>My reports aren't simple things that come straight from a table, so I always found the DE useless. I also need a "driver" program to compile all the data into the cursor I use for the report.
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>I've heard people talking about putting the code to generate the report in the report itself. What do you think about this approach? Where's a good place to put the code. Would I then put the tables I use in the DE, or is that just for tables you're printing from?

You can include code in the DE, and you integrate everything, but this way you cannot (1) reuse that code, or, worse, (2) send the data to, say, an Excel worksheet.

I use a form, ask for parameters there, prepare the data, and, depending on a combobox, either REPORT it, PREVIEW it, or COPY it to some place or another.