Counting, Portals, and Printing

[jmbter]

I'm trying to eliminate the extra blank pages that print as a result of empty portals (sliding does not minimize this space). I have two ideas of how to accomplish this but need help implementing them. I need to know if there is a script that counts the number of filled portals or number of linked records. Idea 1 would take the range of filled portals and say If there are 1-7 portals, print 1 page, If 7-14 print 2pgs.

If there was no way to specify how many pages print, I'd have the range indicate which layout to print i.e. If 1-7 portals print layout 1 (which is 1pg) and If 7-14 print layout 2.
I'm open to other ideas as well,
Jmbter

 

[JeanW]

Portals were not designed to be printed. They will print, but there are serious limitations. The problem is that portals only print as many rows as are showing on the layout.
You could make a separate layout with a portal that has enough rows to satisfy the largest number of rows. Even then, fields within portal rows will not slide up through unused portal space.
In addition, if a portal crosses a page break, it will not break elegantly.

To get the best result, you could use a sub-summary report in the related file. This part is sorted by the match field from the related file.
Make a script to print this report.

Bottom line:
In browse mode: no sliding for portalrows. Sliding/Printing only works in Preview mode and when printing.

In preview mode and when printing: don't print portals. Go to the related records and print using a list view layout instead. Then you can use Sliding/Printing as much as you like.

HTH