Anybody have any ideas on how to make a horizontal non printing navigation bar above a header/body on a layout. I want to put my record commands up there but I do not want it to print or affect spacing.

You can select any item in layout mode and have it not print by going to "Menu" >> "Format" >> "Sliding/Printing" >> and checking the Box that says "Do not print selected Objects"

HTH

Lee

Now correct me if I am wrong, but I beleive that does affect the spcaing because it would just leave that spot blank.

The easy way is make a layout for printing and script the print to go to that layout before printing.

Yeah, that is what I think it is going to come down to. I have to figure out how to create a list from a portal though. It doesn't seem like it is going to be that bad, but I am just not sure where to start.

Go to the related file to print your report.

But that won't work if you need to print the line items on the invoice. It only can be (1) page with the customers information and items.

You will have to make a reverse relationship from the line item to the invoice to get the customer info. It is recommended that printing be done from the line items and printing a portal should be avoided. This is the opion of many developers, not just me.

So I would need to create an invoice in the Line Items file that will display the order form customer information and then list the customers items... That sounds interesting. We always have printed the portal in FileMaker 6 but 7, they just don't look as good. I will try it and let you know how it works...

Make it a columnar layout. Put your customer data in the header. Use Sub-Summary for totals.

So why wouldn't I use a grand trailing summary? It seems like that would cover all the records and give me the correct total. I guess it would be a good thing though for orders that would be over two pages though. I cannot think about how to do that one...

A trailing grand summary could be used if you only print one invoice at a time. If you printed severaal at a time the trailing grand summary would give you the total of all the invoices. A sub-summary will give you the total of each and can cover more than one page. A sub-summary requires a sort, in this case by Invoice Number.

If you are thinking about a sub-summary for each page, that is more difficult. You need a field page number and have to sort by that field also.

I cannot say that I am too impressed with the list print feature, the invoices are not as nice as they were in FM6. The portals printed perfectly in 6 and now they don't in 7. I guess I don't really understand what I need to do in order for it to print an invoice over 18 items. In this solution, we only print one invoice at a time so that helps some.

I haven't tried to print a portal in FMP7 so I don't know what is happening that you don't like. I have been using the columnar / list layout in the related file (table) for a long time. One of the advantages of this is the ability to print long invoices. Since you are printing only one invoice at a time you have the whole range of layout parts to work with in the design of your invoice.

On the first page you can use the Title Header and Footer. In the title header you can have your's firms info and logo. In the title footer you can present the totals for the invoice. You can place customer data in a leading grand summary. On the second and following pages you can have a simple header & footer.