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169Chapter 8 ✦ Understanding and Creating Access Reports Columnar reports Columnar reports (also known as form reports) generally display one or more records per page, but do so vertically. Columnar reports display data very much as a data-entry form does, but the report is used strictly for viewing data and not for entering data. Figure 8-2 is part of a typical columnar report from the Access Auto Auctions database system in the Print Preview window. Figure 8-2: A columnar report showing report controls distributed throughout the entire page. Another type of columnar report, known as a form/subform report, generally displays one main record per page (like a business form) but can show many records within embedded subforms. An invoice is a typical example. This type of report can have sections that display only one record and at the same time have sections that display multiple records from the many side of a one-to-many relationship — and even include totals. 170 Part I ✦ Getting Functional with Office 2003 Figure 8-3 shows an invoice report from the Access Auto Auctions database system in the Print Preview window. Figure 8-3: An invoice report. Mailing labels Mailing labels are also a type of report. You can easily create mailing labels, shown in Figure 8-4, using the Label Wizard to create a report in Access. The Label Wizard enables you to select from a long list of Avery label (and other vendors) paper styles, after which Access correctly creates a report design based on the data you specify to create your label. After the label is created, you can open the report in design mode and customize it as needed. 171Chapter 8 ✦ Understanding and Creating Access Reports Figure 8-4: A typical mailing-label report in the Print Preview window. The difference between reports and forms The main difference between reports and forms is the purpose of the output. Whereas forms are primarily for data entry, reports are for viewing data (either onscreen or in hard copy form). Calculated fields can be used with forms and can calculate an amount based on the fields in the record. With reports, you calculate on the basis of a common group of records, a page of records, or all the records processed during the report. Anything you can do with a form — except data input — can be duplicated by a report. In fact, you can save a form as a report and then customize the form controls in the Report Design window. 172 Part I ✦ Getting Functional with Office 2003 The process of creating a report Planning a report begins long before you actually create the report design. The report process begins with your desire to view your data in a table, but in a way that differs from datasheet display. You begin with a design for this view; Access begins with raw data. The purpose of the report is to transform the raw data into a meaningful set of information. The process of creating a report involves several steps: ✦ Defining the report layout ✦ Assembling the data ✦ Creating the report design using the Access Report Design window ✦ Printing or viewing the report Defining the report layout You should begin by having a general idea of the layout of your report. You can define the layout in your mind, on paper, or interactively using the Access Report Design window. Figure 8-5 is a report layout created with Microsoft Word and served as a design from an analyst to a developer. This served as the basic design for the report shown in Figure 8-1.Good reports can first be laid out on paper, showing the fields needed and the placement of the fields. Figure 8-5: A sample report layout. 173Chapter 8 ✦ Understanding and Creating Access Reports Assembling the data After you have a general idea of your report layout, you should assemble the data needed for the report. A report can use data from a single database table or from the results of a query dynaset. You can link many tables with a query and then use the result of the query (its dynaset) as the record source for your report. A dynaset appears in Access as if it were a single table.You can select the fields, records, and sort order of the records in a query. Access treats this dynaset data as a single table (for processing purposes) in datasheets, forms, and reports. The dynaset becomes the source of data for the report and Access processes each record to create the report. The data for the report and the report design are entirely separate. In the report design, the field names to be used in the report are specified. Then, when the report is run, Access matches data from the dynaset or table against the fields used in the report and uses the data available at that moment to produce the report. In this example, you will use data from only the tblProducts table. Creating a Report with Report Wizards With Access, you can create virtually any type of report. Some reports, however, are more easily created than others, when a Report Wizard is