Alison Balteramp;#039;s Mastering Microsoft Office Access 1002003 [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

Selecting the Correct Control for the Job

Reports usually contain labels, text boxes, lines, rectangles, image controls, and bound and unbound object frames. You use the other controls for reports that emulate data-entry forms. The different controls you can place on a report, as well as their uses, are discussed briefly in the following sections.

Labels

You use labels to display information to your users. They're commonly used as report headings, column headings, or group headings for your report. Although the text they display can be modified at runtime by using VBA code, they can't be directly bound to data.

To add a label to a report, select the Label tool in the toolbox; then click and drag to place the label on the report.

Text Boxes

You use text boxes to display field information or the result of an expression. They are used throughout a report's different sections. For example, in a Page Header, a text box might contain an expression showing the date range that's the criteria for the report. In a Group Header, a text box might be used to display a heading for the group. The possibilities are endless because a text box can hold any valid expression.

To add a text box to a report, select the Text Box tool from the toolbox. Click and drag the text box to place it on the report. You can also add a text box to a report by dragging a field from the field list to a report. This works as long as the field's Display control property is a text box.

Lines

You can use lines to visually separate objects on your report. For example, you can place a line at the bottom of a section or underneath a subtotal. To add a line to a report, click the Line tool to select it; then click and drag to place the line on your report. When added, the line has several properties that you can modify to customize its look.

TIP

To make sure that the line you draw is perfectly straight, hold down the Shift key while you click and drag to draw the line.

Rectangles

You can use rectangles to visually group items that logically belong together on the report. You can also use them to make certain controls on your report stand out. I often draw rectangles around important subtotal or grand total information that I want to make sure that the report's reader notices.

To add a rectangle to a report, select the Rectangle tool from the toolbox; then click and drag to place the rectangle on the report.

CAUTION

The rectangle might obscure objects that have already been added to the report. To rectify this problem, you can set the rectangle's Back Style property to Transparent. This setting is fine unless you want the rectangle to have a background color. If so, choose Format, Send to Back to layer the objects so that the rectangle lies behind the other objects on the report.

Bound Object Frames

Bound object frames let you display the data in object linking and embedding (OLE) fields, which contain objects from other applications, such as pictures, spreadsheets, and word processing documents.

To add a bound object frame to a report, click the Bound Object Frame tool in the toolbox; then click and drag the frame onto the report. Set the Control Source property of the frame to the appropriate field. You can also add a bound object frame to a report by dragging and dropping an OLE field from the field list onto the report.

Unbound Object Frames

You can use unbound object frames to add logos and other pictures to a report. Unlike bound object frames, however, they aren't tied to underlying data.

To add an unbound object frame to a report, click the Unbound Object Frame tool in the toolbox. Click and drag the object frame to place it on the report. This opens the Insert Object dialog box, shown in Figure 6.13, which you use to create a new OLE object or insert an existing OLE object from a file on disk. If you click Create from File, the Insert Object dialog box changes to look like Figure 6.14. Click Browse and locate the file you want to include in the report. The Insert Object dialog box gives you the option of linking to or embedding an OLE object. If you select Link, a reference is created to the OLE object. Only the bitmap of the object is stored in the report, and the report continues to refer to the original file on disk. If you don't select Link, the object you select is copied and embedded in the report and becomes part of the Access MDB file; no link to the original object is maintained.

It's usually preferable to use an image control rather than an unbound object frame for static information like a logo because the image control requires much fewer resources than an unbound object frame does. Image controls are covered in the next section.

Image Controls

Image controls are your best option for displaying static images, such as logos, on a report (see Figure 6.15). You can modify an unbound object after it is placed on a report, but you can't open the object application and modify an image when it's placed on a report. This limitation, however, means far fewer resources are needed, so performance improves noticeably.

Other Controls

As mentioned earlier in this section, it's standard to include mostly labels and text boxes on your reports, but you can add other controls when appropriate. To add any other type of control, click to select the control; then click and drag to place it on the report.