Harvey's Almanac of Microsoft Access Engineering

Reports

Reports usually include the following types :

	Data Form. This is report is called from the Horizontal Menu of the underlying form and will be display the data currently shown on that form. The report header details the Filter Conditions on the form. The same report could be called from the Criteria Selection Popup form that called the underlying form.
	Management Report. This report usually contains complex data, that is not directly associated with a data form, and is preceded by a Criteria Selection Popup form.
	Lookup Table List. This report is called directly from a menu button, and does not require a preceding Criteria Selection Popup form.

When a report is opened, it is opened in Preview mode, which allows the User to preview the report before printing, and limit the number of pages printed.

When reports are called, an “Enter Message” popup form appears. This allows the User to enter a short message that appears in the header of each page of the report. Selecting the Continue command button closes this form and opens the selected report. Selecting the Cancel Report button closes this popup form and returns control to the controlling program.

If a report has no code module within, the Has Module property should be set to No.

Header

	The headers of the report are generally consistent, with some variations.
	The report title is displayed in on the left.
	On the right are the Filter Conditions such as “Vehicles that have not been Billed this month”.
	Below this is the User Message entered prior to the report opening.

Footer

The footer contains :

User name

Local Date/Time

Server Date/Time (if different)

Page Number

Horizontal Menu

All previewed reports have a Horizontal Menu Bar with the following options :

	Print This option calls the standard Windows Print popup, allowing the user to change the printer and select the pages to print.
	Page Setup This option calls the standard Windows Page Setup popup, allowing the User to change Margin and Page settings. The default settings are Top, Bottom and Right 10mm, and Left 30mm. This maximises the space used, whilst allowing hard-copy to be punched and inserted in a folder.
	One Page Zoom This option calls a view shows only one page. This is the default view.
	Two Page Zoom This option calls a view displays two pages side-by-side.
	Multiple Page Zoom This option calls a view displays a user-selected; number of views.
	Save as Snapshot This option saves the current report and data as a Microsoft Snapshot format file
	Save as PDF This option saves the current report and data as an Acrobat PDF format file
	EMail Snapshot This option EMails the current report as an attached Snapshot file.
	Close Report This option closes this report and returns control to the calling program.

Where colour is used on a report, the colour contrast should be checked on monochrome printers. If white characters are to be used on black backgrounds, the report should be tested on target printers to see if this is printable.

Where reports may print on printers with different default paper sizes, such as US Letter and European A4, the printed format must be checked and found acceptable.

Where appropriate, filtering should be applied to the record-source, rather than the report, returning less records and improving report performance.

	User name
	Local Date/Time
	Server Date/Time (if different)
	Page Number