FM 11 Printing Issue

[DaleScott]

I have several multi-page merge documents, ie, Mortgage and Promissory Notes. They are basically large text blocks with merge field information in the block.

Filemaker Pro 10 Advanced prints these on multiple pages with no problems. Since upgrading to 11 Advanced the visible text on some pages is truncated at either the top or bottom of the page.

Any ideas as to if this is a bug or is there a setting that I need to change?

I have attached samples of FM 10 and FM 11 behavior.

FM11_Test.pdf

FM_10_Test.pdf

[Neuronal Nerd]

I don't know the answer to this problem, but just wanted to say that I am having the same issue in printing, in which the lines break as expected in FMP10 Advanced, but do not in FMP11.

[Michael_]

Many of my reports had this problem, but I'm in OSX not windows. It is basically a page-setup issue. Try going into layout mode for the layout that is to be printed, and check the visible page breaks. You may find they aren't where you expect them to be, which causes truncation. On a mac, you can select page set up in the OS and verify that you are set up for the printer you actually use (not 'any printer'). In Filemaker when in the layout (and in layout mode) go to layout setup and from the printing panel there check page margin adjustments to get your page margins to match your layout fields. Finally, your printing job is likely scripted and you'll want to verify that you have set a Page Setup script step that captures the above (and will restore it) as the job is processed. I had to do this with three seperate reports to correct what sounds like the same problem as I shifted to FMP11.

[E Gish]

Simple qustions for charting

I am doing bar graph with totals for several of our districts. It looks fine. When I hover over a particular bar its hwos me the value graphed.

Is there anyway I can turn on a setting so the chart shows the total value in value.

If I have 125 widgets graphed. How can I show it numerically at the top of the bar?

And yes, I agree, it seems to be very limited in what it can do. Multiple series data is nearly impossible to do.

And with my limited knowledge so far, having to go to a table view and set up groups and count totals prior to graphing seems a bit archaic.

Edited November 23, 2010 by Guest

[marianco]

Looks like there is a huge bug in Filemaker where line breaks do not properly occur. Thus, Filemaker will print multi-page forms with characters cut in half - half at the bottom of one page, and half showing on the next page.

Hopefully, someone has noticed by now and is working on the problem.

[marianco]

Here is Filemaker Support's reply:

Mac OS X: Text cut off when text field spans page breaks in Preview mode and when printed

Why is text getting cut off in my printouts?

Answer ID: 7711 Last Updated: Jul 06, 2010 10:06 AM PDT

Products

FileMaker Pro

11.x

FileMaker Pro Advanced

11.x

ISSUE:

You have a text field that spans a number of pages and any text at the line break is cut in half and not pushed to the next page as was the case in FileMaker Pro 10.

POSSIBLE WORKAROUND:

Try going into Layout mode for the layout you're attempt to print and check the visible page breaks. You may find they aren't where you expect them to be, which causes truncation.

In Layout mode, go to Layouts > Layout Setup. In the Layout Setup dialog box, click the Printing tab and check the page margin adjustments to get your page margins to match your layout fields.

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AS YOU SEE, IT IS A BUG.

This has been an old on-again, off-again problem with Filemaker Pro since VERSION 1.0

Now that this bug has again been re-introduced, we have to suffer until Filemaker fixes it.

We have been lucky to not have this bug from version 6 to 10. But now we suffer again.

[marianco]

This bug in Filemaker Pro 11 actually makes it unusable for long reports.

Downgrading to Filemaker Pro 10 is the only solution.

This is sad since Filemaker Pro 11 is actually significantly faster than Filemaker Pro 10 in many instances.

[Andy Cohen]

Interesting...

I have just found the same problem. Posted on Technet on a wishlist thread not knowiing it worked correctly Pree11!... and got ZERO response on it being a bug. Some responses acknowledged that FMP simply did not do it... i.e., a proper page break within a text field or a merge field spanning a break without slicing text.

A bug?!

YUP!!!

Just went way back to 8... works fine... NO SLICED TEXT!

Edited November 23, 2010 by Guest

[Vaughan]

... it worked correctly Pree11

That's not my experience at all. The spilt lines has affected all versions of FMP.

