Microsoft Access Tips for Casual Users

Provided by Allen Browne, September 2004. Updated April 2010.

Print the record in the form

How do you print just the one record you are viewing in the form? Create a report, to get the layout right for printing. Use the primary key value that uniquely identifies the record in the form, and open the report with just that one record.

The steps
1. Open your form in design view. 2. Click the command button in the toolbox (Access 1 - 2003) or on the Controls group of the Design ribbon (Access 2007 and 2010), and click on your form. 3. If the wizard starts, cancel it. It will not give you the flexibility you need. 4. Right-click the new command button, and choose Properties. Access opens the Properties box. 5. On the Other tab, set the Name to something like: cmdPrint 6. On the Format tab, set the Caption to the text you wish to see on the button, or the Picture if you would prefer a printer or preview icon. 7. On the Event tab, set the On Click property to: [Event Procedure] 8. Click the Build button (...) beside this. Access opens the code window. 9. Paste the code below into the procedure. Replace ID with the name of your primary key field, and MyReport with the name of your report.

The code
Private Sub cmdPrint_Click() Dim strWhere As String If Me.Dirty Then 'Save any edits. Me.Dirty = False End If If Me.NewRecord Then MsgBox "Select a Else strWhere = "[ID] DoCmd.OpenReport End If End Sub 'Check there is a record to print record to print" = " & Me.[ID] "MyReport", acViewPreview, , strWhere

Notes

1. If your primary key is a Text type field (not a Number type field), you need extra quotes: strWhere = "[ID] = """ & Me.[ID] & """" For an explanation, see Quotation marks within quotes. 2. The report will not filter correctly if it is already open. 3. If you want the report to print without preview, replace acViewPreview with acViewNormal. 4. For a more comprehensive example that handles many optional criteria, see Search Criteria database.

Microsoft Access Tips for Serious Users

Provided by Allen Browne, September 2004

Use a multi-select list box to filter a report

This article explains how to use a multi-select list box to select several items at once, and open a report limited to those items. With a normal list box or text box, you can limit your report merely by placing a reference to the control in the Criteria row of its query, e.g. [Forms].[MyForm]. [MyControl]. You cannot do that with a multi-select list box. Instead, loop through the ItemsSelected collection of the list box, generating a string to use with the IN operator in the WHERE clause of your SQL statement. This example uses the Products by Category report in the Northwind sample database.

The steps
1. Open the Northwind database. 2. Open the query named Products by Category in design view, and add Categories.CategoryID to the grid. Save, and close. 3. Create a new form, not bound to any table or query. 4. Add a list box from the Toolbox. (View menu if you see no toolbox.) 5. Set these properties for the list box: Name lstCategory Multi Select Simple Row Source Type Table/Query SELECT Categories.CategoryID, Categories.CategoryName Row Source FROM Categories ORDER BY Categories.CategoryName; Column Count 2 Column Widths 0 6. Add a command button, with these properties: Name cmdPreview Caption Preview On Click [Event Procedure] 7. Click the Build button (...) beside the On Click property. Access opens the code window. 8. Paste the code below into the event procedure. 9. Access 2002 and later only: Open the Products by Category report in design view. Add a text box to the Report Header section, and set its Control Source

property to: =[Report].[OpenArgs] The code builds a description of the filter, and passes it with OpenArgs. See note 4 for earlier versions.

The code
Private Sub cmdPreview_Click() On Error GoTo Err_Handler 'Purpose: Open the report filtered to the items selected in the list box. 'Author: Allen J Browne, 2004. http://allenbrowne.com Dim varItem As Variant 'Selected items Dim strWhere As String 'String to use as WhereCondition Dim strDescrip As String 'Description of WhereCondition Dim lngLen As Long 'Length of string Dim strDelim As String 'Delimiter for this field type. Dim strDoc As String 'Name of report to open. 'strDelim = """" 'Delimiter appropriate to field type. See note 1. strDoc = "Products by Category" 'Loop through the ItemsSelected in the list box. With Me.lstCategory For Each varItem In .ItemsSelected If Not IsNull(varItem) Then 'Build up the filter from the bound column (hidden). strWhere = strWhere & strDelim & .ItemData(varItem) & strDelim & "," 'Build up the description from the text in the visible column. See note 2. strDescrip = strDescrip & """" & .Column(1, varItem) & """, " End If Next End With 'Remove trailing comma. Add field name, IN operator, and brackets. lngLen = Len(strWhere) - 1 If lngLen > 0 Then strWhere = "[CategoryID] IN (" & Left$(strWhere, lngLen) & ")" lngLen = Len(strDescrip) - 2 If lngLen > 0 Then strDescrip = "Categories: " & Left$(strDescrip, lngLen) End If End If 'Report will not filter if open, so close it. For Access 97, see note 3. If CurrentProject.AllReports(strDoc).IsLoaded Then DoCmd.Close acReport, strDoc End If 'Omit the last argument for Access 2000 and earlier. See note 4. DoCmd.OpenReport strDoc, acViewPreview, WhereCondition:=strWhere, OpenArgs:=strDescrip

Exit_Handler: Exit Sub Err_Handler: If Err.Number <> 2501 Then 'Ignore "Report cancelled" error. MsgBox "Error " & Err.Number & " - " & Err.Description, , "cmdPreview_Click" End If Resume Exit_Handler End Sub

Notes
1. In the example above, ProductID is a field of type Number. If your field is a Text type, remove the single-quote from the beginning of this line, so the quote delimiters are added to each item in the IN clause: strDelim = """" 2. In this example, the list box contains two columns: CategoryID (zero-width), and CategoryName (displayed). The filter string is built with CategoryID, and the description string is built with the CategoryName. The Column() property is zero-based, i.e. the first column is 0, and next is 1, and so on. 3. For Access 97 and earlier, omit the If block to see if the report is already loaded. Earlier versions do not have the AllReports collection. (Instead, use the IsLoaded() function from Northwind's Utility Functions module.) 4. For Access 2000 and earlier, drop the OpenArgs:=strDescrip from the DoCmd.OpenReport line. In these versions, you can pass the description in a public string variable, and then use the Format event of the Report Header section to read the string and assign the value to an unbound text box. 5. If you need to combine the results with other optional criteria, see the Search Criteria database.