lines missing in preview...print OK

[aharown07]

Have a report in which one particularly large field spans multiple pages sometimes.

When there is alot of text and it spans pages, something weird happens... between the bottom of one page and the top of the next, lines of text are missing.

When I print the report, however, it's all there.

Anybody seen this before? Ideas?

[Raybaudi]

Hi

I can't replicate neither this your problem !

Can you attach your file ?

[aharown07]

Well, it's a big file and there's lots of proprietary info in it.

Just wanted to see if this is a common problem with a work around folks know of.

Haven't tested this on other machines yet so it may even be some peculiarity of my graphics card/display settings.

I do have a few other display oddities in FM from time to time (all in the "what displays is not exactly what prints" category)

[Raybaudi]

And if you send an empty clone, with only that layout ?

[Matt Klein]

This is the most aggravating problem in FileMaker as far as I am concerned. It's the most aggravating because it is a problem that has been around since FileMaker introduced sliding objects and they seem to refuse to address it. I know for a fact that they are aware of it. I have been to meetings where FileMaker staff members have been present.

I call it "the page break problem". I was REALLY hoping that with FileMaker 7/8 it would have been remedied. I have been battling this problem for over 10 years now.

My tests with FileMaker 8 resulted in exactly the same thing you described, on screen the page break often drops text. The upside is that, so far, my tests where the text on screen was either cut in half or dropped entirely have printed with all the text intact. In the past(Pre-7/8) the text at the page break could be dropped or left cut in half when printed as well. On top of that, you never get what you see on screen so there is really no way for my customers to know if text is going to get dropped or cut in half by viewing it on screen. They have to print it to find out where to add returns to force text on the next page.

I solved the "what you see is NOT what you get" problem in FileMaker pre-7 by entering Preview mode and copying each page of all the reports to container fields in a related table. Talk about adding overhead.

I haven't attempted this in FileMaker 7/8 yet, but may need to. I mean, my customers have hundreds of reports each day and can't be expected to take the time to print each report and then making changes to the records to make them print without dropping or cutting text in half.

Every response I have heard from a FileMaker staff member when asked about this problem is something to the effect of "FileMaker is not intended to be a reporting/page layout system." Well, geez, they give us all this power and ease of use for creating very robust applications, but they seem to expect us to do the reporting in other applications.

It's a real drag. I LOVE FileMaker. I make my living being a FileMaker developer. I keep holding out hope that the next version or update will address the "page break problem".

FileMaker 8 is definitely the most powerful version to date and has several great bells and whistles. But, this problem has been around for at least 10 years and it's about time it got addressed.

[aharown07]

Ah... that helps. At least I know it's not my PC. For now, it'll go in the "known annoyances we have to live with" category.

[Mikelevich]

In reply to Matt Klein's comments - yes totally infuriating after so long. And with all that FMP is capable of, it's a poor excuse to suggest that FMP is not a reporting tool. If some reporting is possible then whatever is possible should at least work properly!

And to add - I'm working on a file at the moment - the first in FMP7 that I've confronted that old problem again - and it not only doesn't review correctly but also does NOT print correctly either (FMP7 on MacOSX).

For a moment I had hopes, but.......