Custom Reports

1. View, filter, and copy report information in Report view.
2. Modify a report in Layout view
3. Modity a report in design view.
4. Design and create a custom report
5. Sort and group data in a report
6. Add, move, resize, and align controls in a report
7. Add line to a report.
8. Hide duplicate values in a report
9. Add the date, page numbers, and title to a report
10. Create and modify mailing labels

Important Points.

1. Use report view when you want to filter the report data before pringing a report.
2. Use print preview when you want to see what a report will look like when it is printed.
3. Use Layout view when you want to modify a report while seeing actual report data.
4. Use design view when you want to fine-tune a report's design.
5. a Custom report is created from scratch in layout or design view.
6. A Report is formatted output.
7. Page Header - appears at the top of each page and is often used to place the labels for the fields in the detail section.
8. Page Footer - appears at the bottom of each page of the report and is used for placing the page number.
9. Report Header - appears once at the beginning of the report and is used for report title, logo, date, time, etc.
10. Report Footer - appears once at the end of the report and is used to summarize the data for the entire report by creating calculated fields with the text box from the toolbar.
6. Detail - this is used to place the most often displayed data in the report. Often the fields are placed in the detail section. Calculated fields can also be created here but only apply to the current record.
11. Group Header - this is an optional section which is used to differentiate between groups of data. Ten group headers can be created. For example: If you were organizing data by galaxy, star system, planet, continent, nation state, state, county, city, street, and persons name you would create ten group headers for this.
12. Group Footer - this is an optional section which is used to summarize the data for each group using the text box from the toolbox to create calculated fields. In the above example for group header we could determine the number of humans in the galaxy, star system, planet, continent, nation state, state, country, city, street, and last name.

Report Layout one group report
Report Header once at beginning of report
Page Header at top of each page
Group Header up to ten
Detail primary data goes here
Group Footer calculations on data for group
Report Footer once at end of report calculations on data for entire report
Page Footer at the bottom of each page

You will notice that the report footer appears before the page footer. This is always the case for the last page of the report.
13.  Hold the shift key down while drawing a line on the report to get a straight line.

14.

Guidelines for designing a report
Determine the purpose of and record source of the report
Determine the sort order for the information in the report.
Identify any grouping fields in the report
Balance the report's attractiveness against its readability and economy.
Group related fields and postion them in a meaningful, logical order.
Identify each column of field values with a column heading label that names the field.
Include the report title,page number, and date on every page of the report.
Identify the end of a report either by displaying grand totals or an end-of-report message.
Use few colors, fonts, and graphics to keep the report uncluttered and to keep the focus on the information.
Use a consistent style for all reports in a database

15. Most reports that you create will be based on queries. For reports and forms that used data from multipe tables/queries create a query to serve as the record source.
16. The Iif( ) function allow you to assign one value to a calculated field if the condition is true and another value if the condition is false. Iif([age]<65,"Get back to work","Time to retire").
17. If you specify a sort key a grouping field, you can include a group header and a group footer.
18. You can specify up to ten grouped fields.
19. In the group footer you can write calculated fields to summarize, average, etc. the data.
20. Each label has a Caption property that controls the text that appears in the label.
21, The Align command provides different options for aligning controls.
22. The Can Shrink property, when set to Yes, reduces the height of a control that contains no data to eliminate blank lines in the printed report.
23. The Border Style property specifies a control's border type.
24. The Visible property is used to show or hide a control.
25. The Line tool on the toolbox lets you add a line to a report.
26. The Hide Duplicates property is used to hide a control on a report when the control's value is the same as that of the preceding record.
27. Sum Function - =sum([field name]) is placed inside a text box to calculate totals.
28. Date and Time is inserted by clicking the date and time button in the controls group.
29. Conditional formatting lets you change the format of a report or form control based on the control's value.
30. Domain Aggregate functions provide statistical information about a set of records or domain.

Domain Aggregate Function Description.
DAvg Calculates the average of the specified field values from the selected record set
DCount Calculates the number of records with non null values in the specified field values from the selected record set
DFirst Provides the value in the specified field from the first physical record in the selected record set
DLast Provides the value in the specified field from the last physical record in the selected record set
DLookup Provides the value in the specified field from the selected record set based on the specified criteria
DMax Provides the maximum value of he specified field from the selected record set
DMin Provides the minimum value of the specified field from the selected record set.
DStDev Estimates a population sample standard deviation of the specified field from the selected record set.
DSum Calculates the sum of the specified field values from the selected record set
DVar Estimates a population sample variance of the specified field from the selected record set
DvarP Estimates a population variance of the specified field from the selected record set

31. The Date function is a type of calculate control that prints the current date on a report. =Date()
32. The Format Painter lets you copy the format of a control to other controls in the report.
33. An orphaned header section appears by itself at the bottom of a page.
34. An orphaned footer section appears by itself at the top of a page.
35. The Keep Together property prints a group header or footer on a page only if there is enough room on the page to print the first detail record for the group.
36. Click the insert page number button in the controls group to insert the page number. 
37. The Label Wizard provides templates for hundreds of standard label formats.
38. A Multiple-column report prints the same collection of data fields in two or more sets across the page.
39. The down, then across layout is also called newspaper-style columns or snaking columns.

Additional Functions:
http://www.earlwylie.com/datefunctionsinquery.htm


Best Practice: