Extra white space problems!

[Megs8d]

I have a report that is grouped by product with a list of product attributes below it. My report pulls the attributes and lists each one below it. Then I also have an actionable comments field that is associated w/each product. I wanted the actionable comments field to appear to the right of all of the attribute fields. My problem is that that the actionable comments field contains multiple lines of text, so there is a space between the first attribute and all of the rest of the attributes. Is there any way to get the actionable comments field to spread out over the entire product group without having extra blank lines?

What is happening:
Product A
Attribute 1 Action Items.........
.....................
....................
Attribute 2
Attribute 3

What I want to happen:

Product A
Attribute 1 Action Items.........
Attribute 2 .....................
Attribute 3 ....................

 

[PNC]

I'm having the same issue, Megs8d did you solve your problem? Anybody has any idea on how to do what Megs8d wanted?

 

[ck1999]

You can possibly do this by using colums. Make say 2 columns then in the detail section place a new column before section and see if this helps.

Chris

 

[lameid]

If ck1999's idea doesn't halp, can you please post the SQL behind the report (or an equivalent statement). I'm having a hard time visualizing the whole thing.

Also, are you wanting all the action items for all attributes to span the entire area for the Product or do you want them to match up?

 

[PNC]

lameid -

It's not a SQL problem, it's a formatting problem:
Example:
Col1 - Col2
----------------
Row1 [x1] - [y1
Row2 ...]
Row3 [x2] - [y2]
Row4 [x3] - [y3]

In the example "y1" is too big to fit in the first row of the report so it goes to the second row, therefore instead of having x2 on the second row it goes to the third row and we wondering if it's possible to have x2 still print in Row2 without having to expand the text box for y1?

 

[ck1999]

Did you try the colums? will it not work? When you enlarge 1 section of the detail section the entire section grows.

Chris

 

[lameid]

Why does it matter whether or not x2 is on the second row?

Does it matter whether or not the y column is on the same row as the matching x? If not, you could have 2 subreports that each displays one field and have them both set to can grow and can shrink. Beyond that, also make sure they are the same height and are aligned at the top. That should work if you don't care about the match up.

You could also make the control for [y] wider so that the control doesn't expand. You can also set the control for column Y's property for can grow to NO. This will force the text to be truncated but will still keep the second record on row 2.

If none of this helps, I'm going to need more information about why and what results exactly your looking for to see if there is anything else that might work or an alternative that may make your users almost as happy.

 

[PNC]

lameid - Why? Because I work for very annoying people who don't like to see wasted space on a report...

ck1999 - I think the implementation of the columns might be the right solution, but I don't know how to do it. I try going to Page Setup --> Columns --> Change the number to 2 and uncheck same as details... but after that, I'm not quite sure of what I'm supposed to do...

Thanks.

 

[lameid]

A couple of unanswered things... I want to help.

Does it matter whether or not the y column is on the same row as the matching x?

If none of this helps, I'm going to need more information about why and what results exactly your looking for to see if there is anything else that might work or an alternative that may make your users almost as happy.

Perhaps the real answer is for your users to develop coping skills