How to use Visual Basic code to collate and to print two reports (292461)

SUMMARY

This article describes a method that you can use to collate and print two reports. This method alternates two reports between the DoCmd.SelectObject and DoCmd.PrintOut Visual Basic methods. Microsoft provides programming examples for illustration only, without warranty either expressed or implied. This includes, but is not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. This article assumes that you are familiar with the programming language that is being demonstrated and with the tools that are used to create and to debug procedures. Microsoft support engineers can help explain the functionality of a particular procedure, but they will not modify these examples to provide added functionality or construct procedures to meet your specific requirements.

MORE INFORMATION

At times, you may want to print page 1 of one report and then collate that page with page 1 of another report. Opening the reports and printing each page individually requires the underlying query to run each time. An alternative method is to incorporate both reports in a main/sub report.

To collate and print two reports and to test the results, follow these steps:

Open the sample database Northwind.mdb or the sample Access project NorthwindCS.adp.

Create a new module, and then type or paste the following code:

'***********************************
'Declarations section of the module
'***********************************
Option Explicit
'*********************************************************************
'NumPages is the number of pages in the largest report. If one report
'has fewer pages, the DoCmd.PrintOut statement for the smaller report
'runs correctly, and no additional pages are printed.
'*********************************************************************
Function CollateReports(NumPages, Rpt1 As String, Rpt2 As String)
    Dim MyPageNum As Integer

    'Set the page number loop and alternate printing the report pages.
    For MyPageNum = 1 To NumPages
        'NumPages is the number of pages to print.
        DoCmd.SelectObject acReport, Rpt1, True
        DoCmd.PrintOut acPages, MyPageNum, MyPageNum
        DoCmd.SelectObject acReport, Rpt2, True
        DoCmd.PrintOut acPages, MyPageNum, MyPageNum
    Next MyPageNum
End Function

To test the results, type the following line in the Immediate window, and then press ENTER:
```
? CollateReports(1, "Sales by Category", "Sales Totals by Amount")
						
```
Note that Microsoft Access prints one page from each report.

REFERENCES

For more information about the SelectObject method, click Microsoft Visual Basic Help on the Help menu, type selectobject in the Office Assistant or the Answer Wizard, and then click Search to view the topics returned.

For more information about the PrintOut method, click Microsoft Visual Basic Help on the Help menu, type printout in the Office Assistant or the Answer Wizard, and then click Search to view the topics returned.