[bcooney]

I agree that it's always been a problem. A workaround is to use Bruce's virtual list technique.

[marianco]

For me, this problem did not occur with Filemaker Pro 10, Filemaker Pro 9, and Filemaker Pro 8.

It is a maddening bug since large fields can no longer be reliably printed.

[marianco]

where can you find bruce's technique?

[bcooney]

http://fmforums.com/forum/showpost.php?post/360724/

and

http://fmlayoutmode.com/wp/?p=1799

Edited November 26, 2010 by Guest

[marianco]

Thanks for your reply.

fmlayoutmode.com gave the clearest explanation of this technique.

It is still a wonder and disappointment that Filemaker can't print correctly given that even simple word processors and textedit can determine where to split lines so that text isn't truncated.

[Rick Whitelaw]

" On a mac, you can select page set up in the OS and verify that you are set up for the printer you actually use (not 'any printer')."

On the contrary, I find that selecting (manually) "Format for any Printer" will almost always deliver the best results. However, almost all my printing in FMP is scripted, uses AppleScript to call "Do Shell Script" and doesn't use the Print Setup or the Print Script Step. A truly dynamic printing set up IS possible in Filemaker.

RW (OS X 10.5.6)

[marianco]

For now, I've gone back to Filemaker Pro 10.

The printing issue was maddening. Again, why can't Filemaker act like a word processor and correctly text without truncating the characters and the end of pages?

Another issue with Filemaker Pro 11 was that data entry is slower than Filemaker Pro 10. Typing into a field, popping up menus was just slower in 11 than 10. 10 is also smarter about making selections in a drop down menu.

[Andy Cohen]

I'm told it always worked correctly for Merge Fields. Using Merge fields in10 with slide up set the text split worked in Preview mode... Not in 11.

This is not simply a problem with long docs... This is a significant problem for ALL reporting in FMP and if FMI does not address it then it speaks volumes to a large potential customer about the reliability of FMI as a development system producer.

So... A question about using Virtual Lists as a workaround...

What if your doc requires graphics? Such as border lines around specific fields and titles?: Or even if you need a biz graphic at the top of page 1 with the follow on text spanning the next page break? My initial read of the 2 articles tells me the technique assumes all text inserted into global variables. If this is correct then virtual list is not a valid work around for me.

[marianco]

Correct text truncation in text boxes with merge fields works in Filemaker Pro 10, Filemaker Pro 9, Filemaker Pro 8, and Filemaker Pro 7.

However, it no longer works in Filemaker Pro 11.

I'm scratching my head wondering how this came about since TextEdit and other word processors and other databases do this correctly in Mac OS X, and the text editing routines are built into the operating system.

Virtual Lists only works for linear arrays. It doesn't work for two-dimensional arrays like cells in a spreadsheet.

Still, having to do a work around for a bug in basic text printing and output (since the truncation bug shows up in Preview Mode), is distasteful.

For Filemaker, Inc. to acknowledge the bug but offer no fix is distasteful and disappointing.

Since data output and reporting is a key feature of a database, I can't recommend upgrading to Filemaker Pro 11 until this bug is fixed.

Edited November 27, 2010 by Guest

[marianco]

Here is the relevant thread in Filemaker's own forum:

http://forums.filemaker.com/posts/2c9fb7ce18

The reply by TSGal:

posted Jul 12 by TSGal

Printing functionality was not changed in the most recent update. Your problem was verified by our Testing department and sent to Development. There is still no update at this time.

TSGal

FileMaker, Inc.

----

Numerous businesses including law offices have been hit by this bug. They find they can no longer rely on Filemaker Pro 11 for printing long reports. They would not have upgraded to Filemaker Pro 11 if they had known about this output bug. One law office has to output to Microsoft Word - before printing.

The bug was verified by Filemaker's testing department and has been sent to development.

Of concern is that this bug may never get fixed before Filemaker Pro 12.

Why this bug which hits a crucial feature of Filemaker Pro even exists is a mystery. Filemaker Pro should be able to output and print reports correctly - just like other databases and word processors do, even the simple ones.

