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adone36
Starting Member
USA
19 Posts |
 Posted - 22 May 2013 : 20:21:45
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Am I missing something, or is it only possible to print a grid list of your movie collection? There seems to be absolutely no support for generating reports in XMM.
In Collectorz or All My movies, you could design a template any way you wanted, with whatever data you wanted and print it. |
Tony |
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apd
Junior Member
Greece
378 Posts |
Posted - 22 May 2013 : 21:10:18
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Could you give an example of a "template"?
For me, it works like this: I first create the grid the way I want it, using filters to populate my list and adding or removing columns.
Then, I select Files>Export Collection>Export Movies>Grid Export.
A preview window pops up.
I select File>Export Document and chose the filetype I prefer.
Does this workflow suit your needs?
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Edited by - apd on 22 May 2013 21:16:35 |
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adone36
Starting Member
USA
19 Posts |
Posted - 22 May 2013 : 22:29:59
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That just prints a chart of data.
In Collectorz or All My Movies you design a "template" that gets filled in from the data you select or filter in the grid.
For example, in both Collectors and All My Movies, I sort the movie grid by Date acquired and select the movie range I want to print. My "Template" looks like this on a landscape page.
[Cover image] [YEAR] [RUNNING TIME] [GENRE] [ACTORS][PLOT]
The report has a header and/or footer if desired and the printed length for each individual movie varies because of word wrap and the length of the plot description or actor list. Every other movie is shaded slightly to separate it from the one before and after.
In other words XMM prints you a spreadsheet of your movies and the others allow you to create a "catalog".
Anyone who has ever used frx or access report designer knows what I mean. I have never seen a database program that does not allow you to customize printing.
http://s1330.photobucket.com/user/adone36/media/list_zps8d0cd30e.jpg.html?evt=email_share |
Tony |
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apd
Junior Member
Greece
378 Posts |
Posted - 23 May 2013 : 09:00:45
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As I said, it's all in the creation of the grid, before you enter the export utility. The structure you provide is easy to create. What I can see as a problem in v8 export that the cells' content doesn't wrap and the vertical line distance in "Plot" is huge. But I haven't really used v8 that much, so maybe there's some setting I don't know; please someone correct me.
In v7 there are still some ready made export patterns you can use; they're not customizable but maybe they suit your needs.
All in all, exporting is one issue I have commented upon a lot of times in this forum. The procedure is much better in v8, but you are right, the results are still not acceptable. If I used v8, I would still export to XLS and create my pdfs from there (as I have to do in v7).
[URL=http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/607/50992718.jpg/] [/URL]
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Edited by - apd on 23 May 2013 09:01:23 |
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apd
Junior Member
Greece
378 Posts |
Posted - 23 May 2013 : 09:19:33
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I just noticed that when you export in HTML, the complete cell contents are viweable if you hover above a cell. Great, but only useful for online presentation.
Now, since we talk about it, here's what I would like to see, in order to consider this function really effective:
1. Automatic cell wrap, so that all the contents of a cell display correctly in print form.
2 Ability to edit the grid from inside the Preview window: resize columns, move/add columns, manual and individual row resize, etc. (At a later date, maybe even text editing/formatting.)
3. A guide/help to explain what are all these functions in the "Customize" window (esp. "Filter", "Expand All Details", "Use Styles")
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Edited by - apd on 23 May 2013 09:21:50 |
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adone36
Starting Member
USA
19 Posts |
Posted - 23 May 2013 : 18:47:13
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I cannot get the results you show. If I include "cover", I get a file reference in the report. All my movies are in a single line (plot does not show in spaced lines)
This program is written in Access. I'm sure you could include a report writer for the add'l end user license fee. I've never seen a database program without a report writer before.
Every movie database program seems to have a dramatic flaw. My friend has a video distribution business and I print advertising copy and movie list handouts for him. Regular films and adult.
Initially I used Collectorz and it was perfect, did it all. Then they did away with online searching in favor of their own captive database, which overnight destroyed much of the functionality (movies missing 50% of the info, movies not listed at all)
Then I bought "All My Movies" which had an adult plugin subscription. This plugin has not been updated in a year and most of it does not work. So I have another useless product.
I came upon XMM and it looked like it did it all! Extensive features, updated search scripts including adult sources, etc. And now it seems generating the most meager of reports is a chore. |
Tony |
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apd
Junior Member
Greece
378 Posts |
Posted - 23 May 2013 : 19:57:46
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To show the cover, you need to select the field "Picture" in the column choser. Sadly, the cover size is not customizable neither in v7 nor in v8.
As for XMM generally, you'll find a lot of gripe about v8 here in the forum, but it's a promising app; on the other hand, v7 is still usable, although development ended leaving us a few bugs and inefficiencies. What can you do, it's not a perfect world...  |
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adone36
Starting Member
USA
19 Posts |
Posted - 25 May 2013 : 23:10:40
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| I have Crystal Reports, so I figured I could write some video list reports. There is no "Picture" in the Access "movies" table, only in the column chooser. Also "Actors" uses linked tables that would make that a real chore. So I guess I have to retrieve data, then export it to Collectorz just to print a minimal report. |
Tony |
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yan00s
Moderator
405 Posts |
Posted - 26 May 2013 : 13:50:48
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quote:
Originally posted by apd
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3. A guide/help to explain what are all these functions in the "Customize" window (esp. "Filter", "Expand All Details", "Use Styles")
A generic help for user functions can be found in the DevExpress documentation (I believe we are at WinForms Version 12 Vol 1):
https://www.devexpress.com/ClientCenter/Downloads/#Documentation
Important: this documentation may describe functionality which is not part of XMM 8 and never will be.
Also: this should not be used to generate feature requests for Alessio. Maybe later when everything's smooth with V8, but not yet.  |
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Printing video lists