kdags said:
I agree. There is no way it would fit on an 8.5x11 sheet of paper. However,
if I can just get the chart built, I can send the file to professional
printer to make a poster sized print.
An All-in-One chart means exactly that. Every family member on one sheet.
It will show not only parents and grandparents, but uncles, aunts, cousins,
etc. I know this will not fit on an 8.5x11, but it might fit on a 24x36
poster.
Perhaps:
http://groups.google.com/group/comp.databases.ms-access/browse_frm/thread/62f56b4d96ab9a82
will provide you with the tools you need. It would allow you unmatched
flexibility to place text and lines of various thickness, style and
color wherever you'd like. Like Access Reports, Acrobat Reader can
automatically break out a large document into individual pages that fit
together.
From the PDF Reference, version 1.7, pp. 1128, 1129, the maximum page
width or page height before starting to sacrifice any of its
considerable resolution in versions 1.6 or later is 200 inches. With
the same amount of resolution, the same file can be printed on a page
that is 15,000,000 inches by 15,000,000 inches (i.e., about 236.7
miles). Note that 200 inches is the maximum size that an Access report
can get using its same twip resolution immediately. I.e., that would be
equivalent to sacrificing resolution immediately.
I've had good success with printing PDF calendars on graphics plotters
using 36" rolls of paper. Sometimes I had to make a few slight
adjustments to get things to print properly, but later versions of
Acrobat Reader became better at printing the calendars "as is." I
modified the PDF commands to put in actual sizes for rendering to the
large plotters, but a simple linear transformation to enlarge the entire
document at the end should work just as effectively. You could even
have Access create everything such that it fits on an 8 1/2" by 11"
sheet of paper, but use zoom when looking at the document. It's
possible that somewhere like Kinko's or Office Max can enlarge a PDF for
printing easily. Ask first.
I've made some changes to the PDFLayoutViewer.mdb program, but have not
put them up yet. Notably, I added an option to print the layouts in
landscape mode and successfully tested another option to put both a logo
and a scanned signature (after a little cleaning up) onto an invoice
document. The results look quite professional.
The PDF files are made directly from Access and are usually quite small
in size. If graphics are placed in the PDF file, I recommend that they
be compressed and that only the resolution you require be used, although
using extra resolution so that recipients can zoom in on the picture
without it becoming grainy should not be discounted. After including a
compressed image the size of the PDF file goes up by about an eighth of
the size of the original image on average.
I believe that Access is capable of creating a report that matches your
requirements, but I also believe that you are at a point where you
should consider going beyond the capabilities of an Access report. A
PDF file is also a more convenient way to share your family history with
others.
James A. Fortune
(e-mail address removed)
