I'm new to reporting services so this question might be insane. I am looking for a way to create an empty 'template' report (that is basically a form letter) rather than having to create one for every client in our system. Part of this form letter is a section that has any number of 25 specific fields. The section is arranged as such:
Name: Jesse James
Date of Birth: 1/1/1800
Address: 123 Blah Blah Street
Anywhere, USA 12345
Another Field: Data
Another Field2: More Data
Those (and any of the other fields the client specifies) could be arranged in any order and the label on the left could be whatever the client decides (example: 'DOB' instead of 'Date of Birth'). IDEALLY, I'd like to be able to have a web interface where you can click on the fields you want, specify the order in which they'll appear, and specify what the custom label is. I figured out a way to specify the labels and order them (and load them 'dynamically' in the report) but I wanted to take it one step further if I could and allow dynamic field (right side) selection and ordering. The catch is, I want to do this without using dynamic SQL. I went down the path of having a configuration table that contained an ordinal, custom label text, and the actual column name and attempting to join that table with the table that actually contains the data via information_schema.columns. Maybe querying ALL of the potential fields and having an INNER JOIN do my filtering (if there's a match from the 'configuration' table, etc). That doesn't work like I thought it would :) I guess I was thinking I could simulate the functionality of a dataset (it having the value and field name baked in to the object). I realize that this isn't the optimal tool to be attempting such a feat, it's just what I'm forced to work with.
The configuration table would hold the configuration for many customers/reports and I would be filtering by a customer ID. The config table would look somthing like this:
CustID LabelText ColumnName Ordinal
1 First Name FName 1
1 Last Name LName 2
1 Date of Birth DOBirth 3
2 Client ID ClientID 1
2 Last Name LName 2
2 Address 1 Address1 3
2 Address 2 Address2 4
All that to say:
Is there a way to pull off the above mentioned query?
Am I being too picky about not using dynamic SQL as the section in question will only be pulling back one row? However, there are hundreds of clients running this report (letter) two or three times a day.
Also, keep in mind I am not trying to dynamically create text boxes on the report. I will either just concatenate the fields into a single string and dump that into a text box or I'll have multiple reports each with a set number of text boxes expecting a generic field name ("field1",etc). The more I type, the crazier this sounds...
If there isn't a way to do this I'll likely finagle something in custom code; but my OCD side wants to believe there is SQL beyond my current powers that can do this in a slicker way.
Not sure why you need this all returned in one row: it seems like SSRS would want this normalized further: return a row for every row in the configuration table for the current report. If you really need to concatenate then do that in Embedded code in the report, or consider just putting a table in the form letter. The query below makes some assumptions about your configuration table. Does it only hold the cofiguration for the current report, or does it hold the config for many customers/reports at once? Also you didn't give much info about how you'll filter to the appropriate record, so I just used a customer ID.
SELECT
config.ordinal,
config.LabelText,
CASE config.ColumnName
WHEN 'FName' THEN DataRecord.FirstName
WHEN 'LName' THEN DataRecord.LastName
WHEN 'ClientID' THEN DataRecord.ClientID
WHEN 'DOBirth' THEN DataRecord.DOB
WHEN 'Address' THEN DataRecord.Address
WHEN 'Field' THEN DataRecord.Field
WHEN 'Field2' THEN DataRecord.Field2
ELSE
NULL
END AS response
FROM
ConfigurationTable AS config
LEFT OUTER JOIN
DataTable AS DataRecord
ON config.CustID = DataRecord.CustomerID
WHERE DataRecord.CustomerID = #CustID
ORDER BY
config.Ordinal
There are other ways to do this, in SSRS or in SQL, depends on more details of your requirements.
Related
TblEmployees has Fname, Lname and EmployeeName fields. EmployeeName should be Fname + Lname (i.e. John Doe). I want to enter Fname and Lname in a form FrmEmployeeData, and update TblEmployees with Fname, Lname and EmployeeName.
If FrmEmployeeData has as Data Source TblEmployees, how do I get the concatenated [Fname]&" "&[Lname] into the EmployeeName field of the table?
I also tried changing the DataSource of FrmEmployeeData to a query QryConcatenateFname&Lname where EmployeeName:[Fname]&" "&[Lname]. This gave the correct "John Doe" in the query result but I could not get it to update the TblEmployees.
What am I doing wrong? Thx.
