Crystal Reports for Rational Application Developer Designer Guide

Creating a User Function Library (UFL)

A wizard is provided to help you to create a Java User Function Library.

To create a new User Function Library (UFL)

  1. On the File menu, point to New and click Project.
  2. Expand the Crystal Reports node and click User Function Library.
  3. Click Next.
  4. Enter the project name in the Project name field.
  5. Select the check box that says "Generate the Java class that encapsulates all of the functions together," and then enter the package and class name.
    You may want to write down the package and class name because you will need this information later to configure the IDE to recognize your UFL.
  6. Click Finish.
    You are asked if you want to create a new User Function.
  7. Click Yes.
  8. Enter the following information:
    By default, the source folder and package name are set to UFL project configuration.
  9. Add any necessary input arguments.
  10. Click Finish.
    A new User Function class is added to the project. The code required to add the class to the User Function Library class is also generated.
    The User Function name and its return type are specified as the return value of getIdentifier() and getReturnType() methods in the User Function class, respectively.
  11. Within the evaluate method of the newly created User Function class, enter the logic of the function and change the return variable.