How to have a different "first page" from "other pages" in a report?

[sueb]

I'm implementing a report that has an entirely different first page than the rest of the pages (the first page gets printed on an original form, but the following pages have their much-more-simple form embedded in the Access report).

Currently, I have two separate reports, invoked sequentially by a single button on the menu. Clicking that button requres the user to enter the Account number twice, once for each report:

Private Sub Preview_An_18_1_Click()
On Error GoTo Err_Preview_An_18_1_Click
    Dim stDocName As String
    stDocName = "18-1 first page"
    DoCmd.OpenReport stDocName, acPreview
    stDocName = "18-1 Continuation"
    DoCmd.OpenReport stDocName, acPreview
Exit_Preview_An_18_1_Click:
    Exit Sub
Err_Preview_An_18_1_Click:
    MsgBox Err.Description
    Resume Exit_Preview_An_18_1_Click
End Sub
 

I'd like to do one of two things:

1. Figure out how to pass the entered account number in to the second report, or

2. Figure out how I could make a "first page"-"other pages" kind of arrangement in the Access report itself.

This last would be preferable, but I have a suspicion that it's not possible.

[TheSmileyCoder]

You can look into openArgs (Opening arguments) which is basicly a variable you can pass to the form when opening it. Another option is to store it as a global variable and retrieving it.

In a simple report you can place your first page(s) report in the report header. A report header gets printed before the rest of the report (and a report footer at the end).

[sueb]

Ooh, those are great ideas, SmileyCoder! Thanks--I'll try those and post back.

[sueb]

Well, this almost did what I wanted, but the kicker is the page footer required in the second report: I couldn't find a way to prevent its printing at the bottom of the Report Header page, so the "single report" idea doesn't seem to fit the bill.

And, I couldn't figure out how to pass to the reports' queries an account number entered by the user into an InputBox, so the user still has to enter the account number twice. I put the InputBox's contents into each report call's OpenArgs list, but the reports print all records instead of the one specified. Here's that bit of code:

Private Sub Preview_An_18_1_Click()
On Error GoTo Err_Preview_An_18_1_Click
 
    Dim strMsg As String
    Dim strAccountNumber As String
    Dim stDocName As String
 
    strMsg = "Please enter the account number, or click OK to cancel. "
 
    strAccountNumber = InputBox$(strMsg, "Account Number")
 
    stDocName = "18-1 first page"
    DoCmd.OpenReport stDocName, acPreview, , , , strAccountNumber
    stDocName = "18-1 Continuation"
    DoCmd.OpenReport stDocName, acPreview, , , , strAccountNumber
 
Exit_Preview_An_18_1_Click:
    Exit Sub
Err_Preview_An_18_1_Click:
    MsgBox Err.Description
    Resume Exit_Preview_An_18_1_Click
 
End Sub
 

This successfully asks the user for the account number, but I'm obviously not handling it correctly after that.

Either one of these solutions would have fixed the problem, but I have so far failed to make either idea work.

[TheSmileyCoder]

Hi again Sue

There are several ways to open a report.

DoCmd.OpenReport(ReportName, View, FilterName, WhereCondition, WindowMode, OpenArgs)

Passing the Openargs itself does nothing, you must handle it in within the report. Another simpler option is to use a Where condition, and I think that would suit your case.

DoCmd.OpenReport stDocName , acPreview, , "[AccountNumber]=" & strAccountNumber

Regarding the page header/footer, you can cancel the printing of those. For example to have no page footer on the first page:

Private Sub PageFooterSection_Format(Cancel As Integer, FormatCount As Integer)
    Cancel = (Page = 1)
End Sub

[sueb]

Thanks, SmileyCoder! The extent of your knowledge is really amazing.

[alfranco17]

Thank you. It was exactly what I was looking for. It even solved several issues I did not know I had until you showed me how to fix this.