Hi all,

I have what is probably a common question, but my searches in the forums yielded no results. I'm using FMP 7 (mac), and I have a pretty simple invoices table in my database. I also have several other tables in the same database, including labor line items ("li_labor"), taxable item line items ("li_item_tax"), and non-taxable line items ("li_item_no_tax"). Each of these three tables contains a different type of line item (i.e. different fields/descriptions in each table), which feeds into my invoices database, with the invoice number acting as the match field.

As far as entering and organizing data, this structure works fine for me. The problem comes when I try to print out the invoice and I want it to display the related records from each of the three tables. The only way I can display the related records from each of the three tables from within the invoices file, is using three portals, one for each table. The problem is that the amount of text in each of these related records can vary greatly. So I can either make the fields in the portal very large, which results in lots of blank space, or I can make them just one line, which obviously cuts off most of the text I want to see.

I have not figured out a way around this problem using FileMaker 7, but I'm wondering if anyone has a good solution. I'm thinking that someone out there must have figured this out, as it seems very unlikely that no one has bumped into this before.

Again, to summarize my question, I want to build a printing layout in my invoices table, which shows related records in three other tables (grouped one table at a time), without truncating text or displaying unnecessary white space.

Attached is a PDF file of a solution I have used for years in FMP versions 6 and prior, using repeating fileds. Note that I would like any of the items descriptions to be more than one line (like the first labor line item), without being truncated or creating extra white space).

Thanks to any takers here!!

TestFile.pdf

It is generally better to print line items using a list view in the line items table rather than printing the portal from the parent table. You can use the Sliding option (under Format->Sliding/Printing) to collapse the white space on each record.

Unfortunately, this brings us to a problem with your structure. You said you have a table for each of Line Items Labor, Taxable Line Items, and Non-Taxable Line Items. It is generally better to store like-data in the same table, and differenciate them by a Type field. You could still use separate relationships to the records in each of these groups by adding Type as part of the relationships. Anyway, by having these combined in one table, you would then be able to print them from a list view based on that table. You can use sub-summary parts to group them into sections and create totals.