It looks like you are learning access as this question is really too simple for stack overflow. Instead consult an Access book at your library or start finding Youtube vidoes and tutorials on the internet. Having said that here is a start:
Access gives you the ability to add a calculated field to a table in the design tab by treating it as a DataType. You can also add lookups and some data validation. Never do any of that!! Use forms to enter and search the data, and use reports to print the data.
A simple yet quite incomplete explanation is that as your database expands into multiple related tables you will find that entering the data directly into the tables is error prone for the database designer yet alone the clients. Because any observation will be distributed across multiple tables it becomes easier and easier to forget one or make a mistake as you add more and more tables.
Access is designed for quickly making simple forms for the tables in your database. If your relationships are already entered using the Relationships tool Access even generates starter forms that handle 1 to many relationships. Just click on a table and under home then forms group on the ribbon choose either form or form wizard and start playing with your new forms properties:
if you don't see the properties (hit f4 in most cases). Seriously every control has properties you can play with. In particular look at the control sources and for the form itself (hit the top left corner to select the form) check out the default view property.
I happened to include EmployeeName as a string in tblEmployees but there was no need other than having access put the EmployeeName textbox on the form. I would have to go back and delete EmployeeName from the table which is about the same effort as adding the textbox to the form myself. Below I show how to set the control source for EmployeeName to the usual FullName calculation
=[Fname] & " " & [Lname]
Access forms by default have both data entry and search capabilities. Play with the record selector highlighted at the bottom of the beautified form below. You can edit any record you see and the changes will appear in the table. If you go past the last record you can add a new record.
I have a Crystal Report with a database command:
The command has a join clause that can be removed and read from a table in the database, because it represents static data. I add this table (called _System) to the database expert:
Now I edit the command to remove the join and columns that reference this table. Since the report fields that depended on these columns are no longer mapped, this causes the Map Fields window to appear:
...which does not have the new table in it. If I cancel out of this I am back to where I originally was. If I hit OK without mapping, all of the unmapped fields on the report are deleted (suffice it to say... I was not expecting this >:( )
I have tried adding links between the command and the new table, and refreshing report parameters, but these have had no effect.
One workaround is to manually replace every field in the report, but this is very labour intensive.
Here is the outline of the command before:
SELECT ACT.Account_Code, ACT.Company, ACT.FName, --etc
STM.CompanyName AS 'DLRName', STM.Address_1 AS 'DLRAddress', STM.City AS 'DlrCity' --etc
FROM Accounts AS ACT
JOIN _System AS STM ON 1 = 1
GROUP BY ACT.Account_Code, ACT.Company, ACT.FName, --etc
STM.CompanyName, STM.Address_1, STM.City --etc
And after:
SELECT ACT.Account_Code, ACT.Company, ACT.FName, --etc
FROM Accounts AS ACT
GROUP BY ACT.Account_Code, ACT.Company, ACT.FName --etc
I have removed the JOIN on the _System table, and all referenced columns.
It appears to not be recognizing your _system table as a new source.
I would :
1) leave your command object SQL unchanged & get the issue worked out with the _System table, then
2) ensure that you are able to establish a join between the command object fields and the _System table fields, and lastly
3) then remap the fields.
Step two I suspect is the source of the problem, as your join condition is "ON 1 = 1" which I assume to mean that you may not have a common key field in both tables.
Note that your original command SQL selects STM.Companyname AS 'DLRName'.
Hence, crystal now know of a field called DLRName, but does not know of a field called CompanyName, hence it cannot make the association between DLRName in the old source, and CompanyName in the new source...
Likewise with the rest of the fields that are being moved from the command object to an attached table. if no name match exists...Crystal cant make the connection. However...it would list all unmatched fields that are on the report, and all unused fields in the recognized data sources, and allow you to specify the matches yourself.
But it does not...which tells me that something has gone wrong with the attempt to attach/open the _System table. Hence..you need to get that worked out first, then make the field adjustments.
If this doesnt get you thru...then show some sample data so I can see how the two tables are relating ( ensure some examples exists where there is a row match from both tables ).
I had the same problem a while ago.
Unfortunately I can't find anything online that helps, or maybe wasn't looking hard enough. I just noticed that in my case, that particular field that isn't showing in the map field dialogue box has nvarchar(max) as its datatype (in view).
I tried to force the datatype with CAST(missingfieldname as nvarchar(20)) as missingfieldname (I did this in the view), and voila, it magically appears in the map field dialogue box.
It seems that field mapping dialogue box aren't showing fields with blob texts.
