creating a contents page problem (filemaker 6)

i am trying to make a database to replace word (not easy), we publish really
large 300 page plus reports. all broke up into various sections (paragraphs
of text or word tables). its these sections i want to put into a database so
we can find different sections to make up new reports.

i have the reports formatting great and almost prefectly duplicating their
word copies.

but i am having real trouble trying to get a contents page

at the moment i am creating the contents page by previewing the report and
jumping to the last page (putting this in a global) then going to browse
mode and setting the last record as this page num global. it then omits this
last record and starts the loop over again

however this takes a couple of hours for a large report and it is very
inaccurate as some sections (or records) span a few pages and this wont take
this into account.

has any one else attempted this and came across a better solution

thanks
Craig

Re: creating a contents page problem (filemaker 6)

"cw" wrote in message
news:XLmdnbRG9Lt03pfaRVnyigA@bt.com...
>i am trying to make a database to replace word (not easy), we publish
>really large 300 page plus reports. all broke up into various sections
>(paragraphs of text or word tables). its these sections i want to put into
>a database so we can find different sections to make up new reports.
>
> i have the reports formatting great and almost prefectly duplicating their
> word copies.
>
> but i am having real trouble trying to get a contents page
>
> at the moment i am creating the contents page by previewing the report and
> jumping to the last page (putting this in a global) then going to browse
> mode and setting the last record as this page num global. it then omits
> this last record and starts the loop over again
>
> however this takes a couple of hours for a large report and it is very
> inaccurate as some sections (or records) span a few pages and this wont
> take this into account.
>
> has any one else attempted this and came across a better solution
>
> thanks
> Craig
>


i guess in simple terms i want to set a field in each record to the page its
on in preview mode

thanks

Re: creating a contents page problem (filemaker 6)

"cw" schreef in bericht
news:YKidnfEUl5Ys05fanZ2dnUVZ8tGqnZ2d@bt.com...
>
> "cw" wrote in message
> news:XLmdnbRG9Lt03pfaRVnyigA@bt.com...
>>i am trying to make a database to replace word (not easy), we publish
>>really large 300 page plus reports. all broke up into various sections
>>(paragraphs of text or word tables). its these sections i want to put into
>>a database so we can find different sections to make up new reports.
>>
>> i have the reports formatting great and almost prefectly duplicating
>> their word copies.
>>
>> but i am having real trouble trying to get a contents page
>>
>> at the moment i am creating the contents page by previewing the report
>> and jumping to the last page (putting this in a global) then going to
>> browse mode and setting the last record as this page num global. it then
>> omits this last record and starts the loop over again
>>
>> however this takes a couple of hours for a large report and it is very
>> inaccurate as some sections (or records) span a few pages and this wont
>> take this into account.
>>
>> has any one else attempted this and came across a better solution
>>
>> thanks
>> Craig
>>
>
>
> i guess in simple terms i want to set a field in each record to the page
> its on in preview mode
>
> thanks
>

Untested, but here's my two cents'.

I would count the number of lines you will fit onto each page. Call this
NumLines
Then put all the text together in one field. And do a count on the returns.
Then for this field you know that every NumLines the pagenumber will
increase by one.
And you will now know for every key wordword on which page it will end up.
You could also work top-down instead of down-top. Start with record one,
count the returns. You know the page where it will end up. Goto next record,
add it to the previous. Count the returns. And loopy-the-loop

Ofcourse this needs some work, but as a basic outline I would try this.

Keep well, Ursus

Re: creating a contents page problem (filemaker 6)

In article , "cw"
wrote:

> i am trying to make a database to replace word (not easy), we publish really
> large 300 page plus reports. all broke up into various sections (paragraphs
> of text or word tables). its these sections i want to put into a database so
> we can find different sections to make up new reports.
>
> i have the reports formatting great and almost prefectly duplicating their
> word copies.
>
> but i am having real trouble trying to get a contents page
>
> at the moment i am creating the contents page by previewing the report and
> jumping to the last page (putting this in a global) then going to browse
> mode and setting the last record as this page num global. it then omits this
> last record and starts the loop over again
>
> however this takes a couple of hours for a large report and it is very
> inaccurate as some sections (or records) span a few pages and this wont take
> this into account.
>
> has any one else attempted this and came across a better solution

Basically it can't be done. The Preview-loop method is likely to be the
best way, but it is slow for lots of records / pages.

BUT,
there is also a nasty bug in FileMaker's Preview ability that means
what you see in Preview is NOT necessarily what is going to come out of
your printer. This means that even after sitting through that long
process your Contents page may still be incorrect anyway. I can tell
you that this bug is definitely in versions up to FileMaker 5.5 and
I've been told still exists in newer versions.

Rather than try to use FileMaker (a database application) to replace
Word (a word processor), you'd be better off staying in Word. If you
really need to search through all the reports for "Fred Flintstone"
(for example), then you can do that in other ways, eg. create PDFs of
the reports and use an application / database that acts as a library
for the PDFs.

If you want to insist on using FileMaker, then the only real solution
is to print the full report and then manually go through it typing the
page numbers into a Global field for the Contents page and then print
that separately.


Helpful Harry
Hopefully helping harassed humans happily handle handiwork hardships ;o)

Re: creating a contents page problem (filemaker 6)

"Helpful Harry" wrote in message
news:091020070847461252%helpful_harry@nom.de.plume.com...
> In article , "cw"
> wrote:
>
>> i am trying to make a database to replace word (not easy), we publish
>> really
>> large 300 page plus reports. all broke up into various sections
>> (paragraphs
>> of text or word tables). its these sections i want to put into a database
>> so
>> we can find different sections to make up new reports.
>>
>> i have the reports formatting great and almost prefectly duplicating
>> their
>> word copies.
>>
>> but i am having real trouble trying to get a contents page
>>
>> at the moment i am creating the contents page by previewing the report
>> and
>> jumping to the last page (putting this in a global) then going to browse
>> mode and setting the last record as this page num global. it then omits
>> this
>> last record and starts the loop over again
>>
>> however this takes a couple of hours for a large report and it is very
>> inaccurate as some sections (or records) span a few pages and this wont
>> take
>> this into account.
>>
>> has any one else attempted this and came across a better solution
>
> Basically it can't be done. The Preview-loop method is likely to be the
> best way, but it is slow for lots of records / pages.
>
> BUT,
> there is also a nasty bug in FileMaker's Preview ability that means
> what you see in Preview is NOT necessarily what is going to come out of
> your printer. This means that even after sitting through that long
> process your Contents page may still be incorrect anyway. I can tell
> you that this bug is definitely in versions up to FileMaker 5.5 and
> I've been told still exists in newer versions.
>
> Rather than try to use FileMaker (a database application) to replace
> Word (a word processor), you'd be better off staying in Word. If you
> really need to search through all the reports for "Fred Flintstone"
> (for example), then you can do that in other ways, eg. create PDFs of
> the reports and use an application / database that acts as a library
> for the PDFs.
>
> If you want to insist on using FileMaker, then the only real solution
> is to print the full report and then manually go through it typing the
> page numbers into a Global field for the Contents page and then print
> that separately.
>
>
> Helpful Harry
> Hopefully helping harassed humans happily handle handiwork hardships ;o)



all true my way round the print bug is to copy each page preview into a
container field and print from that

i am hearing you on the not possible thing though, may have to look at
alternatives. mail merges and the like.

any one know of a good way to copy container field contents to word