Database fields in Report header / footer

A database field can neither be placed in a report header nor in the footer. This will throw an error "The Value expression for the textbox <fieldname> refers to a field. Fields cannot be used in page headers or footers".

There is however a workaround. Place a hidden textbox in the report body call it tb_hidden and assign to this the database field that you need in the header. Place a textbox in the report header and assign the hidden textbox's value to it
ex: =reportitems!tb_hidden.Value

This however as a drawback, the value will appear only in the first page. If your report runs into many pages then you need to take a different approach.

Pass the value to appear in the header as a parameter from your .aspx page call it database_field. Assign this to the textbox in the header.
ex: =Parameters!database_field.Value

Formatting Text in Reports

I often find requests for help in formatting strings. Just remember you can use your r vb formatting syntax here be it just text, date or numbers. The following are some samples in formatting Strings Formatting a telephone no:

If the database field is numeric then


 =Format(12345678,"(###)##-###") 
 or 
=Format(Fields!phonenumber.value,"(###)##-###")


 If the field is of datatype String then you need to convert it   =Format(Cdbl("12345678"),"(###)##-###"))

Formatting Date and Time

Examples of applying a format string to date/time values are shown in the following table.

 Format                         Output
 Format(Now,"D")        Friday, October 12, 2007
 Format(Now,"d")         10/12/2007
 Format(Now,"T")         6:37:23 AM  
 Format(Now,"t")          6:37 AM
 Format(Now,"F")         Friday, October 12, 2007 6:37:23 AM
 Format(Now,"f")          Friday, October 12, 2007 6:37 AM
 Format(Now,"g")         10/12/2007 6:37 AM
 Format(Now,"m")        October 12
 Format(Now,"y")         October, 2007