creating composite PDF of multiple tabs

[dianem]

A client has a file of 78 country records. Each record has seven tabs, not layouts. Each tab displays different information about the country (population stats, economic stats, tourist info, etc.) They would like to print a PDF for each country that shows each tab on a different page of the one PDF file. Somehow they created one large document last year by creating seven separate PDFs with a different tab displayed for the 78 countries and dragging them into one file with Acrobat but it was very tedious.

Thanks for your help.

[bcooney]

Not sure of the version (FM9?), but FM has a new option that allows you to append to an existing PDF. This sounds like what you need. http://sixfriedrice.com/wp/filemaker-9-tip-6-append-to-pdf/

Also, you could create a report table. Through scripting, populate child IDs in a "scratch" table so all children are together. Then, report from that table. You could use sub-summaries to add page breaks.

Finally, you could combine existing PDFs using iText and ScriptMaster. http://fmforums.com/forum/showpost.php?post/364506/

[dianem]

Thank you for your help. It was a great help in getting me started. Since my problem was not so much printing different layouts but different tabs, a friend also pointed me to making objects of each of the tabs and using the go to object to make the tab active before printing the second PDF.

Thanks again for your help.

[comment]

Wouldn't it be better to make a new layout for printing?

[bcooney]

Printing "the screen" rather than a dedicated print layout "report" will fail when the amount of rows in the portal exceeds what you see.

Basically, I would create a "report" layout based on each of the child tables (portals), and print from there.

Simply, gtrr using print layout and Save as PDF.

btw, you still haven't solved the primary req, a composite PDF.

Edited September 18, 2010 by Guest

[comment]

Portals? Child tables?

[bcooney]

You're correct, I had assumed each tab panel had a portal in it (as mine often do). Rereading I see that is probably not the case.

Edited September 19, 2010 by Guest

[dianem]

Thanks for the enthusiastic discussion. It is a very simple database that will be updated yearly. Although it does have portals they are set up to view the last five years of data which will be sufficient.

[bcooney]

@comment

[comment]

LOL. Still, a 7-page layout is a better solution (IMHO) then appending the same page to itself 7 times.