[FX.php List] [OFF] printable very wide table?

[Joel Shapiro]

Hey Steve

Thanks for the confirmation.

And that's correct...  I'd originally proposed creating excel files  
from the PHP but the client said nope.

Cheers,
-Joel


On Dec 13, 2010, at 10:51 AM, Steve Winter wrote:

> Hey Joel,
>
> Not really, and I have in fact done pretty much exactly what you're  
> proposing for exactly the reasons that you mention, the variability  
> of printers and printer settings are a minefield, so a 'known  
> quantity' like a .pdf is a great way to get round it... assuming  
> that actually putting the data into a spreadsheet for the end user  
> isn't an option...??
>
> Cheers
> Steve
>
> On 13 Dec 2010, at 18:46, Joel Shapiro wrote:
>
>> Thanks Dale & GGT
>>
>> I'm aware of media="print" for CSS, and I use that on printable  
>> pages.
>>
>> The client's request is to be able to print spreadsheet-style  
>> tables with potentially dozens of columns, so this will definitely  
>> require multiple printed pages.  They've suggested using fixed- 
>> height divs to simulate fixed page breaks so that rows A thru X  
>> would print at the same places consistently on each page, with each  
>> page having a different set of columns... but it seems to me that  
>> with all the different possible printing environments for indiv  
>> users (e.g. browser print settings: scale to fit, print header/ 
>> footer; & printer specs: fixed page margins...) it'd be pretty much  
>> impossible to get the rows and pages to line up correctly &  
>> consistently for all users.
>>
>> Which is why I'm thinking that a PDF, in which I *could* set page  
>> breaks, is a more reliable option.
>>
>> Can anyone think of anything better?
>>
>> Thanks,
>> -Joel
>>
>>
>> On Dec 11, 2010, at 12:05 PM, Dale Bengston wrote:
>>
>>> Hi Joel,
>>>
>>> I'm not sure what your objective is - to get it all to fit on a  
>>> single page widthwise and "flow" down, or to print it on multiple  
>>> pages across and down. If it's the former, you can do this by  
>>> changing the browser's print settings to do a "shrink to fit."  
>>> This works differently in all browsers, so beware of differences.  
>>> In fact, most printing settings are browser- or OS-specific (print  
>>> setup), so getting stuff to work consistently is a big,  
>>> frustrating drag.
>>>
>>> One thing that does work is specifying a different style sheet for  
>>> screen and print. This allows you to do cool things like  
>>> suppressing your navigation buttons for printing, and shifting all  
>>> elements to black and white. There are a few print-only CSS  
>>> attributes as well, but they're not widely supported. (In fact,  
>>> Firefox 3.6.12 - Mac and Windows - just magically started  
>>> supporting page break CSS.) If you're just printing a big ol' HTML  
>>> table, it will break across pages pretty well without much  
>>> intervention.
>>>
>>> Here's an overview of media types supported in CSS:
>>> http://www.w3.org/TR/CSS2/media.html
>>>
>>> Hope this helps,
>>> Dale
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Dec 10, 2010, at 5:41 PM, Joel Shapiro wrote:
>>>
>>>> Hi all
>>>>
>>>> I've got a request to have a printable web page that would be a  
>>>> potentially _very_ wide table (data coming from FM).
>>>>
>>>> I've suggested to the client that instead we create an excel  
>>>> spreadsheet from the data so users can print from Excel, but the  
>>>> client doesn't want that.
>>>>
>>>> In FMP, the client is thinking they could create a layout w/ all  
>>>> text rotated 90 degrees, so the "width" could be indefinite as it  
>>>> runs from one page to the next.  I've done a quick test of CSS  
>>>> transform:rotate and that's not gonna work well for the web page.
>>>>
>>>> I'm thinking of outputting to PDF, making sure the row height is  
>>>> consistent across all pages, so a user could line up the pages  
>>>> after they've printed...  but thought I'd check in here to see if  
>>>> anybody's got any thoughts or suggestions.
>>>>
>>>> TIA,
>>>> -Joel
>>>>
>>>> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>>>> Joel Shapiro
>>>> FileMaker Pro
>>>> database & web design
>>>> http://www.jsfmp.com
>>>> 415-269-5055
>>>> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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>
> Steve Winter
> steve at bluecrocodile.co.nz
> m: +44 77 7852 4776
> 3 Calshot Court, Channel Way
> Ocean Village, Southampton SO14 3GR
>
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