I've got a file with a report layout that has two sub-summary parts. One is sorted by a persons name and the other is sorted by classes that person has taught. So I get a person's name, followed by summary information about each class they are in.

Sometimes when the report is printed, the natural page break falls between a person's name and their first class. I want to avoid this. I want to say to FileMaker "If a page break occurs after the first sub-summary part, force one before it instead" or "Never allow a page break between the first sub-summary part and the second."

Any suggestions?

Thanks,

Chuck

quote:

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Originally posted by Chuck:

I've got a file with a report layout that has two sub-summary parts. One is sorted by a persons name and the other is sorted by classes that person has taught. So I get a person's name, followed by summary information about each class they are in.

Sometimes when the report is printed, the natural page break falls between a person's name and their first class. I want to avoid this. I want to say to FileMaker "If a page break occurs after the first sub-summary part, force one before it instead" or "Never allow a page break between the first sub-summary part and the second."

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This is not really possible, however you can minimize the impact with the following.

Create a Title Header part. Make it a duplicate of your existing header part.

Now make a slight modification to you Header, by adding a small merge field at the bottom of it, which basically summarizes the student information. (i.e. "Student <<studentname>>" or something like that)

This way even though the student information is on the previous page, there is some cue as to what student these classes go with.

It works better than it sounds.

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Kurt Knippel

Consultant

Database Resources

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.database-resources.com

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quote:

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Originally posted by captkurt:

This is not really possible, however you can minimize the impact with the following.

Create a Title Header part. Make it a duplicate of your existing header part.

Now make a slight modification to you Header, by adding a small merge field at the bottom of it, which basically summarizes the student information. (i.e. "Student <<studentname>>" or something like that)

This way even though the student information is on the previous page, there is some cue as to what student these classes go with.

It works better than it sounds.

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That might be a pretty good work around. Thanks!

Chuck

Since I posted the same general question a couple of days ago, I've come up with another work-around of sorts. It sounds clumsy, and indeed it is, but it has the advantage of eventually providing the result you want:

Before printing the user is given a view of the pages to ascertain if the page-breaks are ok. In response to a message he either accepts or rejects what he sees. In the latter case the script automatically changes to an alternative layout: identical to the first but with a slightly larger footer (thus effectively shortening the body area). The user can again either accept or reject the layout, while the script cycles through several prepared layouts with larger and larger footers.

If the report is no more than two pages long, this should virtually always produce a sensible page-break. For three or more pages it could be made more flexible by using both title and normal footers. Eventually, of course, the whole thing gets out of hand.

After years of frustration at FileMaker's inability to lay out pages, I gave up. Now I export the FM file to a merge file, open Word, and use the tools menu to make a merge document (usually catalog).

Write back if you need more details.

Hope this helps.