Suppose I have a report (held in PDF format) destined to be printed on both sides of the paper.

If the report has PAGE-BREAK on a sort variable, is there syntax to make each sort-break section begin on a right (odd-numbered) page, so the sections will come out on separate sheets?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: <Emily McAllister>,

Hi j.g.

I don't think that this is controllable from within WF. For PDF output you would require something like
the ORIENTATION setting, e.g. landscape,. I have scoured the quick ref and dev report manuals (as have you probably) and can't find anything of note.

Sounds like an NFR to me.

T

Here's an idea that might work. We generate multiple PDF reports in the same FEX and control the page numbers. If you could intersperse TABLE commands tha print a blank page, that might work. Research the FOCFIRSTPAGE variable. It works fine and increments from 1 in the same FEX as long as each TABLE command is outputting to the same PDF i.e. no TABLE/HOLD/SAVE, or it sets back to 1.

Here's a snapshot of some code we use to control our PDF output. In this FEX, multiple reports are generated with ..FORMAT PDF OPEN and the last with CLOSE. In our case, we manually reset the page number to what we wanted bertween TABLEs:

-************************************************************
-* PREPARE TO DISPLAY REPORT IN PDF FORMAT *
-************************************************************
-PDF
-***********
-SET &FIRSTPAGE = IF &RPTOPTION EQ 'CMB' AND &RPT_TYPE EQ 'Request'
- THEN 3 ELSE
- IF &RPTOPTION EQ 'CMB' AND &RPT_TYPE EQ 'Receipt'
- THEN 4 ELSE 1 ;
SET FOCFIRSTPAGE = &FIRSTPAGE
-RUN
TABLE FILE WADS10H1
:

Tony-
In WF 7.1, the amper variable &FOCNEXTPAGE is available. If one would test it for odd/even (after subtracting 1), then one could choose to print a blank page or not.

Here is a ref: http://techsupport.informationbuilders.com/sps/81681091.html

This message has been edited. Last edited by: jimster06,

Jimster,

That may be true, but true duplex printing is not catered for in most application software as it is, generally, an attribute of the printing preferences.

T

Here is another reference:

Skip page if BY field ends in an uneven number of pages.

http://techsupport.informationbuilders.com/sps/93451061.html

This might be the answer.

It's been a decade, and nothing has addressed this. I think it deserve support.

Here's my suggestions for syntax to support production of documents intended for two-sided printing.

1. A new SET:
SET DUPLEX[-PRINT] = OFF or ON (default being OFF)

2. A new modifier for PAGE-BREAK:
BY ... (or ON ...) PAGE-BREAK [NEW-SHEET]


A plain PAGE-BREAK (without the NEW-SHEET keyword) would behave as at present, flipping to the next page (the next "side" in a duplex document) when triggered.

When NOSPLIT generates a new-page, it's a "plain" page-break.

If DUPLEX-PRINT is OFF, the NEW-SHEET keyword is ignored.

If DUPLEX-PRINT is ON, then NEW-SHEET will cause the page-break, whenever triggered, to flip to the next sheet's first side (i.e., to the next odd-numbered page).

When multiple levels of sort-break are triggered simultaneously, a sheet break takes precedence over a page break.


Perhaps WF also needs syntax for even- and odd-page headings and footings, and for content to be rendered on the totally blank even-numbered page if a sheet-break occurs on an odd-numbered page.

Awesome time-traveling, j.gross!

Have you considered keeping tract of the page numbers and alter your page break accordingly?

Hello J.Gross,

I spoke to one of our programmers about this and this is what he told me:

I found the following suggestion from another FocalPoint discussion:
http://forums.informationbuild...71057331/m/469105554


The code below seems to work, it adds a full page of subhead that has nothing on it. The column headings will show up though. They will also have to play around with the number of blank lines to put in SUBHEAD to be just enough to fill an entire page.

TABLE FILE GGSALES
SUM DOLLARS BUDDOLLARS
BY REGION PAGE-BREAK 
BY PRODUCT
BY DATE

ON REGION SUBHEAD
" "   
"</70  "
WHEN TABPAGENO NE 1 AND  IMOD(TABPAGENO,2,'I2') EQ 0

HEADING
"PAGE: <TABPAGENO "
" "
ON TABLE PCHOLD FORMAT PDF
ON TABLE SET STYLE *
TYPE=REPORT, FONT='ARIAL', 
             SIZE=10, STYLE=NORMAL, $
ENDSTYLE
END

We also have a project in programming for this feature which was last updated September 21st of this year. I don't have any more information on the status, however.

I hope this helps!

Emily McAllister
Focal Point Moderator