MS Access Draw line around detail section that can grow

Question

This really shouldn't be hard, I just can't figure out how to do it.

I am making a proposal report that needs to have a border around it. The problem is to get the vertical lines on the side. I can't figure out how to get a line to grow and shrink based on the height of the detail section.

I have used Crystal reports and sure wish Microsoft would learn a few things in regards to MS Access report writing!

I am very comfortable with VBA so have no fears there. :-)

Thanks, Jeff

Answer 1

No VBA needed.

1. Make a dummy grouping that is unique to each detail. For that grouping, set footer to yes.
2. In your new group footer section that you just created, add your line.
3. In your detail section, select all the relevant fields that can grow and set Can Grow = Yes
4. Done!

Edit

Off-topic, I agree that Access Reports could learn a lesson or two from Crystal. But Crystal isn't perfect either. [/flamewar]

Answer 2

Try this one.

Right click on the detail bar and select properties. Set the special effect to “Sunken”. This will put kind of a border around the detail section that resizes with the detail section.

I have tried to get a line to dynamically resize but its catch 22, by the time you know the height of the section (In the On Print event) you cant make any changes!

Answer 3

You were right, this isn't so hard. The trick is to use 2 variables, top and bottom. In the PageHeader_Format event you set top to Me.Height, and in the PageFooter_Format event you set the bottom to Me.Top - correction, where correction is a fixed amound you use to fix the right length. I´m not sure where this amount comes from, you just have to try a little bit.

In the Report_Page event you can then draw your line from top to bottom.

Answer 4

Another method that nobody has mentioned is the one using the Line method of the report, outlined in Knowledge Base article 210321. I've used this one for years, and it can be used to draw both lines and rectangles. It's quite handy for invoices that have variable height subreports for the invoice details, but need the vertical lines to change according to the height of the main report detail.