PRODUCT : Paradox for Windows NUMBER : ??? VERSION : 1.0 OS : WIN DATE : June 2, 1993 PAGE : 1/7 TITLE : How to Set up a Report for Mailing Labels Intended Audience: Beginning users Prerequisites: Chapters 10, 12 and 13 of the User's Guide Chapter 9 and 10 of the Getting Started manual A customer database with data Purpose of the TI: To create a report to be used for mailing labels. This Technical Information Sheet will demonstrate a possible way to create a report for mailing labels. The examples shown in this document can be created by using Customer.db in the sample directory that comes with your Paradox for Windows application, or with your own database. This document will describe how to set up mailing labels for Avery Labels Stock #5160 to be printed on an HP LaserJet Series II, III or HP compatibles. For additional information on mailing labels, refer to Chapter 10 of the Getting Started manual. To Create the Report: 1. Choose File | New | Report. 2. Select the table you are using for your mailing list. Choose OK. 3. In the Design Layout dialog box select the following options: Style = Multi-Record Field Layout = By Rows Multi-Record Layout = Both Uncheck the Labeled Fields check box Choose the Select Fields button 4. If there are fields in the table that you do not want to include on your mailing label report, you can remove them as follows. In the Select Fields dialog box, select a field you do not want on your label and click the Remove PRODUCT : Paradox for Windows NUMBER : ??? VERSION : 1.0 0S : WIN DATE : June 2, 1993 PAGE : 2/7 TITLE : How to Set up a Report for Mailing Labels Field button. Repeat this step for each field that you do not want on the label. For this example, the Customer No, First Contact, and Phone fields are removed. 5. Choose OK in the Select Fields dialog box. 6. Choose OK in the Design Layout dialog box. 7. Maximize your report by clicking the Maximize button (the up-arrow in the upper right corner of the report window). 8. To remove the header information, click the page band, then choose Edit | Select All, the press [Delete]. Paradox will delete all the fields in the page band. 9. Close up the page band by selecting the page band and then drag the page band down to meet the record band. The pointer will appear as a double pointed arrow when it is in the proper place to move the page band. Perform the same steps to close up the page band at the bottom of the report. Scroll to the bottom of the report. Close up the page band by dragging it up to meet the record band. 10. Your new report is now created. Choose File | Save and give the report a name. It is a good idea to save your work frequently. To Place a Calculated field for the City, State and Zip code: For a "Field Squeeze" effect, place the City, State and Zip fields in a calculated field. To do this remove the State and Zip fields from the report by selecting them with the mouse and pressing [Delete]. Inspect the City field and select Define Field from the menu, then click the ellipsis (...) that appears at the top of the list. In the Define Field Object dialog box, click to place a checkmark in the Calculated check box. To set up the calculation: 1. Click on the arrow next to customer.db and highlight the City field, then click on the Copy Field button. The PRODUCT : Paradox for Windows NUMBER : ??? VERSION : 1.0 0S : WIN DATE : June 2, 1993 PAGE : 3/7 TITLE : How to Set up a Report for Mailing Labels expression [CUSTOMER.City] should appear in the calculated field box. 2. Click in the calculated field box, or press [End] then type +", "+ (plus sign, quotation mark, comma, Spacebar, quotation mark, plus sign). Caution: if you start typing the plus without first clicking in the calculated field box, or pressing [End], you will delete the [CUSToMER.city] entry. 3. Next click on the arrow next to customer.db and highlight the State/Prov field and then click on the Copy Field button. The expression [CUSTOMER.State/Prov] will be copied to your calculated field. 4. Click on the calculated field again and type +" "+ (plus sign, quotation mark, Spacebar, Spacebar, quotation mark, plus ) . Click on the arrow next to customer.db and highlight the Zip/Postal Code field, then click on the Copy Field button. The expression [CUSTOMER.Zip/Postal Code] will be copied to your calculated field. 6. Another technique to set up the calculation is to type the calculation yourself without clicking and copying. Type the following calculation in the text box below the Calculated check box: [Customer.City]+", "+[Customer.State/Prov]+ " "+[Customer.Zip/Postal Code] 7. In the calculation shown above, Customer is the table name, and the field name after the dot (.) is the field name in the table. (You must type the spaces and commas you want inserted between fields within quotation marks). When you have finished setting up the calculation, choose OK. PRODUCT : Paradox for Windows NUMBER : ??? VERSION : 1.0 OS : WIN DATE : June 2, 1993 PAGE : 4/7 TITLE : How to Set up a Report for Mailing Labels 9. Place the calculated field in the correct position on the label. For the example, place it on the line following the Street field, and the line before the Country field. Changing the Typeface: To change the typeface of the fields, select the record object by clicking on the record object. The name of the object you have selected will display on the right side of your status bar (if you have a field object selected, you could press [Esc] to move to the record object instead of selecting the