Report - Work Center start-up time by date...?

[Former Member]

Hello all,

I'm fairly new to Crystal Reports and am struggling to write a report for my company...

...I'm trying to create one that shows the daily work center start-up times.  The idea would be to have a "date parameter" that could enter any date in the past and show what time our work centers/machines start production in the morning.  I've tried using a few different tables/fields but I think I'm likely not linking something correctly.  If anyone has any tips/suggestions to help point me in the right direction it would be greatly appreciated!!

thanks,

TZ.

[former_member205840]

Hi Taylor,

In one of your tables your company is maintaining work centers/machines start producution in the morning.

Go in TOAD / Query Analyzer and use below to find which field it is ?

Select * from TableName

Once you have this information and the information is from multiple tables then try to join using Inner Join / left / Right outer join and see how you see records in your report.

Thanks,

Sastry

[Former Member]

Sastry,

Thanks for the response....but I've never heard of "TOAD" and "Query Analyzer"...?  Can you help me locate that?

Taylor.

[Former Member]

Taylor ,

Toad and Query Analyser are database management tools that allow you to open and modify the actual SQL code used to generate the stored porceedures and views that generate the tables and data sets that crystal reports uses to show the results in the form that you need. 

BUT.....  if you are not famililar with them, I would not recommend experimenting with thier use in that you could possibly do more harm than good.

You can also access the Tables though the Crystal database expert.   The basic concept is that somewhere in your database,  there is a table that hold the workcenter start times  along with the work center number and most likely the code for the employee / operator that triggered it.    You need to identify that table(s) and the related fields and then add thoose tables to the report to retieve the appropriate data.   Each table will have one or more "key" colums that you can use to establish the Link between the tables.  you will need to determine the relationship between the table to decide what type of link to use.      

There is plenty of Training available out on the internet to learn the basic concepts of relational databases.  

There may also be a "Data Dictonary"  available to you to help show where what information is stored and in what table and maybe enven how it is related to other tables.  ( but some information is also always calculated instead of stored.    ie   in your case  start and stop times will be stored but running time calculated. )   Look through your documentation.   Everyone's setup is slightly different in the way tables were named  but the concepts are always the same.   

Ted

[Former Member]

Hi Ted,

I've been able to locate where the "production start times" are listed in the system...I guess the part that I'm struggling with is getting the specific Date Parameter to connect with that information on the report.  I've worked with simple parameters before but something isn't working this time...?  Can you explain how to link up a simple single-date parameter to a field in a report?  Let me know if you need more information.

thank you!

taylor.

[Former Member]

Basicly

You won't "link" the parameter to any field in the report,  you will need to use the date parameter field to limit  ( restrict)  the result set of data that you are working with. 

if you are working with data that comes directly from the tables,  you can to use the Report Select Expert     ( from the Report menu dropdown )  to create a formula   that says  essentually  ....  Give me all the data where the start time date is greater than the  date value of the  Parameter that begins the range wanted   ( and is less than the ending date range if you have one )      or if you are working with a select statement or a command to retrieve your data    you can incorporate the parameter  into the select command    just as if were a regular field.    and the same if the data source is a stored proceedure or view.

Ted