Date for Month year only?

Question

I Have a report being done where, the user wants to see the 'slow moving inventory' for a 2 month period.
It's not automatic, the past 2 months. they can select which 2 months they want. So, I was thinking of the best way for the parameters.
Maybe just have them enter one? month/year. but in any case if i do a from and to, I dont' need the entire calender- is there  a way to display just the month and year? if not i can create the parameter that way.

Answer 1

I would create a command (SQL Select statement) to use for data for a dynamic prompt.  It might look something like this in Oracle (allows for two full calendar years in the past):
Select distinct
To_Char(OrderDate, 'MMM-YYYY')  as MonthYear
from Orders
where EXTRACT(Year from OrderDate) >= (EXTRACT(Year from Sysdate) - 2)
Or like this in SQL Server:
Select distinct
Left(DateName(month, OrderDate), 3) + '-' + DateName(year, OrderDate) as MonthYear
from Orders
where Year(OrderDate) >= (Year(GetDate()) - 2)
DO NOT link the command to anything in the report - its sole purpose is to provide data for a dynamic prompt.  Crystal will complain that this is generally not supported, but it will work in this situation.
Now create a dynamic parameter that will use this data - DO NOT use any other data from your report tables!  This parameter will identify the start month for the report.
Lastly, you'll need to create a two formulas - one that will calculate the start date from the parameter value and another that will create the end date.  If the parameter is called {?StartMonth}, they might look like this:
{@StartDate}
StringVar monthName := UpperCase(Left({?StartMonth}, 3));
//get the month number
NumberVar mn := Switch (
  monthName = 'JAN', 1,
  monthName = 'FEB', 2,
  monthName = 'DEC', 12);
//get the Year number
NumberVar yr := ToNumber(Right({?StartMonth}, 4));
//return the first day of the start month:
Date(yr, mn, 1)
{@EndDate}
//Subtract one day from the start of the month 2 months after the start date to get the end of the
//month after the start date
DateAdd('m', 2, {@StartDate})  -  1 
Use these formulas in your selection criteria for your report.
-Dell