There are many uses for formulas. If you have a need for specialized data manipulation, you can do it with a formula.
Adding calculated fields to your report
To calculate a price discounted 15%:
Crystal syntax example:
{Orders_Detail.Unit Price}*.85
Formatting text on a report
To change all the values in the CUSTOMER_NAME field to uppercase:
Crystal syntax example:
UpperCase ({Customer.CUSTOMER_NAME})
Pulling out portions of a text string
To extract the first letter of the customer name:
Crystal syntax example:
{Customer.CUSTOMER_NAME} [1]
Extracting parts of a date
To determine what month an order was placed:
Crystal syntax example:
Month ({Orders.Order Date})
Using a custom function
To convert $500 from U.S. currency to Canadian:
Crystal syntax example:
cdConvertUSToCanadian (500)