Creating Reports and Forms Access – Lesson 4

Introduction Ability to present the data in attractive reports and forms Reports represent formatted printouts of data in the database Forms used to view specific data as well as update data 2

Project – Reports and Forms Will create reports using grouping ▫ Grouping – creating separate collections of records sharing some common characteristic ▫ Subtotal – totals that appear after a group 3

General Project Guidelines 1.Determine whether the data should be presented in a report or a form 2.Determine the intended audience for the report or form 3.Determine the tables that contain the data needed for the report or form 4.Determine the fields that should appear on the report or form 4

General Project Guidelines 5.Determine the organization of the report or form 6.Determine the format and style of the report or form 7.Review the report or form after it has been in operation to determine whether any changes are warranted 5

Report Creation 1.Examine the requirements for the report in general to determine the tables ▫ How are the tables related? 2.Examine the specific requirements for the report to determine the fields necessary ▫ Look for the data items that are specified in the report and decide on a list of fields 3.Determine the order of the fields ▫ Examine the requirements to determine the order in which the fields should appear 6

To Create a Simple Report 1.Select the table for the reports in the Navigation Pane 2.Click the Create tab 3.Click the Report button in the Reports group 7

Using Layout View in a Report 1.Determine the sort order ▫ Is there a special order in which the records should appear 2.Determine grouping ▫ Should the records be grouped in some fashion?  If so, what should that be? 8

Group and Sorting Options Value – choosing the length of value on which to group Totals – choose the values to be totaled and where they are to appear Title – customize the group title Header Section – choose to include or omit a header section Footer Section – choose to include or omit a footer section Keep Together – indicate whether Access is to attempt to keep portions of a group together on a page ▫ The default is that it will not 9

Understanding Report Sections  Report Header section - print once at the beginning of the report  Report Footer section – print once at the end of the report  Page Header section – print once at the top of each page and typically contain the column headings  Page Footer section- print once at the bottom of each page and often contain a date and a page number  Detail section – print once for each records in the table  Group Header section – printed before the records in a particular group  Group Footer section – printed after the group 10

Understanding Controls Controls – the various objects on a report ▫ All the information on the report is contained in the controls Bound Controls – used to display data that comes from the database Attached Label – the portion of the screen immediately to the left of the field Unbound Controls – not associated with the data from the database and are used to display things like titles Calculated Controls – used to display data that is calculated from other data 11

Determine the Format and Style of the Report or Form 1.Determine whether any special fonts and/or colors are warranted ▫ Would the look of the report or form be enhanced by changing a font, a color, or any other special effects? 2.Determine whether conditional formatting is appropriate ▫ Are there any fields in which you would like to emphasize certain values by giving them a different appearance? 3.Determine the appearance of the various components ▫ How should the various portions be formatted? 12

Conditional Formatting Conditional Formatting – emphasizing values in a column that satisfy some criterion by formatting them differently from other values 13

Arrange Tab ButtonFunction TabularCreate a layout similar to a spreadsheet with labels across the top and data in columns below the labels StackedCreate a layout similar to a paper form, with labels to the left of each field RemoveRemove the layout applied to the controls Control MarginsSpecify the location of information displayed within the control Control PaddingSet the amount of spacing between controls and the gridlines of a layout Snap to GridSnap to grid Tab OrderChange the table order of controls on the page LeftAlign left RightAlign right TopAlign top BottomAlign bottom Size to FitSize to fit Bring to FontBring the selected object in front of all other objects so that no part of it is hidden behind another object Send to BackSend the selected object behind all other objects Property SheetOpen this object’s property sheet to set its properties 14

Page Setup Tab ButtonFunction SizeChoose a paper size for the current section PortraitChange to portrait orientation LandscapeChange to landscape orientation MarginsSelect the margin sizes for the entire document or the current section Show MarginsShow margins Print Data OnlyPrint data only Columns Page SetupShow the Page Setup dialog box 15

To Create a Summary Report 1.Create a report including field on which you will group and fields you wish to summarize 2.Group the report on the desired field 3.Add the desired totals or other calculations 4.Click the Hide Details button on the Format tab 16

Report Review 1.Determine the order of the fields in still the best order ▫ After a user has worked with a report or form for a period, he or she may feel that another order of the fields would work better than the original order 2.Determine whether any additional fields now are required ▫ Are there fields missing from the report that would be helpful? 17

Control Layout ▫ A guide that aligns the controls to give the form a uniform appearance Stacked Layout ▫ Arranges the controls vertically with labels to the left of the control Tabular Layout ▫ Arranges the controls horizontally with the labels across the top, typically in the Form header section 18