used as a starting point. Like Form Wizards, Report Wizards give you a basic layout for your report, which you can then customize. Report Wizards simplify the layout process of your fields by visually stepping you through a series of questions about the type of report that you want to create and then automatically creating the report for you. In this chapter, you use Report Wizards to create both tabular and columnar reports. Creating a new report You can choose from many ways to create a new report, including the following: ✦ Select Insert_Report from the main menu when the Database window is selected. ✦ Select the Reports object button and press the New toolbar button on the Database window. ✦ From the Database window, the datasheet, or the query toolbar, click the New Object down arrow and select Report. Regardless of how you start a new report, the New Report dialog box appears. The dialog box in the figure is already filled in with the choices you are about to make. The New Report dialog box enables you to choose from among six ways to create a report: ✦ Design View. Displays a completely blank Report Design window for you to start with. ✦ Report Wizard. Helps you create a tabular report by asking you many questions. ✦ AutoReport: Columnar. Creates an instant columnar report. 174 Part I ✦ Getting Functional with Office 2003 ✦ AutoReport: Tabular. Creates an instant tabular report. ✦ Chart Wizard. Helps you create a business graph. Label Wizard. Helps you create a set of mailing labels. To create a new report using a Report Wizard, follow these steps: For the example below, use the tblProducts table: 1. Create a new report by first selecting the Reports object button and then pressing the New toolbar button. 2. In the New Report dialog box, select Report Wizard. 3. Select the table tblProducts and click OK. 4. Press the OK button to move to the next Report Wizard screen. Choosing the data source If you begin creating the report with a highlighted table or from a datasheet or query, the table or query you are using is displayed in the Choose the table or query box. Otherwise, you can enter the name of a valid table or query before continuing. You can also choose from a list of tables and queries by clicking the combo box selection arrow. In this example, you use the Hospital Report query you saw in Figure 10-5, which creates data for customer visits on the date 7/11/01. If you begin creating a report in Design View, you don’t need to specify a table or query in the New Report dialog box because you can select the Record Source later on from the Properties sheet. Choosing the fields After you select the Report Wizard and click the OK button, a field selection box appears. This box is virtually identical to the field selection box used in Form Wizards. In this example, select the fields from left to right (shown in Figure 8-6). 1. Select the chrCategory field and press the Select Field button (>) to place the field in the Selected Fields: area. 2. Repeat for the chrProductID, chrDescription, intQtyInStock, curCost, curRetailPrice, and curSalePrice fields and press the Select Field button (>) each time to place the field in the Selected Fields: area. 3. Click the Next button when you are through to move to the next wizard screen. You can double-click any field in the Available Fields list box to add it to the Selected Fields list box. You can also double-click any field in the Selected Fields list box to remove it from the box. Access then redisplays the field in the Available Fields list box. Tip Tip 175Chapter 8 ✦ Understanding and Creating Access Reports Figure 8-6: Selecting report fields. You are limited to selecting fields from the original record source you started with. You can select fields from other tables or queries by using the Tables/Queries: combo box in this wizard screen. As long as you have specified valid relationships so that Access can link the data, these fields are added to your original selection and you can use them on the report. If you choose fields from tables that don’t have a relationship, a dialog box will ask you to edit the relationship and join the tables. Or you can return to the Report Wizard and remove the fields. After you have selected your data, click the Next button to go to the next wizard dialog box. Selecting the grouping levels The next dialog box enables you to choose which field(s) you want to use for a grouping. In this example, Figure 8-7 shows the chrCategory field selected as the only group field. This step designates the field(s) to be used to create group headers and footers. Groups are used to combine data with common values. Using the Report Wizard, you can select up to four different group fields for your report; you can change their order by using the Priority buttons. The order you select for the group fields is the order of the grouping hierarchy. Select the chrCategory field as the grouping field and click (>). Notice that the picture changes