Report using Portals Possible?

[davehazle]

Hey, This is my first post on this forum and my first deep dive into Filemaker so please forgive me if what I ask is not possible or there is a simpler way.

Essentially, I have a database that has a list of managers and the employees that report to them ...An example is below:

Employee: Manager:

David Josh

Joe Josh

Jack Josh

Jeff Katy

What I would like to do is produce a report/layout that shows a quick view of employee by manager. Perhaps in several portals? One for each manager? Or perhaps a cross tab report... The problem is that I am entirely unsure where to start and how to proceed. I have over 50 employees in the Database and this functionality is critical. Any help would be appreciated.

[Søren Dyhr]

Provided your skills level is correctly estimated, should the following make sufficient sense!

If nothing left outer join'ing is the case here? Should it be straight forward reporting from the most atomic part of the relation even if the structure is one2many recursive. In anchor bouy RG's should it be from the rightmost of the self join TO's...

However if it is a left outer... thing - study this:

http://www.fmforums.com/forum/showtopic.php?tid/211362/

--sd

[davehazle]

Let me add some more details on the desired outcome. I would like separate portals to behave like the image below except it seems that if I change the "Manager" field on one of these portals, it changes for both ... How can I set this up to report each manager and their employees in separate portals?

Edited December 20, 2009 by Guest

[comment]

I don't see why you need portals for this: it sounds like a simple report of employees, grouped by manager, should produce the desired result (though I am not sure why there are TWO columns in your picture).

[davehazle]

The two columns in the picture are just an example of what I would like the data to look like. I have a SubSummary report created, but with over 400 employees and 20+ managers, that long single column report is hardly usable. I figured that if I could create portals for each manager, I could place them in a Layout that prints much better with multiple columns.

[efen]

Like the attached - very rough but how you want it to appear?

staff.zip

[comment]

The way you are going, you'd need 20+ fields (one for each manager) and 20+ relationships - and the whole thing would need redoing whenever a manager is added or deleted.

If space utilization is the only concern, you could print the report in multiple columns on the same page. But if you want more of a side-by-side comparison, you'll need a much more advanced technique:

http://edoshin.skeletonkey.com/2006/12/crosstab_report.html

[davehazle]

The "Employees Report" is EXACTLY what I am trying to accomplish. Think you may be able to walk me through it?

[bruceR]

If the Employees Report is exactly what you are trying to accomplish then - aren't you done? Otherwise, what are you trying to accomplish? See alternate report attached, no portals.

staff.fp7.zip

Edited December 20, 2009 by Guest

[davehazle]

The formatting is the piece that I am most concerned with. How did you get "Report 1" to format into 2 columns? Can it be formatted into 3? or 4?

[efen]

In layout mode go to the print layout.

Select Layouts from the top bar.

Select Layout setup

From the dialog box select Printing.

Decide the number of columns to print.

Choose whether to print down first or across (my file is set up incorrectly - across first - which gives even spacing across both columns). If down first is selected the gaps are closed up between managers.

The portal can only extend the length of a page so that if there are a large number of employees for one manager then this approach is not partiicularly suitable.

All fields, text, etc on the layout are set to slide:

Select all layout elements that are to slide up when printed.

Select Format from the top bar.

Select Sliding/printing.

Tick the appropriate boxes to slide up - and also to reduce the size of the enclosing part.

Edited December 20, 2009 by Guest

[davehazle]

OK, so I have attached the output from my file using the directions above, but I cant get it to display more than one column. Any Ideas?

Edited December 20, 2009 by Guest

[bruceR]

You're not in preview mode.

[bruceR]

The formatting is the piece that I am most concerned with. How did you get "Report 1" to format into 2 columns? Can it be formatted into 3? or 4?

Did you even look at the file? It does exactly what you asked for.

[davehazle]

I did .. got it working the way I want it. Thanks so much for all of your help.