ACC: How to Shade Every Other Detail Line on Reports

MORE INFORMATION

The following example uses an event procedure to alternate the background color between white and yellow. On black and white printers, yellow typically appears as light gray.

1. Open the sample database Northwind.mdb (or NWIND.MDB in versions 1.x and 2.0), and then open the Alphabetical List Of Products report in Design view.
2. Add a new text box control to the report's detail section and set the following properties:

   Name: LineNum
   ControlSource: =-1
   RunningSum: Over All
   Visible: No

   Note the equal sign in the ControlSource property setting.
3. Add the following code to the Print event of the detail section. To do so, follow these steps:
   1. With the properties box open, click the detail section header.
   2. In the properties box, click the OnPrint property and click the Build button. Click Code Builder, and then click OK.
   3. Enter the following code between the Sub and End Sub lines in the module:

               Const WHITE = 16777215
               Const YELLOW = 65535
      
               If (Me![LineNum] Mod 2) = 0 Then
                  Me![ProductName].BackColor = YELLOW
                  Me![CategoryName].BackColor = YELLOW
                  Me![QuantityPerUnit].BackColor = YELLOW
                  Me![UnitsInStock].BackColor = YELLOW
               Else
                  Me![ProductName].BackColor = WHITE
                  Me![CategoryName].BackColor = WHITE
                  Me![QuantityPerUnit].BackColor = WHITE
                  Me![UnitsInStock].BackColor = WHITE
               End If
      							

      NOTE: In Microsoft Access 1.x and 2.0, type spaces in the Product Name, Product ID, Category Name, Quantity Per Unit, and Units In Stock field names.
   4. On the Run menu, click Compile Loaded Modules to compile the event procedure code.
   5. Close the report module.
4. Open the report in Design view, open the properties sheet for each control in the detail section, and verify that the BackStyle property is set to Normal.
5. Preview or print the report by clicking Print Preview or Print on the File menu. Note that every other detail line on the report is shaded to the extent that the line is covered with a text box.