On 15 Oct 2012, at 04:59, Jay Erlebacher wrote:

> Thanks. 
> 
> But the essential problem I have is this: How do I get a formatted report exported from FMP6 together with the associated fields?
> 
> Exporting into iPhoto does not allow me to associate the fields so I need another workaround.
> 
> Your help is much appreciated!

Hi Jay

I see a lot of people here are missing the essential point... that you have a FMP6 database which, using data stored in various fields, is able to print a nicely formatted report. And you want to capture that report into a new sql (or similar) software system.

I reckon, given that you are working in FMP6, that any solution is going to be a bit kludgy. You'll probably have to live with that.

What springs to my mind is the old Enter Preview Mode, Copy and then Paste trick (in a script). I used this for many years as a way to preserve a report in the database as-printed. I don't remember all the details, but that is essentially it:

Prepare your report for printing as usual
Enter Preview Mode
Copy
Go To Layout (with the container field used to store the report)
Go To Field (the container field)
Paste

You can do that in a loop, going through all your records one by one. By this method you can get an image of every report reasonably quickly (well, overnight perhaps, depending on how many reports there are!!). I cannot recall, and perhaps never knew, what format those images are stored in. But I believe it is something useful/manipulatable.

Next step is to export those reports with the other field data. I'm not sure about that one – again it's a while ago – but I believe it can be done somehow. You may have to resort to a plugin (such as Troi File) that would enable you to name the exported images with some kind of unique ID. It may even be necessary to use a plugin to get the images out; you did mention that FMP6 does not export container fields, but I can't recall that.

However, rather than messing around with plugins, it may be simpler to purchase a copy of FMP12. Get the report images as above, import the images and other required data (the key fields you mention) into a new FMP6 database (which will presumably be simpler than the whole system) and convert that to FMP12. From FMP12 you can easily export the report images with a suitable file name. By this method, you end up with a nice copy of FMP12 to play with. (You'll need it anyway, because the lovely commercial program you are being forced to use is sure to be short of a few screws...)

I'm hoping that these ideas might trigger some memories in others out there who remain more familiar with these old techniques. If not, get back to the list and I'll have a look through the archives to see if I can pull out some useful nuggets.

Best of luck!

Steve