I know that this is simple to do, but somehow I can not figure out where to start. I made this really involved and detailed flat file and I simply need to get the number of records created on a per month basis. I need to turn in a report listing the number of items created on a per month basis over a three year period.

Do I need to some how make a related table to count how many per month?

Hello,

One way to find a total record per month, you can perform Find by finding the Month, e.g: 11/1/2007 until 11/31/2007, then you can get the record using Get (FoundCount). Also, if you want to have a database on how many records per month, you can set up a field to save those number of records per month...

That's awfully close to doing a finger count, don't you think?

The easy way to do this is to define a calculation field that will return a common value for all records of the same month, e.g.

CreationDate - Day ( CreationDate ) + 1

Then create a report with a sub-summary by the calculation field. Use a summary field to count the records, and delete the body part from the report layout.

Year( CreationDate ) & Right( "00" & Month( CreationDate ) ; 2 ) sorts better.

Or if (like me) you're forward-thinking and concerned about the up-coming Y10K bug...

Right( "00000" & Year( CreationDate ) ; 5 ) & Right( "00" & Month( CreationDate ) ; 2 )

Year( CreationDate ) & Right( "00" & Month( CreationDate ) ; 2 ) sorts better.

No, it doesn't. And if using a date result for a calculation, you can use the same field for labeling, e.g. "December 2007" - which I think looks better on a report than "0200712".

Doesn't "CreationDate - Day ( CreationDate ) + 1" return the first of the month?

Yep I can see where you're coming from Comment.

Edited December 14, 200718 yr by Guest
adding a flash of personal insight to the conversation

Doesn't "CreationDate - Day ( CreationDate ) + 1" return the first of the month?

It does, and since it is a date (if you make the result a date) it both sorts correctly AND can be custom formatted. A 'two-for-one" deal.