Bill,
Your original post was confusing as to what you meant.
A better way to ask your question would be
'How do I handle a report that has no data?'
Use the Report's OnNoData event:
MsgBox "there were no records to show in this report."
Cancel = True
If you have opened this report from the command button on a form,
this will result in Error 2501, so just trap it in the command button's
error handler:
On Error GoTo Err_Handler
DoCmd.OpenReport "ReportName", acViewPreview
Exit_This_Sub:
Exit Sub
Err_Handler:
If Err = 2501 then
Else
MsgBox "Error #: " & Err.Number
End If
Resume Exit_This_Sub