Group Records for Printing

[Matt_]

Here's my dilemma:

I've got a FM database with student information for a school. Within that database, the ability to generate report cards is required.

The database has a table with the student's information (name, address, etc.) as well as their marks and comments made by the teacher.

There is a record for each class the student is enrolled in, and contains the data mentioned above.

When I generate report cards, I'd like to be able to print them so that Student A's records print on one page, Student B's on another, etc.

It should be noted that the number of records per student could change, and therefore take up a second or third page.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks :)

[Ender]

Your structure is not entirely clear. Usually these types of solutions have a Student table, a Class table, an Enrollment table (the join between Class and Student), and if assignments and tests are tracked, there would be an Assignment table off the Enrollment table.

In general, the best place to generate reports is from the table that has all the scores (or whatever) you're reporting on.

If your Enrollment table holds one "mark" per record, then base the report in the Enrollment table. Use a columnar report with sub-summary parts, having a Sub-Summary by Student part for the Student Name, and a Body part to hold the Enrollment's class info along with the Mark and Comments. When sorted by Student and viewed in Preview Mode or printed, the sub-summary parts show.

[Pinkygal]

My question is simliar to Matts and I can understand what he wants to do. However, it is hard to explain just what I want to be able to do.

I have designed a school report using a specific layout that when I print one copy on our photocopier - will print it as an A3 booklet of four pages long, printed double sided and folded into a book. However, whenever I want to print off a whole class - the photocopier staples them all together as one booklet and prints each 4 page report sequentially i.e rather one booklet per report, it ends up printing one after the other and stapling them altogether as one booklet.

Is there a way to get it to print each report for the class as a whole rather than have to print each report individually in order to have it folded individually?

[Jonathan9]

Hi Matt,

You need to generate the report cards from the "StudentRecord" table, which each is enrolled in, adding the correct header by using a sub-summary, sorting by StudentID to ensure the report works correctly.

Let's assume you have the following two tables:

1. Student (fields: StudentID, Name, Address, etc.)

2. StudentRecord (fields: StudentRecordID, StudentID, Date, Class Name, Marks, Comments, etc.)

The report should be based on records from the StudentRecord table, not the Student table - that's the first hurdle to get over!

The top of the report can be a Sub-Summary by StudentID (Leading), and in this part put the StudentID, and related data such as name, address etc.

The middle of the report can be the Body section, and within here put the fields required from the StudentRecord table (Date, Class Name, Marks, Comments, etc)

The report end can be another Sub-Summary by Student ID (trailing), or a footer (on every page) or whatever you want.

When you browse this report it'll look crazy, for it to work correctly you must SORT by StudentID from the StudentRecord table, (and then by any further fields you wish, such as Date). Now Browse still looks odd, but put the system into Preview mode, and all will be ok!

Hope that helps!