[Andy Cohen]

Wow...

This really stinks.

When a company or an individual makes a decision to use a specific kind of development system they make an investment. Seems the investment here is a bad one.

This will be a subject on the next FMST podcast.

Went and reinstalled 8,9 and 10 (I skipped 8.5)

My specific app which build s report using fields with borders, a graphic, boxes and text fields all slid up and resized enclosed... Also did the same with Merge field... A big one following the graphixs and text fields with borders...

8 worked.

9,10 missed 1 line which was split across pages.

11 misses almost every page break.

Edited November 28, 2010 by Guest
Added

[marianco]

One of the most important capabilities of a database is to do reports. This bug kills Filemaker Pro 11's ability to do reports longer than 1 page. It is an unbelievably bad mistake in programming. It did not exist in Filemaker Pro 8 to 10.

THIS BUG IS A SHOWSTOPPER.

It is UNPROFESSIONAL.

I CANNOT RECOMMEND Filemaker Pro 11 as a result of this bug.

How can anyone who does reports with a large amount of text rely in Filemaker? Law firms who need clearly printed reports, for example, are aghast at the output from Filemaker Pro 11. Truncated text characters are clearly unacceptable. If other databases and even simple word processors can avoid this problem, why can't Filemaker?:

I had to DOWNGRADE to Filemaker Pro 10 because this bug simply drove me nuts.

And I have to look at other options for future database work should this bug persist in future versions of Filemaker Pro.

[Matt Klein]

I just wanted to put my 2 cents in here as well since this has been a BIG issue for my company since FMP 2.0. It's been a constant battle for us for 16 years. Every opportunity I've had to talk about it with a FileMaker engineer or manager or VP I have specifically brought this up. Never have I received a decent answer. The most prevalent answer is that there are too many printers out there with different drivers followed by suggested "workarounds". There is nothing worse than a workaround as far as I'm concerned. I've explored most of the workarounds suggested. They all require fairly static, text only solutions. This is 2010. It's the age of graphics, images, dynamic text in differing font sizes and styles. The workarounds don't work for our customers. Our customers differentiate themselves from their competition via their reports. Text only, one-dimensional reports just won't cut it. We are able to deliver them all of the above with the caveat that there will be issues on the page break.

I know for a fact that they are well aware of the issue and have been for a long time. With every new release I hope and pray for a solution. I'm sick and tired of having to explain to my clients that this is a known issue that we have no good solution for. I'm sick and tired of having to show them how to force the text that is breaking in half to the next page. I'm sick and tired of telling my customers that, "yes, if you feel like your report will be longer than one page you must preview it." Previewing every report for some of our customers adds hours to a day and thus costs them money.

The problem was MUCH less prevalent in FMP8.5 and FMP9. We skipped over FMP7,8,10. We were fielding one or two calls a year regarding the problem for the last couple of years. In the last 8 months or so, with our product running in FMP11, we are back to dealing with it with EVERY new customer running in FMP11.

It used to be a much worse problem because FMP's preview mode doesn't give WYSIWYG screen output. It used to be that the users couldn't even tell, by previewing, if and where the break issue appears. FMI got us half way there by allowing us to generate PDFs directly from FMP. At least now, we can give them a WYSIWYG onscreen preview of the report. Now they know if the problem occurs and where exactly the break is happening.

I hate to imply that FMP11 is garbage because of this one issue. It's not at all. In fact, it is, IMHO, the best FileMaker product to date and I really enjoy working with it. It's just that this problem has been going on, with FMI's knowledge of it, for at least 16 years with NO solution at all. Not even an attempt at it as far as I can tell.

Dare I say that perhaps FMI should consider hiring some Microsoft folks. Microsoft products don't have this issue to the best of my knowledge.

In the end, I just want to be able to tell my customers that they don't have to preview all 200-500 of the reports each day to ensure they won't have breaking issues. Nothing would make them happier, but I'll be damned if I'm gonna use an external app to generate their reports, such as Crystal Reports or MS Word, thus requiring them to pay more for our product.