Now we are ready to format a report. Open a new report. Choose Report Wizard and Systems Software List Query in the window that appears. Click Next when you are finished with each dialog the wizard presents.

Note that my instructions here may vary with what you see. I have noticed that the report wizard in Microsoft Access97 has simplified the job of constructing a grouped report. The dialogs in older versions may be slightly different and may be presented in a different order. The Report Wizard in earlier versions of Access requires the user to identify a grouped report much earlier in the process than does Access97.

Choose the following fields for your report: SysUser, SysName, ProgName, ProgVersion, MfgName, SoftCost, SerialNum, and UpDate . Add any others you'd like to see.

The next dialog asks how you want to view your report. Choose by Systems. The right window gives an idea how your report will be organized.

The report Wizard next asks for any additional grouping levels. It might to see the programs grouped by manufacturer. Just to see how it works choose MfgName and push the > button. We can always remove the grouping later. This option is not available in older wizard versions.

We will sort the detail records by ProgName. I choose block for the layout style. Adjust the field width so all fields fit on a page is checked by default. You can leave it checked then adjust field widths manually later or uncheck it and move the fields around later if they don't fit.

When it comes to report style choose something different than you did for the first report just to see what's available. Later you may want all reports in one style for a consistent look for your business.

I titled my report Systems Software List. Preview your report. Then the work of customizing begins.

The style that I chose left a lot to be desired. The block style of data presentation put each group name with its first record on one line. The group header and subhead sections were closed and all the data was presented in the detail section.

I opened the group header section, selected (Shift-clicked) the SysUser and SysName fields, cut them, selected the group header (labeled SysUser Header), and pasted the two fields. I also moved the two labels from the page header into that section.

Then I opened the Subhead section (MfgName Header) and moved the MfgName field there. Then the adjusted the remaining fields in the detail section. I deleted the MfgName label from the Page Header and adjusted the remaining labels to match the horizontal placement of the associated detail fields.

Remember to adjust the lengths of the labels and text boxes and the vertical positioning. You can select all the fields from one row and set the Top property to 0 or where you want them to appear in the section. If the field lengths are too long for one row per record you can lengthen the section to make room for more than one row in the section. Simply click somewhere in the section to select, move your cursor over the border until it becomes a two headed arrow with a horizontal line in the center, and then drag the border down.

Let Access do the math

Wouldn't it be nice to have Microsoft Access total the software value for each computer? And run a total for all the software listed? Here's how: We will need a group footer. In Access97 this does not automatically appear. (I believe it does in older versions.) In the View menu choose Sorting and Grouping. In the dialog that appears choose SysUser in the Field/Expression column. Under Group Properties change the Group Footer to Yes. Also change the Keep Together field to Whole Group. This will prevent the group header appearing on one page and the detail on the next.

Select the edit box from the toolbox and insert one in the new group footer under the SoftCost field in the detail section. The Toolbox is probably is on your screen, if not choose Toolbox from the View menu.

Select the new edit box on your report and then go to the Control Source field on the Data page of the property dialog type =Sum([SoftCost]). Or to prevent a typo click the down arrow and choose SoftCost from the list of fields that appears, then change it.

On the properties Format page change the format to Currency. If a list of formats is not available you can type the following to get the currency format: $#,##0.00. Older versions had the dropdown list box, but it was often empty. So, the user had to memorize Microsoft's formatting symbols or hunt through the help file until the needed formats were found. They're there, but not necessarily easy to locate.

If no form grid is visible in the report footer grab the border and drag down. Adjust the size when you are done. For the total value of the software listed we will copy the group total edit box just formatted and the associated label delivered by the toolbox. Select the edit box and the label and copy them to the report footer. Drag them to an appropriate position. Select the new edit box and change Running Sum on the Data page to Over All.

Select the Cost label at the top of the page, detail field SoftCost, and the two total fields just added. Click the Right Align speed button on the tool bar with the font selection, then choose Align from the Format menu and choose Right. The first right align was for the text displayed in the edit boxes and label. The second right align was to align the fields on the report.

Now we need appropriate labels for the new total fields. Use the two-headed arrow cursor to drag the left borders of the two labels. I captioned the SysUser Footer sum label Software cost this computer: and the report total Cost of all software reported:

Right align the text and labels.

If Access didn't add the date and page numbers to the Page Footer add two text boxes to that section from the toolbox. Select the included labels and delete them. Move one text box to the left margin and widen it to about 3 inches. On the data property page type =Now() for the Control Source. Go to the format page Format field and select the date format of your choice. With your cursor in that field press F1 and Help should take to format information.

For the page number move the edit box to the right margin and right align the text. Microsoft Access version 2.0: Type =Page for the Control Source. Any text that you want included must be surrounded by double quotes. If you want something like Page 3 of 7 to print here's what to type: =" Page " & Page & " of " & Pages .

Microsoft Access 95 or 97: The process is the same except that the internal fields Page and Pages are surrounded with square brackets as are all field names used in expressions, like this: =" Page " & [Page] & " of " & [Pages] .

Save and preview your report. Now it's tinker time. Use the line tool provided in the toolbox to act as delimiters for some of your sections. You can all a line above your section total and perhaps a double underscore below. You might want a double underscore below the grand total. All this is for you to customize.

Tips: Be sure that your report doesn't exceed the margins or you will print extra pages to be pasted on the right for the overflow. Use the print preview before you print.

Page Setup on the File menu gives access to such things as page orientation and margin settings.