Printing report with no records

[bobshipley@rmrelevator]

I have several reports that use a saved query to print the appropriate records, i.e. commission reports for several individuals, material reports for projects, income reports for projects, and occasionally there are no records that meet the criteria. Instead of printing the report layout with no records, I get a blank page that says there are no records to print BUT it doesn't say what report it is supposed to be.

[madtowng]

Picking on commission reports just for ease, I'm guessing the commission is attached to an individual.
The individual is still data, and should probably be issued a sheet saying you get 0.00 for no sales
(or at least something on that order).

[Ted Giles]

Several options, as you previewing first?
Have you a list of reports triggered with records >0?

[Mike Wilson]

There has to be a filter that is used to print the report. Is there a reason you can't up front use that filter to detect records available to be printed before you even engage the printing of the report? Seems pretty bread and butter to me, so I must be missing something.

[bobshipley@rmrelevator]

Ok. In order.
Madtowng - Yes, what I'm trying to accomplish is for the report to print you have no commissions.
Ted - Yes, I preview first. What I'm currently doing is printing a word file that mimics the zero commission report if I have someone with zero commission. I'm not sure what you mean by do I "have a list of reports triggered with records >0."
Mike - I use "select records" that's embedded in each report. Yes, I could use that filter to "prequalify" reports but then I'd just wind up what I'm doing now. I want a report to print a message that says the individual doesn't have any commission so I can just distribute that to them. are you suggesting that I use 2 reports, one with commission and one without?

The other application here is in job costing where I need a report that says no labor, no material or no extra billing in the project.

[Ted Giles]

OK.
How about a calculated field, show commission if present, else "No Commission".
A calculated field should always print something.
Or, a separate report which fires if there are no records,
Or, a message saying no records when attempting to print

Records with >0 commission can be used to show or hide the print options.

Many ways to sort this.
Explain your ideal solution if you have time please. User Use Case description if possible.

[madtowng]

Hi Bob,
Here is a basic layout of the report I use for commissions.
I filter it to include active sales people, followed by commission amounts
for each of that person's clients.
If a sales person has earned no commission, the report shows 0.00.


Capture.png

[Mike Wilson]

Hi Bob,
You wrote "Mike - I use "select records" that's embedded in each report." I NEVER use that! When conditions are ALWAYS, without question, ONLY under one condition, then that works. When there is more than one condition that may be in effect, it doesn't work well.

[bobshipley@rmrelevator]

Are you saying that I should create one report to do all three commission reports? If so, that may work for the commissions but I have other reports where the same concept applies - I need a blank report to go with the documentation for each job that gets costed.

[Ronald Anusiewicz]

You do not say if you are running these reports one at a time or as a batch operation. I would run these as a batch operation using a script. For each individual, the script would test if a commission is present. If so, print report A showing the commission. If not, print report B which has all the pertinent information but then states that there is no commission this month.

Or another method would be to put a conditional object on the report. If the individual has a commission, the object will show the commission. If there is no commission, the second condition of the object will state no commission this month.

You can apply this technique to all the reports.

[Ted Giles]

This will upset Mike!
Using a Browse and also Filters.
The browse is sortable, and the Print only uses the current version.
Ideas easily incorporated or please throw custard pies.

[Ted Giles]

So my attachment didn't get here, oh well, tomorrow's another day.
I did get a LOT of server issues, but thought it had stuck.
Time for a beer - or 3.

[Ted Giles]

Second try. See this example;

My Commission.zip

This will upset Mike!
Using a Browse and also Filters.
The browse is sortable, and the Print only uses the current version.
Ideas easily incorporated or please throw custard pies

[Mike Wilson]

Hi Bob,
OK now I am confused.

In post Home you wrote - "to print the appropriate records, i.e. commission reports for several individuals, material reports for projects, income reports for projects.
>> I translate this to be that you have three different reports that have different field constructs, maybe even draft data from different tables, and each report has a different filter to acquire the data to be printed in the report ("appropriate records"). So 3 reports, three filters.

In post Uncategorized Groups you wrote - "I use "select records" that's embedded in each report."
>> .... and the filter for the report is embedded in the report. So what is the filter (saved query) embedded in the commission report?

In post #5 you wrote - "What I'm currently doing is printing a word file that mimics the zero commission report if I have someone with zero commission."
Why is the report that would have a value of "0" for commission not be satisfactory, but instead you print a Word report?

in post Albums you wrote - "create one report to do all three commission reports."
>> OK, is there one commission report ( post #1) or are there three (post #9)?

Ted, your example does not have a filter embedded in the report, so how could I possibly be affected ?

I expanded Ted's example to throw in a few variations, including Ron's loop concept with two separate reports based on commission status. Maybe this might bring out and discover what is the real need.

[armasoft]

bob, have a look at the example at https://documentation.alphasoftware....N%20Method.xml I just used this to run a query on a set having spent several frustrating hours trying alternatives.

You'll need a form based on the set to do this - the simpler the better - and a bit of code to perform the required action depending on records found/not found...

'Set query filter for today's rounds
query.filter = "'@' !$ email .AND. Active = .T. .AND.district=1 .AND. (rounds->Nextb1 = Var->dl_date1 .OR. rounds->Nextb2 = Var->dl_date1 .OR. rounds->Nextb3 = Var->dl_date1 .OR. rounds->Nextb4 = Var->dl_date1)"

dim p as p
p = form.load("last_payment")
myresult= p.QueryRun(query.filter)
p.Close()

if myresult > 0 then

:Report.Preview("AllStar_Transfer",query.filter,query.order)

else

msgbox("No records for Allstar_transfer for " + dl_date1)

end if
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