Report Question from two related files

[Daniel Shanahan]

I have two databases that are related: Speakers.db and Workshop.db. They are related in a one-to-many manner as one speaker may give several workshops.

I want to send my speakers a letter, reminding them of the date, time, and location of their workshop. In the Workshop.db I have set up a "Letter" layout. The top part is a sub-summary of the speaker's full name ("Full Name" is simply a calculation field of "Title", "First", "Last", "Suffix"). In this sub-summary I have the speakers name, address, etc., the salutaion, and the first paragraph.

I then would like to list the workshops information he/she will give.

If I put that information in the Body section, then the following paragraphs (of which there are two) comes after each workshop listing. I would like those paragraphs to come after the last workshop listed.

I tried putting the last paragraphs in the Footer section. This seems to work for multiple workshops, but leaves a large gap for those listing only one workshop.

I also tried putting the workshop information in another sub-summary (sorted by date - didn't work; sorted by Full Name Copy - didn't work).

I then tried the letter from the Speaker.db using a portal to list the workshops. However, I still was left with a large gap between the last workshop and the remaining paragraphs.

In all cases I did use the Sliding/Printing tool in the Format menu.

How can I write one letter to a workshop presenter and have all the workshops listed on that page?

[CobaltSky]

Hi Shanahan,

Of the options you've tried, the one I would suggest is most likely to produce the outcome you want is the inclusion of a portal within the body part of your records.

Ideally, however, this would run from the Speakers db, using a relationship to the Workshops db as the basis of the portal.

Irrespective of which db your letters reside in, you will be able to set an appropriate configuration of sliding and part-reduction attributes to have the portal reduce in size (according to the number of rows which have data on each record) and the text which is placed below the portals slide upwards to close the gap.

I've seen and programmed many configurations of this type. It is likely that there is an object which is misplaced or which you have overlooked to apply sliding and part-reduction attribites to, and that this is impeding the movement of the paragraphs. All the items below the portal, including graphics, fields, text, buttons etc must be set with the same sliding/part reduction attributes in order for the effect to succeed.

Bear in mind also, that the sliding effect is only visible when the results are viewed in Preview mode, or printed. Sliding has no effect on the screen display in Browse or Find modes.