Like many other institutions, The Morgan Library and Museum utilizes TMS to generate reports using templates prepared in Crystal Reports. But the reports and forms we desire most – loan agreements, condition reports, and exhibition checklists – need to be highly dynamic. Instead of typesetting each block of text or checkbox, the Morgan leverages Crystal Reports’ powerful capabilities to make reports flexible and easy to maintain. This presentation will dissect some of our most complicated reports to look at the underlying structures and formulae, and allow attendees to step up their Crystal Report skills.

1. Developing Dynamic Reports for TMS
Using Crystal Reports
CHAD PETROVAY
TMS ADMINISTRATOR
THE MORGAN LIBRARY & MUSEUM

2. ©TheMorganLibrary&Museum,NewYork.PhotographybyGrahamS.Haber,2010.

4. Exhibition Checklist

5. Outgoing Loan Agreement

6. Outgoing Loan Condition Report

7. Goals of Highly Dynamic Reports
• Create reports that empower users
with increased control over formatting
and content at report run-time.
• Leverage the database for
both content & structure.
• Create reports that are easier to maintain.

8. Tools at Our Disposal
Parameters
Subreports
Formulae
Commands

9. Tools at Our Disposal
Parameters
Subreports
Formulae
Commands

10. Tools at Our Disposal
Parameters
Subreports
Formulae
Commands

11. Tools at Our Disposal
Parameters
Subreports
Formulae
Commands

12. Variables
42
• Common Types
• String
• Number
• Date
• Boolean

13. Variables
Declaring Variables
Local StringVar Location;
Location := “Site Name”;
Local NumberVar x := 10;
42

14. Variable Scopes
Local
Restricted to
a single formula
Shared
Available throughout
the main report
and all subreports
Global
Available throughout
the main report;
not subreports

15. Array Variables
1 2 3
4 5 6
DogCat

16. Empower users to choose their
sorting and/or grouping method

17. Dynamic Sort/Group

18. Dynamic Sort/Group: Method

19. Dynamic Sort/Group: Parameter

20. Dynamic Sort/Group: Create a Parameter

21. Dynamic Sort/Group: Formula

22. Empower users to include and/or
exclude different fields

23. Dynamic Content: Report Layout

24. Dynamic Content: Parameter

25. Dynamic Content: Create a Parameter

26. Dynamic Content: Display Fields
Details Section Suppression Formula
IF HASVALUE({?Include})
THEN
IF {?Include} = "F1" AND NOT
ISNULL({vgsrpExhObjXrefsS_RO.UserShortText1}) AND
{vgsrpExhObjXrefsS_RO.UserShortText1} <> ""
THEN FALSE
ELSE TRUE
ELSE TRUE

27. Dynamic Content: Parameter Pass

28. Dynamic Content: Display Fields
Record Selection Formula
{MLM_BI_TextEntry.ID} = {?Pm-vgsrpExhObjXrefsS_RO.ExhObjXrefID}
and {MLM_BI_TextEntry.TableID} = 49
And (
IF HASVALUE({?Include})
THEN TOTEXT({MLM_BI_TextEntry.TextTypeID},0) = {?Include}
ELSE FALSE
)

29. Dynamic Content: Display Fields
Details Section Suppression Formula
IF HASVALUE({?Include})
THEN
IF {?Include} = "25" OR {?Include} = "26" OR
{?Include} = "27" OR {?Include} = "28" OR
{?Include} = "29"
THEN FALSE
ELSE TRUE
ELSE TRUE

30. Empower users to select
the size of thumbnail images

31. Resizing Thumbnails: Create a Parameter

32. Resizing Thumbnails: Parameter Pass

33. Resizing Thumbnails: Display Image
Details Section Suppression Formula
IF ISNULL({vgsrpMediaImageS_RO.ID})
THEN TRUE
ELSE IF {?ImageSize} <> 2
THEN TRUE
ELSE FALSE

34. Resizing Thumbnails: Resize Text Boxes

35. twip (noun)
A unit of measure equal to one twentieth of a point.
Conversion:
1440 twips = 1 inch
567 twips = 1 centimeter
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/twip

