Sometimes, when developing a report in Access, one might wish for more than one single Detail Section. Perhaps 22 inches is just not enough, perhaps conflicting settings should be applied to different areas of the section, perhaps a section break could serve as a conditional page break.
There is a simple trick to obtain as many Detail Sections as needed. Well, there is a limit — isn’t there always? — often user-defined sections on any report (and 200″ total height). There is also a prerequisite: the rows must have a unique identifier.
If there is an “identity†field, or a combination of fields that serve as unique key, then you can create a group on that field or fields. Since the key will change for every record, the “group†will contain only a single record, and thus both the group header and the group footer will behave just like the detail section.
For example, if you are designing a complex financial report for your customers, based on the Customers Table, having the field ID as key field, you simply create a group on that field:
* Open the report in design view,
* activate the “Sorting and Grouping†sheet,
* select the field ID as “Field/Expressionâ€,
* (if you have more than one key field, select them one by one on succesive rows),
* set “Group Header: yes†(on the last field of multi-field keys),
* optionally set “Group Footer: yes†for a total of three Detail Sections.
Tip: If you need to sort the records (e.g. by customer name or by country), the sort order must be given at the very top, before the key fields used to create multiple detail sections. That is because in “Sorting and Groupingâ€, the “sorting†portion cannot be turned off. Naturally, the same is true for real grouping you might need also: they must be created “beforeâ€.
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