printing large relationships 1

[directorz]

Has anyone ever printed a large relationships diagram that's too large to print from the relationships window? Did you use a third party software? Any suggestions?

Thank you

Directorz

 

[MichaelRed]

Visio, but not necessarily all that much easier / better




MichaelRed

 

[dhookom]

I have written code in the On Format event of the relationship report that loops through every control and sets the Top, Left, Width, Heigth, and possibly font size to a scale factor.

Private Sub Detail_Format(Cancel As Integer, FormatCount As Integer)
    On Error Resume Next
    Dim sngScale As Single
    Dim ctl As Control
    sngScale = 0.5
    For Each ctl In Me.Controls
        ctl.Top = ctl.Top * sngScale
        ctl.Left = ctl.Left * sngScale
        ctl.FontSize = ctl.FontSize * sngScale
        ctl.Height = ctl.Height * sngScale
        ctl.Width = ctl.Width * sngScale
    Next
    Me.CurrentX = 2000
    Me.CurrentY = 5000
    Me.FontSize = 24
    Me.ForeColor = vbRed
    Me.Print "Tek-Tips Forums RULE!"
End Sub

Duane MS Access MVP
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[MichaelRed]

Duane,

While shrinking the various elements is a good thing, the problem I see in many of these diagrams is the shear clutter of the relationship lines. While my current focus is admittedlu on one large system with WaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaY to many defined relationships, many of the even moderatly sized dbs in Ms. A. seem to generate a clutter of the relationships. Organizing the controls into some rational layoput pattern which places the elements (controls) in a pattern / layout which minimizes the crossing of the relationship lines, minimizes the hiding of them behind controls (including the origin and destination points) while having them NOT overlay each other would gladden my heart. I haven't even thought about tackling this, so the golden sound (of silence) is expected.



MichaelRed

 

[dhookom]

MichaelRed,
My fellow Access MVP Stephen Lebans had made some announcement a while back but I couldn't find the link until now. Try this:

http://www.lebans.com/saverelationshipview.htm

Duane MS Access MVP
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[directorz]

Dhookom,
I've tried this without much success. If the printing appears on multiple pages, that's fine. I just physically cut and paste onto a board that hangs on my wall. Everything does not need to fit onto one page. I was thinking more along the lines of converting it then saving it to a PDF file, then printing....something like that.

Directorz

 

[dhookom]

You might want to try Snagit which can capture printer output and save it as any of the popular graphic file formats such as jpg.

Duane MS Access MVP
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[directorz]

Dhookom,
That's the ticket! I used Snagit, capturing the full layout (set to scroll both vertically and horizontally). Saved it to a .tif format and plotted it on a xerox plotter 24" x 30". Great tip...thank you!

Directorz

 

[directorz]

MichaelRed,
You should give it a shot. Dhookom has it nailed and until now I was at a loss. Perhaps enlarging the diagram as I did will give you more room to organize

Directorz

 

[MichaelRed]

My issue is not really the "space", but the logical relationships being clear. The native relationship diagram has an advantage over many (most? All?) of the workarounds. It does not release the relationship (connecting lines) without seperate overt action by hte user. Even with Visio (which I like and use a lot) yoiu need to be quite careful in moving objects that their connecting lines are alos selected, otherwise the lines stay in place - danglinging loose ends - while the connected objects sail blythley off to new loactions. Other graphics programs are usually worse in this regard, often loosing "connections" at any / every true in the "Line". With over a hundred tables and several hundred defined relationships it is common to have relationship lines going across more of the diagram than can be seen in any view, so keeping them connected when moving the objects is quite necessary.



MichaelRed