Ok, this is the same database i posted about before. It is something for me to keep easy track of the PCs (and other related equipment) in my office so that i know which ones are next on the upgrade cycle.

I basically have a table that lists all the different pieces of equipment. Due to the fact that certain things like monitors and scanners will be attached to a particular PC, i made a relationship back to itself.

Equipment::Attached_EQID <==> Equipment::EQID

That part seems to work perfectly (well as perfect as my skills will allow).

What i am stuck on is trying to generate a layout for report purposes. I would like the eq, which are attached to a PC, to be listed as under the PC they are attached to, rather than being listed as their own source.

For an entry form, i know i could use a portal, but it doesn't' work for the desired report. The problem with a portal for this is that the portal needs to have a defined size, thus even things with no attached peripherals have a 4 row portal printing along with it.

I guess i'm asking is there a way to set up something that functions like a portal for displaying related records, but only displays something if there is a related record to display?

You can create a layout with a subsummary by Attached_EQID that contains this field and put the EQID field in the body. Then sort by Attached_EQID and you'll see a list like

PC1

EQ1

EQ2

PC2

EQ3

PC4

EQ5

EQ6

EQ7

EQ8

If this isn't what you desire, please provide a little more detail.

Queue, I don't quite see how that would work. Maybe get rid of the sub-summary part (or just have a divider line on it) and use a calc field for the sort and optional sub-summary part: Master_Eq_ID = If(isempty(Attached_EQID), EQID, Attached_EQID).

Or to do this with a portal, you would just activate the Sliding up (and reduce size of enclosing part) option for the portal (and anything below it in the same part). This would compress empty portal rows.

Well, I didn't test it, but I think it should work. The EQs that are not attached would just show up first on the list with no data in the subsummary and the unattached records in the body. You could make it more explicit though by using a calc like Case(IsEmpty(Attached_EQID), "Unattached", Attached_EQID), and sort/summarize by that instead.

I tried Ender's suggestion of the sliding up option for the portal. that seems to have the affect i wanted, except for a blank row at the end. i believe that would be because i have allowed the relation to add new records? theoretically, if i wanted to get rid of that i could make a new relation w/o the add new records option and base the layout on that?

thank you all

Yes, you are correct.