record object with the mouse). Then Ctrl+Right-click, select Font, and Typeface from the menus that appear. To tack the menu to the screen, click on the thumbtack to hold it in place until you are finished selecting the fonts for all of your fields. For the example, use Times Roman 10 point bold italic for the Name, and Times Roman 10 point regular for the Street, calculated field and Country. Select a resident font and point size that will fit your mailing labels. Sizing the Label and Record Layout: To set the margins for your report, choose Report | Page Layout and change the default page margins by entering the values you want in the text boxes in the Margins panel. Make sure that they match the margins of your page or labels. To resize the record object on the screen to match your label size, select the record object and notice that the rulers will indicate the current width and height of the record object. Select the record object and push it towards the top and left side of your screen to remove any extra space. Use the handle at the right of the record object to set the width of the record object, and the handle at the bottom of the record object to set the height. Move the fields so they are positioned correctly for your label. For the example, the height is set at 1", and the width is set at 2 5/8". To set the size of the page and the number of labels per page, resize the multi-record object (MRO) by clicking on it and dragging the bottom handle until the height matches your page PRODUCT : Paradox for Windows NUMBER : ??? VERSION : 1. 0 0S : W IN DATE : June 2, 1993 PAGE : 5/7 TITLE : How to Set up a Report for Mailing Labels height size, and dragging the side handle until the width matches the width of your page. Inspect the MRO and select Record Layout from the menu. In the Record Layout dialog box specify the number of labels being printed on the sheet, (the number of labels across and the number of labels ~own). The example uses Avery Laser Labels #5160, 3 across by 10 down. If there is no separation between labels, (as in the laser printer labels for this example) set the separation for both across and down at 0. Select the record and push it to the upper left corner of the MRO to remove any extra space. Select the option "Top-down Then Left-Right", or "Left-Right Then Top-Down". Choose OK. With the first label selected, inspect the object again and make sure Delete When Empty is checked. Inspect the object again, select Run Time from the menu and uncheck Fit Width, Fit Height, and Shrinkable (Note: This cannot be done in one step). If a frame is not desired, inspect the object again and choose Frame | Style and click on the non-frame box at the top of the list. The final step is to select and inspect the entire MRO and remove the frame. If your record object is selected, you can press [Esc] to select the MRO. To Preview your Report: Save the file by choosing File | Save. Preview the report by choosing the View Data SpeedBar button (or you can press [F8] or choose Report | Preview). Check the last row of your labels to make sure the label height is correct. If it is not, then adjust the size until all the labels display correctly. Line Squeeze: If you have more than one line for the address, but the address in the database does not always have two lines of information, it is possible to perform a line squeeze. 1. Move the fields to the center of the record object so there is space around them. Select the Text tool icon from the SpeedBar and place the insertion point at the PRODUCT : Paradox for Windows NUMBER : ??? VERSION : 1.0 0S : WIN DATE : June 2, 1993 PAGE : 6/7 TITLE : How to Set up a Report for Mailing Labels upper left corner just inside the label and outside the border of the top field. Make sure it is above the top border of the top field. Holding down the left mouse button, drag the bottom right corner so the border of the text object entirely encompasses the fields of your label. 2. Select the text object, inspect its properties and choose Run Time, then check Line Squeeze and Field Squeeze. Select Design and make sure Contain Objects is checked. 3. Return to the record object and click with the cursor to the right of the second field on the record object. When you only see the cursor and no field is selected, press [Enter]. This will place a carriage return in front of the field so the field will be on the second line. Press the Down Arrow key to place the cursor in front of the next field. Press [Enter]. Repeat for each field. Note: The field will not move unless you press [Enter] twice. If you press [Enter] twice, this will place a blank line in your record object and will defeat the purpose of the line squeeze. 4. Select the text object and inspect the properties. Choose Design Sizing | Fit Text. 5. With the text object still selected, push it to the upper left corner of the record object to remove any extra space. 6. Preview your report. Your labels should not display blank address lines. The City and State fields should be directly below the first address line of the label if there is no information in the second address field. PRODUCT : Paradox for Windows NUMBER : ??? VERSION : 1.0 OS : WIN DATE : June 2, 1993 PAGE : 7/7 TITLE : How to Set up a Report for Mailing Labels 7. Choose Report | Design. 8. Choose File | Save. DISCLAIMER: You have the right to use this technical information subject to the terms of the No-Nonsense License Statement that you received with the Borland product to which this information pertains.