Access reports receiving comments by user??? please help

[AccessNovice]

I have a swithboard from where users can choose one of many reports. After looking at a report, the user wants the capability to add comments to the report! Can't be done directly, can someone help me...is there a way to build an Add-In Manager from the 'everpresent toolbar regardless of what report is open', and click a 'command action' from it that would open a 'modal form?' with textbox for the user to add the comments...and a way for this to pass to a textbox on that certain report.

any ideas emailed to caterina@adelphia.net would be very much appreciated

 

[RickSpr]

Hmm...This is a toughy I think. It wouldn't be too hard to add a text box to the report and set its value from a Public string variable in a standard module, which is given a value by a modal form when it closes. But I think the sticky part might be that you user wants to look at the form first, then add the comment. By the time the report preview is displayed, its contents have pretty much been set and can't be changed. They'd have to close the report and open it again to get the comment into it.

Furthermore, this would only work for one comment per text box. If the report is based on a recordset, and the comment is in the detail section, every record would have the same comment. Of course, if the comment is in the report header, that's not a problem.

Does your user want a different comment for each record in the report? If so, maybe you could create a comment field in the underlying table, and give the user a form for entering the comments. Rick Sprague

 

[Brambojr]

I know this isn't the elegant solution, but why not just export to Word?? Or if they know the text they will be adding AND it happens in the same place on the report everytime, then yes that can be added without too much trouble. It can be done in a form, query (you'll get a pop up), and I'm sure there is a VBA solution out there. All that to say yep, but what are ya doin' with it? Do they know the text in advance, I think that is the real question.

For the Form answer, (I am not a pro), but just create a text box on the report and set it's control to the desired text box on the source form. and open teh ropeort then close form (when creating macro/VBA code)
For the Query solution you just add a new column, something like "Comments:[Enter comments here]" and then just add that field to the report. Others will respond here too I'm sure and if I have ommited a detail they will let us know, but I have seen and done both.
Of course both of those really on knowing the text in advance. Otherwise I would just export it to word.

 

[MichaelRed]

Another issue here is wheather the comments would be cummulative (either totally, or over some domain, such as a date interval ...) or individual instance specific. Either presents some problems.

A partial soloution would be to have the same information in a FORM, with the comment field left for the user. Use this as a 'preview' Add a command button to print - which opens the report. The comments from the FORM, of course, being transferes from the form to global var to report.



MichaelRed
mred@duvallgroup.com
There is never time to do it right but there is always time to do it over

 

[Zelandakh]

Back in Access 1, I had a database where users needed to put comments at the bottom. Again, I ran into the problem where they wanted to see the report first, but I told them that was not possible.

As I was running a simplish DB, every report had its own query underlying it. In that query I added a field called [Comment?] which then puts a prompt to screen asking for the comment. This was put into the report as a footer and everyone was happy.

It has downsides like it does not get saved and they cannot modify it, but it was a quick workaround...