Hi, I’ve been trying out Knack and I really like it. However, there are a few things I can’t seem to do and they are critical to my application. Can these be done with Knack?
Print as a PDF
Print multiple details pages in bulk, such as a set of statements for different customers.
Create and print checks (one or a list of checks).
Have a running balance column in a table
On a form, have one value change another fields value. Specifically, if the use has selected ‘Expense’ (from a dropdown Income/Expense) then the ‘amount’ (a currency value) would forced to a negative value (like -Abs({AmountField}).
Hi Wayne, I think you are the same person who I spoke with yesterday. For clarification you may wish to expand on the “Print PDF” point as you’re likely to be told you can by adding a print link and selecting PDF, which I know you have done already.
I believe you are talking about being able to create a more customised PDF layout, which Knack doesn’t currently offer. This could be achieved, as mentioned, by pushing the data out to Integromat and creating an HTML page of your PDF and converting. Not ideal but possible.
My college, @JulianKirkness , also a Knack Expert, write and article that May be of interest:
The check (or cheque) issue is a far bigger challenge as Knack does not have any native way to handle all the different options to print paper based templates. Perhaps there is someone out there who has managed this but I’ve never heard.
The post has one method of producing PDFs from Knack - you can also use Integromat to merge data into Word documents or Docs. Alternatively, specific PDF generators like Eledo could be used.
Running balances in a database are always a tricky one in databases because normally child records (like order lines) are not connected to each other and so calculations between them is not simple (unlike with a spreadsheet). There is also the issue that these records order is not set in stone (it’s dependent upon sorting) and so any calculations like this would have to try and take that into account somehow.
Question 5 is another issue I come across regularly - and usually deal with by having two fields - one for income and one for expense and showing or hiding the relevant one on the form depending on the Income/Expense option taken. You can then use formulae and record rules to get the value into a single column if you need to.