36. Ditch the large text boxes

37. Outgoing Loan Agreement

38. Long Text Sections: Use Your Database

39. Long Text Sections: Use Your Database
Record Sort
Select

40. Details Section Suppression Formula
if {MLM_BI_TextBlocks.Attribute}
like "signature=*"
then false
else true
Attribute Syntax
"signature={Name String}"
Long Text Sections: Use Your Database

41. Make your forms dynamic.

42. Outgoing Loan Condition Report

43. Dynamic Forms: Use Your Database
• Recursive Table
Level 1: Section (AA)
Level 2: Row (AA.AA)
Level 3: Field (AA.AA.AA)
• Label vs Field
“_BLANK_”
• FieldType
0 = Fill-in-the-Blank
1 = Checkbox
2 = Checkbox + Fill-in-the-blank

44. SQL View Definitions
CREATE VIEW [dbo].[MLM_ConditionReport_L1] AS
SELECT CN, Label, DisplayOrder, IsField, FieldTypeID
FROM MLM_ConditionReport
WHERE LENGTH(CN) = 2
CREATE VIEW [dbo].[MLM_BI_ConditionReport_L2] AS
SELECT CN, Label, DisplayOrder, LEFT(CN,2) AS Parent, IsField, FieldTypeID
FROM MLM_BI_ConditionReport
WHERE LENGTH(CN) = 5
Dynamic Forms: Define Some Views

45. Multicolumn Formatting
Dynamic Forms: Report Layout

46. Dynamic Forms: Define Some Views
Section Label Form Element Form Element Form Element Form Element Form Element
Form Element_BLANK_

47. Dynamic Forms: Define Some Views
SQL View Definitions
CREATE VIEW [dbo].[MLM_BI_ConditionReport_L3] AS
SELECT CN, Label, 0 AS DisplayOrder, CN AS ParentID, IsField, FieldTypeID
FROM MLM_BI_ConditionReport
WHERE IsField = 0 AND LENGTH(CN) = 5
UNION ALL
SELECT CN, '_BLANK_' AS Label, DisplayOrder, LEFT(CN,5) AS ParentID,
0 AS IsField, 0 AS FieldTypeID
FROM MLM_BI_ConditionReport
WHERE DisplayOrder IN (6,11,16,21,26,31,36) AND LENGTH(CN) = 8
UNION ALL
SELECT CN, Label, DisplayOrder, LEFT(CN,5) AS ParentID, IsField, FieldTypeID
FROM MLM_BI_ConditionReport
WHERE LENGTH(CN) = 8

48. Dynamic Forms: Use Your Database
• Details A
• Textbox containing Field
• Suppressed when “_BLANK_”
• Suppressed when IsField = 1
• Details B
• Field + Line Textbox
• Visible when IsField = 1
AND FieldTypeID = 0

49. Dynamic Forms: Report Layout
• Details C
• Box + Field
• Visible when IsField = 1
AND FieldTypeID = 1
• Details D
• Box + Field + Line Textbox
• Visible when IsField = 1
AND FieldTypeID = 2

50. Dynamic Forms: Textbox for Trailing Line
• Textbox
• Bottom Line: Single
• Width: 0.010
• X Position Adjustment:
Length({Label})*90
• Width Adjustment:
N -(Length({Label})*90)
• N = Length of label object in
twips
N

51. twip (noun)
A unit of measure equal to one twentieth of a point.
Conversion:
1440 twips = 1 inch
567 twips = 1 centimeter
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/twip

52. Dynamic Forms: Form Selection

53. Avoid stacking details sections
by using arrays.

54. Checklist Report

55. Data Arrays: Report Layout

56. Data Arrays: Formula to Build Array

57. Data Arrays: Subreport Layout
Data from that position
Which position in array?
Command provides integers

58. Data Arrays: Command
SQL for Command
WITH cteCounter AS (
SELECT 1 AS N
UNION ALL
SELECT N + 1 FROM cteCounter WHERE N < 12
)
SELECT N FROM cteCounter;

59. Data Arrays: Formula to Increment Array

60. Data Arrays: Formula to Retrieve Data

61. Data Arrays: Subreport Layout

62. Data Arrays: Using Array for Formatting

63. twip (noun)
A unit of measure equal to one twentieth of a point.
Conversion:
1440 twips = 1 inch
567 twips = 1 centimeter
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/twip

66. CHAD PETROVAY
TMS ADMINISTRATOR
cpetrovay@themorgan.org
Q & A