printing related records

[jekacher]

Hi,

I'm trying to print a list of multiple related records. The parent table "Case" has two related child tables: "Gross" and "Part" (Gross and Part are each related by "__kp_CaseID/_kf_CaseID"). Generally speaking, for each "Part" child there is a corresponding "Gross" child (however I have good reasons for not joining these to make one table). There may be any number of Gross/Part pairs related to "Case".

Anyhow, what I'm trying to do is to print the following information:

(Header) fields from "Case"

(Body) field from "Gross"

(Body) field from "Part"

(Footer) page break

The trick is that I want all of the child records from "Gross" listed sequentially, followed by the corresponding child records from "Part", in the following fashion (this example uses 3 gross/part pairs):

(Header) fields from "Case"

(Body) "Gross1"

(Body) "Gross2"

(Body) "Gross3"

(Body) "Part1"

(Body) "Part2"

(Body) "Part3"

(Footer) page break

I could do this on the screen easily with portals, but then printing will be an issue because I never know how many gross/part pairs there will be (so the # of portals rows cannot be specified), and I need to be assured all the information will print. I have tried working with List View but am unable to get the information to display correctly.

I have made a layout in the context of "Part" but then all parts are listed - the correct "Case" info will display in the header for the "Part" record I'm on as I flip through the records in list view. I could restrict the list of "Parts" with a search to correspond to the appropriate "Case", but this still does not resolve the issue of sequentially displaying "Gross" information before the "Part" information.

Any ideas?

[comment]

The trick is that I want all of the child records from "Gross" listed sequentially, followed by the corresponding child records from "Part"

That is one trick that Filemaker doesn't do. Possible workarounds:

1. Print a portal to one of the child tables (or both). Give the portal enough rows to accommodate the largest possible amount of child records, and set it to slide up when printing.

2. Compile the child records into a single text field, using either a script or a custom function. Again, the field must be tall enough for fit all possible child records, and set to slide.

3. Import both child tables into a common union table, and print from there.

4. Export your report as XML.

5. Export your report sequentially to a text file, using a plugin or AppleScript to append each part to the same file.