to graphically show chrCategory as a grouping field, as shown in Figure 8-7. This means that data will be grouped or separated by category and also totaled as well if the report chosen supports summarized footers. After you select the group field(s), click the Grouping Options button at the bottom of the dialog box to display another dialog box, which enables you to further define how your report will use the group field. You will learn more about groups, headers, and footers later in this chapter. Cross- Reference 176 Part I ✦ Getting Functional with Office 2003 Figure 8-7: Selecting report group fields. Defining the group data The Grouping Options dialog box, which is displayed by pressing the Grouping Options … button in the lower-left corner of the Report Wizard screen, enables you to further define the grouping. This selection can vary in importance, depending on the data type. The list box displays different values for the various data types: ✦ Text. Normal, 1st Letter, 2 Initial Letters, 3 Initial Letters, 4 Initial Letters, 5 Initial letters ✦ Numeric. Normal, 10s, 50s, 100s, 500s, 1000s, 5000s, 10000s, 50000s, 100000s. ✦ Date. Normal, Year, Quarter, Month, Week, Day, Hour, Minute. Normal means that the grouping is on the entire field. In this example, use the entire Customer Name field. By selecting different values of the grouping, you can limit the group values. For example, suppose you are grouping on the Product ID field. A typical Product ID value is CAR-01. The characters to the left of the — represent the category and the numbers to the right of the — are a sequential number. By choosing the Product ID field for the grouping and then selecting 3 Initial Letters as the grouping data, you can group the products by their category. In this example, the default text-field grouping option of Normal is acceptable. If you displayed the Grouping Options dialog box, click the OK button to return to the Grouping levels dialog box. Click the Next button to move to the Sort order dialog box. 177Chapter 8 ✦ Understanding and Creating Access Reports Selecting the sort order Access sorts the Group record fields automatically in an order that helps the grouping make sense. The additional sorting fields specify fields to be sorted in the detail section. In this example, Access is already sorting the data by the chrCategory field in the group section. As Figure 8-8 shows, the data is also to be sorted by Product ID so that the products appear in alphabetical order in the detail section. Figure 8-8: Selecting the field sorting order. The sort fields are selected by the same method that is used for grouping fields in the report. You can select fields that you have not already chosen to group and use these as sorting fields. The fields chosen in this dialog box do not affect grouping; they affect only the sorting order in the detail section fields. You can determine whether the order is ascending or descending by clicking the button to the right of each sort field, which toggles between Ascending and Descending. Selecting summary options At the bottom of the sorting dialog box is a button named Summary Options. Clicking this button displays the dialog box shown in Figure 8-9. This dialog box provides additional options for numeric fields. As you can see in Figure 8-9, all of the numeric and currency fields are displayed and selected to be summed. Additionally, you can display averages, minimums, and maximums. Sum should be checked. You can also decide whether to show or hide the data in the detail section. If you select Detail and Summary, the report shows the detail data; selecting Summary Only hides the detail section and shows only totals in the report. 178 Part I ✦ Getting Functional with Office 2003 Finally, checking the box labeled Calculate percent of total for sums adds the percentage of the entire report that the total represents below the total in the group footer. If, for example, you had three products and their totals were 15, 25, and 10, respectively, they would show 30%, 50%, and 20% below their total (that is, 50) — indicating the percentage of the total sum (100%) represented by their sum. Clicking the OK button in this dialog box returns you to the sorting dialog box. There you can click the Next button to move to the next wizard dialog box. Figure 8-9: Selecting the summary options. Selecting the layout Two more dialog boxes affect the look of your report. The first (shown in Figure 8-10) enables you to determine the layout of the data. The Layout area provides six layout choices; these tell Access whether to repeat the column headers, whether to indent each grouping, and whether to add lines or boxes between the detail lines. As you select each option, the picture on the left changes to show the effect. The Orientation area enables you to choose between a Portrait (up-and-down) and a Landscape (across-the-page) layout. This choice affects how it prints on the paper. Finally, the check mark next to “Adjust the field width so all fields fit on a page” enables you to cram a lot of data into a little area. (Magnifying glasses may be necessary!) For this example, choose Stepped and Landscape, as shown in Figure 8-10. Then click on the Next button to move to the next dialog box. [...]