I know this question was asked 4 years ago. But hopefully, this comment could help future solution seekers regarding this absurd and weird problem. I just got lucky seeing what's unique about that particular missing field.
I have a specific question regarding the utilization of three tables in a database. Table 1 is called Personnel, and lists the names of the staff.
Tables 2 and 3 are identical, just listing two different types of overtime (long and short), along with the hours of the OT, Date of the OT, and Assigned to/Picked fields that are empty.
Here is the idea, I just dont know how to implement it. I would like to create a form for people to enter their OT picks, then automatically move to the next person on the list. So Rich Riphon, as an example, would be up first, would click on the link I would send, and a form would open up, showing his name, populated by the first table, and showing two drop down menus, populated from the Long OT and Short OT tables. He would select one from each (or None, which would be a option) and Submit it.
The form action would be to place his name in the Assigned field for the OT he picked, and place a Yes in the Picked field.
When the next person in the list opens the form, it has moved down to number 2 on the Personnel list, Cheryl Peterson, and shows her the remaining OT selections (excluding those that have a Yes in the Picked column).
Any suggestions or comments or better ways to do this would be appreciated.
First, I don't think ms access would be able to (easily) kick off the process based on a hyperlink. You may be able to do something by passing a macro name to a cmd prompt but it would take some mastery to get it working properly. Could you instead create a login form to get the current user? If you do that you don't really need to display the personnel list, just keep track of who has not yet responded to the OT request. Essentially at that point all you would need on your form is a listing of the available OT and a button that creates the assignment. Also it may be easier (and a better design) to only have one table for the OT listings and add a column for the type of overtime (long/short).
What if Cheryl isn't the 2nd person to get the form? Your concept goes out the window.
Instead, I would keep a table of all user names, and their security level. managers can see everything, individual users can only see their record. This would be done by using a query behind the OT Picks form, and either filtering by the current user or not filtering at all. I have done many of these types of "user control" databases and they all have worked well.
As for the actual OT tracking, I agree with Steve's post in that it should be done in one table This would be the preferred method of a concept referred to as "normalizing data". You really want to store as little data as possible to keep the size of your database down. As an example, your Login table would have the following fields:
UserID
FirstName
LastName
SecurityLevel
Address1
Address2
City
State
Phone
Etc... (whatever relevant info pertains to that person)
Your OT table would look like this:
UserID
OTDate
OTHours
OTType
Etc... (whatever else is relevant to OT)
You would then join those 2 tables on the UserID fields in both tables any time you needed to write a query to report OT hours or whatever.
I have created an adaptation of the 'Goods' database that includes a quote feature. The user selects the customer (customer table), Product (product table), qty, discount ect.
The chosen entities then get saved to the quotes table and there is a 'print' function on form.
Whilst the information can be saved and the quote prints via a quote report, I'm having major difficulty in finding a way to add multiple products to a single quote.
The main objective is to be able to select various products and add their total price (product after addition of qty, discount) to a SUB TOTAL
Quote total is therefore the formula Tax+Shipping+SubTotal
any takers? :)
Hi guys,
Thanks for the response I really appreciate it. As for tax and shipping, they are just added in the form and are not pushed from anywhere else in the database. Its simply a type in form and display on report sort of thing. As you said in the answer, HansUp, the salesperson will compute it seperately and just input it.
As for tax, products will be shiped globally so the tax/vat shall be computed seperately also.
Also, each table DOES have its own unique ID.
More to the point of having QuoteProducts. I can't seem to get my head around it! Are you saying that whatever products are chosen in QuoteProducts will create a QuoteProd_ID and then that ID's total price will therefore be added to the Quote?
I tried making a subform before but through the 'multiple records' form but obviously every selection made its own ID. Is there any way you could elaborate on the Quote products part and how it allows multiple records to store to one ID? Without understanding it i'm pretty much useless.
In addition, how the multiple records are then added up to make the subtotal also baffles me. Is that done in the Quote form?
Edit 2
HALLELUJAH.
It works! I created a sum in a textbox on the footer of the subform and then pushed that into subtotal :)
I do have one slight issue:
I made a lookup&relationship for the ListPrice. I don't think its the correct way to do it as it comes up with the price of every light (i.e 10 products priced £10, £10 shows up ten times in dropdown).
Can you guys help?
List Price Problem
here's what i've tried:
1) Create >Client>Query Design
2) Show Products, QuoteDetails. For some reason, it automtically comes up with ListPrice, ProductID (as it should) and Product Name linked to ID in Products
3) Delete links with ListPrice and ProductName.
