Subreport being cut short

[George-Bowyer]

I have a report showing name, address and contact details for an internal directory of a membership organisation.

The report has 4 sub-reports, one each for Directors, Secretaries, Chairman and Managers (see picture).

The Directors, Secretaries and Chairmen have their own columns an then the Managers slot in below the Chairmen.

Each club usually has several Directors and one each of the other positions.

Each sub-report is similar. A concatenated field for name, a concatenated field with line breaks for address, two phone fields and an email field (see picture).

My problem is that if the end of the Directors' sub-report on the left hand side of the page coincides with the Manager's report on the right, the end of the Director's sub-report is somehow ending the manager's sub-report at the same level, even though the manager's sub-report has it's can grow property set to true.

In the attached picture of a page of the report, you can see that the Manager's details have been cut off at about the same level as the end of the Director's details (you can see that the "Tel:" and "Mob:" lines are missing).

This only seems to happen when the two sub-reports end at about the same level on the page. If the Manager's report is easily above the end of the Directors, it prints in full; likewise if it is well below.

Any ideas on how can I stop the Director's sub-report from cutting the height of the manager's sub-report, please?

 

[June7]

I would have to examine the object directly and do some testing. I've never built a report with multiple 'can grow' subreports that were side-by-side.

If the directors are on a subreport, why are there labels on the main report that don't seem to coincide with fields?

 

[George-Bowyer]

Hello,

The Directors have two columns - address in one and phone numbers and email in another (done by having the phone numbers and email in a sub-sub-report within the sub report).

Why? Cos that's the way it's always been done and change is anathema (previously, it was all typed out longhand in a word document...)

 

[isladogs]

I do have various reports with similarly complex multi column subreport layouts and they can be prone to the issue you're describing.
See attached screenshots for one example in form & layout view.

To some extent, trial and error is needed in terms of subreport placement.
Using CanGrow = Yes can make things more difficult in my experience
Also check the main report settings for that section e.g. Keep Together = No

One suggestion. As Manager/Chairman are in the same 'column' try changing the Manager subreport so it is a sub-subreport i.e. subreport of the Chairman subreport

 

[George-Bowyer]

IOne suggestion. As Manager/Chairman are in the same 'column' try changing the Manager subreport so it is a sub-subreport i.e. subreport of the Chairman subreport

Hadn't thought of that.

Unfortunately, however, the Chairman and Manager reports are not the same width. The manager report is wider and therefore has to fit under both the Secretary and Chairman Reports.

 

[AccessBlaster]

Have you tried both portrait and landscape? Landscape might give you real estate left to right.

 

[George-Bowyer]

Have you tried both portrait and landscape? Landscape might give you real estate left to right.

No. Unfortunately, the specification requires portrait format.

However, it's only vertical formatting that appears to be the problem, and it doesn't appear to be "page-size-related" either. The problem sometimes occurs when there is plenty of space left on the page.

It's only when the left-hand sub-report and the right-hand sub report finish at about the same time, when the left-hand sub report somehow "forces" the right hand one to close at the same level, regardless of where this happens on the length of the page.

 

[isladogs]

Hadn't thought of that.

Unfortunately, however, the Chairman and Manager reports are not the same width. The manager report is wider and therefore has to fit under both the Secretary and Chairman Reports.

With minor tweaking you should be able to make the widths the same.
If not, slightly reduce the page margins and the gaps between the three 'columns' of subreports. Then place the Manager subreport inside the Charman subreport which will need widening slightly to fit.
There are other things you could do like reduce the font size by 1pt or change from Verdana to Calibri etc. I doubt the end users will notice or if they do notice, that they will care

 

[George-Bowyer]

I'll give it a go.

 

[George-Bowyer]

With minor tweaking you should be able to make the widths the same.
If not, slightly reduce the page margins and the gaps between the three 'columns' of subreports. Then place the Manager subreport inside the Charman subreport which will need widening slightly to fit.

Bazinga. Yep. That worked.

Many thanks.

G

 

[isladogs]

I'd forgotten all about this.
Glad its now solved and I like the word 'bazinga' you just came up with

 

[George-Bowyer]

... and I like the word 'bazinga' you just came up with

Goodness gracious!!! A computer geek who is not familiar with the Big Bang Theory???

Bazinga is the catchphrase of Sheldon Cooper...

 

[isladogs]

I know - deeply sad! Never got into that show though I can picture him saying it now!

 

[George-Bowyer]

Well worth a look from the beginning on demand. I'm not usually greatly into US comedy, but I have loved every minute of BBT