Printing contents of scrolling field

[scottb]

I am creating a file of quotes from different authors. The text for the quotes is in a scrolling field. Some of the quotes are short, others are quite long.

Is there was way to design a report so that the entire contents of the scrolling field can be printed, rather than just the portion visible on the layout?

Thanks

Scott

[danjacoby]

New layout

Put the names of the fields in double brackets <<LikeThis>>.

This is called a "merge field".

Create spacing, font, size, etc.

[Vaughan]

Look up FMP's "Sliding/Printing" feature in the Help (or the manual).

Basically, on a print layout you make the field large enough to fit the *most* text it'll ever be expected to contain, then use Sliding/printing to shrink-fit it down when the field contains less text.

Sliding/Printing works with merge fields in text blocks so Dan's suggest above is still useful, however you need to size the text block really big then format it to shrink.

Note that the Sliding/Printing effects only appear in Preview mode or when printed.

[danjacoby]

Vaughan, how is it you only have three stars?

Personally, I think it's a vast, right-wing conspiracy.

[scottb]

I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong.

I have two database files: authors and quotes. There are related on authorID. My objective is to print a list of quotes and the author's name that are the result of a FIND.

Here's what I did.

1. While in the Quotes file, View > Layout Mode > Layouts > New Layout/Report

I selected Columar list/report

I specified the quoteText field from the Current File ("quotes")

I selected the "authors" file from the pop-up list and specified the authorFirstName and authorLastName fields

I chose to sort the records on authorLastName

I seleted the Default theme

I did not create a script

2. View > Browse Mode

a list of authors and their quotes were displayed, but the quotes were truncated to the first few words only

3. View > Layout Mode

I rearranged the fields so that they were, from left to right:

authorFirstName, authorLastName, quoteText

I resized the body and the quoteText field to accommodate the largest quote.

4. View > Browse Mode

The quotes and their authors were still displayed in a list but there were large gaps between quotes when the short quotes were displayed in the large quoteText field.

5. View > Layout Mode

I selected the left-most field (authorFirstName), then Format > Sliding/Printing

I checked Sliding Left, then Sliding Up and selected All Above

I selected authorLastName, then Format > Sliding/Printing

I checked Sliding Up and selected Only directly above

6. View > Browse

I could scroll through the list of quotes and their authors, but there was white space equal to the size of the quoteText field.

7. View > Preview

I could only scroll to the bottom of the page. And because the first quote was a short one, the page was mostly white space. In order to advance to the next page, I had to click on the book.

Where did I go wrong? The author's last name slide to the left, but the quotes did not slide up.

Thanks for your help.

Scott

[Vaughan]

You need to shrink the field *and* reduce the size of the enclosing part.

If you have lines or other objects amongst the fields then these need to be set to slide up as well. Horizontal lines slide up well, but vertical lines don't because their size is fixed.

[scottb]

Thanks Vaughan,

That solved it.

Scott