Access Database Reports

Access Reports Present Data

Access REPORTS are a way of displaying and printing information from your database. Developers often use Reports to display the results of a QUERY, which is what we are going to do next.

Like other Access database objects, there a number of ways to create an Access REPORT. We are going use the REPORT WIZARD. Our task is to display the results of the qryEmployeesAge query which we created in the previous tutorial lesson on Queries.

  1. Open the REPORT WIZARD

    Begin by clicking the REPORT WIZARD icon from the REPORTS group of the CREATE TAB. This opens the REPORT WIZARD dialog box.

    Report Wizard Icon
    The REPORT WIZARD icon.

  2. Select REPORT DATA SOURCE and FIELDS

    The first page of the Report Wizard is almost identical to that of the FORM WIZARD. On this page we will select qryEmployeesAge as the DATA SOURCE for the Report. This is done by selecting the query from the list in the TABLES/QUERIES combo box. Then select all fields from qryEmployeesAge by clicking the double arrow to the right of the text box labelled AVAILABLE FIELDS. The field names will now appear in the SELECTED FIELDS text box on the right. Click NEXT to go to the second page of the wizard.

    Report Wizard Dialog Box
    The REPORT WIZARD dialog box.

  3. Report Grouping Levels

    Page two of the wizard is where you can add grouping levels if required. So we could, for example, group each person in our report with others of the same age. We don't need to do this for this particular example, but it is certainly a useful feature that we might want to learn more about later. But for now, just click NEXT.

  4. Setting SORT ORDER for records

    Page three of the wizard is where you determine what order the records are displayed in your report. So for example you might want to display records in ascending order of age. For this example, however, we are going to put your records into alphabetical order for SURNAME and FIRSTNAME. Begin by clicking the top drop down box and selecting SURNAME, and in box 2 below select FIRSTNAME. This means that records are sorted alphabetically by SURNAME, and if two surnames are the same, the FIRSTNAME is used to determine which record comes first.

    Click NEXT to proceed.

    Report Sort Order
    Setting SORT ORDER for records.

  5. Report LAYOUT

    This page of the Wizard is where you set the lay out for your report. There are various layout options, but in our case we shall keep to the default settings of TABULAR layout and PORTRAIT orientation.

  6. Enter a TITLE for the REPORT

    Enter the name "rptEmployeesAge in the report title textbox and click FINISH to preview the report.

    Report Title
    Setting SORT TITLE.

Your access report will now be displayed on the screen, and should look like this:

Employees Age Report
Preview of the Employees Age Report.

This is the end of the tutorial. I hope this has given you a basic foundation in Access Development Skills. If you would like to take your study of the Access Database further, please check out my Advanced Access Database Tutorials and Access Tips Blog. If you have any queries about my Access Database Tutorial, or my work as an Access Developer, please contact me - justin@dealing-with-data.co.uk - or catch up with me on the Access Tutorial Facebook Page. I will do my best to help. Thank you.

Justin Farrell