Grouping one or more records from each of several different tables

[pfrings]

I've been struggling with this query for a couple of days, and looked on recent posts for help, without avail. Here's hoping someone can help!

I have a database which generates quotes for complex direct mail print. I used to use a single table for each project/quote, but this was getting unwieldy and inflexible. The reason for this is that a typical direct mail piece might have 1 or two different types of envelopes; it might then have 2,3, 4 or 5 different print items; it might have 1 or 2 inserts ( a plastic pen, and or some other kind of premium); 1 or 3 or sometimes even three of the print items might be personalised... and so on. Hence my old 'Quotes' table allowed for up to 2 envelope specs, 4 print items specs etc. But this wasn't flexible for when there are more than 4 print items etc...

So I have created separate Specification tables for Envelopes ("EnvSpec"), Print items (PrintSpec) and so on. (The reason that there are several different types of specification table is that the fields needed to specify an envelope are different from those for print, which differ from those needed to describe personalisation, etc.) Records from these specification tables are pulled through into a new Quotes layout through a portal for each of the specification tables. Each portal displays on a separate tab layout.

What I can't work out is the best way to get four or five fields from each related specification (short summary of the specification, quantity, sales price, cost per thousand), onto a single nicely laid out page for a quote layout that goes to the client. My current workaround is to have a layout which contains a succession of portals to each of the specification tables, with each portal set to display as many rows as are likely to be needed for the most complex quote, and also each portal set to slide - so that I don't get loads of white space on simple quotes.

But what I'd like is a single portal, as this would make it much easier to re-order the sequence of each specification making up the quote, mark some as not to be printed and so on.

In a basic form then:

3 tables:

EnvSpec

PrintSpec

Quotes.

EnvSpec and PrintSpec are joined to Quotes via a QuoteID field. Each record within EnvSpec and Print Spec also has a unique ID.

What other tables/table occurrences do I need to get 1, 2, 3, or more records from each of the two Spec tables, displaying in a single portal?

Thanks in anticipation of any suggestions.

[pfrings]

Just to let people know that I think I have worked this out for myself: a separate table for quote summary lines related to each to the different spec tables, which then appears as anothe TO to link to my client quote table.

One thing I discovered, which may be useful to other novices, is that it was much easier to make progress when I put my existing database away, and worked out the relationship/table structure from scratch with a very basic test database, rather than think about the problem in the context of all my existing tables.