Layout set up for fax/letter print

[AndrewBruno]

Trial and error and reference to my FM guides have failed to meet this apparently simple requirement.

My database has a fax/letter file to automate writing and sending/printing these documents. It works fine when the whole document is set up as a single A4 portrait page with header and footer. However, I want to allow the user to write and fax/print letters of any length, composing the body in a single text field. I understand the difference between title headers and headers and have set these up OK. My problem is what size to make the body field and where to place it relative to the body section and also the broken page border lines whose meaning I don't understand.

i.e. If the body is too big to allow printing on a single page (with title header)and footer, the printout (report) extends to further pages(), with header and footer.

Any help much appreciated.

[BobWeaver]

This is a bit tricky to describe how to avoid all the pitfalls, but I've set up layouts to print letters and faxes that are up to 5 pages long. The problem that you can get into if you are not careful is that you can have the page break in the middle of a line of text.

I can email you an example file with my layouts if you like.

[Vaughan]

Bob

TechInfo Article #104111 "Text Splitting Across Page Breaks: The Official Response" says in part...

"The New Break feature offers the best possible option when dealing with this problem in FileMaker Pro 3.0, 4.0 and 4.1. For improved performance we recommend upgrading to FileMaker Pro 5.0. The hidden New Break feature has been removed and does not exist in FileMaker Pro 5.0. Text handling across page boundaries has been addressed with the introduction of more intelligent page break logic."

So hopefully FMP 5 users won't see split lines of text ever again!

Read the whole article to find out what the "New Break" feature is and why it was "hidden." Interesting reading.

[BobWeaver]

Yes, I'm aware of that article, but haven't found any significant improvement in version 5 unless I'm totally missing something somewhere. Version 5 works just like versions 3 and 4 without the hidden feature. I still find it necessary to design the layout very very carefully.

[ November 12, 2001: Message edited by: BobWeaver ]