lesson 12 – building advanced reports

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

ACCESS2007

M I C R O S O F T ®

THE

PROFESSIONAL

APPROACH

S E R I E S

Lesson 12 – Building Advanced Reports

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Lesson Objectives

• Create a report using a wizard.

• Create a report with a subreport.

• Add expressions to a report.

• Add PivotCharts to a report.

• Work with image controls.

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Creating a Report Using a Wizard

Exercises

– Create a Report using a Wizard

– Format Controls

– Add Gridlines

– Add Custom Colors

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Create a Report Using a Wizard

• Quick way to create a report

• Can add special grouping intervals

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Format Controls

• Make sure all data can be seen

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Add Gridlines

• Gridlines are available if controls are part of a control layout

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Add Custom Colors

• Color Builder uses two methods– RGB (Red, Green,

and Blue)– HSL (Hue,

Saturation, and Luminosity)

– Each setting has a range of 0-255

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Add Custom Colors

• Preview the finished report

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Creating a Report with a Subreport

Exercises

– Create a Subreport

– Prepare a Main Report

– Add a Subreport

– Modify a Subreport

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Create a Subreport

• Subreports– Embedded into Main report

– Share a common field and relationship

• Main report – One side of the relationship

• Subreport – Many side of the relationship

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Prepare a Main Report

• Users should create the main report before trying to add the subreport

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Add a Subreport Control

• New subreport has an attached label

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Add a Subreport Control

• For data to change in the subreport when the main report moves from record to record, there must be a common field

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Modify a Subreport

• Main and subreports should match formatting

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15

Adding Expressions to a Report

Exercises

– Create a Concatenated Expression

– Add an UCase Function

– Add an IIF Function

– Add an IsNumeric Function

– Format the Report

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Create a Concatenated Expression

• Syntax is the set of rules by which the words and symbols in an expression are correctly combined

• To Concatenate is to join text

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Add an UCase Function

• In the past you could just use the “>” format to show all capitals letters

• In expression use the UCase function

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Add an IIF Function

• IIF Function– Evaluates an “True/False” expression– If true do one action– If false do another action

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Add an IsNumeric Function

• IsNumeric function– Returns “True” if data is a number– Returns “False” if data is not a number

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Format the Report

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Adding PivotCharts to a Report

Exercises

– Create a PivotChart

– Create a Report using Report Design

– Add PivotCharts to a Report

– Modify Sections

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Create a PivotChart

• PivotCharts– Can include aggregate

functions – Summarize data– Can be dynamic– Reports don’t have a

PivotChart View– Forms have a

PivotChart View– Subforms can be

added to reports

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Create a PivotChart

• Modify titles and scales before adding a PivotChart to a report

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Create a Report Using Report Design

• Main reports don’t need to be elaborate when you plan to add a subform

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Add PivotChart to a Report

• Subreports need a common field if data in the subreport needs to change when the main report changes records

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Modify Sections

• Subreport display information differently depending on which section it is located

• Format the Page Number control

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Working with Image Controls

Exercises

– Add a Watermark

– Add a Logo

– Add an Image Control

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Add a Watermark

• A Watermark is an image that displays in the background

• It can make it hard to see data

• Used for cover pages

• Use Print Preview to view this feature

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Add a Logo

• This control defaults to the Report Header

• Image controls have different size modes– Clip mode – Original size– Stretch mode – Fits to frame

• Can distort image

– Zoom mode – Fits to height or width• Don’t distort image

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Add an Image Control

• Image controls are not bound to the recordset

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Lesson 12 Summary

• Reports are the database object most often seen by people inside or outside the company.

• Using the Report Wizard is often the easiest way to create a simple report.

• Creating professional-looking reports requires efforts to format all controls and sections properly.

• When controls are part of a control layout, you can add gridlines to separate the controls visually with borderlines.

• Color Builder is an Access tool for selecting colors from a palette or creating custom colors.

• A common method of organizing hierarchical information in a report is to include a subreport.

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Lesson 12 Summary

• A subreport is a control inserted into a main report.• The main report and subreport should be formatted to

appear as a single unified report.• Expressions allow you to create or use values that are

not included in your data.• The UCase function returns a string that has been

converted to uppercase text.• An IIF function evaluates a “true/false” expression and

then performs one of two actions.• Functions that require numeric values to perform

calculations cannot use text values for input.• Reports that display numeric values should be formatted

to follow standardized accounting standards.

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Lesson 12 Summary

• A PivotChart, similar to a PivotTable, summarizes information from selected fields in a data source.

• A PivotChart is added to a report as a subreport control.• The information displayed in a PivotChart depends on

the section in which it is placed.• A watermark is an image control that displays in the

background of a page on a form or report.