PDF Catalog with Table of Contents – filemakerhacks

PDF Catalog with Table of Contents

Posted on July 13, 2013 by Kevin Frank

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Recently I was asked by a client whether we could produce a PDF catalog from his company’s database, with products grouped by manufacturer. Me: “Of course, this is FileMaker.” Him: “Can it have a table of contents?” Me: “Yeah, sure, no problem.”

Actually, it took some trial and error, but we got there eventually…

…and we’re going to look at a simplified version with sample data in today’s demo file: pdf-catalog-with-toc

In addition to producing a table of contents, we need to…

Assemble multiple separate “print jobs” into a single PDF

(front cover, TOC, product listing, back cover)

Make sure FileMaker page numbers are consistent with PDF page numbers

(if the front cover + TOC take up 4 pages, then “page one” of the product listing will actually be page 5)

Display a conditional header for vendor product groups that span multiple pages

(don’t show products on a given page without making it clear who the vendor is)

Allow catalog to be generated from any found set of products

(don’t assume that a catalog always consists of all products for all vendors)

Make sure technique is multi-user friendly

(user A can generate one catalog, while user B simultaneously generates another)

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