Printing question

[jray2003]

I have an application that i need to do a lot of format form printing as well as grab information from a Access table and my question is what is the best way to handle this? I know Cystal report is an option, but that is a third party package right. Vis Studio doesn't come with it and so I am wondering it this is the only way to do this.

I will need to be able to draw lines for the form out put, pass variables and access a table.

Thanks again for the help.

Jim

 

[snehakevin]

Hi,

Since you have to draw data from access for your report you can develop the report in access-report itself and call that report from vb.

Using vb code you can open the access report in view mode and print the report from the menu.

OR

write your own report using print command

 

[alishaa]

Its better u use crystal report
its better than access report
in access u have to search a lot to find
how to insert fields, groups, sort order etc
I still dont know how t pass paaramters
u use the crytal its best option

vb 7.0 tried to disacrd crystal report
nut when comes to vb.net they came back
to crystal report

 

[johnwm]

There is an old version of Crystal (around V4) included in VS (I seem to recall it's on disk 3), which may be enough for you.

Will the end user always have a copy of Access? If so you could use the print report from Access. However if you want to draw lines and print variables as well as tables you could consider using Word.

________________________________________________________________
If you want to get the best response to a question, please check out FAQ222-2244 first

'People who live in windowed environments shouldn't cast pointers.'

 

[jray2003]

johnwm,

The user will not have Access on there end. I am passing information two was

1. Information from a table
2. Information from the form

So I want to created a nice format out put which means I need to draw lines and stuff.

Also, how is using Word a good idea? Do you use Word to draw the template that I want first? I am really new here and if you direct me to some where I will dig into it. I need to produce a really nice output.

Thank you again.

Jim

 

[johnwm]

For first choice use Crystal for reports based on data. If the old Crystal isn't up to what you need you will need to buy the new version.

However if all your users have Word, and you don't want to buy the new Crystal, then you can do all sorts of smart formatting by setting a reference to Word library in your project.

You can read up on using the Word object model by entering VBA Help via Word, Tools, Macros, VB editor then use Help directly or the Object Browser. This is also available through VB6 when you reference the Word library

________________________________________________________________
If you want to get the best response to a question, please check out FAQ222-2244 first

'People who live in windowed environments shouldn't cast pointers.'

 

[jray2003]

Now using Word has some possibilites. Are there any good example on how to use it like you have recommened?

Thanks again,

Jim

 

[AkutaSame]

If you want a reporting addition that you'll use over and over, go with ActiveReports. I had never seen it before starting for this company, and upon learning the basics, was making reports fairly quickly. It takes about a week of constant use (as well as a swift read through of the manual), and you can produce pretty heavy reports. Of course, the free copy of Crystal Reports is good as well, but is not as robust (I find) as ActiveReports.

It appears that johnwm is logged on right along side me, because we keep ending up at the same posts

 

[johnwm]

There are several good examples in this forum - do a Keyword search on this forum using 'Word Object - use all words'

________________________________________________________________
If you want to get the best response to a question, please check out FAQ222-2244 first

'People who live in windowed environments shouldn't cast pointers.'

 

[jray2003]

AkutaSame,

I will check that out, but I didn't thing Crystal Reports was free? I have Visual Studio 6.0 and if it came with it, I don't see it any where.

johnwm,

I will do just that and thank you everyone for the help. This place has always been a source of good people not making me feel stupid while I learn this stuff.

Thank you

Jim

 

[AkutaSame]

jray2003,
was referring to johnwm's suggestion above:
"There is an old version of Crystal (around V4) included in VS (I seem to recall it's on disk 3), which may be enough for you."

When I said a "free copy" of CR. ActiveReports is more advanced and, in my experience, a lot more robust. It's all in the eye of the coder.