Print From Sorted Form Not Sorted in Printout

[rchristopher]

Running Alpha Five Version 9. Have a form with a record pointing to list of sorted items. If I print the record from the form view which includes the items, the items do not come out sorted in the printed list.

I seem to have to create a report to print the form with the list of items printed in the sorted order.

Is there a way to print from the form view with sorted items and have the sort preserved in the printout of the items? It would be a lot easier than creating a report.

[MikeC]

Re: Print From Sorted Form Not Sorted in Printout

Ronald,
My understanding is the form/browse printing functionality of Alpha is rudimentary at best....but a report showing the form is so easy to do that this is not really a major limitation. Create a new report-->top menu-->Report-->choose Import from the bottom of the drop-down list and then choose the form you want. Then call this report from however you are now trying to print the form say from a button OnPush event script. Buttons and some other things won't show up but have had decent success and is very easy to do this way.

[rchristopher]

Re: Print From Sorted Form Not Sorted in Printout

Mike,

Thank you for pointing out the import of a form into a report. It does not import the Sorted attribute, but that is easy to add.

[rchristopher]

Re: Print From Sorted Form Not Sorted in Printout

I have tested this import of a form into the design of a report further. The sort specification cannot be added to the design of the report which includes the imported form. The Print Genie does not seem to allow specifying the sort combined with a record selection.

I recommend severe warnings be included when importing a form into the design of a report. Manually constructing the Report to match the form seems to be the only way.

[MikeC]

Re: Print From Sorted Form Not Sorted in Printout

Ronald,

The Print Genie does not seem to allow specifying the sort combined with a record selection....recommend severe warnings be included when importing a form into the design of a report

I guess I am at a loss as to how you would possibly be able to change an imported form after it is imported....or stated another way--how could this possibly be done as it seems to defy the sequence in that when one imports anything, any manipulation is done prior, not after the fact. If the inability to change something in the form after importing is the reasoning behind the warnings you wish placed and you still think they should be added, then I don't follow the logic....and more of an explanation maybe could clarify my confusion.

If a sort is wanted is it not possible to do so prior to the form import?? If this does not suit your needs then absolutely create your own report from scratch and you will find that once a few reports are created, it actually does not take all that much time to do for the basic ones.

[rchristopher]

Re: Print From Sorted Form Not Sorted in Printout

Mike,
My original post on this thread stated "Have a form with a record pointing to list of sorted items." I tried to Import, as you suggested, from this very form into a Report so I could print exactly what showed in the original form on the screen. The Import did NOT PRESERVE the sort. Should this be a bug report? I could not find any specification for Import in the Help to find exactly what Import of a Form does do nor what the lmitations are.

[MikeC]

Re: Print From Sorted Form Not Sorted in Printout

Ronald,
You could send this in as a bug...but it may or may not be. The only way to be fairly certain is to have such things verified here on the messageboard with step by step instructions and most likely (in this case as well) a sample which illustrates/duplicates the bug --which is something that usually is created for a bug report anyway. I cannot test it out as I have version 8--although likely if it is a bug it would manifest itself in v8 too. I just know that the form I have with an embedded browse, I have successfully imported the form into a report and it shows exactly what I see, in the order I have it in. It is possible you are doing something different that is causing a problem that could be cured or worked around....only a sample would enable someone to attempt such a fix I would think at this point.

Whatever you decide!! :)

[rchristopher]

Re: Print From Sorted Form Not Sorted in Printout

Mike,

Is your sample source form based on a set with a one to many relationship where the sort is sorting on the many items for each record?

[MikeC]

Re: Print From Sorted Form Not Sorted in Printout

Ronald,
My form is based upon a set that has a One-to-One relationship to the relevant child table. The embedded browse is based upon the parent and has both parent and child fields. Sorting is first done on 3 child fields and then one parent field....so a total of 4 fields used in the sort.

The above works. Other variations may as well. Apparently yours does not, but without actually having it to experiment on, who's to know if it is a design problem or a bug. You could very well have a base query or other things that conceivably could be causing a problem.

[rchristopher]

Re: Print From Sorted Form Not Sorted in Printout

Mike,

I would have to copy my database and put in fewer entries and no real data. If that still demonstrates the problem I guess I would send it in to Alpha. No one puts a whole design with sort specifications etc on the forum for review do they?

Ron

[MikeC]

Re: Print From Sorted Form Not Sorted in Printout

No one puts a whole design with sort specifications etc on the forum for review do they?

Mostly the samples are just cut back versions of the problem database if it is large with dummy data----just make sure it has everything that is required to reproduce the problem and give step by step instructions to generate the problem. I have seen almost complete applications presented here as well....if you have scripts and such that you don't wish others to see or copy then don't have them in your sample--include only what you need to then.


Later:I just created a form with a child based embedded browse that uses a One-to-many set and all sorts are passed to the report that has the imported form.

So........lets get this resolved as either a bug in v9 or an apples vs oranges scenario with what I do and what you do. :)

[rchristopher]

Re: Print From Sorted Form Not Sorted in Printout

Mike,
Thanks for pursuing this with me. I have prepared a zip file of all 15 files of the data base.
The budincom table is the parent table with three records representing three budgets.
The budexp3 table is a table of expense items related to budincome by Field incomeid.
budgets is a set defining the one to many relationship using incomeid as index with Order Expression on INCOMEID.
If you do a default browse on budexp3 you will see that the entries are not in alphabetic order.
The Form Budgets displays a record at a time showing budget ID 1 with the items sorted. The sort is specified by going to the Design view, right click on the parent portion, click on properties,click on the Filter/Order tab, highlight the child Budexp3, notice the Order Expression "Expenitem".
The items show sorted in the View Form. They do not show sorted in the Design.

I built the Report BudgetImport.
Select Report tab
Clicked on New for New Report and selected budget.set
Selected "Start from a blank report"
Select Report on top menu of Alpha
Select Form
Select Budgets
Click OK
Save

I hope you can show me what will make this work.
The items do not come out sorted for me.

I am going to attempt to send this message as it is for now. When I click on Manage Attachments, the system says I am not logged in, but the top of this screen says I am logged in.

Ron

[rchristopher]

Re: Print From Sorted Form Not Sorted in Printout

Here is the attachment. I will have to check whether the description made it. I saved the description in case I have to send that again.

[trackmanpete]

Re: Print From Sorted Form Not Sorted in Printout

Took a look at your sample. Are you trying to get the items at the bottom of your report to list in alphabetical order? If so, I think you can do it by double clicking on your subreport and then right click on your detail header. That should open up your detail properties. Click on Records and and fill in the Order expression with Budexp3->Expenitem.

Hope this helps and is on the mark.

[MikeC]

Re: Print From Sorted Form Not Sorted in Printout

Just finished looking as well and found the same as Pete...also go into your form detail section and change to none as far as record order and filter as it does not seem to need any further filtering.

A bit more than what I had to do but then I was using a one-to-one set and you have a one-to-many and perhaps this is why the difference.