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

[Joel Shapiro]

That's cool, GGT!  I had no idea.

I'll give it a try...

Thanks!

-Joel


On Dec 14, 2010, at 3:04 PM, Gjermund Gusland Thorsen wrote:

> media="print" for CSS has page breaks.
>
> 2010/12/13 Joel Shapiro <jsfmp at earthlink.net>:
>> 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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