table to highlight it. For this example HBENE and HBEPLAN.
5. Click Add. A check mark is added to the tables you are adding to the report.
6. Click Close when you've finished selecting the tables you need for the report. The Visual Linking Expert dialog box opens.
7. The dialog box shows all the tables currently in your report including any existing links.
8. Scroll through the primary database file, until you find the field you want to link. For this example p_empno in hrpersnl.
9. Left-click and drag the field from the primary database file to the corresponding field in the related database file. After the database files are linked, a link line is created from the field in the primary database to the corresponding field in the related database. For this example drag p_empno in HRPERSNL to b_empno in HBENE.  
10. Repeat steps 8 and 9 dragging b_benecode in HBENE to code in HBEPLAN.
11. Click OK.
12. From the main menu, select Insert > Field Object. The Field Explorer dialog box opens.
13. Click the plus sign to expand Database Fields and HBEPLAN.
14. Left-click and drag desc to the desired location on the report. This will insert the benefit plan descriptions on the report.
15. Repeat steps 13 and 14 dragging b_epremium in HBENE to the desired location on the report. This will insert the employees' benefit premiums on the report.