Limited by 22 inch Report Column

[GabetheCat]

I am creating a report that is based on a 100 item questionnaire and I need to exceed the 22 inch column parameter. Is there any way to do this? I was able to get all of the 100 fields within the 22 inch parameter but it looks scrunched up, and would look much better if there was more room (length). Any recommendations (or commands) on how to get more room would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you,
Chris.
back channel is fine too - chrishudson@prodigy.net

 

[WildHare]

You got 22" wide paper???

Seriously - I think you'll want to separate your questions somehow by assigning them to a PAGE field and grouping on that PAGE field. (I'm not talking a PAGE on a report, I'm talking a field called "PAGE" in your table.) You'll have 20 or so q. with PAGE1 as a value, 20 or so with PAGE2 and so on. Group the report on PAGE and you should be good to go. It will print 5 pages...


Jim Hare
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[GabetheCat]

Thanks Jim! That sounds like a great idea that will give me the extra length that I need to create my report. So let me see if I understand what you are saying:

1. Add a field called Page to my table
2. Open the report in design view.
3. Click on Sorting and Grouping.
4. Select Page in Field list.....

I only know enough about Access to get by...I've been reading the help on Grouping records in a report to set up the questionnaire as you suggested with 20 q distributed across 5 pages. I'm not sure how to set the values...if you have a moment to write back I'd really appreciate it.

Thank you,
Chris.

 

[WildHare]

Chris I'm getting a slight brain fade here, I'm not sure what I suggested will work or not. Let me mess with a few ideas for a while and I'll post back (I'm doing laundry so I'll be here for a while - 11:30 PM EST)

"Remember, you're unique - just like everyone else"
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or my site,

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[WildHare]

11:45...Well, that didn't take long...

This whole thing is predicated on the viewpoint that your questions table is 1 record PER QUESTION, not 1~n Records with 100 Fields each. If you have the latter design, it's back to the ol' Drawing B.

Create a new field called QPAGE. Set it to 1 for the first 20 or so questions, to 2 for the next 20 or so, to 3 for the next 20 or so etc etc etc.

In your report, add a GROUPING level, with QPAGE as it's primary source. Set the Sorting/Grouping options thusly:

Header:Yes
Footer:No
Group on: Each Value
Group Inteval: 1
Keep Together: No.

Place the QPAGE field in the group header. Place your QUESTION field and any other fields in the DETAIL SECTION.

Open the PROPERTIES sheet for the QPAGE HEADER and set these options:

Force New Page : BEFORE section
Keep Together: YES

Everything else you can leave the defaults.

Since you don't actually NEED to see the QPAGE field, you can make those fields invisible and real small and shrink up the section. But this worked like a charm on my test database that I just slapped together. Five questions per page.

If you have the other kind of design, get back to me, because we may need to finagle a bit. I've done a few survey/questionnaire databases in my time.

Jim


"Remember, you're unique - just like everyone else"
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[WildHare]

12:05 AM

Shoot. I just reread your original post - you do have all 100 fields in the record. But I think we can still work it out...

Check out the PAGE BREAK control in the toolbox. Put one wherever you need it, and it might work out that way. It won't be as elegant as my solution (cough cough) but it should work for now. Sorry about that....

Late Night Jim "Remember, you're unique - just like everyone else"
You're invited to visit another free Access forum:

http://www.forumco.com/jmhare

or my site,

http://www.jmhare.com

 

[GabetheCat]

Hi Late Night Jim!

That was quite some brain effort there (especially after laundry)! I really appreciate that!! You are exactly right that all 100 questions are contained on one record. I still like the idea of grouping per page and am playing around with how I can do that. I've been viewing the database example that is under Grouping Records in the help menu to see if I can mirror mine like that. If not, I will have to let the form looked crammed. Thank you for the tip about page breaks, those do seem helpful. When I view the report in preview mode, it lets me have barely 3.5 pages, it will not extend to a real 4th page because of the 22 inch length limitation.
Thank you for all late night efforts!
Chris.

 

[GabetheCat]

Hey Jim!
I just wanted to thank you for your suggestions - I got it to work! I went back and added 7 fields that represented different areas of my questionnaire then grouped the report based on those 7 fields with group headers. Now I have all the room I need and a much better looking report!! I could understand the concept you suggested but I wasn't sure how to get there...I kept reading the help and finally it clicked!

Thanks again,
Chris.