Make report text controls invisible based on another field value

[Girraffa]

Hello esteemed colleagues!
I have been struggling for awhile now with making some controls invisible in my report based on another control's value. The report isn't a "rows and totals" sort of report; instead the detail section is a set of fields from a table of largely text-type data from qualitative reports on animals for an animal care facility. This particular report is on incidents reported for particular animals. I have a field that indicates if the incident is "closed" (combobox) and subsequent fields for: the date it was closed, comments on the closure, a checkbox for whether or not the records for the incident have been sent to the owner and another text field for detailing which records were sent and to whom. I would like all the fields I listed after the combobox to be invisible when the incident is not closed. I have tried putting the following code in the "on format" event of the detail section to no avail:

Private Sub Detail_Format(Cancel As Integer, FormatCount As Integer)
If Me.cboClosed = -1 Then
Me.txtDateClosed.Visible = True
Me.txtClosedComnts.Visible = True
Me.chkRecordsSent.Visible = True
Me.txtRecordsTo.Visible = True
Else
Me.txtDateClosed.Visible = False
Me.txtClosedComnts.Visible = False
Me.chkRecordsSent.Visible = False
Me.txtRecordsTo.Visible = False
End If
End Sub

What am I doing wrong and/or is this possible?


Thank you!

[ranman256]

put the code in the ON PRINT event:

sub OnPrint()
dim bOn as boolean 
bOn = Me.cboClosed = -1


Me.txtDateClosed.Visible = bOn
Me.txtClosedComnts.Visible = bOn
Me.chkRecordsSent.Visible = bOn
Me.txtRecordsTo.Visible = bOn
end sub

[Girraffa]

ranman thank you for your quick response. I tried that but the controls still appear, both in print preview and in normal mode. I am wondering if my report setup is to blame?
Query:

top of report design:

bottom of report design with the fields in question:

[June7]

Combobox on a report really doesn't make sense. Change it to a textbox.

Is IncidentClosed a yes/no type field? Why even have this field since you have a DateClosed field? If DateClosed is null then the incident is not closed. IncidentClosed field is redundant.

Since you want the controls invisible when the incident is NOT closed, use NOT to reverse the Boolean returned.

Me.txtDateClosed.Visible = Not IsNull(Me.DateClosed)

But why bother with setting controls invisible? Will just leave a bunch of white space on the report where the controls sit.

[ranman256]

combo box is not needed on a report.

[Girraffa]

I was trying to make the reports appear cleaner because not all the fields are needed for all records, but I have checked with my boss and he says he is fine with blank fields. I agree about the combobox, that is a relic of a form being turned into a report and will fix that. That is also a good point about the incident closed/ date incident closed, thanks!
I tried the code and couldn't make it work for me, I'm curious what I'm doing wrong but since it's not necessary I will have to backburner that. Thanks folks!

[ranman256]

hmm, it should work. Put a breakpoint (f9) on bOn = Me.cboClosed = -1
and see what the values are when it stops.