4) Show all in quoteDetails (*)
5) Create Multiple Items form
Doesnt work! What am I doing wrong?
I'm extremely grateful for both your help. If I can do anything, just shout.
Ryan
In addition to HansUp's stellar answer, you might be interested in DatabaseAnswers.org. They have a number of data models for free that might provide additional insight to your situation and possibly serve as inspiration for future projects you may encounter.
Edit 1
Forget about the form and report for a moment - they are important but not as important as the data and how you store the data.
In your current design, you have a quotes table presumably with an autonumber key field. For the purposes of this answer, this field is named Quote_ID.
The quotes table, as HansUp suggested, should store information such as the Customer_ID, Employee_ID, OrderDate and perhaps even a reference to a BillingAddress and ShippingAddress.
The quotes table SHOULD NOT store anything about the products that the customer has ordered as part of this quote.
Instead, this information should be stored in a table called QuoteProducts or QuoteDetails.
It's structure would look something like the following:
QuoteDetails_ID --> Primary Key of the table (autonumber field)
Quote_ID --> Foreign key back to the Quotes table
Product_ID --> Foreign key back to Products table
Quantity
UnitPrice
You may also want to consider a field for tax and a separate field for shipping per line item on the quote. You will inevitably run into situations where certain items are taxable in some locations and not others, etc.
This design allows a particular quote to have any number of products assigned to the quote.
Returning to your form \ reports, you would need to change your existing forms and reports to accomodate this new table design. Typically one would use a main form for the quote itself, and then a subform for the quote details (item, price, quantity, etc).
To get the quote total, you would sum the items in QUoteDetails for a particular Quote_ID.
You may also want to check out the Northwind sample database from Microsoft. From what I recall Northwind had a sample Orders system that might help make these ideas more concrete for you by seeing a working example.
For the first 3 tables mentioned in your comment, each should have a primary key: Customers, customer_id; products, product_id; and employees, employee_id.
The quotes table will have its own primary key, quote_id, and will store customer_id and employee_id as foreign keys. (I'm assuming you want employee_id to record which customer representative/salesperson created the quote.) You may also decide to include additional attributes for each quote; date and time quote prepared, for example.
The products offered for quotes will be stored in a junction table, QuoteProducts. It will have foreign keys for quote_id and product_id, with one row for each product offered in the quote. This is also where you can store the attributes quantity and discount. An additional field, unit_price, can allow you to store the product price which was effective at the time the quote was prepared ... which would be useful in case product prices change over time. I don't know whether tax should be included in this table (see below).
I also don't know how to address shipping. If all the products associated with a quote are intended to be delivered in one shipment, shipping cost could be an attribute of the quotes table. I don't know how you intend to derive that value. Seems like it might be determined by shipping method, distance, and weight. If you have the salesperson compute that value separately, and then input the value, consider how to handle the case where the product selection changes after the shipping fee has been entered.
That design is somewhat simplistic, but might be sufficient for the situation you described. However, it could get more complex. For example, if you decide to maintain a history of product price changes, you would be better off to build in provisions for that now. Also, I have no idea how tax applies in your situation --- whether it's a single rate applied to all products, varies by customer location, varies by type of customer, and/or varies by product. Your business rules for taxes will need to be accommodated in the schema design.
However, if that design works for you (test it by entering dummy data into the tables without using a form), you could create a form based on quotes with a subform based on QuoteProducts. With quote_id as the link master/child property, the subform will allow you to view all products associated with the main form's current quote_id. You can use the subform to add, remove, and/or edit products associated with that quote.
Not much I can say about the report. There is a lot of uncertainty in the preceding description. However, if your data base design allows you to build a workable form/subform, it should also support a query which gathers the same data. Use that query as the record source for the report. And use the report's sorting and grouping features to create the quote grand total.
Edit: With the main form/ subform approach, each new row in the subform should "inherit" the quote_id value of the current record in the main form. You ensure that happens by setting the link master/child properties to quote_id. Crystal Long explains that in more detail in chapter 5 of Access Basics by Crystal: PDF file. Scroll down to the heading Creating a Main Form and Subform on page 24.
