Often it’s useful to be able to use date ranges that are relative to the date the report was run, like ‘Month to Date’, when running a report. While Crystal Reports’ parameters do not possess this level of flexibility, it is fairly simple to approximate this capability. This approach uses two parameters and Crystal Reports’ date ranges to do so.
Most report designers are familiar with the parameter’s ‘Allow Multiple Values’ option. When enabled, this option allows a report’s user to select one or more values for a parameter at runtime. The individual running the report could select one or more countries, for example. Should the individual want to select all countries, he or she would need to add each country individually when the prompt is presented. If there are a lot of countries, this could be a time-consuming task. Fortunately, there is a better way.