Hi all,

did you manage to catch the result of get(pagenumber) somehow?

Unfortunately, it's availabe in Preview Mode only. Otherwise the result
is always 0.

I did not find any solution in order to calculate the value, autoenter
it, use a Set Field or Replace and not even a check from the related
record within preview mode: the data is not available anywhere else.


My major task is: I want to create a page index. I'd prefer to save the
actual pagenumber for a certain print layout and use this as an
appendet page index.


Another task is: I'm not able to perform a real page control for multi
column outputs (first downwards, then next column):
A page break does not perform a real page break, but a column break
only. I might create dummy break entries between ranges of records in
order to check whether I have to insert one (or more) dummy break
records in order to get to the next page. While get(pagenumber) would
simplify this problem, it's not available.

Any idea?


BTW: I observed some FMP bugs again, using alternate body background
colors, when using multi column outputs. Some columns use the
alternation, some don't.

- Martin

In article <slrndaqfta.a3k.t-use (AT) ID-685 (DOT) user.individual.de>, Martin
Trautmann <t-use (AT) gmx (DOT) net> wrote:

To create an index you need to use a looping script that goes backwards
through the records using Preview mode to grab the page number.
ie. something like:

Set Field [Finished, "False"]
Loop
Enter Preview Mode
Go To Page [last]
Set Field [Global, Get(PageNumber)]
Go To Browse Mode
Go To Record [Last]
Set Field [RecordPageNumber, Global]
Omit Record
If [FoundCount = 0]
Set Field [Finished, "True"]
End If
Exit Loop If [Finished = "True"]
End Loop


Obviously it takes "a while" with a large number of records -
especially on an older computer.



NOTE:
I'm not sure about FileMaker 7, but in older versions this can also not
actually work.

FileMaker has annoying habit of displaying something in Preview Mode
that isn't actually the same as what gets printed on the paper.
Sometimes a record that is close to the bootom of a page fits fine in
Preview Mode, but gets bumped to the next page when printed - meaning
the page number is inccorect.

This appears to be a bug in the line spacing, but it's difficult to
know if it's the fault of FileMaker, the printer driver or the
particular font files (on the computer or within the printer).

The only real way around this is to export the data and pull it into
PageMaker, Word, etc. do the layout manually and then use the in-built
indexing functions to work out the page numbers ... or even manually
catalogue the page numbers. (




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

In article <slrndat4pg.1rp.t-use (AT) ID-685 (DOT) user.individual.de>, Martin
Trautmann <t-use (AT) gmx (DOT) net> wrote:

It can take quite a while with a large number of records. One thing I
forgot - put a Freeze Window command before the loop, otherwise it'll
take even longer as it tries to display the pages.

I have a text-only Directory that is printed annually (plus a few draft
prints) which USED to do an index AND table of contents ... until I
discovered the bug below. It has around 100 pages and took around
20minutes to calculate the index on my beige G3 PowerMac, but only
about 10minutes on the G4 LCD "Luxo" iMac. I haven't tried it on the
new G5 iMac LCD.

You can sit and watch the bottom of the window and see the Mode text
flicking between Preview and Browse (even with the window frozen),
which slowly gets faster and faster as the loop shrinks the number of
pages it has to plow through. )




It even only happen in Mac OS 9 that we use and may work perfectly in
Mac OS X or Windows.

It wasn't a single record line, but the whole record that got bumped.
eg.
Name Phone
Postal Address Fax
Street Address
Website
Email
Multi-line Directory entry


I didn't have time to play and find out whether it was the printer
driver, the fonts or Filemaker, but it happened with the two or three
different fonts I tried. Although I did discover that the line-spacing
appeared to be slightly bigger on the printout than on screen - only a
fraction of a millimetre, but enough to push over a record when it was
a tight fit on the page. (

Since then they decided they wanted the design of the Directory changed
into something that FileMaker can't handle anyway (some pages have
"continued" headers while some don't, and FileMaker reefused to remove
the header section on pages without) so the whole lot is now drafted in
FileMaker to check the spelling, etc., and then the records are
transferred across to PageMaker for final layout design and that
generate the index and table of contents ... with some "playing" with
the style definitions.




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