Controlling Page Breaks in a Report

    In a report, a text field which is too wide to fit within its 
column width will wrap to the following line of the report.  When this 
occurs, it may be that records will be split across page breaks.  You 
can prevent this if you want to tell Q&A how many records to print per 
page.  The exact method follows.

    Create a new field in the database; call it "New Field" and format 
it as a number field.

    Go to Add data, and use <ctrl-F8> to reset @number to 0.  (Make 
note of what @number had been set to so that you can restore it if 
necessary.)

    Now go to Mass Update.  Fill in the Retrieve Spec the same way you 
will when printing the report.  Press  F8 to the Sort Spec and specify 
the sort order you want on your report. Press F10 to the Update Spec.


    In the Update Spec, enter the following:

         New Field: #1 = @NUMBER

    Then hit F10, followed by "N" and <enter> to have Q&A update your 
forms automatically.

    You are now ready to produce your report.  Enter the same Retrieve 
Spec, and in the Column/Sort Spec enter:

         New Field: 1,I

    Hit F8 to go to the Derived column screen and enter the following:

         Heading: Page
         Formula: @INT(#1/15) + 1           where 15 represents the 
                                            number of forms you wish 
                                            per page
         Column Spec: 2,AS,P


         Heading:
         Formula: #1
         Column Spec: 3,AS,I


    Now, F9 will return you to the Column/Sort Spec, where you can 
define the rest of your report.  You will not need to specify sorts.  
The derived columns will assure that records will appear in the proper 
order.







Q & A Application Note       Rev. 6/92           #2210     Page 1 of 1