How to programmatically create a new column in an Access report

Article
03/17/2023
Applies to:

Microsoft Office Access 2007, Microsoft Office Access 2003

Original KB number: 812719

Summary

This article describes how to programmatically create a column in an Access report. You can dynamically add the column to the report by using either Method 1 or Method 2 that are described in the "More Information" section.

Note

The sample code in this article uses Microsoft Data Access Objects. For this code to run properly, you must reference the Microsoft DAO 3.6 Object Library. To do so, click References on the Tools menu in the Visual Basic Editor, and make sure that the Microsoft DAO 3.6 Object Library check box is selected.

Method 1: Add Columns to the Report Programmatically

The example that follows shows you how to programmatically create an Access report. The code generates a report that is based on record source query. The generated report displays the Firstname column and the Lastname column of the Employees table of the Northwind.mdb sample database.

Start Access.
On the Help menu, click Sample Databases, and then click Northwind Sample Database.Close the Main Switchboard form when it appears.

Note

In Access 2007, click Sample in the Template Categories pane, click Northwind 2007,and then click Download.
In the left pane, click Reports.

Note

In Access 2007, skip this step.
In the right pane, double-click Create report in Design View.

Note

In Access 2007, click Report Design in the Reports group on the Create tab.
On the File menu, click Save.

Note

In Access 2007, click Microsoft Office Button, and then click Save.
In the Save As dialog box, type AccessColumnBuilder and then click OK.
Close the report.
In the left pane, select Forms.

Note

In Access 2007, skip this step.
In the right pane, double-click Create form in Design View.

Note

In Access 2007, click Form Design in the Forms group on the Create tab.
Add a command button to the form.

Note

In Access 2007, click Button to add a button to the form in the Controls group on the Design tab.
Right-click the command button, click Build Event, click Code Builder in the Choose Builder dialog box, and then click OK.

Add the code that follows to the OnClick event of the command button:

Dim txtNew As Access.TextBox
Dim labNew As Access.Label
Dim lngTop      As Long
Dim lngLeft     As Long
Dim lblCol    As  Long
Dim rpt As Report
Dim reportQuery As String
Dim rs As DAO.Recordset
Dim i As Integer
Dim prevColwidth As long

lngLeft = 0
lngTop = 0

' Open the report to design.
' To make changes in the number of columns that appear at run time.

DoCmd.OpenReport "AccessColumnBuilder", acViewDesign

Set rpt = Reports![AccessColumnBuilder]

' Change the number of columns required as per your requirement.
reportQuery = "SELECT FirstName, LastName FROM Employees"

' Open the recordset.
Set rs = CodeDb().OpenRecordset(reportQuery)
' Assign the query as a record source to report control.
rpt.RecordSource = reportQuery

' Set the value to zero so that the left margin is initialized.
prevColwidth = 0
lblCol = 0
' Print the page header for the report.
For i = 0 To rs.Fields.Count - 1
Set labNew = CreateReportControl(rpt.Name, acLabel, acPageHeader, _
  , rs.Fields(i).Name, lblcol, , , lngTop)
  labNew.SizeToFit
  lblCol = lblCol + 600 + labNew.Width
Next

' Create the column depending on the number of fields selected in reportQuery.
' Assign the column value to new created column.
For i = 0 To rs.Fields.Count - 1
  ' Create new text box control and size to fit data.
  Set txtNew = CreateReportControl(rpt.Name, acTextBox, _
     acDetail, , , lngLeft + 15 + prevColwidth, lngTop)
  txtNew.SizeToFit
  txtNew.ControlSource = rs(i).Name
  ' Modify the left margin depending on the number of columns
  ' and the size of each column.
  prevColwidth = prevColwidth + txtNew.width
Next
'To save the modification to the report,  uncomment the following line of code:
'DoCmd.Save
' View the generated report.
DoCmd.OpenReport "AccessColumnBuilder", acViewPreview

' This opens the report in preview.

Save and then run the form.
To preview the report, click the command button that you added in step 10.

The records that follow appear on the first page:
```
First NameLast Name

NancyDavolio

MargaretPeacock

...............
```
The report contains the Firstname column and the Lastname column of the Employees table. You can either save the report or make the required changes to the query and then run the report.

Method 2: Add columns to the report at run time by setting the visible property of the existing column

This example shows you how to display a new column in a report by manipulating the Visible property of the control.

The report contains four columns. The Visible property of the first three columns is set to yes. The Visible property of the fourth column is set to no. On a page break, the Visible property of the fourth column is set to yes when the column appears.

Start Access.
On the Help menu, click Sample Databases, and then click Northwind Sample Database. Close the Main Switchboard form when it appears.

Note

In Access 2007, click Sample in the Template Categories pane, click Northwind 2007, and then click Download.

To create a report that is named Report1 and is based on the Products table, follow these steps:

In the Database window, click Reports and then click New.

Note

In Access 2007, click Report Wizard in the Reports group on the Create tab.
In the New Report dialog box, click Design View, select Products, and then click OK.
Add the following text boxes to the Detail section of the report. Align the text boxes.

Put the corresponding labels in the Page Header section of the report. Align the labels.

Report: Report1
--------------------------
Caption: TestReport
ControlSource: Products

Label:
   Name: ProductName_label

Text Box:
   Name: ProductName
   ControlSource: ProductName

Label:
   Name: UnitPrice_label

Text Box:
   Name: UnitPrice
   ControlSource: UnitPrice

Label:
   Name: UnitsInStock_label

Text Box:
   Name: UnitsInStock
   ControlSource: UnitsInStock

Label:
   Name: TotalPrice_label
   Visible: No

Text Box:
   Name:  TotalPrice
   ControlSource:  =[UnitPrice] * [UnitsInStock]
   Visible: No

Add a text box control with the following properties to the Detail section. Put the text box directly above the ProductName control.

This control acts as a counter for the number of records in the report.
```
Text Box:
-----------------------
Name: Counter
ControlSource: =1
Visible: No
RunningSum: Over All
```
On the Toolbox, click Page Break.

Note

In Access 2007, click Add or Remove Page Break in the Controls group on the Design tab.
Add a page break control to the lower-left corner of the Detail section. Put the page break control directly below the ProductName control. Set the Name property to PageBreak.

In the Detail section, set the OnFormat property to the following event procedure:

If Me![Counter] Mod 2 = 0 Then Me![PageBreak].Visible = True _
Else Me![PageBreak].Visible = False

To reduce the blank space in the report, put your pointer between the bottom of the Detail section and the Page Footer and then drag up.

In the Page Footer section, set the OnPrint property to the event procedure that follows:

If Me![PageBreak].Visible = True Then
 Me![TotalPrice].Visible = True
 Me![TotalPrice_label].Visible = True
Else
 Me![TotalPrice].Visible = False
 Me![TotalPrice_label].Visible = False
End If

When PageBreak occurs, the TotalPrice column appears.

Preview the report. The records that follow appear on the first page:
```
Product NameUnit PriceUnit in Stock

Cahi$18.0039

Chang$19.0017
```
Note

The first page of the report contains three columns.

The records that follow appear on the second page:
```
Product NameUnit PriceUnit in StockTotal Amount

Aniseed Syrup $10.0013    130

Chef A...    $22.00 53    1166
```
Note

The page break occurs after the first page. Therefore, the second page of the report contains four columns.

References

For more information about how to programmatically create an Access report, visit the following article:

Create a simple report