Label Sheet Height - How to change?

[Cerb]

There is no option to change the page height/width when creating a custom shipping label.

We have 8 labels (2 across, 4 down), on an 8 1/2 x 11.5" sheet (non standard page size)

How do I edit this to be 11.5"?? 

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="Windows-1252"?>

<Reports>

  <!--Report *** DIS TEST 3 ***-->

  <Report version="2.5.20071.235">

    <Name>DIS TEST 3</Name>

    <ReportInfo />

    <DataSource>

      <ConnectionString>Act.UI.Designer.Report.Data.ContactLimitedReportConnection,Act.UI.Designer.Report.Data</ConnectionString>

    </DataSource>

    <Layout>

      <Width>5572.800048828125</Width>

      <MarginLeft>720</MarginLeft>

      <MarginTop>2520</MarginTop>

      <MarginRight>720</MarginRight>

      <MarginBottom>1260</MarginBottom>

      <Orientation>1</Orientation>

      <Columns>2</Columns>

      <ColumnLayout>2</ColumnLayout>

      <LabelSpacingX>1800</LabelSpacingX>

      <LabelSpacingY>360</LabelSpacingY>

    </Layout>

    <Font>

      <Name>Arial</Name>

      <Size>9</Size>

    </Font>

    <Groups />

    <Sections>

      <Section>

        <Name>Detail</Name>

        <Type>0</Type>

        <Height>1800</Height>

      </Section>

      <Section>

        <Name>Header</Name>

        <Type>1</Type>

        <Visible>0</Visible>

      </Section>

      <Section>

        <Name>Footer</Name>

        <Type>2</Type>

        <Visible>0</Visible>

      </Section>

      <Section>

        <Name>PageHeader</Name>

        <Type>3</Type>

        <Visible>0</Visible>

      </Section>

      <Section>

        <Name>PageFooter</Name>

        <Type>4</Type>

        <Visible>0</Visible>

      </Section>

    </Sections>

    <Fields />

  </Report>

</Reports> 

[Cerb · Accepted solution]

Opening a label template in Notepad, you can find the following line:

<Papersize>1</Papersize> 

I cahnged mine to:

<PaperSize>Legal</PaperSize>

It changed the layout to LEGAL and now I can add a Margin Bottom to compensate for the actual page length.  

Roy, this was an easy fix, I wish you had just said this from the get go.

For a paper reference:

http://www.princexml.com/doc/6.0/page-size/

Most of these appear to work.  For US sizes, just get rid of the US- portion. 

Remember if your printer doesn't have the Papersize in TRAY, just use manual feed and you can put whatever type of paper you want.  (In this case I'm manual feeding 8.5 x 11.5 paper in to the manual feed of my printer, but using a LEGAL size template manually edited with NotePad 

Message Edited by Cerb on 12-24-2009 09:53 AM

[Roy_Laudenslager]

The 11.5 page height Would make this a difficult task at best. I've worked successfully with some non-standard page sizes before. However, because placement and paging is controlled by an accumulation of dimensions, it's impossible to suggest anything without having all the exact measurments from the label sheet.

[Cerb]

I don't understand why Sage made their Report Designer so poorly.

In the old version you could specify

number of labels horizontal

number of labels vertical

Page Size

and a graphic representation of dimensions between the labels and outside of the page

It was so easy anyone could do it.

The labels I'm trying ot create are 4" Wide, 2.5" Tall on a 8.5 x 11.5" sheet

the vertical spacing between the labels is 1/16 of an inch

The horizontal spacing between the labels is 1/16 of an inch

The space from the top of the page to the first label is 5/8"

The space from the bottom of the page to the bottom labels is 5/8"

Is there a simple way of adding a <Height>12270</Height>?  or somethign to that effect? 

[Roy_Laudenslager]

I have to take exception to your praise of the ACT! 3-6 report editor and your claim that the ACT! 2005 and later report editor is junk. I can speak with some authority on the subject because for over 10 years I was the lead tech support person for reports ( ACT! 3-6) and and I have created a large number of custom reports with the ACT! 2005 and later ACT! report editor..

