Databases

Unit 3: Advanced Data Entry and Viewing

Lesson 7: Creating a Database Report

How do you create a simple report?

As you learn how to create and modify reports you may experience a little déjà vu. The tools and techniques used to create and modify reports are very similar to those used to create and modify forms. The tools and techniques may be the same but each is used for a specific purpose. Forms are created for viewing and modifying data on-line. Reports are created for outputting data to paper.

In this lesson we could follow the example we used in the previous lesson on forms and use New Object to create a simple report and then switch to Report Design view to sculpt the report we really want. However, in this example we are going to create a new report from the main database window. The advantage is you get additional options for creating the report. If you select AutoReport from the New Object toolbar button there are no options.

The following animation shows how to create a simple report.
 

Some comments about creating simple reports:

1. Notice the many options on the New Report dialog box. The Report Wizard provides even more customization options.
2. On the New Report dialog box you must select the table or query which will be used as the record source.
3. The AutoReport: Tabular option creates an attractive report with a column for each field in the record source. All records from the record source are listed on the report.