Variable field size?

[cereal]

hi,

does anyone know if it's possible to design a layout or a field with variable size? The vertical scrollbar is ok for viewing stuff on screen, but i have to print that too... the problem is, most of the time the text occupies less then a line but once in a while it's also several lines big - and has no limit, actually, it depends on the client! i could just make bigger fields, but then there will be anoying voids between each items - that's just not rigth! :-)

has anyone some nifty idea how to tackle this?

thanks!

cereal

ps.: please be gentle - i'm a newbie to fm pro! ;-)

FileMaker Version: 6

Platform: Mac OS X Panther

[Lee Smith]

Hi cereal and welcome to the Forum.

I usually make a Print layout to overcome problems like this.

Lee

[cereal]

hi, thanks for the answer!

i already have a dedicated print-layout, but it doesn't work either...

my setup is as follows: there are two databases, "data" and "notes". each entry in "notes" gets an unique id. in "notes", i have defined a relationship between the two databases, and turned the option "allow creation of related records" on. this way, the portal in the "notes" database always has a ghost entry ready. the actual notes are written in this portal and are stored in the "data" database.

i did it this way, bacause in a class, for instance, i might have to take several notes. in such an arrangement they are neatly organized.

the problem is, some of this notes are really short, some really long. if i print the portal, the fields all have the same size. if i want to be able to read everything i wrote down, the fields have to be big -> lots of wasted space...

one idea i had was to print the records in the "data" database. but the same field size rules applies there. any ideas?

thanks a lot, cereal.

[Lee Smith]

It sounds like you are trying to print your portal?

If so, you will find lots of thread in the archive of this Forum that will recommend that you print your data from the related database (where the data actually resides). Printing from the portals present lots of problems, including the lack of control over the fields.

Lee