Using ODBC and "Grouping"

[xeerex]

Hi all,

I'm starting progress on a print version of telephone directory for a client (www.lindaledirectory.com). I'm using Writer to produce the layout as I'm trying to wean off MS and Adobe products. I have all the data in an Access database and have connected to it via ODBC with no problem. The tables are non-relational but they are normalized. Each business belongs to one or more categories. The business details are stored in tblBusiness while the categories are stored in tblCategory. There is a third table tblCategoryXfer which has a record for each business belonging to a category using teh ID of the business and the ID of the category.

What I want to do is use a text frame and popluate it with the data which is easy enough. The problem is that I want the data to display in a grouped format by category.

Now I can "cheat" this in Access by builiding a report with grouping and exporting it out as a Word document. Then I can copy/paste into the text frame (using frame linking for overflow). However, there should be a better way to do this since I will have to reformat text, etc, each time I need to do this.

Any ideas?

Here's a screen shot of basically how I want it to look:


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Rex Moncrief
www.rexpage.com
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[xeerex]

Well, I just paid a little more attention to the forums. Could one of the mods move this post to the correct one?
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Rex Moncrief
www.rexpage.com
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PC / Software Help || Software Training || Free PC Newsletter!

[xeerex]

Just an update for anyone that may need to do something similar...

So far, I've found that trying to do the grouping that I want via Autopilot and reports is turning into a PITA, and I don't have the time to overcome the learning curve right now. Instead, I've found that the easiest was is similar to my method mentioned above.

In Access, create a report for the table.

Then use the Tools...Office Links...Publish it with Word which will create a .rtf file of the report. Nicely, it creates the spacing as tab stops.

Then you can use OOorg Writer to open the .rtf which will again keep the tab stops.

If you want specific instructions or even a "how to" video please contact me at xeerex (at) gmail (dot) com.
_________________
Rex Moncrief
www.rexpage.com
Web Design || Message Boards || E-commerce ||
PC / Software Help || Software Training || Free PC Newsletter!