Report Automation From VB6 With Passed Parameters

Nope - that doesn't work. It shows the access ide but it dissapears again after a second.

I also need to know how to send the parameter.

on closer look the problem is that the remote db is closed straight away, you need a way to suspend the code before passing back to the current db. Doevents yields execution to the operating system, it will not suspend the code. the simplest way i can think of is to
1) declare the    
Dim ac As Access.Application
variable OUTSIDE your sub, say at the module level so that it remains in scope during your sub

2) in the close event of your remote db's report, add
Quit
such that that instance of Access and the remote db will shut down when you close the report

3) remove
ac.CloseCurrentDatabase
Set ac = Nothing
this is closing the remote db before you have a chance to view it

4) in you current app, if you need to reuse the ac object variable then set it to nothing before resetting it
Set ac = Nothing

Ok, that makes access visible but it still has problems:

1) It still requires me to manually enter the StartDate parameter

2) i just want to view the report - not have access open thus giving access to the data

>1) It still requires me to manually enter the StartDate parameter
the parameter is passed to the WHERE condition argument so you paraString needs to include the relevant field/s
so for eg if the fields is called "dtStartDate"
paraString needs to something like "dtStartDate = '20090115'"

is the name of your field StartDate?
if you are having problem with # then try ', ie
paraString = Replace("StartDate = 'dt'", "dt", dateStart)

>i just want to view the report - not have access open thus giving access to the data
if you want to open remote db with certain restrictions then you'll have to modify the startup parameters of your remote db, menu tools>startup
uncheck options like "display database window", "allow full menus" etc.
you may want to leave "use access special keys" so that you can bypass it and bring those options backup at a later date.
or you can write code to do this which would be just more work

Set ac = New Access.Application
ac.Visible = True
ac.OpenCurrentDatabase DBPATH
Dim paraString As String
paraString = "StartDate = '" & dateStart & "'"
ac.DoCmd.OpenReport "qry_Crosstab_Results", acViewPreview, , paraString

Still prompts me to enter the StartDate (yes that is the field name). I tried with # and ' and nothing at all.

The Report is bound to a crosstab query which is fed from another query. Is this affecting it? Can i still pass a parameter to the report?

>The Report is bound to a crosstab query which is fed from another query. Is this affecting it? Can i still pass a parameter to the report?

you should be able to. also check that the date parmeter actually exists in your report data!
test it with a hardcoded a value.
manually open your remote db and run something like code below
DoCmd.OpenReport "qry_Crosstab_Results", acViewPreview, , "StartDate = '1 Jan 2008'"
or
DoCmd.OpenReport "qry_Crosstab_Results", acViewPreview, , "StartDate = #1 Jan 2008#"
does it open the report correctly?

dont forget that with queries Access defaults to that awful American date format of mmddyy so you may have to format your date variable explictly for eg:
format("10/01/09","dd/mmm/yyyy")
returns 10/Jan/2009

Tried all that - still now go.

It will not recognize the parameter being passed to it, as it still prompts me to enter the date no matter what.

that means then the problem is not the remote db code but the query/s itself. Are any of the queries (crosstab query itself and the ones that it is based  on) driving the report queries that require user input? (ie a parameter query itself, where the critieria is something like =[enter your value])

i've already tested the code i posted on a test remote db and report and it works fine.

Actually, my queries are listed here.

http://www.experts-exchange.com/Q_24048850.html#23377104

Thanks for sticking with me! =)

well good news for me is that i'm about to go on annual leave to see my man federer who barely  won his 2nd round match. so i'll get to see him in the final on saturday.
so i have 1 hour before i knock off at work to try to sort this one out. i think it is the cross tab query which produces dynamic column headers which causes the parameter message....damn.
let me think this through.

can you upload a SMALL sample of your db asap?

Here is my full DB - all the queries and reports are there