Ad-Hoc Reporting in MS Access Question

[McArthurGDM]

I can boil this down to a simple question.



Ad-Hoc reporting in Access would require two things:

1) The ability to filter/choose any given record(s) based on certain criteria.

This is a "no-brainer".

2) The ability to CHOOSE which fields are to be displayed in the report as well. This means that the front-end user should be able to choose particular fields to view in the report - not just records.

This isn't so simple.

Does anyone know how to accomplish number (2)?

Thanks,

[June7]

In the last 4 days have already advised 2 posters that this is not practical because reports require so much formatting. Would require TONS of code.

Build standardized set of reports. Users choose report from list or click specific button.

[McArthurGDM]

You are right. Creating Ad-Hoc reporting in Access is definitely not practical.

It's kind of a shame, really.

Do you know if any other database programs offer that sort of functionality?

[June7]

No, I think the issue will be the same with any app. CrystalReports is a report generator that can interact with Access. Supposed to have more features but 'ad-hoc' is probably still not practical.

[Perceptus]

If you connect to the database with Powershell you could try using Format-Table on the query you are running.

[rpeare]

I agree with June, it's more practical to build a set of canned reports but it is possible to build some truly ad-hoc reports that all have the same type of format.

This is a link to an example database I wrote that allows you to use a crosstab query dynamically in a report. the same sort of mechanisms can be used to build an ad-hoc report.\

OOPS

link:
https://www.accessforums.net/sample-...ery-45032.html

[NTC]

my 2 cents is that 'ad hoc' and 'report' are oxymorons; one can ad hoc in an unlimited manner as a query - a query design view really is the true ad hoc vehicle... while a report is a finished object with fixed formatting and such.....so I just hate to see an impression that Access is somehow less able than some other product.... it just isn't the case as any database product has this exact same issue...... one might argue that more formatting could/should be possible in query design view allowing a more interesting print out - as it is just a barebones grid - and that might be so.....