How can you display "No Matching Records" from a Param driven report?

[helpnout]

I am using CR 8.5 and reporting off of a Notes 5.07 database.
Does anybody know how to display a message like "No matching Records" on a report that is parameter driven. I have the report printing one group per page. I need to be able to print a page that tells the user if there are no records available for the parameters they entered. I have tried to use the conditional suppression avenue but it does not seem to be working. I have thought of trying to use an the array that is returned from the parameter but I am not having any luck that way either.

Any suggestions Anyone?????

Thanks
Brad

 

[FoxG]

Hi Brad,

Create a running total on the output field, reset on required group.

Put required message in a text field in group footer
Either suppress field, or the whole footer if count > 0.

Should work!

Geoff Fox (Senior IT Services Officer)
Email: Geoff.Fox@Salford.gov.uk

 

[helpnout]

Thanks for the response Geoff,

It does not look like this will work. I am finding out that what I am trying to do may not be allowed from within CR. I thought maybe there was someway that CR would be able to tell if a multi-value parameter for record selection is being used. I thought maybe there would be a way to tell if the user chooses 5 values and only 4 of those 5 values have data to report on I could put some text up to tell the user that the 1 parameter does not have any data. It does not look like it will work within CR.

I am still looking for a possible solution. I don't think I am the only person to run into this scenario.

Thanks for the suggestion, it was worth a shot.
Brad

 

[MalcolmW]

Could you clarify what you are trying to do Brad? I found V8.5 was able to fix a few of my long standard complaints about how CR handled parameters. Malcolm Wynden
Authorized Crystal Engineer

http://www.wynden.net

malcolm@wynden.net

 

[helpnout]

Hi Malcolm,

I have a report that is parameter driven. The user gets a picklist to choose from. The list is predefined and has all the possible selections they can choose, this does not mean there is data in the Db for all param's in the list. The problem I am having is that if they have selection of A,B,C&D, the user chooses A,B,C&D and there are only records in the DB that match up to A,B&C. I need to be able to tell the user there are "No Records for D" or something similar.

I might be way out in space with my train of thought, but, I was thinking there would be a way to programtically tell from within CR that there were only records returned that match the 3 choices and that the 4th choice had no data available to report on. Off that information would be able to conditionally display a field or section showing my message.

The situation now is that the data for the 3 param's is returned but there is nothing telling the user no data was entered in the Db for the 4th param, therefore no record to return. This could be the same situation for any of the param's. I see this as a problem to the users if they choose param's that have no data available at all. I think they would be screaming and yelling that the reporting system is not working.

I hope I have been able to explain the situation enough. If not let me know and I will clarify more.

Thanks for any input into this.
Brad

 

[MalcolmW]

The only way for CR to display a group is for it to have a record to group on. Therefore, I would suggest modifying your view to UNION on one record for each group (with null values for fields in the view except the ABC or D field), and then order your view so this "null" record is normally at the end of the group. You may have to add a default value for other field in the "null" record to do this easily.
So, when the report runs, this "null" record should be suppressed, perhaps based on a check to see whether one of the fields is null.
If this "null" record is the last record in a group, then do nothing. If this "null" record is the first record in a group, which means it also is the only record in a group, then print your message about "No values for A" etc. To determine whether a specific record is the first in a group, perform this test in the group header.
I hope this makes sense - it is not a trivial solution, and requires some adept work both in Notes and CR to make this work. Malcolm Wynden
Authorized Crystal Engineer

http://www.wynden.net

malcolm@wynden.net