Displaying related tables.

John G

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Jul 28, 2010, 8:02:06 PM7/28/10

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Helpfull Harry advises not to print portals, I'd be interested to know
why.

If I have 2 tables, one Customers and one Items. Related by unique
customer number.

I can display and enter related records in a portal and even print the
portal to look like an invoice or whatever.

How do I display/print the same thing without a portal?

Do I have to FIND the related records in the Items table first so as
to only see the related ones without a portal?

There is likely a simple answer but it just escapes me as a beginner
with RELATED tables although an FM user for many years.

Thanks John G.

Your Name

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Jul 28, 2010, 10:05:49 PM7/28/10

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In article <9kg156h34dtj0gdrg...@4ax.com>, John G
<gree...@ozemail.com.au> wrote:

> Helpfull Harry advises not to print portals, I'd be interested to know
> why.

Portals weren't designed for printing and can, but not always, cause
strange problems with the printout (for example sliding not working
properly).

It's a little like using Repeating Fields instead of a Related Table ...
it can be done, but is usually best to do it the proper way.

> If I have 2 tables, one Customers and one Items. Related by unique
> customer number.
>
> I can display and enter related records in a portal and even print the
> portal to look like an invoice or whatever.
>
> How do I display/print the same thing without a portal?
>
> Do I have to FIND the related records in the Items table first so as
> to only see the related ones without a portal?
>
> There is likely a simple answer but it just escapes me as a beginner
> with RELATED tables although an FM user for many years.

You've got the idea. Basically you do perform a Find or use the Go To
Related Records command to get only the related records in the other Table
and print the report from that Table using a normal Body Part on the
Layout.

You can have a Relationship link going back the other way to retrieve the
customer's name and address to be printed in a Header.

Another way can be to use a Script or Calculation Field to bring the
related data into the Customers Table.

Helpfull Harry :o)

John G

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Jul 28, 2010, 11:27:30 PM7/28/10

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On Thu, 29 Jul 2010 14:05:49 +1200, your...@isp.com (Your Name)
wrote:

>In article <9kg156h34dtj0gdrg...@4ax.com>, John G
><gree...@ozemail.com.au> wrote:
>
>> Helpfull Harry advises not to print portals, I'd be interested to know
>> why.
>
>Portals weren't designed for printing and can, but not always, cause
>strange problems with the printout (for example sliding not working
>properly).
>
>It's a little like using Repeating Fields instead of a Related Table ...
>it can be done, but is usually best to do it the proper way.
>

Thanks, even normal printing gets confused sometimes and prints only
the top or bottom of a line.

>
>> If I have 2 tables, one Customers and one Items. Related by unique
>> customer number.
>>
>> I can display and enter related records in a portal and even print the
>> portal to look like an invoice or whatever.
>>
>> How do I display/print the same thing without a portal?
>>
>> Do I have to FIND the related records in the Items table first so as
>> to only see the related ones without a portal?
>>
>> There is likely a simple answer but it just escapes me as a beginner
>> with RELATED tables although an FM user for many years.
>
>You've got the idea. Basically you do perform a Find or use the Go To
>Related Records command to get only the related records in the other Table
>and print the report from that Table using a normal Body Part on the
>Layout.
>
>You can have a Relationship link going back the other way to retrieve the
>customer's name and address to be printed in a Header.
>
>
>Another way can be to use a Script or Calculation Field to bring the
>related data into the Customers Table.
>
>
>Helpfull Harry :o)

Thanks for that I won't be looking for something that doesn't exist.

John G.

Nicolay

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Jul 30, 2010, 5:30:12 AM7/30/10

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On Jul 29, 5:27 am, John G <greent...@ozemail.com.au> wrote:
> On Thu, 29 Jul 2010 14:05:49 +1200, your.n...@isp.com (Your Name)
> wrote:
>
> >In article <9kg156h34dtj0gdrgouhcru49j7cbqu...@4ax.com>, John G

I think portals works great for printing invoices. If you know that
you sometimes have more line items that fits in the portal, you can
have a script that switches to a long version of line items on a
second page. If you have extremely many line items that you want to
invoice then you should go for the non portal solution, in my opinion.
Nicolay