For clarity, I mean SQL Editor (something in which I can do the EXACT same things "queries" that I can do in SQL Server), I already know a little about the SQL Expression Editor (not really the same thing as my SQL Server SQL editor).

Thank you for your reply.  The problem I was having was that I was developing the queries in SQL Server 2005 and then pasting those queries into Crystal's command "database expert".  That was working perfectly fine when I had Crystal pointing to SQL Server (no problems at all, as I like to do most of the logic and select filtering with SQL as opposed to Crystal's very limited filtering tools).

Now, however, rather than having Crystal point to SQL Server, the company I work for is simply placing the tables I'm using (from SQL Server without modifying them at all, so it's just like I have to completely rewrite my queries) in the business objects universe.  They want me to rewrite the queries against the BO universe and I was thinking that I was going to have to somehow rewrite all of my queries from within Crystal Reports and, since Crystal doesn't have an SQL editor, I was having a hard time with it.

I figured it out though, that I can have objects based on my SQL Server queries placed into the BO Universe and I can redo the reports to point to those and I won't have to rewrite the SQL, so I'm pretty happy now and I retract my previous statement that Crystal Reports is pretty much useless (I still think that Crystal Reports should have an SQL editor that works against the BO Universe).

Thank you, sometimes it takes me a day, or so, to get my mind wrapped around something.  I'm very new to Crystal Reports and the learning experience has been very frustrating, at times.  At the same time, however, the learning experience has been very rewarding.  I'm looking forward to continuing on with Crystal Reports and particularly with designing BO Universes.

It's very interesting to follow the evolution of a program throughout its various acquisitions and versions.  I don't know much about SAP, but I hope they realize the value (from a business intelligence standpoint) in the BO Universe and Crystal's reporting tools.  In my opinion, if they can develop a SQL editor that works against the BO Universe, they'll be able to pretty much own the business intelligence market.

The solution to my original problem in this post actually requires me to place an object in the BO Universe that is based on several tables being joined together and sometimes joined to themselves several times with selects and subselects and subselects within nested case statements and on and on.  That's fine, but we're probably only going to be able to use that particular object for just one report, which is kind of a waste, I think.  Shouldn't the BO Universe be filled with fact and dimension tables (star schemas)?  Then we should be able to query these star schemas from within Crystal Reports with a SQL editor that Crystal provides?  If Crystal Reports had that kind of functionality, it would truly be the leader in the realm of BI tools, I think.