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Printing sub-summary records on the same page

Question asked by ebanista on Aug 2, 2009
Latest reply on Jul 13, 2013 by ChuckHarderson

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Is there any way to make FileMaker not split sub-summary records across a page break? Often printed reports wind up with one "orphaned" record in a sub-summary on the top of the next page.

I know it's possible to *insert* page breaks before or after sub-summary parts on a layout. What I'd like is a FileMaker feature that would allow all records in the same sub-summary grouping to print on the same page. I guess it's the opposite of "Allow part to break across page boundaries" >>> "Don't allow sub-summary records to break across page boundaries"

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davidanders Aug 2, 2009 1:31 PM
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I am pretty sure, that would depend on the font size, paper size and margin size.
Some print drivers will allow you to resize the output by percentages or scale to fit.
This will allow you to print preview to get everything on one page.
David Anders
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ebanista Aug 2, 2009 2:03 PM
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Thanks, David, but that's not quite what I'm looking for.

Let's say I have a found set of records summarized by State. There are 6 records from Texas but only room at the bottom of the current page for 5 records to print. The last of the Texas records will print by itself on the top of the next page. I'd like for the Texas "leading sub-summary" part and the "body" parts for all 6 Texas records to be "bound together" for printing purposes. If the whole thing won't fit on the bottom of the current page, all 7 parts move to the top of the next page so that all of the Texas information appears on the same page.

Hope that's clearer,

Glenn
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synergy46 Aug 3, 2009 12:38 AM
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I have been trying to get my SS report to do exactly what you want.

My experience is "you can't get there from here." FM needs to add a feature.
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etripoli Aug 3, 2009 9:16 AM
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FM can't do it on it's own. I think you would have to create another field, a 'group' field, and make a sub-summary part for it, above the others. Then use a calculation to determine the number of records in the sub-summary part, assign a value to the group field, incrementing it for each new group. Then you can do page breaks on that field.
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ebanista Aug 4, 2009 11:06 AM
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That's a good idea, etipoli, but I think it would create a new page break at *every* sub-summary. I want as many sub-summaries as possible on each page without splitting then up. I'm also looking for a solution that's independent of printers, driver, page sizes...

Contour said it best in another thread: "...designing print layouts and printing them is one of the most frustrating experiences in FileMaker ... FileMaker's roots are in "data processing reports". If you research the topic sufficiently, you'll find reminders that "FileMaker is not a word processor".

So I'll join the chorus of those hoping the powers that be at FM give this topic a thorough going-over before the next release!

Glenn
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etripoli Aug 4, 2009 4:57 PM
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Yes, it would page-break when the break field value changes. You'll have to come up with a way to way to group your current sub-summary parts together with the same break-field value - and only page break on that value.
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ChuckHarderson Jul 13, 2013 11:20 AM
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     I have had this same problem.

     Using FM PRO 11 with a leading Sub-summary, the Record information displayed in the body, and followed by a trailing Sub-summary that is subtotaled on one of the Database fields.

     With this arrangement Records would be "orphaned" on a separate pages.

     Today, I added a Footer to the Layout. After adding the Footer, the output for some pages seems to end with a Trailing Sub-summary and go on to the next page for the next group of Records without "orphaning". However if 2 or more records were involved, they would still be "orphaned".
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Printing sub-summary records on the same page

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