The ACT! 3-6 report editor had bugs that I flagged to development during the Alpha stage of development that still exist in the ACT! 6 version. Bugs such as the exaggerated line spacing, the failure of the close up space to not properly place the comma text field in the city, stage zip code line, the hit/skip printing of envelopes, etc. You also refer to the ease of defining a custom label in ACT! 3-6. The original ACT! 3 label definition was fairly easy to use except the report editor always assumed the top strip on the sheet was 1/2 inch. Because that wasn't always true, the measurement on the diagram was changed at version 4.0.2. While it did improve the ability to create a label sheet layout, it became very hard to understand how to calculate the measurement settings. I had to write a knowledge base document (ID number 10605 if you are interested) as an aid to creating a custom label sheet. By the way, the ACT! 3-6 reports would not allow a landscape sheet like the Avery 3380. Also it was very rigid about sheet size and your 11.5 sheet would not have worked.

The best analogy I can think of to compare the ACT! 3-6 report editor and the ACT! 2005 and later report editor is the difference between a simple box camera and a high performance 35mm camera. I can do things with the ACT! 2005 and later report editor that are so beyond the capabilities of the ACT! 3-6 report editor that there isn't any comparison.

[Cerb]

I don't disagree that there are some functions that are excellent.  But the basics were completely missed in the report designer from Sage.  Simple easy to use things for basic users are completely absent.  To our office an upgrade in software usually equals an upgrade in usability.  However, with the new designer, it went completely backwards in that department.  The average user cannot generate anything easily.  Having to use system fields to pull VBscript into the equation.  yes, it's nice to be ABLE to do that.  But to be FORCED to do that is ridiculous.  

As to changing page size, I don't even know where to begin on addressing that oversight.  There needs to be a comprehensive GUI that the average person can use.

But it doesn't solve the problem of How do I change the HEIGHT of a label sheet?  Is there a <Height>12240</Height> that can be added to the SQL of a label template?  And again, HOW do you MISS HEIGHT of the page in the design of a report designer..  are you serious?

[Cerb]

I was a little hot under the collar when I responded earlier.

The short version is that the GUI needs to be improved to allow for:

Page Height / Width

Specification of Labels vertical / horizontal

Graphic representation as changes are made in preview

Collapsing fields horizontal need to collapse without using system fields that require code (i.e. Custom1.Text = InformalBoth1&" "&LastName1)

More functions are great, but if my staff cannot design their own reports within the report designer without difficulty, then the designer needs a major overhaul. 

[Roy_Laudenslager]

The ACT! reports templates, including labels, are coded in XML with allowed additional scripts using Visual Basic script programming. In an earlier posting you included a block of the template code as it shows in Notepad or Wordpad. Unless you are very familiar with the ACT! XML coding, don't make modifications in Notepad or Wordpad. Any error will make the report fail to open in the ACT! program.

The page heights available to use with the ACT! reports are mainly controlled by the printer driver and I couldn't find any page size that was 11.5 high. The best workaround would be to select the legal page size 8.5 X 14 and set the bottom page margin a 2.5 inches. The ACT! reports only uses the page height as a marker to break to the next page.

With ACT! 2005, the ACT! reports moved to a high performance report engine comparable to Crystal reports or the Access reports. There is an addon called StoneField Query that is a high level report engine with a wizard front end that is fairly easy to use. It's spendy per license and when you can't create the report you want with the wizard, you have to go to their advanced level which is very difficult to use and does not allow you to return to the wizard without loosing all your changes.

[Cerb · Accepted solution]

Opening a label template in Notepad, you can find the following line:

<Papersize>1</Papersize> 

I cahnged mine to:

<PaperSize>Legal</PaperSize>

It changed the layout to LEGAL and now I can add a Margin Bottom to compensate for the actual page length.  

Roy, this was an easy fix, I wish you had just said this from the get go.

For a paper reference:

http://www.princexml.com/doc/6.0/page-size/

Most of these appear to work.  For US sizes, just get rid of the US- portion. 

Remember if your printer doesn't have the Papersize in TRAY, just use manual feed and you can put whatever type of paper you want.  (In this case I'm manual feeding 8.5 x 11.5 paper in to the manual feed of my printer, but using a LEGAL size template manually edited with NotePad 

Message Edited by Cerb on 12-24-2009 09:53 AM