Operation Manual

Using Formulas
User Function Libraries in formulas
22
Crystal Reports User’s Guide 421
Note:
• Record selection and group selection formulas cannot be written in Basic
syntax.
• Report processing is not slowed down by using Basic syntax. Reports using
Basic syntax formulas can run on any machine that Crystal Reports runs on.
• Using Basic syntax formulas does not require distributing any additional
files with your reports.
Related topics:
• To learn about Basic syntax, see Creating Formulas with Basic syntax in
the online help.
• To learn about Crystal syntax, see Creating Formulas with Crystal syntax
in the online help.
User Function Libraries in formulas
Crystal Reports lets developers create User Function Libraries (UFLs) that
are recognized by the Formula Editor. A UFL is a library of functions that is
created by a developer to address a specific need. UFLs can be programmed
in a COM or a Java environment.
Crystal Reports lets you see COM UFLs or Java UFLs in the Formula Editor,
but not both at the same time. (You can also choose to see no UFLs.)
Note: Java UFLs are not supported in the Report Application Server (RAS)
and the Crystal Page Server, so if a report has a formula in it, and that formula
uses a Java UFL, the report may not run in BusinessObjects Enterprise
because the formula will fail to compile.
For details about developing Java UFLs and configuring Crystal Reports to
use a UFL, see the Java Reporting Component Developer's Guide.
Note: After you have completed the configuration outlined in the Developer’s
Guide, you must return to Crystal Reports, point to the File menu, and select
Options. On the Formula Editor tab, go to UFL Support and select Java UFLs
Only.
Specifying formulas
There are several different kinds of formulas in Crystal Reports: report,
formatting, selection, search, running total condition, and alert formulas. The
majority of formulas in a report are report formulas and conditional formatting
formulas.