VBA Access strange behavior with global variables - ms-access

Question

I have a form that calls a series of reports, one after the other. I also have a global variable that I use as a counter. Every time a page's PageFooterSection_Format is called, I want to increment the count. The problem is, the counter is counting higher that it should. Here is my code:
I have a module called genericFunctions:
Option Compare Database
Public pageCount As Integer
In my form, I have a loop that calls this:
'before loop
pageCount = 1
'start loop, which I left out for brevity
'run in previewView first so page footer format function is called
DoCmd.OpenReport reportName, acViewPreview, , , acHidden, !ID
'then run this to open in report view, so onload event runs
DoCmd.OpenReport reportName, acViewReport, , , acHidden, !ID
'save report as a pdf
DoCmd.OutputTo acOutputReport, reportName, "PDF", rptPath
'close report
DoCmd.Close acReport, reportName
'I then have a method that "stitches" these individual reports into one PDF
now, in my report, I have this code:
Private Sub PageFooterSection_Format(Cancel As Integer, FormatCount As Integer)
If (Report.CurrentView = 5) Then
'a textbox in the report
Me.pgNumber.Value = pageCount
pageCount = pageCount + 1
End If
End Sub
I then place a breakpoint in the event. This event is hit 3 times, as it should. So, I would expect pgNumber text box to have 1,2,3 as their values but it has 2,4,6 instead. No where else in my code do I increment the pageCount variable. What's going on? Is this a scope issue?

Answer 1

PageFooterSection_Format runs both for DoCmd.OpenReport reportName, acViewPreview and for DoCmd.OutputTo acOutputReport, reportName, "PDF", because the latter is like a print command.
In both cases, Report.CurrentView = acViewReport (5). I'm not sure what to make of that - it feels like a bug. (Note: this is Access 2010)
Anyway, since DoCmd.OutputTo is like a printing (and thus like a print preview), you can simply omit this line:
DoCmd.OpenReport reportName, acViewPreview, , , acHidden, !ID
At least that worked for me.
Note: Breakpoints in event procedures can be misleading as to what happens when. It is safer to use Debug.Print calls.
My test code was:
Sub ReportTesting()
Const reportName = "Bericht4"
'before loop
pageCount = 1
'run in previewView first so page footer format function is called
Debug.Print pageCount, "acViewPreview"
DoCmd.OpenReport reportName, acViewPreview, , , acHidden
'then run this to open in report view, so onload event runs
Debug.Print pageCount, "acViewReport"
DoCmd.OpenReport reportName, acViewReport, , , acHidden
'save report as a pdf
Debug.Print pageCount, "acOutputReport"
DoCmd.OutputTo acOutputReport, reportName, "PDF", "C:\test.pdf"
'close report
DoCmd.Close acReport, reportName
Debug.Print pageCount, "done"
End Sub
and
Private Sub Report_Open(Cancel As Integer)
Debug.Print "Report View: " & Me.CurrentView
End Sub
Private Sub PageFooterSection_Format(Cancel As Integer, FormatCount As Integer)
If Me.CurrentView = acViewReport Then
Debug.Print "Footer - acViewReport"
'a textbox in the report
Me.pgNumber.Value = pageCount
pageCount = pageCount + 1
Else
Debug.Print "Footer - other view" ' <-- this never happens
End If
End Sub
Output in Immediate window:
1 acViewPreview
Report View: 5
Footer - acViewReport
2 acViewReport
Report View: 6
2 acOutputReport
Footer - acViewReport
3 done