Blank Document when no Detail?

TimPierce

Reputable Poster
Hi all, when my Create!Form document has nothing in the detail section, but does have a header & footer - I get a blank page.

How do I get the document to come out even if there is nothing in the detail section?

Thanks!
 
Your Cform project shouldn't do that but maybe you have logic in it that's causing the behavior. Are you getting the blank page when you preview in CformDesigner or when the JDE PDF goes through CformServer?

When you open the JDE PDF in AcroRead there is data on the page right? Not just a page that says "No Data Selected". What type of document would you want to be printing that has no detail?


Karen.
 
Hi Karen (aka Create!Form guru!),

It's a Purchase Order, if it's on hold in a certain way the detail lines are suppressed and they want a message across the Purchase Order explaining that it's on hold and needs attention.

It should be a very simple job, but when I run the PDF through C!F (with populated Header & Footer sections) a blank page comes out. There may well be logic in there causing this, but I'm not sure where to look.

Thanks,

Tim.
 
Form Projects in Create!form have repagination enabled by default (Project > Properties)
Along with this is another setting called Remove Pages with No Data Sections (also in Project > Properties)

Lets say there is logic in the original JDE section(s) to suppress them (Set Header and Set Footer are not original JDE Sections).

If Create!form encounters a page in which only the Set Header or Set Footer are displayed, it will produce a blank page.
I've seen this many times.

Use of either an Alternate or an Inserted section can correct this.
You'll need to bring in a PDF file into the form project which actually shows the detail section (or other section) to create the Alternate or Inserted section.

Once you bring in the PDF file to show the missing section(s) you can click on the section and then select Section > Alternate or Section > Insert.
This will allow you to create either an Alternate section or an Inserted section (with logic if needed) in which you can create the text Its on Hold or Needs Attention.

If you just want to see all of the sections to determine if there is logic on them select View > Project tree.
This will show all sections on the right side of the design tool and you can right click the section > Properties and this will show the Display tab and you can see if there is logic on that section.

Mark
 
When you take the JDE PDF and use it as your input file in CformDesigner does "Print Preview" give you the same behavior?

It's hard to say where the problem might be. CformDesigner is so flexible and there are many different ways to implement dynamic conditional logic in form projects. Check section properties for Display conditions, Section Alternate logic, Section User Variables, etc.

First I'd want to know if using "Print Preview" in CformDesigner produces the same result. If yes it points to something in the form project. If no it points to a problem with CformServer3 merge and I'd report it to TechSupport.


Karen.
 
Hi Karen, I've attached the files.

Any ideas?
 

Attachments

  • 157751-R5543501CO_SOX_HoldCode.pdf
    79.3 KB · Views: 118
Another, extension will need changing to fpp
 

Attachments

  • 157753-R5543501COPACKEDfpp.doc
    138.9 KB · Views: 91
Thanks Mark & Karen.

It looks like the 'Remove Pages with No Data Sections ' property was the culprit. I unchecked the box now everything has magically appeared.

Thanks again,

Tim.
 
[ QUOTE ]
You'll need to bring in a PDF file into the form project which actually shows the detail section (or other section) to create the Alternate or Inserted section.

Once you bring in the PDF file to show the missing section(s) you can click on the section and then select Section > Alternate or Section > Insert.
This will allow you to create either an Alternate section or an Inserted section (with logic if needed) in which you can create the text Its on Hold or Needs Attention.

[/ QUOTE ]

Mark, unfortunately I cannot get this to work, it keeps saying "The resultant file is empty" despite the existence of a new, inserted section.

Can you think of anything I may be doing wrong?

Thanks.
 
Tim,

I downloaded your form project & after a review I noticed your using Page Headers as opposed to Set Headers.
- This should be ok.
- I find using Set Header and Set Footer works better with repagination.

BUT, as long as the inserted section has the correct logic, it should work fine.

Can you provide the revised .fpp file with the PDF file thats causing the problem?

I can take a look and I'm sure we can fix it.

Mark
 
In your form project, you probably disabled Repaginate and Remove pages with no data sections.

This will then show the Page Header and Page Footer section without the detail section but it also disables repagination.
- Not good as the detail lines can now span too far down the page.
- Reenabling Repaginate & the Remove pages setting then shows a blank page.

There must be some data section on the page other than Page Header and Page Footer for the page to show correctly.

I mimicked the problem by removing the detail section all together.

I fixed the problem by creating a condition on the On Sequence Number section (which your not using) to look at any item in the Change Order Group section.
- The Change Order Group section is not present in the PDF in the form project you provided.
- This is very similar to the Detail section (PO Detail Columnar) not being present

I found I could create a condition on the On Sequence Number 1 section to look for the non existence of any item on the Change Order Group section which will then cause the On Sequence Number 1 section to show up but only when the Change Order Group section does not exist.
- Condition I used: (NOT exists(PWCORD_4)
- I then set the size of this section to 0
- I then created a text object on this section and set it to fixed position.

This section will then show up ONLY if the Change Order Group section does not exist AND you can re-enable Repagination and the Remove pages setting.

You can do the same thing on your side except use the PO Detail Columnar section instead of the Change Order Group Section.

This should do it, if not, let me know.

Mark
 
Many thanks to Mark and Karen for their help on this.

With their great advice I finally fixed the problem.

I have to say that if my company ever needs a Create!Form consultant, I'll know who to ask!

Regards,

Tim.
 
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