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CR XI: Formatting issues - please help

Printed From: Crystal Reports Book
Category: Crystal Reports 9 through 2020
Forum Name: Report Design
Forum Discription: The best way to design a report and problems you have encountered
URL: http://www.crystalreportsbook.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=3809
Printed Date: 17 May 2024 at 8:52pm


Topic: CR XI: Formatting issues - please help
Posted By: JDM6763
Subject: CR XI: Formatting issues - please help
Date Posted: 25 Jul 2008 at 12:03pm
I'm hoping someone can help me.  I have a report which is being exported to excel format through a Classic ASP web application. My report has 9 columns. Some values could potentially be blank. Whenever I have a blank field though, the data in the column after it will side into blank fields  place.  Is there any way to keep this from happening?
 
Here is a mockup of the problem I'm having. In this mockup, XXXXX, BBBBB, and CCCCC represent arbitrary data.
 
Figure 1: 
Column1  Column2  Column3
XXXXX       XXXXXX    XXXXXX
XXXXX                       BBBBBB
                 CCCCC     XXXXXX   
 
Figure 1 is the formatting I would like to see in both preview display and when exporting to EXCEL from Classic ASP, however, in the figure below is actually what is happening.
 
Figure 2:
Column1  Column2  Column3
XXXXX       XXXXXX    XXXXXX
XXXXX                   <- BBBBBB
       <--     CCCCC     XXXXXX   
 
If I have a blank field in a record such as in row 2 column 2 and in row 3 column 1, fields in those rows to the right will shift to the left to fill the empty fields.  This only happens when exporting to Excel.  Is there anything than can be done to fix this? 
 
 
Thanks in advance for any tips or help with this!
 
Jim
 
 


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Replies:
Posted By: hilfy
Date Posted: 29 Jul 2008 at 2:39pm
The only way to prevent this from happening is to put some sort of default value in the blank spaces.
 
Unfortunately, exporting from Crystal - especially to Excel - can be very frustrating and has been an issue for years.
 
-Dell


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Posted By: JDM6763
Date Posted: 31 Jul 2008 at 6:54am
Yes, What I finally did to fix this was to create a Formula Field to check the field for a blank, or null value based on the data type, and return a value such as asterisks, otherwise return the value in the field.
 
 


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