Help with Multi-column printing (if possible)

[garynunes]

My HTML is a little weak. Is it possible to create an export template that will "print out" the book list as multiple (printed) columns per page (preferably with columns "wrapping" from left to right on a page before going to the next page...see details below)?

Details:
I'm switching my wife over to Bookpedia from using Microsoft Word (with tables) to record her book reading habits.

For the most part all is well.

However, in Word she prints out a compact "have read" book list which she takes to the library so that she doesn't accidentally check out an already read book. She wants to minimize the page count therefore the printout consists of two columns per page of Author/Title entries only, e.g., a two page printout looks something like this (note the way the entries "wrap" on a page):

Code: Select all

Page1
    AuthorA    TitleA                     AuthorH    TitleH
    AuthorB    TitleB                     AuthorI    TitleI
              ...                                        ...
    AuthorG    TitleG                     AuthorN    AuthorN

Page2
    AuthorO    TitleO                     AuthorV    AuthorV
    AuthorP    TitleP                     AuthorW    AuthorW
              ...                                        ...
    AuthorU    TitleU                     AuthorZ    AuthorZ

Bascially shes trying to put just the needed information on as little paper as possible (she'd probably have more than two columns if it were easier to do in Word and her eyesight was better).

Regards,
Gary Nunes

[Conor]

Would it matter to your wife is the order wasn't alphabetical? Because then it could be easily done with a CSS template. However, the authors would not come out as you put them in your example. If that's not a problem, let me know and we can put the template together for you. (Email us at the support email - gets our attention faster then the forum

[garynunes]

Would it matter to your wife is the order wasn't alphabetical?...

Yes, unfortunately alphabetization is important because of the way she uses the list (and the number of entries in it).

For what it's worth I came up with a workaround using FileMakerPro. I created a small FMP database with two fields, Author and Title, and a script that imports tab-delimited data, sorts and then prints the data using a layout that organizes the data as described in my previous post.

To get the printed output I do the following:
1) Create an Author/Title collection in Bookpedia (smart collection so it automatically updates itself)
2) Export the collection (from 1) as a tab-delimited file
3) Start the FMP DB application and run the import/print script

Good enough. Still, as good as Bookpedia is, it could probably use a bit more "report writing" power.

Regards,
Gary Nunes

P.S. If Bookpedia was applescriptable/automatable (hint) I could wrap the whole thing up into a single "button push".

[Conor]

We want to do automator, but are still thinking about the basic blocks that people would need. What Nora mean by not being alphabetical I think is, that the list can't be sorted:

a d
b e
c f

but:

a b
c d
e f

The way CSS works you can create little blocks of "Author Title" and make them half the size of the page and they would arrange themselves as the second example automatically.

[gordonempire]

I am wanting to do something similar to this. I would like to print a 10 row by 3 column print of my books as a reference. I have the 10 part but I'm having issues with the 3. How would I go about getting the the other columns to work like this?

Wow! I didn't realize until after that I had resurrected such an old thread.

[Nora]

Setting up three columns with CSS is a bit tricky but we did write a template for a user recently that does this. However, the layout only works the following way (same way Conor mentioned in his previous post):

Book 1 Book 2 Book 3
Book 4 Book 5 Book 6
....

If that works for you, let me know and I can email you the template. (At the moment it only includes titles. If you want anything else included, like collection ID, let me know.)

[gordonempire]

Just titles would be better than where I am now. Please email me the template when you get a chance. Thank you.

[Nora]

Check your email.