Repeat sub-summary heading on two-column report right column when records per column are not the same

[RCrosier]

We have a report that is a two-column report.  The number of items varies on each column, due to the sub-summary breaks.  Some groups of items have one or two items, some have many, etc.  The person we're designing it for would like the sub-summary heading to print at the top of the RIGHT column when the group continues from the bottom left column.

We've been trying all the solutions we can find so far, but nothing wants to work.

Has anyone done this, or are there any "hidden" flags that we can possibly trigger somehow to get that header to print on the right side in this condition?

Thanks.

[comment]

I am struggling to understand your requirement. If records are sorted and grouped by a field (let's call it the Category field) you can simply place the Category field in the header, on any side of the layout. And if you only want this heading to show when the group continues from the previous page, you can hide it conditionally (at least I think so, haven't tried it yet).

If you want something else, please explain in more detail.

Added:
Oh, you mean columns as in "print in columns".  Interesting problem, let me think about it. Just to be sure, you are printing "down first", correct?

 

 

 

Edited 6 hours ago by comment

[RCrosier]

Yes, we're printing in columns, items are sorted by about 6 fields, and we have a sub-summary header with "iclssdesc" (item class description) as the break/sort field.  It prints them all in the correct place, but we need it at the top of any RIGHT side column when the group continues from bottom left to top right.

We are re-working a system that I wrote in Visual Foxpro 20+ years ago, and that had a switch in the report forms that you could force the headers to reprint at the top of columns if there is a carry-over.

Wondering if there's a way we could COPY the field on the LEFT side, to the right side, and hide it somehow, when it's NOT printing the right side data?  But don't know if there's any way to know that, or how the print engine works that way.

[comment]

I don't think there is a simple solution to this. The data in the header will always come from the first record on the page, not from the first record in a column.

Can there be a complex solution? Maybe. If the sub-summary part and the body part have the same height and this height is fixed (i.e. you are not using sliding up and shrinking), you could have an unstored calculation field that goes over the subsequent records checking for group changes, until it reaches the first record in the right-hand column (this calculation field would be placed in the header, so it would be evaluated only for the first record on each page). Let's say you can fit 15 rows in a page - in such case the calculation would need to count 16 steps (each step being either a record or a new sub-summary heading) and if the last step is not a heading then output the group name of that record. At least that's the theory - there could well be additional obstacles in practical implementation. And it could prove to be too slow. But you won't know unless you try.

 

Edited 2 hours ago by comment