In one version, I look forward 31 days, to get a look at the data for the next month. 

 

In the second, I look forward 3 years, to get a more macro look at the data. 

 

I have historically maintained two reports since the number of days I am looking forward is captured in the subreports.  This has led to some problems as I have to maintain all 20 subreports in both versions of the report... without getting into too much detail, they are used for scheduling work in our production facility.

 

I have recently discovered how to pass a shared variable from the top level report to the subreports and was hopeful to use that to pass the "Days to Look Forward" information to the subreports.  My thought was that this would allow me to use a Parameter Field on the top level report to pass information into the subreports.  Within the subreports I would then set up a formula field with an if (or iif) statement to set an offset for the days to look forward.  That formula field would then be part of my Selection Criteria on the date.

 

I have confirmed that the information is being passed correctly to the subreports, but when I take the next step and use that in the Selection Criteria, I get a "This formula cannot be used because it must be evaluated later" error message. 

 

When I first saw this error, I tried doing the if (or iif) statement on the top level report and pass the result to the subreport.  Again, I confirmed that the data came over accurately, but I still get the same error.

 

Is there a way to do what I am describing here?  I hope the issue is clear, but you need me to clear things up, let me know any questions.  I am not a programmer, so the simpler the solution (and the more detail provided), the better.

 

Thanks!

DBlank (and any others with suggestions),

 

Okay, I have created the parameter field in the main report, and I assume that when you say to use it as a link to the subreport you mean in the "Change Subreport Links" dialog.  When I do that, it requests a field to link it to... I created a blank formula field in the subreport to link it to, but it doesn't show up when I try to link... I put the formula field onto the subreport (so it shows as being used) and still there isn't an option for linking...

 

I also tried de-selecting the option "Select Data in subreport based on field" in the Subreport Links and don't see the top level reports parameter field when I go into the subreport and try to set up my selection statement...

 

Any further guidance?

Okay, so I just deleted a note saying this didn't work... It does, but to make it work, I had to select a field on the subreport to link the parameter to, run the subreport, and then go back to the edit subreport links dialog box and uncheck the Select data based on field box...

 

random, but it worked... thank you very much!

 

Mike