Crystal Reports Professional Results

Rating:
Summary: Superbly organized and very highly recommended
Review: Crystal Reports Professional Results, by George Peckis a superbly organized and very highly recommended resource which provides a wealth of tips, ticks, and techniques on the creation and presentation of expert quality reports and complex, interactive analysis documentation both on and off the Web. George Peckis is particular adept at explaining just how to develop and design reports, make maps, tables, and charts, extract and present data from SQL databases, download ready-to-use sample report templates, and so much more.

Rating:
Summary: Only half a book
Review: I already have George's CR 8.5 book and I think its great. When I saw the description for this book I was very interested in reading it. Unfortunately, once I got the book in my hands I was let down.

As I went through the chapters I saw that it was really a "Tips and Tricks" book. This is mostly stuff that I already read in his 8.5 book. So I didn't see much new information. But the really bad part was when I got to page 200. The book was over! Yes, this "400" page book is only 200 pages.

The last 200 pages are a printout of the Crystal help file. I've read books that have what I consider too many tables copied out of a help file. But this book goes over the top by having a full 50% of its content being a copy of the help file. What was George and his publisher thinking? It reminds me of the Tom Petty song The Last DJ, "The guys at the top want to see how much you'll pay for what you used to get for free."

In summary, the first half of the book is a lot of repeated tips from his 8.5 book. The second half of the book is worthless. If you want a good CR book, get George's 8.5 or 9.0 book and pass this one by. I'm shocked to see that a great CR author such as George put with his name on the cover.

Rating:
Summary: Crystal Guru in a Book
Review: If you're just getting started with Crystal Reports, you've had some introductory training and know your way around the basics fairly well, but you're just not sure if some particular thing is possible or how to do it, this is the book for you. (Even if you are not just getting started!) Some of us are lucky and have a Crystal guru in the cubicle next door for those one-off questions; the rest can look them up in this book.

The first half of the book is tips and tricks, some more tricky than others, but all in the realm of good-to-know. I consider myself a sophisticated Crystal Reports developer and yet I found tidbits of knowledge that I had never come across before. The topics covered are broad, encompassing report formatting, formula creation, grouping enhancements, and more. Putting just some of the tips into practice will make you look like the guru.

The second half of the book is a Crystal Reports formula reference that I did not find much more helpful than the Crystal Reports help files. However, the tips section is more than worth the price of the book!

Rating:
Summary: Very valuable
Review: Like vitamins - read one a day for better reports. Glad I bought this book.

Rating:
Summary: Very valuable
Review: This is a disappointing read. Half of the book is the reference material from the help files and the other half is random report design techniques that don't fit together. Give this one a pass.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing Read
Review: This is a disappointing read. Half of the book is the reference material from the help files and the other half is random report design techniques that don't fit together. Give this one a pass.