Formula in Crystal

Question

Hi,
I am trying to use a formula in crystal report. I have a dataset that contains list of customers. I wanna assign different numbers on report to each customer. I dont have any idea how to do it. Any help.
Thanks

Answer 1

Hi, 
That description helps a lot.  What you need to do before we create the PickList is get a list of all the customers into an array and assign them a number.  I'm going to recommend a subreport to generate the array. 
Create a subreport that will link to your picklist so we can get a DISTINCT list of the customers.  In the subreport create a formula like: 
WhilePrintingRecords;
Shared StringVar MyCustomers;
myCustomers := myCustomers & {table.CustomerName} & ",";
This should go into the Detail section. 
In the Report Footer we just need to clean up the string like: 
WhilePrintingRecords;
Shared StringVar MyCustomers;
If Right (MyCustomers, 1) = "," Then
    MyCustomers := MyCustomers [1 to (Length (MyCustomers) - 1)];
This will remove the trailing comma separator. 
If  you have the main report grouped by PickList, drop the subreport into the Group Header and link them.  If your report is generating 1 picklist then drop it into the Report Header. 
Now you can create a formula in the main report like: 
WhilePrintingRecords;
Shared StringVar MyCustomers;
StringVar BoxNo := "";
NumberVar i;
i := 1;
If  {table.CustomerName} In Split (MyCustomers, ",") Then
    For i := 1 to Count (Split (MyCustomers, ",")) Do
        If Split (MyCustomers, ",") <i> =  {table.CustomerName} Then
            BoxNo:= ToText (i, 0, "", "") 
        Else "";
BoxNo;
This formula converts the customer list into an array and loop through the array to return the element number as the box number. 
Good luck,
Brian