A subreport is a report within a report. It is actually its own report that contains its own data structures, record selection, and fields. When the main, or parent, report is run, the subreport also runs. Subreports may be free standing, or unlinked. A freestanding report is a report written on tables that have nothing to do with the main report. A good example is one report that lists the sales for the top ten customers and purchases for the top ten vendors on the same report.

Linked subreports are written on data related to the main report. For example, if you want to show all of the open sales orders for a part and then where the inventory is located for the same part, you would use a linked subreport. After subtotaling the extended sales dollars on the main report, the subreport would be called so that all of the stock is shown.

This session reviews the basics of subreports, how to link them to main reports, and how to share data in between the main report and the subreport through the use of variables.