Very Good Book For Beginners
This is a "Teach Yourself" book and as such is very good for beginners. I think this book does an excellent job of clearly explaining how to use Crystal Reports 9 to people who are new to this product. Here are the things that I found really helpful about this book:
1. Clear and Concise Explanation of Concepts
Before covering a topic the authors clearly explain the concepts involved. I found this to be really helpful because I clearly understood the purpose of each feature that was covered.
2. Hands-on Exercises
This book is full with exercises to reinforce the ideas covered and to demonstrate how to perform the most common tasks. It is not enough to simply discuss the concepts discussed. As a new user of CR 9 it is important to actually practise using the product and this book provides numerous exercises to ensure this.
3. Plenty of Screenshots
When you are new to an application it is easy to make mistakes even though the instructions are clearly written. It helps when you have screenshots to show what your screen should look like. That way you can quickly identify where you went wrong. Every important task in this book is accompanied by screenshots.
4. Numerous Practical Examples
This book not only teaches you how to perform a task but also gives practical examples of when you might need to use that feature. For example, when I first read about multiple report sections I started wondering why would I need this feature. As if the authors anticipated this, they quickly followed up with a very good example of needing "to create a form letter for your customers and you need to display only one of two possible return addresses on the letter - an American address for customers based in the United States and a Canadian address for the remainder of your North American customers." They then explain how to accomplish this using multiple report header sections and Conditional Formatting.
I strongly recommend this book to anyone who is new to CR 9.
Good only on one system....
This item does not work for me. As a mobile consultant I need to access the e-book on my laptop, at home and in the office. I am unable to use the product as intended. In the future, I will stick with printed material. E-Books do not work for technical reference materials!
Comlete waste
I am new to Crystal reports but have advanced skills with computers. I have mastered Autocad and program in 3 languages. I tried to use Crytal reports as a free evaulation program because I use Peachtree Accounting. I thought it was ridiculous how the program had very little intuitive structure, so I thought I would get try a supposed "quick easy" book to learn the basic skills. This book spent the 1st several chapters trying to sell you on why Crystal reports is so great. By the time it got to a so called "tutorial" it was no better than the "help" section that comes with Crystal Reports. Its amazing how people can not simplify certain subjects. Crystal Reports is BEGGING another software company to invent a competitive product that is user friendly because theirs is just the opposite!
Get fast experience
I wasn't knowing anything about Crystal Reports, then it was needed that I design critical reports about some data, the project system engineers decided that Crystal Reports is the solution.
I bought the book, and it really helped me to do the required job, it took me less than 2 weeks to read it all, and it was really ver helpful.
Good beginner book
Lets be honest, any book that says Teach Yourself ... in 24 Hours is a beginner book. And as such, this book is great. I am a application programmer and needed a PRIMER to get started and this book not only allowed me to do that, but allowed me to meet my business critical deadlines on time. Although I may need another book for advanced topics in the future. I find that I can write most of the reports requested of me with this handy book. I even told Crystal Decisions that they should contact the author to have him write their manuals, which are inadequate and hard to follow.
(10 reviews)
