Cross-tab reports are a powerful way to create summaries of data in a spreadsheet style format. They generate summary data in a grid where the rows and columns represent groups of data. This provides the user with a report format that is easy to read and uses a small footprint.

Ask a programmer how he or she feels about cross-tab reports and you will probably get a variety of answers – both good and bad. I think that programmers can be put into three general categories about their experiences with cross-tab reports. Some programmers have tried using cross-tab reports and found them to be too confusing. They shrug them off as being unworthy of the effort to learn. Other programmers have successfully used cross-tab reports, but found a variety of problems in getting the data that they wanted. This group uses cross-tab reports only when absolutely necessary. And last, but not least, is the programmer who has successfully mastered the cross-tab report and found it to be a great way of producing reports that quickly summarize groups of data. They gladly use cross-tab reports whenever appropriate. The goal of this chapter is to take you from being a beginner in writing cross-tab reports to the level of an expert.