Reports DataPro, Rev, and Blender3D

[Richard Gaskin]

Brad Allen wrote:

> True, Reports Datapro is Mac-only, for now. FYI, FileMaker Pro can
> create runtime standalones for both Mac and Windows. Designing a
> report, with break sections, subsummaries, etc., is considerably
> quicker and easier in FileMaker than in Rev.

Absolutely.  And if you use the Merge format when importing into FileMaker
you get to specify field names as well.

If you're making an internal production tool that would be a great
cost-effective solution; there are many ways MC and FileMaker can work
together.

But if you're shipping a commercial application, it's just not a very
integrated design to launch another program when the user selects "Print..."
Most apps support printing internally, and Rev-based app can as well.
 
> Designing a printing stack with header sections, detail sections,
> subsummaries, break sections, trailing grand summaries, all of
> changeable length to accomodate arbitrary data sets...sounds like a
> major programming project.

Only if you truly need all possible configurations of all of those features
-- at that point you're not writing a print routine, but rather a printing
library.

If you just need to get a report out the door while someone else writes a
generalized printllib,  describe what you need and maybe we can all benefit
from looking at how a specific printing task would be solved using Rev 1.1
out of the box.

It's quite a capable little engine -- check out these property entries in
the Language Guide:

printCardBorders
printColors
printGutters
printMargins
printPaperSize
printRowsFirst
printScale

-- 
 Richard Gaskin 
 Fourth World Media Corporation
 Custom Software and Web Development for All Major Platforms
 Developer of WebMerge 2.0: Publish any Database on Any Site
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