The Custom Query Tool has been replaced by the more powerful and complete Crimestar RMS Report Creator.
* The Custom query tool only works with Crimestar Professional Edition.
CrimeStar provides a tool for extracting information from the database. This tool simplifies the process of executing and creating your own custom queries and reports.
This tool attempts to simplify operations for the end user by :
· Displaying field names in plain English phrases.
· Listing comparison options in plain English rather than in mathematical symbols
· Letting you focus on results rather than on programming logic.
This tool provides a full range of analysis options by offering up to 18 different comparison operators. Operators use English terminology like: Begins with, Ends with, Exactly matches and Sounds like. You can easily summarize the data you find. You can calculate totals, averages, counts or find the largest or smallest values.
Each query can contain up to 10 conditions (such as "amount is greater than $100"). Each condition can contain up to 12 comparison values (e.g., "city equals Chicago, Los Angeles or New York") allowing for a total of 120 comparisons per query. Furthermore, you can connect the conditions with AND/OR logic and specify parentheses to clarify the order of operations for your conditions. For example, "amount is greater than $100 and (city equals Chicago, Los Angeles or New York)".
The CrimeStar custom query tool automatically saves your settings every time you run a query. You can give each query a descriptive title to make it easy to recognize every time you need it. You can also copy and then modify existing queries instead of writing each new one from scratch. When you want to view sets of information based on changing values, the custom query tool lets you create fill-in queries. For example, suppose you want to run weekly reports for totals over a certain threshold, but the minimum threshold changes. Every time you run this query, the query tool will ask you to fill in the minimum threshold.
Query results can be displayed or saved in the many different formats such as:
· On-screen tabular views (a browse window)
· Reports
· Text files
· Mail-merge files
· Databases
· Lotus or Excel spreadsheets
When you output the query to a report, the query tool helps you modify the page layout and preview the results on screen before printing. The modified report form is saved as part of the query for future use.
You have the power to set up each query to work exactly the way you want:
· Select which fields should appear in the query results.
· Arrange the fields in any order.
· Choose up to nine fields to sort on, with ascending or descending order for each field.
· Select up to three fields for grouping results.
· Specify any number of summaries: averages, totals, counts, maximum or minimum values.
· Eliminate or include duplicate records at your option.