single column/multi column question

[rjay23]

Is it possible to make rule that would switch composition to different text frames depending on certain conditions? I have a letter with a variably sized list in it. If the list in the letter will contain five or less items, it needs to be in a single column. If it contains more than five items, it needs to be in a three column frame.

I thought I can draw two frames on top of each other, making one of them 3 columns and give the frames different names. But I don't know how to proceed from there. I need to make a rule to switch to the 3 column frame if the letter will contain more than 5 list items if that's possible.

[Dan Korn]

You're on the right track with the two named overlapping frames. I don't know exactly what's in your data that controls whether "the list in the letter will contain five or less items," but you can put the same content into both frames and do something like this in OnRecordStart:

var frameToSuppress = (numListItems > 5) ? "OneColumn" : "ThreeColumn";
FindTextFrame(frameToSuppress).suppress = true;

[rjay23]

Thank you Dan. This looks like what I need.

[DSweet]

Dan, this is not for any project currently going ... just my mind wandering a bit with the proposed solution.

Is there a way to have an OVERFLOW into one frame or another based on the condition such as above? i.e. Three frames where "BaseStory" is the original frame and the frame "OneColumn" is where the overflow would occur based on the condition of 5 or less items and "ThreeColumn" if over 5 items?

Just wondering?
.

[Dan Korn]

Originally Posted by DSweet

Is there a way to have an OVERFLOW into one frame or another based on the condition such as above? i.e. Three frames where "BaseStory" is the original frame and the frame "OneColumn" is where the overflow would occur based on the condition of 5 or less items and "ThreeColumn" if over 5 items?

Any Body page text frame (flow) can have its own Overflow conditions, including flowing to new Overflow pages. If that primary Body page text flow is suppressed, then all Overflow pages which may have been generated for that text flow will be suppressed as well.

So the answer to your question is Yes. Set up two different text frames, with different Overflows, and conditionally suppress one of them. The code will be similar to what I posted above.