Select the document data source
Transfer data from a form, table or query.
The starting point for the making of a new document creation process is an ‘Access object’, a table, selection query or form, which displays a view on the data in the database. It is essentially the data of the active record that will be inserted in the document template.
If your document is intended to contain filled with data from records related to the object, you will certainly want to start from an Access form, where the related records are displayed in a sub form. The common example is invoice with multiple lines.
Document data source is skipped if
If you start with an active form or datasheet, the wizard skips this page and assume that is where the data will be taken from. Having the source object in the background is good as it increases awareness of the data source being used while setting up the new process.
The ‘Use Datasheet’ checkbox
By default, a document creation process takes a form or datasheet with its controls as the data source. In case of tables and queries this form is called a datasheet. If you uncheck ‘Use Datasheet’ the data will be retrieved from a recordset’s fields.
Advantages of using form or datasheet
- Allows creating a single document for the current record.
- Allows filtering to a the subset of the records to create multiple documents for.
- Allows creating documents for selected records.
- In case of controls that have a display value different from the bound value, the former is used, which usually is more informative (e.g. company name instead of ID).
Advantages of using a recordset
(Use Datasheet unchecked)
- Running the document creation process does not require the data source to be open.