Report Layout Manager

[gemma-the-husky]

Is there any tool such as an interactive report designer - for use in an mde

eg - where you can let users create or modify report layouts, all within the app.

ie not the standard access reports designer

i appreciate its probably pretty complex though.

 

[Guus2005]

Hi Dave,

Why not the standard Access report designer?
If you hide all the tables and create some queries which the users can use i see no harm in that.

HTH

 

[HiTechCoach]

There are com objects that are used in VB apps that allow you to add a report write for the end user. Example: Active Reports

I have never check to see ther are any report writrs taht can be added to Access.

About 6 or 7 years ago for a a client who wanted to be able to create their own reports I was considering creating a VB app using something like Active Reports. I also looked into something like Crystal Reports. I ended up creating a separate Access front end that I kept in the MDB format and used ULS to protect. That ended up being the fastest and most cost effective solution at the time.

I also have developed a "report manager" in my Access front end that allows the user to pick lots of different criteria for most reports. I rarely have a user asking for report that is not already possible to get using the availbl options.

I also have started generating reports in Excel.

 

[DCrake]

Dave

Going back to my A97 days (and I know you still use it) I seem to remember that the wizards were actually written in Access and were mda's I once renamed the reports mda to mdb and opened up the mdb, which surprisingly it let me. From that I was able to see how they had written the wizard.

Cannot confirm this as I no longer have A97 on any of my machines. But it is something you could look at and maybe incorperate into your system.

 

[gemma-the-husky]

thanks for the thought

its more layout/presentation

let's say you have a quote form.

now different users/clients may want a different layout - customer address in a different place - company vat numbers etc somewhere else. Some may have ready printed documents with that stuff on, so they dont need to include some items

so a lot of commercial apps, let you pick various report elements and move them around on screen to create and save an individual layout. I wondered if anyone had seen stuff like that for access.
(for use in a mde, where the report designer wouldn't be available)

i expect that at runtime, you could create a new report, and then load it with fields at particluar points. But i imagine that isn't easy to do anyway - and you also then need to design the interface to create and manage the report designs anyway.

 

[Guus2005]

I once created a dynamic report but you couldn't change the layout.

I wonder if you can change an object like a report in an mde. I thought it was data only. That's also why you can't use the build in wizard.

HTH