Edit2: Your strategy may include storing Products.ListPrice in QuoteDetails.ListPrice. That would be useful to record the current ListPrice offered for a quote. If so, you can fetch ListPrice from Products and store it in QuoteDetails when you select the ProductID for a row in the subform. You can do that with VBA code in the after update event of the control which is bound to the ProductID field. So if that control is a combo box named cboProductID and the subform control bound to the QuoteDetails ListPrice field is a text box named txtListPrice, use code like this for cboProductID after update:
Me.txtListPrice = DLookup("ListPrice", "Products", "ProductID = " _
& Me.cboProductID)
That suggestion assumes the Products and QuoteDetails tables both include a ProductID field and its data type is numeric. And cboProductID has ProductID as its bound field and uses a query as its RowSource similar to this:
SELECT ProductID, ProductName
FROM Products
ORDER BY ProductName;
I have a table like this:
Application,Program,UsedObject
It can have data like this:
A,P1,ZZ
A,P1,BB
A,P2,CC
B,F1,KK
I'd like to create a layout to show:
Application,# of Programs
A,2
B,1
The point is to count the distinct programs.
For the life of me I can't make this work in FileMaker. I've created a summary field to count programs resetting after each group, but because it doesn't eliminate the duplicate programs I get:
A,3
B,1
Any help much appreciated.
Create a a summary field as:
cntApplicaiton = Count of Application
Do this by going into define fields, create a field called cntApplication, type summary. In the options dialogue make the summary field a count on application
Now create a new layout with a subsummary part and nobody. The subsummary should be sorted on Application. Put the Application and cntApplication fields in subsummary. If you enter browse mode and sort by Application you ought to get the data you want.
You can also create a calc field with the formula
GetSummary(cntApplication; Application)
This will allow you to use the total number of Applications with in a record
Since I also generate the data in this form, the solution I've adopted is to fill two tables in FileMaker. One provides the summary view, the other the detailed view.
I think that your problem is down to dupliate records and an inadequate key.
Create a text field called "App_Prog". In the options box set it to an auto-enter calc, unchecking the 'Do not replace...' option, and use the following calc:
Application & "_" & Program
Now create a self join to the table using App_Prog as the field on both sides, and call this 'MatchingApps'.
Now, create (if you don't alread have one) a unique serial number field, 'Counter' say, and make sure that you enter a value in each record. (Find all, click in the field, and use serial number option in'Replace Field Contents...')
Now add a new calc field - Is_Duplicate with the following calc...
If (Counter = MatchingApps::Counter; "Master Record" ; "Duplicate")
Finally, find all, click in the 'Application field, and use 'Replace Field Contents...' with a calculation to force the auto-enter calc for 'App_Prog' to come up with a value.
Where does this get you? You should now have a set of records that are marker either "Master Record" or "Duplicate". Do a find on "Master Record", and then you can perform your summary (by Application) to do a count of distinct application-program pairs.
If you have access to custom functions (you need FileMaker Pro Advanced), I'd do it like this:
Add the RemoveDuplicates function as found here (this is a recursive function that takes a list of strings and returns a list of unique values).
In the relationships graph, add another occurrence of your table and add an Application = Application relationship.
Create a calculated field in the table with the calculation looking something like this:
ValueCount(RemoveDuplicates(List(TABLE2::Program)))
You'll find that each record will contain the number of distinct programs for the given application. Showing a summary for each application should be relatively trivial from here.
I think the best way to do this is to create a separate applications table. So as you've given the data, it would have two records, one for A and one for B.
So, with the addition of an Applications table and your existing table, which I'll call Objects, create a relationship from Applications to Objects (with a table occurrence called ObjectsParent) based on the ApplicationName as the match field. Create a self join relationship between Objects and itself with both Application and Program as the match fields. I'll call one of the "table occurrences" ObjectsParent and the other ObjectsChildren. Make sure that there's a primary key field in Objects that is set to auto-enter a serial number or some other method to ensure uniqueness. I'll call this ID.
So your relationship graph has three table occurrences:
Applications::Applicaiton = ObjectsParent::Application
ObjectsParent::Application = ObjectsChildren::Application, ObjectsParent::Program = ObjectsChildren::Program
Now create a calculation field in Objects, and calculating from the context of ObjectsParent, give it the following formula:
AppCount = Count( ObjectsChildren::ID )
Create a calculation field in Applications and calculating from the context of the table occurrence you used to relate it to ObjectsParent with the following formula:
AppCount = ObjectsParent::AppCount
The count field in Objects will have the same value for every object with the same application, so it doesn't matter which one you get this data from.
If you now view the data in Applications in list view, you can place the Applications::Application and Applications::AppCount fields on the layout and you should get what you've requested.