Creating a form to run with and without data?

Question

Creating a form to run with and without data?

jessica.green2312

Valued Member

Points: 62
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September 6, 2013 at 10:09 am

#282153

Hi all,
I have created forms, letters, reports, etc. in SSRS, but am now on a new project where I need to recreate some forms that require a little something different from anything I've done before.
The user requirements in a mortgage company setting, using parameters, is to be able to both generate a form populated with data as well as generate a blank copy of the form. So the users need to be able to enter a loan number as a parameter and have the form print with that loan's information (I have this part working), or indicate that they want a blank version of the form without any particular loan's information included so they can print a copy and fill in with pen for later entry.
I can create a form that will populate data from the data set by using Lists. However, the other requirement is to be able to print a blank copy of the form too. So my problem is that I can do one or the other, but I can't seem to be able to do both.
Both the blank and populated versions of the form need to come from the same rdl, so creating a second copy of the form is not an option. So my problem in getting the blank copy comes in when the user does not enter a loan number. Since my List is grouped by loan information, and no data returns from the query since they are not entering a loan number, nothing inside the list displays.
Hope this makes sense...I've been researching everywhere I can find with no luck. Am I missing something easy?
Thanks in advance!

Viewing 4 posts - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)

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Ray M SSC-Insane Points: 21093 More actions · Answer 1

2 Ideas.

1st. Get your data source to return 1 row with all blank values, that way the values can still be placed on the form, but it just wont show anything.

or 2 (Not as good)

Create a copy of the page that doesn't use a data source, with blanks, already included.

and hide/display the 2 sections based off of Loan number and if its blank or not.

jessica.green2312 Valued Member Points: 62 More actions · Answer 2

Thanks, Ray! I agree, I'm leaning towards #1 as well. I've added this to the code, but now I'm stumped on the expression to use in the List filter so that the blank copy does not print when a loan number is entered.

Since a blank record is returned with a given loan number, I need to filter on another field. But the expression's I've tried so far won't parse (like IIF(Parameters!Loan.Value IS NOTHING, "", Fields!BorrowersName.Value > 0), etc.). And a simpler expression using a calculated field (like Fields!Blank.Value = 0 (where records from the tables return 0 and the blank record returns 1)) work when there is a loan parameter entered but again prevent the List objects from displaying when no parameter is entered.

Any ideas on this one?

jessica.green2312 Valued Member Points: 62 More actions · Answer 3

Hi everyone - I was finally able to solve the filter for this! Am posting the expression below in case anyone else needs help with this.

In the Filter expression:

Expression:

=IIF(Parameters!Loan.Value IS NOTHING, False,

IIF(Parameters!Loan.Count > 0 AND Fields!BorrowerName.Value = "", True, False))

Type:

Boolean

Operator:

=

Value:

False