Viewing a Report s Design

Viewing a Report's Design

After you open the database that contains the report you want to view in Design view, click the Reports option in the Objects bar (if that option is not selected already).

Click the report you want to modify or view.

Click the Design button in the database window's toolbar.

The report opens in Design view and is divided into several sections: Report Header, Page Header, Detail Area, Page Footer, and Report Footer. You can add items to each of these sections.

INTRODUCTION

When you create a report using the Report Wizard or AutoReport, you may find that you need to make some changes to it to better suit your needs. To do so, you view the report Design view, which shows you the underlying structure of the report. Likewise, if you wanted to create a report from scratch, you'd do so in this view. This task shows you how to view a report in Design view; you'll learn how to modify a report in later tasks .

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Using the Ruler

The Design view includes a ruler to help you align items on the report.

The report is created through the use of controls . Some controls are labels and display the name of the field; these are usually bound to the control that contains the data for that field.

Other controls, called text box controls , pull data from the table to display in the report.

Note the Control toolbox. This palette of buttons lets you add, modify, and select the items on the report.

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Working with Controls

See the next tasks for more information on working with controls.

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Toolbox Not Displayed ?

If the Control toolbox is not displayed, open the View menu and choose Toolbox . You can close the toolbox by clicking its Close button.

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Report Header/Footer Versus Page Headers/Footers

The report header and footer appear only on the first page of the report. The page headers and footers appear on all pages in the report except the first, although you can change these defaults.