I have a weird problem I have never seen before using Crystal Reports.
I built a complex PDF monthly report for a bank that generates over 200 pages. The specifications took months to adjust with the client but it works perfectly now, showing all the data it’s supposed to, all sorted right and with the right headers.
But for some reason the report inserts quasi-blank pages rarely and seemingly randomly before it shows data. These pages aren’t entirely blank, all my headers including group headers show, but no details. The correct data shows up a couple of pages later but these useless pages keep popping up in the report no matter what I do with Section Expert. To be clear the headers and the details aren’t separated. The headers also display fine in the page with the right data, they just duplicate to the extra blank pages before that.
Here is a sample:
NO “insert blank page” box is checked in any of my sections except the uppermost level of data, which works fine, but these extra pages are not inserted at the end of each group for that level. They are inserted randomly sometimes right in the middle of a coherent section.
I also verified the “Keep Together” option, and it is checked for the 4 lowest levels including the details, so I considered data too big to fit on the same page with its headers but the probleme is rare, random and the data overflows perfectly when it does appear (as on page 3 in my example).
And checking all those boxes off didn’t change anything.
There are no suppression formulas and the only suppressed sections are GH1 and GH2, but they are suppressed all the time, unconditionally. I tried adding a conditionnal suppression formula to the headers if there is no data, but the problem is, there is data. The headers just seem to be duplicated uselessly.
The problem doesn’t seem tied to any specific change in header value. In my example it changes when the report hits Common Stock Equities for a certain portfolio but doesn’t occur when another portfolio displays its Common Stock. And I check the data in my data source, everything is consistent between the rows of data that this happens to and those that don’t.
I ran out of ideas on how to get rid of these extra pages. Anyone know what’s happening in my report?
Thanks a bunch.
Try toggling ‘Keep Group Together’ for the groups to see if it has any effect. You’ll find the option by right clicking on the group, choose ‘Change Group’ (to bring up the Group Expert), and on options tab.
This option is often overlooked since ‘Keep Together’ in the Section Expert is more visible.
(You may also want to look at turning off ‘Keep Together’ to see how that affects your report)