Growable Text Box in Report

[Gilgamesh]

Hi,
I have a report that is based on a query from a small db that contains
a "To Do List / Bug List".
The query has columns ID, Requestor, RequestType, Priority, DateOpen,
DateClosed, Status,
Description, Notes. Each time we review the status of the open items,
we may add to the Notes field, which is just text. I'd like the space
the Notes control takes on the report to grow in a downwards direction
to automatically accommodate the growing notes. If there's nothing
in the Notes field, I'd like the Detail segment of the report to be as
setup by the sliders on the left of design view, but if the notes get
long, I'd like the control to grow downwards to accommodate them and
the text to be wrapped in the control.
Having accomplished that, if it's possible, how might I set a limit on
how far down it can grow.
Thanks,
Mike

 

[John W. Vinson]

Hi,
I have a report that is based on a query from a small db that contains
a "To Do List / Bug List".
The query has columns ID, Requestor, RequestType, Priority, DateOpen,
DateClosed, Status,
Description, Notes. Each time we review the status of the open items,
we may add to the Notes field, which is just text. I'd like the space
the Notes control takes on the report to grow in a downwards direction
to automatically accommodate the growing notes. If there's nothing
in the Notes field, I'd like the Detail segment of the report to be as
setup by the sliders on the left of design view, but if the notes get
long, I'd like the control to grow downwards to accommodate them and
the text to be wrapped in the control.
Having accomplished that, if it's possible, how might I set a limit on
how far down it can grow.
Thanks,
Mike

Rather than one big, unwieldy, hard to search, hard to separate Memo field
containing all the notes, you might want to consider a properly normalized
design: relate your table one-to-many to a Notes table with fields for
RequestID (a foreign key to your ToDo List), NoteDateTime (default value
=Now() to catch the current date and time), Note (Text if the comments can be
kept under 255 bytes, otherwise Memo), and perhaps a field for the ID of the
person making the note.

Using a Continuous Subform you can then enter as many notes as you wish;
they'll scroll; they can be displayed on a Report in a can-grow report
section; and each individual note can be easily found, edited, or deleted if
necessary.
--

John W. Vinson [MVP]
Microsoft's replacements for these newsgroups:
http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/accessdev/
http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/addbuz/
and see also http://www.utteraccess.com

 

[Gilgamesh]

Rather than one big, unwieldy, hard to search, hard to separate Memo field
containing all the notes, you might want to consider a properly normalized
design: relate your table one-to-many to a Notes table with fields for
RequestID (a foreign key to your ToDo List), NoteDateTime (default value
=Now() to catch the current date and time), Note (Text if the comments can be
kept under 255 bytes, otherwise Memo), and perhaps a field for the ID of the
person making the note.

Using a Continuous Subform you can then enter as many notes as you wish;
they'll scroll; they can be displayed on a Report in a can-grow report
section; and each individual note can be easily found, edited, or deletedif
necessary.
--

             John W. Vinson [MVP]
 Microsoft's replacements for these newsgroups:
 http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/accessdev/
 http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/addbuz/
 and see alsohttp://www.utteraccess.com

John,
That's a great idea. That's what I'll do. I was trying to avoid
doing much work, but I really should do the right thing, as you
suggest. I have built such a sub form in the past, so it should not
take too long.
Thanks