Datasheet

Accessible report design may become too cumbersome using conditionally formatted objects and
suppressed sections. Two situations in particular may be problematic:
• To make the report accessible, you may need to change the overall organization of the report
sections, or you may need to provide different objects.
• If the report contains a large number of objects or sections, it may take too much time to create
conditional formulas for all of them.
For example, if a report contains many non-text objects displayed in a complex series of groups and
sections, you may want to provide a text-only version that uses different objects and a simplified group
structure to meet accessibility guidelines. The easiest way to address this problem is to create a subreport
that displays the accessible version of the report and place the subreport at the beginning of the main
report. For details on creating a text-only accessible subreport, see Providing text-only alternatives.
If you want only screen readers to be able to see the subreport, you can hide it by changing the subreport
link to the same color as the background. Alternatively, you can use the ?Access parameter field to
allow users to choose whether or not the subreport appears in the report. Place the subreport in its own
section and conditionally suppress the section based on the ?Access parameter field. For details, see
Accessibility and suppressing sections.
27.4 Improving data table accessibility
Large tables of data can be difficult to interpret if a person is using a non-visual means of accessing
the web, such as a screen reader. People using screen magnifiers or the Zoom feature may also find
data tables hard to navigate because they cannot see the table headings at all times. It can easily
become difficult to associate the value that a screen reader is reading with the corresponding column
and row headings. Users need to be able to understand the data value's position in the table and its
relationship to other values.
To improve data table navigation, you can use text objects to provide contextual information with each
value. Using conditional formatting or suppression, you can create a report that displays these objects
only if the user chooses to view them. Other design guidelines can help make large tables of data easier
to understand, such as providing summary paragraphs and expanded column headings.
Note:
This section uses terminology consistent with the W3C accessibility guidelines. In these guidelines, the
term data table refers to values arranged in columns and rows. In Crystal Reports, data tables take the
form of group or page headings combined with database fields in the Details section. Do not confuse
data tables with database tables, which are data sources used by Crystal Reports.
27.4.1 Text objects and data table values
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Creating Accessible Reports