Formatted Text in report Access 2013 - ms-access

I am using Access 2013.
I am generating a specifications writing database which involves the user inputting a number of items as data which is then incorporated into a report. The report structure is largely similar but there are something like 30 variants with small changes based on the data entered at the start.
Each report extends to around 7 pages whereas the data is only in the first 2 pages. The remaining pages contain standard clauses common to all the reports. effectively they are an instructional on using the products to which the specification report refers.
I now have a rather frustrating problem.
Is it possible please to set up a standard report using a rich text format. I have thought of using the bulk of the report as an image and incorporating this but it uses up lots of storage space. I have looked through the forum but cant find a scenario that really fits what I am looking for..
I almost want a really big text box that I can format in the same way as you would a word document. Not sure if this makes sense so if further clarification is required please ask. Many thanks in anticipation.

You can use Rich Text in Access, with the data stored in a Memo (Long Text) field: Link
I would set it up like this:
Have a table with one field per clause. This table has only one record. Fill out the texts directly in the table (or build a simple form for it, if you like).
In your record source of the report, add this table without any join (= cross join).
Then add all the fields to the report footer, height = 1 line, Can grow = True.
This will keep each clause together on a page. If you don't care about this, you can also use one huge field with all the text.

Related

SSRS Group Header repeat only at Top of page

I have been tasked with cleaning up some outstanding issues with my company's invoices. It is a very complicated report (four separate invoice formats are combined and determined conditionally because the application that calls them only allows 1 invoice format). I am going to try to keep this limited to just the current issue, but will provide as much info as necessary to solve the issue.
There are tons of existing questions about repeating group headers, like this one and they have helped me solve most of my problems, but I have not seen the problem I am still having addressed. I am sorry if I missed it!
The issue: The last tablix on my report is finally repeating the headers on all pages, but I now have the issue where when there is enough room, the header will display in the middle of the page below the second to last tablix.
Unfortunately, adding a page break breaks the page numbers even with reset page number set to false. (I have explicitly added the xml tag and it still resets)
What is the best way to only show the group headers at the top of the page when there is extreme variability in the size of many elements in the report (note fields that vary between one short line and epic novel length and images that vary in physical size and quantity).
Thank you for taking the time to read and help with my issue, I will continue searching through the similar questions that writing this prompted.
I will wait to accept this as THE answer, in the hopes that someone out there has a brilliant solution that has escaped me.
Based on comments here https://www.mssqltips.com/sqlservertip/3482/sql-server-reporting-services-ssrs-controlling-report-page-breaks/#comments
It appears my options are:
1. Accept that some pages will have two headers
2. Accept multi-page reports displaying page 1 of 1 on every page
3. Rework the report to not use a subreport
Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to consider my problem!!
#WhatEva sorry about the slow reply; am in and out of work this week and next. Capsule response: imagine the final, correctly formatted report, and imagine that you have all the text (non-header, non-footer) data in a single table. Add group columns as necessary to allow you to trigger the relevant headers and footers. You're likely to need a sequence id column to govern the order of printing of the rows. The report you're trying to write would have generated the text body fields; rewrite the report data sets as SP procedures to insert those text rows into the table, and ensure the group columns are filled out suitably to generate the right headers etc. Then write an SSRS report to pull that data and use the usual mechanisms to manage the headers and footers. It's hard to be more specific without knowing details, and there are certainly limitations on this approach, but it can solve some problems.

SSRS Textbox Only Displays Partial Data

I have a report in SSRS that contains many textboxes that pull data from our Epicor 10 database. One in particular only displays the first 30 characters. In our ERP system, the field format is x(16000) so the user can enter quite a bit of data. The textbox size is definitely large enough to contain more than 30 characters (it's about half a page wide). I enabled the "Can Grow" option, and I've expanded the text box box horizontally and vertically, but still, only the first 30 characters display.
Typically, the text in this field begins with a number (these are shipping comments so it will say, for example, "2 Skids #60 boxes... etc.). That's the only real difference I can find between this particular text box and the other ones on the report that display the entire field value. Am I missing some Option, or do I need to convert the field in some way?
Thanks in advance.
Pull up your report in System Management | Reporting | Report Data Definition and check to see if it is a Calculated field limited the number of characters as Hannover Fist has posited. Searching the table Ice.RptCalcField I see a number of out of the box things that limit to x(30), but I don't see anything larger than x(2000). There are couple of DataFields in Ice.ZDataField that are that large, so I am assuming this isn't an out of the box sort of thing.
If the Data Definition field is set to x(16000) try changing it to x(100) and see if that makes a difference. Maybe the value you have is large for the printing framework and it is reverting to some sort of default.
Good luck, I would be interested to see how this turns our for you as we may eventually run into a similar problem.

