1. how do you make use of autonumbering so that i can provide serial numbers for my data in a report?

2. how do i make a query be performed first before displaying the output as a report? (i need to select a particular date to display the data for)

pls help!

andrew

Add a new text box. Set its controlsource to:
=1
Set its running sum property to over all

Build a query that selects the data that you want on the report and use that query as the recordsource for the report.

serial number works.

however, how do i make it such that the query MUST run first before the report is displayed?

You don't run the query separately. It is run automatically when you open the report. Open the report in design view and go to the form properties Data tab. Select the name of your query from the dropdown list.

what i want is that instead of running the query first and then printing the report, can I just open the report and then it will ask me for the criteria required in the query, after which the report will then show.

To rephrase my previous post, you bind the report to a query by using the query as the recordsource of the report. When you run the report, the query is run to populate it. If the query has parameters, you will be prompted for them.