ACC: How to Control the Number of Records Printed Per Page

• Microsoft Access versions 1.0, 1.1, 2.0, 7.0, 97

SUMMARY

Moderate: Requires basic macro, coding, and interoperability skills.

This article describes a method that you can use to control the number of records printed per page on a report.

MORE INFORMATION

You can control the number of records printed per page on a report by setting the page break's Visible property. The following example demonstrates how to print three records per page on a report:

1. Open the sample database Northwind.mdb (or NWIND.MDB in versions 1.x or 2.0).

2. Create a new macro with the following action, and then save the macro as Detail Page Break:

         Macro Action
         -------------------------------------------------------
         SetValue
            Item: [PageBreak].Visible
            Expression: IIf([TheCounter] Mod 3 = 0, "True", "False")
   
   

3. Follow these steps to create a report called Test1 based on the Suppliers table:

   a. In the Database window, click the Report tab, and then click New.

   b. Select the Suppliers table and click OK.

   NOTE: In versions 1.x and 2.0, select the Suppliers table, and then click Blank Report.

   c. Add the following text boxes to the detail section of the report:

            Report: Test1
            --------------------------
            Caption: TestReport
            ControlSource: Suppliers
   
            Text Box:
               Name: Address
               ControlSource: Address
            Text Box:
               Name: City
               ControlSource: City
            Text Box:
               Name: Region
               ControlSource: Region
   
      NOTE: In Microsoft Access version 1.x, the Name property is called the
      ControlName property.
   
   

4. Add a text box with the following properties to the detail section. Place the text box directly on top of the Address control. This control will act as a counter for the number of records in the report:

         Text Box
            Name: TheCounter
            ControlSource: =1
            Visible: No
            RunningSum: Over All
   
   

5. Set the detail section's OnFormat property to the Detail Page Break macro.

6. Add a page break control to the bottom left corner of the detail section beneath the Address control.

7. Set the page break control's Name property to PageBreak.

8. Preview the report. The first page of the report should contain the following three records:

          Address           City            Region
          ----------------------------------------
          49 Gilbert St.    London
          P.O.Box 78934     New Orleans     LA
          707 Oxford Rd.    Ann Arbor       MI
   
   

You can modify this example to print any number of records per page by changing the expression in the Detail Page Break macro from "mod 3" to "mod x" where x is the number of records you want to print per page. For example, if you want to print 11 records per page, change the expression to read:

   IIf([TheCounter] mod 11 = 0, "True", "False")

REFERENCES

For more information about SetValue, search for "SetValue Action," and then "SetValue Action" using the Microsoft Access 97 Help Index.

For more information about the Visible property, search for "Visible property," and then "Visible Property (Microsoft Access)" using the Microsoft Access 97 Help Index.

For more information about the Page Break control, search for "page breaks," and then "Add a page break to a report" using the Microsoft Access 97 Help Index.