Matrix report - Page breaks for each column group

I'm using VS2005 to create my reports.
I have a matrix report that works beatifully. I have country going down on the left hand side (row group called "matrix1_country_name") and data going across for 2 column groups, product_node and month (column groups "matrix1_Node" and "matrix1_calendar_month_name" respectively)
The only thing I want to improve is that this report will always show 5 year/60 months of data, and with multiple nodes I'd rather have each node be on its own page (Ideally I'd love to have it on the same page but in the rows just below to first node, but I'm not sure that's even possible).
I've seen numerous responses on these boards about putting in page breaks on column groups, but I can't seem to find how to do that in VS2005. The examples I've read that can do that seem to have a different interface so I'm guessing they aren't in VS2005.
Does VS2005 allow you to add page breaks after each group item and I'm just missing it? Or is there a trick I can do to get that to happen? I've also read about nestin matrix reports in list reports but that seems more complicated than doing the page break on the column group, so I'd rather do the easiest solution if I can.
Ah, I see pagebreaks are ignored on column_groups. Well I guess I'll try one of these workarounds.
http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/sqlreportingservices/thread/ea9d795b-8d17-41d2-a1d7-a4069ebb4539

Building a rdl report for CRM

I'm creating my first report for CRM 2011 using SQL Server Business Intelligence Development Studio and i've managed to do a decent amount but as I move into the more complex parts i'm becoming stuck, and I was wondering if someone would be able to help me with a few questions I have:
I'm using fetchXml to get the data from CRM for some accounts that the report is for, I need to include some data from a child entity but can't include them in the same way that I can for a parent entity to accounts. So for this I'm assuming I need to use a separate fetch query, but how do I pass the ID of the account the report is looking at into the second fetch query as a parameter?
Once I've got the names of all the child items with the fetchXml, whats the easiest way to display them all in a numbered list?
EDIT: For 1 and 2 I found that I can use a subreport with the child data in it. Using a list item I can show all in a bulleted list and I can pass the parameter through from the main report to the subreport
I'm listing the account's address on the report but since they might or might not have the lines 2 and 3 fields completed i'm unsure of how to display it without either missing off some of the address or leaving big gaps. I've tried creating different text boxes with the different combinations of line 1, 2 and 3 and then make only one visible with the use of expressions but the iif statement always returns false. Is there an easier way to do this?
EDIT: I've found out how to do this using a number of different text boxes containing the different combinations and hiding them using the visibility rule. What was initially confusing though is that the rule is for if the box should be hidden, rather than if it should be shown
When I add a field onto the report it always has a "First()" statement on it. Is this required or will it limit my report in any way?
EDIT: This doesn't seem to have an effect on the report as the record to run it against is always selected beforehand, so the First() statement doesn't restrict any data
If anyone could help me with any of these questions at all then that would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
I've found the answers to my questions, i've put them in the original post.

Access 2007 Report: Code or no Code?

I've been researching around a lot and I just can't find something I think should be very easy to someone with very little experience with Access 2007.
I am trying to create a report. The db has two tables. One with account, name and address. The other has account and product Id. The tables are joined on account. One customer/acct can have several product Ids.
I need to create a mailing that will have rich text in the body and list per account/customer the products they have.
I keep running into having the rich text(body of letter) showing each time the product Id is listed. Do I need to create something in code first? Like an array with the product Id so I can have it as one variable per account/customer? If so, where should I create this? In code, macro or expression builder?
Getting kind of frustrated I guess. I'm tempted to write something in C# as I have enough knowledge I think to make this happen, but I prefer to keep it all in Access. I might also be asked to keep it in access and c# is not what is used currently where this project is being built.
Rogue:
You should use a page header on your report containing the formatted customer/account info, probably: "Dear Account:... " You're treating each id as a separate form letter. What you want is each customer to get the letter via treating the customer as a page header and group footer, while the id's go into the details.
Then, the one or more products would be in the detail section.
The closing of the letter would be in the group (customer info) footer: "We look forward blah., blah sincerely.....
Then, set the property of the group footer to "force new page after section", meaning when you get to a new customer, eject to a blank page and start printing another letter.
Hope this helps.