Breaking a page without splitting records between pages

[mattyp78]

Hi, we have a database which uses portals. The records within the portals include a picture and specific formatting. On a single "master record" we will have several multiples of different types of portal record. The problem that I have is that I cannot create a page break between the multiples of the same type. Instead filemaker treats the records as a continuous list which will create the break midway through a record. The only solution I have thus far found is to make all of the different types of portal record exactly the same size (or multiples) and monkey around with the header/footer so that an exact number of them will fit on the page.

Thank you for your time,
Matt

 

[D0N]

This is a toughie. Any time you incorporate fields that can vary in vertical length, you make the task nearly impossible. Imagine, for instance, that you had to create a script which examined each record and calculated how many lines it was going to take. You'd then use that to calculate how many records to print and have the script print one page at a time until done. That, in effect, as I see it, is the only option you have.
The thing that makes this REALLY difficult is that there are lots of other variables which have to be taken into account. Things like the size of the header, the footer, the font itself, the font sizes, the font formatting, and line spacing and, of course, the size of paper you're going to be printing to.
Although, as you know, FileMaker has some clever vertical formatting it can do, unlike a word processor, it doesn't have a mechanism which intelligently associates a specific printed line with the contents of another printed line. In effect, you'd have to put the printed page into a format it DOES understand - a database. Ugh!