IS201 Agenda: 10/15/2013 Do form and report exercise. Identify general guidelines for form and report design. Discuss a few key points about reports in Access. Take quiz #2.

General guidelines for effective forms and reports Be consistent Be understandable Be user-friendly Be pretty

Microsoft Access Reports How are reports similar to forms? – Used to create information from the data stored in a database. – Can be based on tables and/or queries. – Relies on tables and/or queries being related correctly. – Has three different methods to develop a report: (1) Simple report tool, (2) report wizard, and (3) design method. – Predefined styles and formats are available for use. – Can use a wizard to develop an initial design and then the design can be modified tremendously via the use of the design view. – Easy and quick to create a simple form/report; hard and time- consuming to create a detailed, pretty and useful form/report.

Reports are paper-based How are reports different from Access forms? – Not used to modify the data in the database. – Not used to add more data to a database. – Designed to be displayed on paper, rather than on a computer. – Assumption is that more information needs to be displayed together. – Can more easily create groupings of information. – Can more easily create sub-totals.

Methods of creating a report in Access Simple Report Tool – One table or query. – Quick and easy, but relatively few choices. Report Wizard. – Multiple related tables and/or queries. – More choices; can create format and then modify easily in design view. – Quick and easy, but many choices available for modifications. Design. – Multiple related tables and/or queries. – Start without a predefined format and build the report.

Report in Layout View

Report in Design View

Areas on report design view Report header: Printed once at the beginning of the report. Page header: Printed at the top of each page. Group header: Printed at the beginning of each group of records. Detail: Printed once for each row in the underlying table. Group footer: Printed at the bottom of each group. Page footer: Printed at the bottom of each page. Report footer: Printed once at the end of the report.

Be aware of report properties Caption contains the title appearing in the title bar Record Source gets the data for the report – It’s meaning is the same for both a report and a form Force New Page causes the section to print on a new page – Typically used in a Header rather than Footer section – Commonly used for a Report Header Keep Together causes a section to print on one page where possible Repeat Section causes a group header to be repeated when the detail data spans a page Special Effect allows for custom formatting (raised, sunken, etc.)

Controls on a report Controls work the same way for reports as forms – Some controls don’t make sense on a report It’s possible to create a button on a report but usually not a great idea Combo boxes probably don’t make sense either – Text boxes are used to display data The Record Source and Control Source work the same way for both forms and reports – Use labels for data and column headings Controls may be bound, or unbound – Bound control: Connected or bound to a field in the database – Unbound control: Not connected to a field in the database. Includes labels, lines, pictures, etc. Calculated controls are used frequently

Creating calculated fields Create a Text Box Use a function to calculate a total or average – Example to total the field named fldAmount =Sum([fldAmount])

When does Access do calculations? Calculations are performed based on the section where the calculated field is located. – In the detail section, calculations are done for every row in the underlying table(s) or query. – In a Group Footer section, the total is calculated across the group This is the section to use for group or subtotals. The total is reset after the group total is printed – In the Report Footer section, the total is calculated across all records. This is the section to use for final totals.

Advice about creating reports in Access Use queries to create calculated fields. – Difficult to add calculated fields using pre-formatted reports. – Must use text box to add calculated fields. Use queries to create summarized totals. – When creating a completely summarized report, it is easier to use a query to create the aggregated totals and then base the report on the query. Understand the predefined areas of an Access report and design your report to fit within those areas. Review the report in report view and print preview. Review it frequently. Save it frequently.