Creating a wizard

[Guest]

Is it possible to create a wizard to create ad hoc reports following a specific template in a packaged database? I have customers who want to "create reports on the fly" instead of having me create all the reports in the database I will create and deploy for them. Please advise. THANKS! :-

--Catherine

 

[Marshall Barton]

Is it possible to create a wizard to create ad hoc reports following a specific template in a packaged database? I have customers who want to "create reports on the fly" instead of having me create all the reports in the database I will create and deploy for them.

Yes, it's possible, but this can be anywhere from a
ridiculously complex to a fairly simple thing to do, so more
detailed requirements are necessary before anyone can
provide specific guidance.

A major, major thing to worry about is that you do not want
any code or any person performing design time operations on
your application's mdb file. This will cause major
bloating, greatly increase the chance of corruptions, and
become a maintenance nightmare.

With that constraint in mind, you should try to find a way
to precreate a few different types of reports that can set
various properties in their Open event procedure. A form
can be used to allow users to select options to display
different data, sorting, etc. in the reports.

If you have a requirement to allow the users complete
freedom to design their own queries and use them in reports
of whatever design they dream up at the moment, then you
should consider providing them with a playground mdb file
where they can mess around without disturbing your
application's mdb (or better mde). This will probably still
end up with a lot of maintenance issues. but at least one
wild user won't blow away everyone else.

 

[Duane Hookom]

You might want to look at the query by form "applet" at
http://www.rogersaccesslibrary.com/OtherLibraries.asp#Hookom,Duane.
***NEW FEATURE***
An all Access mail merge feature was added Mar 6, 2004. This allows users to
create simple mailmerge output without using a word processing program such
as
MS Word.
*****************
The DH QBF is a complete query by form applet that can be easily integrated
into any existing Access application. Typically, the functionality provided
by DH
QBF can replace many "canned" reports. The developer imports several forms,
tables, a query, and a report from the DH_QBF.mdb, creates some master
queries,
and deploys.

The developer creates one or more master queries that join tables, alias
field
names, create calculated columns, etc. The users can then select a master
query
(datasource) from a drop-down and then select up to 30 fields from the
master
query. Users can define sorting and criteria as well as grouping and
totaling. All of
this "design" information is stored in two tables for re-use.

The results of the queries are displayed in a datasheet subform contained in
a main
form. The main form has options to send/export the records to print, Word
table,
Word merge, Excel, HTML, CSV, Merge to Report, or a graph. Most formats
allow
he user to automatically open the target application. The Word merge process
will
open a new Word document and link to the merge fields.

--
Duane Hookom
MS Access MVP

Is it possible to create a wizard to create ad hoc reports following a

specific template in a packaged database? I have customers who want to
"create reports on the fly" instead of having me create all the reports in
the database I will create and deploy for them. Please advise. THANKS!