Access™ 2007 VBA Programmer's Reference

11.1. Introduction to Reports

Reports in Access are designed to provide a view of data in a table or query whose initial purpose is to be printed. That said, Access 2007 takes reports to the next level and provides interactivity that was not available in previous versions.

11.1.1. How Reports Are Structured

Several different components make up a report. Perhaps the most important are the various sections and group levels that are defined in a report.

Sections are used to display data and other controls such as labels or combo boxes. The following table describes the types of sections in order.

Section Type	Description
Report Header	Typically displays report titles or similar information. Prints once at the top of the report.
Page Header	Prints at the top of each page.
Group Header	Typically displays unique data for a group or aggregate data such as a Sum or Average. Prints at the top of each group level. This section can be repeated when the data in a group spans multiple pages. (You can have a maximum of 10 groups in a report.)
Detail	Displays records in a report.
Group Footer	Displays summary information for a group level. Prints at the bottom of each group level.
Page Footer	Prints at the bottom of each page. Often used to display page numbers.
Report Footer	Prints once at the end of the report.

One thing that sets reports apart from forms is the capability to group data. Grouping lets you create aggregates or to view related data in a hierarchical fashion using group levels. Let's say you ...