Database Reference
In-Depth Information
PRACTICE FILES
To complete the exercises in this chapter, you need the practice file
contained in the Chapter05 practice file folder. For more information, see “Download
the practice iles” in this topic's Introduction.
Creating reports by using a wizard
You can divide the content of an Access report into two general categories: information de-
rived from records in one or more tables, and everything else. The
everything else
category
includes the title, page headers and footers, introductory and explanatory text, and any
logos and other graphics.
Just as you can create a form that includes all the fields in a table by using the Form tool,
you can create a report that includes all the fields by using the Report tool, which is located
in the Reports group on the Create tab. But such a report is merely a prettier version of the
table, and it does not summarize the data in any meaningful way. You are more likely to
want to create a report based on only some of the fields in the table, and that is a job for
the Report wizard.
TIP
In addition to basing a report on a table, you can base it on the datasheet created
when you run a query. For information about queries, see Chapter 7, “Create queries.”
The Report wizard leads you through a series of questions and then creates a report based
on your answers. So the first step in creating a report is to consider the end result you want
and what information you need to include in the report to achieve that result. After you
provide that information, the wizard creates a simple report layout and adds a text box
control and its associated label control for each field you specify.
For example, you might want to use a Products table as the basis for a report that groups
products by category. When you give the grouping instruction to the wizard, it first sorts
the table based on the category, and then sorts the products in each category. In the space
at the top of each group (called the
group header
), the wizard inserts the name of the
category.
