Recently I have been helping a nonprofit modify a system built in
Access, that they acquired from another nonprofit. I am doing this as a
volunteer.
I would like your perspective on two techniques I found in use as
compared to the technique I typically use.
Report Parameters
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One thing I noticed is that the developer used a reports parameter form,
like I typically do, however, he saved the data to a single record table
and then included the appropriate fields necessary for selection for
each individual report as part of each report record. that is, he
included the user parm record in the query definition without any
relation to any other tables. He included the specific fields needed in
the query results.
This way he can specify criteria for the query using criteria data from
the record.
What I typically do is specify the criteria as referring to the field
name on the parameter form- FORMS!<FORMNAME>!<CONTROLNAME>
Any opinions on which is a better technique?
Any one have an even better technique?
Description of numerically coded data in a report.
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this author used various numeric codes to define types of people, status
of people, etc. A common technique. Typically there is a reference
table with the code and the description. the value is selected from a
drop down list box which shows the description but only the code is
stored in the record.
When printing report records, this author used a lookup process in the
definition of the description field. Example, using a field
FILLEDBYID the row source is
SELECT tblContact.ContactID, FirstName &" " & LastName FROM tblContact
INNER JOIN tblContactType ON tblContact.ContactID =
tblContactType.ContactID WHERE (((tblContactType.ContactType) in(3,6)));
I tend to do a query relating the primary reporting table with the
contact master record, where the key of the contact record can be
related to the value in the primary table and then add the names to the
query for use in the report.
Any opinions on which is a better technique?
Any one have an even better technique?