### Advantages

While there are many reasons for using the Crystal SQL Designer, the primary one is the ability to off-load most of the data retrieval process to a server and store the resulting data as a separate data set. By using this SQL pass-through technique, where data retrieval tasks are passed through to the server, you retrieve your data faster and more efficiently. Any time you are working with SQL data, you should consider building a query file before designing your report.

In addition, the SQL Expert provides for more control over your data with the SQL language. The Report Designer provides some SQL language features when accessing SQL or ODBC data, but the Query Expert is a powerful query tool that provides more powerful SQL data access features. The Query Expert allows aggregate functions in an SQL statement and supports all data query elements of the SQL language. If you know the SQL language, you can perform complex SQL tasks using UNION operations and sub-queries. See The SQL language.

### Disadvantages

Since a query represents a complete data set, any records, fields, or tables that were not included when the query was created will not be available when using the query to build a report. A report cannot be any more complex than the data it accesses, so by using a query, you limit your reporting options to the data in the query.

In addition, a query can not be used with any other source of data. If you decide to use a query in your report, you can not include an additional data source, such as a database table or another query file, to use in the report.

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