I didn't see an area dealing with attributes so hopefully this is the right place.

I've placed an auto-enter serial no. attribute in the header of a report layout. With each new occurrence of the report a new serial appears in the header but when I attempt to print this auto enter attribute does not print. The 'do not print this element' is not clicked in the format menu so I know that's not the problem. 'print/sliding' is also not clicked just in case there might be some issue with that.

Am I breaking some basic DB rule by having an auto enter in the header? The auto enter criteria creates a new record with each report I pull up. This is a batch report that gets deleted after it is printed.

Thanks in advance for the help

I believe the terms that you use are adding to the confusion here, as they are not "FileMaker" terms.

What is an attribute? A field?

When you say a report layout, that means a layout that is not used for data entry.

The auto enter criteria creates a new record with each report I pull up.

Hmm, do you mean, the field that is defined to have an auto-entered serial number is working fine when I create a new record in the layout I use for data entry?

You see, we're "lost in translation" here. Because, in a report, you wouldn't put a record ID in the header, you'd put it in the body part so that it shows for each record in the report.

Right, thanks for the response, but sorry for the confusion.

I do mean 'field' when I say 'attribute'.

I'd like to have a unique number in the header every time I generate a report. I thought I could accomplish this with auto enter fields, as I had stated, but these don't print. I'm not interested in having the auto entry field in the body because the report is discarded after it is generated and I don't need the auto entry number related to fields, only to the report.

So instead of a field might there be a way to create auto entry text in the header? I know about the // for date. Can this be formatted so that it shows date and time in serial form? Then that would be all I need.

Thanks again

Well, if you put //:: in the header you will get the date and time that you print. Does that help?

yes it does, just simplify it that way, thanks, really appreciate it

Also, you can select the // :: and format how you wish them to be printed using the choices from the Format menu.