Carrying out development between different tools such as SQL, SSRS expressions and Crystal reports often ends up in headaches about the syntax and functions available (as there are big similarities). When writing a Crystal Expression to include an IF statement that looks at a range of values (in a similar way to an IN clause in SQL) there are a few things to keep in mind.
For example
IF {MY_ELEMENT.STREAM} = "SA" THEN "Shop closed" ELSE “Shop open”
This expression will only read “shop closed” if the stream field is equals to “SA”, however if I have more than one value that equates to shop closed then I need to think about the construction of my expression.
I could write a simple OR in, however this becomes unwieldy the more values that will display as shop closed.
IF {MY_ELEMENT.STREAM} = "SA" OR {MY_ELEMENT.STREAM} = "SU” THEN "Shop closed" ELSE “Shop open”
I could write a case statement within my SQL, however it could be that I am using a snapshot at a given moment in time which requires me to include the logic natively into my report.
Using the IN string function, a series of values can be included within the IF statement with minimum bulk to the expression, however it operates slightly differently to the way it is used in SQL.
IF {MY_ELEMENT.STREAM} in("SA""SU”) THEN "Shop closed" ELSE “Shop open”
The separate values are stored within the brackets and separately quoted, however they are not separated by commas as in SQL.
Hope someone finds this useful, I struggled to find anything online about doing this in Crystal!
