Printing Column Headers on Multiple Pages

[Daniel Shanahan]

Is there a way to print column headers on multiple pages when the column header is in a Sub-summary part? I have done this before by using a Title Header part and a Title part. However, in this case, I am using the Sub-summary part to pull in the organization's contact information, which needs to be at the top of the letter (aka "header"). The column information itself is in the body and draws from a child table. This column information varies from company to company and may fit on one page or take several pages.

I'd like to create a Title Header and Header and move it below the Sub-summary, but, of course, I cannot as those parts are locked (and understandably so).

So, does anyone know of a way to include the column headers on subsequent pages?

Attached is an image of the layout version.

Thanks.

[comment]

See if this helps:

http://fmforums.com/forum/showtopic.php?tid/187328/post/253101/#253101

[fmbiz.net]

Hello Daniel,

The most convenient way to do this is to add a Header section and place your Column titles at the bottom of the Header. Next you have to add a conditional to each of the Column titles. The conditional formula would be some condition based on the Page Number you are on while in Preview mode.

The condition looks something like; Get(PageNumber) = 1 or Get(PageNumber) = LastPage then change text color to white (or your background color).

This does not work for all circumstances. You will have to customize your conditionals to your exact need, which may vary from report to report.

Hope this gives you some idea on one way to approach this.

Best Regards,

Charlie - FMBiz.net

[Daniel Shanahan]

Thanks, Comment and Charlie. As you may have noticed from my attached picture, I did not have a header; rather, I had a Sub-summary - body - Sub-summary. Before I tried either of your suggestions, I thought I had a moment of insight, so I added a Title Header without anything in it and a Header with the column headers in it. I thought the empty Title Header would prevent the Header from displaying and the column headers would be taken from the Sub-summary section. Then, on subsequent pages when the Sub-summary does not show, the Header would show. Unfortunately, that did not work.

Nor did I have any luck with the GetNthRecord() trick (Comment's suggestion) or conditional formatting (Charlie's suggestion). I tried several combinations, as suggested, but still no luck.

Regarding pagination, I neglected to indicate how each report was separated. See the attached screenshot for that.

Any other ideas? Or, perhaps I am not understanding the ones presented?

Thanks.

Pagination.zip

[fmbiz.net]

I did forget to mention one thing. In order to control the page breaks better you must use a Trailing Sub-Summary even if you are not actually using sub-totals. This is where you set the 'Break after every Occurrence' and 'Reset the Page Number after every Occurrence'.

I was able to understand your implementation of the Sub-Summaries and I have a pretty good idea of what you are trying to accomplish. FileMaker does not make this part very easy, so I have already gone through what you are going through now. In order to get the dynamic flexibility you may find in more powerful reporting software like Crystal Reports you have to use conditional formatting in ways that are very creative.

I have provided a sample file that demonstrates one use of conditional formatting that will allow you to Summarize a Report by Company Name with a varying number of pages per Company. The sample data will show you how the Header Columns appear and disappear as needed.

Hope this helps.

Best Regards,

Charlie - FMBiz.net

HeaderSample.fp7.zip

[comment]

Nor did I have any luck with the GetNthRecord() trick (Comment's suggestion)

Try the attached. Note that it uses conditional formatting instead of a calculation field, but the principle remains unchanged.

AltHeader9.zip

[Daniel Shanahan]

Thank you, Charlie and Comment. I'll take a look at both methods sometime over the weekend.

[Daniel Shanahan]

Charlie and Comment, thank you for including files with your post. That was very helpful! I had a chance to work with it this morning and now the problem is solved. Thank you both!

- Daniel