... Functional with Office 2003 Viewing the Report Design window When you click Design View (the left-most button on the toolbar), Access takes you to the Report Design window, which is similar to the Form Design window The major difference is in the sections that make up the report design As shown in Figure 8- 14, the report design reflects the choices you made using the Report Wizard Figure 8- 14: The Report... the hard copy device defined for Microsoft Windows This chapter focuses on the Report Design window The Report Design window is where you create and modify reports The empty Report Design window, shown in Figure 8-15, contains various tools, including the Toolbox Figure 8-15: The Report Design window, showing the Toolbox 183 1 84 Part I ✦ Getting Functional with Office 2003 The Design Window toolbar The... whether you pressed the toolbar buttons to see these tools You learn to change the design of a report in this chapter For more detailed information on changing report design, see Chapters 14, 15, and 16 of the Access 2003 Bible You can return to the Print Preview mode by selecting the Print Preview button on the Report Design toolbar or by selecting the Print Preview option on the File menu You can also... Prints each record in the table or dynaset 185 186 Part I ✦ Getting Functional with Office 2003 ✦ Group footer Prints after the last record of a group is processed ✦ Page footer Prints at the bottom of each page ✦ Report footer Prints only at the end of a report after all records are processed Figure 8-17 shows these sections superimposed on a report Figure 8-17: Typical Report Writer sections How sections... with Office 2003 Throughout this chapter, you learn the tasks necessary to create the Products Display Report (the partial first page is shown in Figure 8-19) In this chapter, you design the basic report, assemble the data, and place the data in the proper positions You can learn more about enhancing your reports by adding lines, boxes, and shading so that certain areas stand out in Wiley’s Access 2003. .. appear in the Field List window It also means that the data from that table will be displayed when the report is viewed or printed Figure 8-20: A blank Report Design window 193 1 94 Part I ✦ Getting Functional with Office 2003 Defining the report page size and layout As you plan your report, consider the page-layout characteristics as well as the kind of paper and printer you want to use for the output... button on the Formatting toolbar 3 Click the arrow beside the FontSize drop-down box 4 Select 18 from the FontSize drop-down list box 5 Repeat for the Access Auto Auctions label, using a 12 pt font and Bold Figure 8-22 shows these labels added, resized, and formatted 199 200 Part I ✦ Getting Functional with Office 2003 Currently, the label rectangles are much large than their displayed text To tighten... appears on the report because of the vertical layout In the next section, you move the fields around and create a more horizontal layout Figure 8-23: A print preview of the report 2 04 Part I ✦ Getting Functional with Office 2003 Deleting and Cutting attached labels from text controls In order to create the report shown in Figure 8-19, you must remove the label controls from several of the text box controls... report Tip You can customize the styles, or add your own, by using the AutoFormat option from the Format menu of the Report Design window and choosing Customize 179 180 Part I ✦ Getting Functional with Office 2003 Opening the report design The final Report Wizard dialog box contains a checkered flag, which lets you know that you’re at the finish line The first part of the dialog box enables you to enter... the data, and place the data in the proper positions You can learn more about enhancing your reports by adding lines, boxes, and shading so that certain areas stand out in Wiley’s Access 2003 Bible, chapter 14 As with almost every task in Access, there are many ways to create a report without wizards It is important, however, to follow some type of methodology, because creating a good report involves . many questions. ✦ AutoReport: Columnar. Creates an instant columnar report. 1 74 Part I ✦ Getting Functional with Office 2003 ✦ AutoReport: Tabular. Creates an instant tabular report. ✦ Chart Wizard chapter. For more detailed information on changing report design, see Chapters 14, 15, and 16 of the Access 2003 Bible . You can return to the Print Preview mode by selecting the Print Preview. the Toolbox. Figure 8-15: The Report Design window, showing the Toolbox. 1 84 Part I ✦ Getting Functional with Office 2003 Continued The Design Window toolbar The Report Design toolbar is shown