Print preview without saving record

[SacValGal]

I'm posting this question to Forms forum because I'm sure I can't do this with a report--though a report is really what I need to be using.

My database has buttons on the forms to preview a "page printout" report based on the data in the record displayed. The reports - formatted to closely resemble printed questionnaires provided by the client - are based on queries, run with criteria conditions to match the record on the screen. So, to run the report, you have to have queriable data -- i.e. the data shown in the form has to have been saved to table. So the print preview buttons include a Save command.

The client would like to be able to view the printout of a potential new (or changed) record without saving. (There is an audit trail that tracks changes and deletions once a record has been saved.) The only way I can think of that this might be done would be to print directly off of the form--which would produce un-pretty results at best, I'm afraid, and seems like a headache to set up. But would it even work? Using the file menu to preview printout of a form seems to save the record.

So, my questions:
1. Is there something I'm missing such that I could run the reports without saving the data?
2. If I DID print out the form instead of the report, can even THAT be done without saving the record? (They would only need to preview without saving, not actually print.)

 

[Smart]

Instead of having the reports data source as a table or query you can base each field in the report on each field on the form

In the report fields data source type

=forms![yourform]![fieldname]

do this for each field on the report

 

[SacValGal]

Thanks--sounds like that would work.

 

[SacValGal]

Just to close the story: I proposed an easier solution to the client. We approached the problem from the audit trail end. Since the audit trail is for their convenience and doesn't need to meet strict accountability standards, we decided to put a one-hour lag on tracking. That was a lot faster for me to do than set the source of each field on five different report pages (and I still would have needed the query-based reports also). But I liked being able to say, not "That can't be done" but "I recommend a different solution." So thanks again, "Smart"!