My company invoice has provisions for six separate items on each invoice 
with fields for Quantity, Class (Labor, Material, Travel, Misc. and Payment 
as drop down list), Description, Date, Unit (Hour, Miles, Items and Credit 
as drop down list), Unit Price and Amount.
Each invoice has a unique sequential serial number.
I have run into a situation where I need to have more than a single page 
invoice with a grand total for the multi-page invoice.
What would be the proper method to prepare the multi-page invoice under a 
single invoice number?
Is it possible to have the second page without the letterhead, customer name 
and address?
Could it be as simple as making a duplicate of a new record then change the 
Invoice number of the duplicate to the same Invoice number as the original 
record?
If I would find the original invoice number, I would have two records, enter 
the first six items on the first found record, then enter additional items 
on the duplicate record and switch to a layout with the letterhead, customer 
name and address removed.
This just doesn't seem like a very efficient method. I'd have no way of 
knowing if any given invoice had two or more pages unless I had a 
calculation field that would search for duplicate invoice numbers that would 
pop up a "This is a multi-page Invoice" dialog.
Is all this to much to ask? 

In article <8kOYd.1616$oa6.266@trnddc07>, "Chuck Jernigan"
<cfj9481@verizon.net> wrote:

> My company invoice has provisions for six separate items on each invoice 
> with fields for Quantity, Class (Labor, Material, Travel, Misc. and Payment 
> as drop down list), Description, Date, Unit (Hour, Miles, Items and Credit 
> as drop down list), Unit Price and Amount.
> Each invoice has a unique sequential serial number.
> I have run into a situation where I need to have more than a single page 
> invoice with a grand total for the multi-page invoice.
> What would be the proper method to prepare the multi-page invoice under a 
> single invoice number?
> Is it possible to have the second page without the letterhead, customer name 
> and address?
> Could it be as simple as making a duplicate of a new record then change the 
> Invoice number of the duplicate to the same Invoice number as the original 
> record?
> If I would find the original invoice number, I would have two records, enter 
> the first six items on the first found record, then enter additional items 
> on the duplicate record and switch to a layout with the letterhead, customer 
> name and address removed.
> This just doesn't seem like a very efficient method. I'd have no way of 
> knowing if any given invoice had two or more pages unless I had a 
> calculation field that would search for duplicate invoice numbers that would 
> pop up a "This is a multi-page Invoice" dialog.
> Is all this to much to ask? 

Personally I just use two (three, four, etc.) invoices with separate
numbers. It's much easier.  :o)

If the database system is set-up to use an auto-enter number then you
don't really want to go playing with the numbers in separate records.

If you still want a two page invoice, then it depends on how your
database is set-up. Probably the easiest way is to have more fields to
go on a second page. You'd need to have two layouts: Single-page
Invoice and Double-page Invoice. Using a 'Print' button could run a
script that checks the new fields, if they're empty print the single
page otherwise print the double page ... but it'd make printing
multiple invoices slower and more complicated - instead of a simple
Print Found Set you'd have to loop through and print each one
separately.

Depending on your invoice layout you might even be able to simply add
the new fields onto the existing layout and use Sliding to close up the
gaps when they're empty.



Helpful Harry                   
Hopefully helping harassed humans happily handle handiwork hardships  ;o)

Chuck Jernigan wrote:
> My company invoice has provisions for six separate items on each invoice 
> with fields for Quantity, Class (Labor, Material, Travel, Misc. and Payment 
> as drop down list), Description, Date, Unit (Hour, Miles, Items and Credit 
> as drop down list), Unit Price and Amount.
> Each invoice has a unique sequential serial number.
> I have run into a situation where I need to have more than a single page 
> invoice with a grand total for the multi-page invoice.
> What would be the proper method to prepare the multi-page invoice under a 
> single invoice number?
> Is it possible to have the second page without the letterhead, customer name 
> and address?
> Could it be as simple as making a duplicate of a new record then change the 
> Invoice number of the duplicate to the same Invoice number as the original 
> record?
> If I would find the original invoice number, I would have two records, enter 
> the first six items on the first found record, then enter additional items 
> on the duplicate record and switch to a layout with the letterhead, customer 
> name and address removed.
> This just doesn't seem like a very efficient method. I'd have no way of 
> knowing if any given invoice had two or more pages unless I had a 
> calculation field that would search for duplicate invoice numbers that would 
> pop up a "This is a multi-page Invoice" dialog.
> Is all this to much to ask? 
> 

Hi,

In Filemaker, you can print invoices that will automatically spread over 
2 or more pages when needed. As for headers, footers and totals, you can 
specify for each element whether you want them only on the first, only 
on the last or on all pages. You can also have a page numbering like 
"page 1 of 2", "page 2 of 2", etc.

This is all very normal and there is certainly no need to consider 
creating 2 or more records for invoices requiring more than 6 rows. As 
you said, that would be very inefficient and cause all sorts of problems.

I think the reason you struggle with printing multiple-page invoices is 
that the invoicing database is maybe not adequately structured. As I 
understand from your description, you either have a single file for 
invoices with repeating fields for Quantity, Class, etc. all set to 6 
repetitions, or maybe a 2-files setup where items rows are created 
through a portal (good) but invoices printed from the parent file (bad).

In other words, what you want to do is straightforward, but it may not 
be possible at all if the database is not structured to allow it. 
Depending on whether you have a 1-file setup (with repeating fields) or 
a 2-files setup (with a portal), and depending whether you just want to 
be able to include up to say 8 or 12 lines, or up to as many as 
required, the changes required can be very small or very fundamental.

If you can describe your setup more precisely (1 file or 2 files, etc.), 
  people here will be able to give better answers and guidance, but I 
think that you should probably consider contracting a developper to look 
at the system.

HTH

Marc-Andr� Paiement