How do I avoid printing empty fields in a form (1 Viewer)

[ptaylor-west]

I have Name and Address fields on my form as Name, Address 1, Address 2 etc which are taken from a Look Up Combo box.

If say Address 3 and/or Address 4 are empty it leaves big gaps in the overall address when I print it off.

Can I get it to move fields up if they are empty ?

 

[Rich]

Forms are not optimised for printing, use a report and you will cure both your problems.

 

[ptaylor-west]

Hi Rich!

The form is used to create a quotation which stores the input into a quotation table which can then be accessed from a customer form yo view all quotes for that customer.

It seemed logical to format the form so that it could be just printed off rather duplicate a lot of work in creating a report, I have looked at using a report as you suggest as the final output but this is a lot of work which is why I avoided it in the first place especially as the input form was created to look exactly how I wanted it to.............in hindsight with limitations that I am now faced with.


Paul

[This message has been edited by ptaylor-west (edited 10-09-2001).]

 

[Rich]

Save the form as a report, it'll just need a little modification.
HTH

 

[Pat Hartman]

Forms and reports have different uses and therefore their methods and properties are different. They are each optomized for their specific task. Think of the form displayed on your monitor as an old-fashion pre-printed form. It has boxes for data entry and none of them is expandable. The primary use of a form is data capture. A secondary use is quick display of existing information. The primary use of a report is the display of existing information. You can of course format a report so that it looks like a form and use it for off-line hard-copy capture of information that is later re-keyed or scanned for permanent storage.

The bottom line is that using a single object to serve both purposes will never be 100% satisfactory.

 

[ptaylor-west]

Thanks for all your help, if I create the report will I be able to get it to move up empty lines and if so how ?

Paul

[This message has been edited by ptaylor-west (edited 10-10-2001).]

 

[Rich@ITTC]

Hi Paul

Rich@ITTC here (not "Rich" ... confusing, I know!).

For the text boxes concerned set the Can Shrink property to Yes (you can also set the Can Grow property to Yes to avoid data being truncated).

HTH

Rich Gorvin

 

[ptaylor-west]

Hi Rich@ITTC,

Thanks for that ........... I will try this later

Gratefully yours

Paul

[This message has been edited by ptaylor-west (edited 10-10-2001).]

 

[ptaylor-west]

Didn't work all it does is not show a text box outline, it doesn't move an empty line up and still leaves the gap.

The boxes are:

Companyname
Address1
Address2
Address3
Address4
Postcode

so if there is nothing in say Address4 it moves Postcode up to print below Address3 and no gap.

Paul

 

[Rich@ITTC]

Hi Paul

It does work .... believe me it does! I have addresses on mail merge letters that can vary between 3 and 7 lines long ... and the blank lines don't appear (so the address looks normal/natural).

I would get rid of any borders around the text boxes ... not necessary. Then locate each field one below the other with no gaps (use Format - Vertical Spacing - Decrease from the Menu Bar). Check that all the fields have Can Grow and Can Shrink set to Yes.

Also worth checking
*There should not be any other fields on the page/report alongside these address fields.

*Set the Detail section to CanShrink and CanGrow as Yes.

HTH

Rich Gorvin

[This message has been edited by Rich@ITTC (edited 10-11-2001).]

 

[ptaylor-west]

Aha! I didn't have them touching, I haven't tried it yet but I'm sure it will work as you suggest, what about other fields alongside, do you mean anything that is on the line acros the full width of the form or just next to it.

Paul.

 

[Rich@ITTC]

Hi Paul

By alongside I did mean across the whole width of the report (this was unclear, sorry). This makes sense as if the report is going to shrink then it must be across the whole width of the report (if the left hand side shrank and the right didn't, then things would be skew-whiff further down the report). So to summarise, you don't want anything in line with the text boxes you want to shrink/disappear.

I ought to just quickly point out what I hope is a slip on your part ... "anything that is on the line acros the full width of the form or just next to it." ... we are talking about a REPORT here, not a form!

HTH

Rich Gorvin

[This message has been edited by Rich@ITTC (edited 10-12-2001).]

 

[ptaylor-west]

Spot on as expected, and yes I did make a slip referring to it as a form, it has taught me a lesson as well in trying to make a form do what it wasn't designed to do.

Many thanks once again.

Paul