Filling Tables by Column not by Rows

[DrDaveJ]

User has ExCel file that contains a single column of hundreds of entries sorted ascending from top to bottom.
After import into FM7, we add three columns; then we want to tell FM7 to wrap the single column so it fills from top to bottom (Col 1 first), then left to right (Col 2 thru 4), Page 1 first; then onto Page 2 and after.
Could someone tell me if we can do this, and if yes, how?

Thanks.
Dave

[Art Campbell]

First, when you say you're importing it... does that mean that you're bringing it in through a text, CVS, RTF or some other intermediate format or that you're importing it as an OLE object (not the best choice)?

Assuming that you're actually converting the data to an FM table... you could pretty obviously do it by cutting and pasting the parent table into four segments to populate the columngs.

But the way that I'd do it would be to keep the table in it's single column. And set up a Master page with four text columns so that the single-column table would snake through the four text columns. That would let the content flow automatically so that it would adjust itself to deletions and additions.

Art

[Arnis Gubins]

Dave,

As Art says, keep it a single column table and adjust your page
columns to give you the desired snaking effect.

You can also use the MasterPage mapping feature to help out here to
automatically get the correct master pages being inserted when the
Excel worksheet is imported.

[frameexpert]

Hi Dave,

If Art's and Arnis's solutions don't meet your needs, you could do this with FrameScript. A FrameScript script could count the rows in the spreadsheet, create a table with the correct number of rows and columns and then fill it from top to bottom, left to right.

Rick Quatro
585-659-8267

[DrDaveJ]

Good feedback guys, but won't work.
1) The source data is "straight" ExCel, single column. We place insertion point in doc/structure, then go to File menu and import file (copy into doc). This brings up a dialog where we select set-ups; then we add columns and change Elements so structure is valid.
2) I did not think FM7[.0] provides Master Page Mapping. Was thinking that was 7.1 or .2. Will verify this. Whether true or not, it occurs to me I should have mentioned the version better.
3) The multi-column page idea might work! I've done that before where we have a two-col section within a single-wide book. I simply used "Across All Columns" where the split was not needed. Will consider that here!

Thanks for the responses!
Dave

[Russ Ward]

Hi Dave,

You have FrameSLT... I think it should be able to auto-generate the table you need. If so, it would also eliminate the step of changing the element structure (if you are doing it manually). Send me an email if you want more info.

Russ

[Russ Ward]

Dave, on second thought, this might be a bit much for FrameSLT with the pagination requirements. It might be a bit much for any solution, because if you add or delete a paragraph before the table, the whole thing could be out of whack. Unless it always starts on a new page.

Russ