strange behavior!!!

[webcat]

Hi,

I am putting together a complex database solution in FMD6

everything on the screen is a jpg graphic, designed in photoshop (apart from text etc)

I am building up an object reference with exact pixel locations for each button or whatever element,

Now, yesterday something odd happened - all my graphics are still in the right places on the screen, exactly, but their location in pixels changed!

it moved left by 31 pixels.

when this happened I checked out various things. In an old version of my DB in backup I find that my background graphic, which is 1020 x 765 pixels (exactly the right size to fit on a 1024 x 768 screen) was pushed up and left as far as possible, but the object size info was that it was 40 pixels left and 9 pixels from top!

that was what I was basing all my graphic positions on.

then, yesterday afternoon, whilst working on the file, all of a sudden, that 40 pixels left baseline changed to 9 pixels left!

so now the background graphic, which is still as far left and top as it will go is registering 9 pixels left and 9 pixels from top!!!

I did some more tests, starting with a new database with no fields - blank layout, no header or footer, then import my background image, and make sure it is top left as far as possible, now the object size info is 18 pixels left and 18 pixels top!!

What on earth is going on!

I can only assume that this is a bug in FileMaker (my version is FMD 6.0v3)

I have hundreds of graphics in my DB solution, and I have been working on a Human Interface Guideline document for placing these graphics, but now all my pixel figures are wrong!!!

Is this a known bug? Is there anything I can do about it? Why isn't the top left 0,0 pixels?

Any ideas?!!

[CobaltSky]

Hi Webcat,

No, it's not a bug.

The answer is that the location coordinates are referenced to the upper left of the current *page*, as defined according to the current page setup and factoring in any margin and non-printable area allowances. And these change over time whenever the print driver changes and/or page setup specifications are adjusted.

If you want to establish the top left corner of a layout as 0:0, you can do so by specifying fixed margins of 0 px up and 0 px left - via the Layout Options dialog - but bear in mind that if you try to print while those settings are in place, most printers will take a 'slice' off the top and side (unless you're lucky enough to have an edge-to-edge printer).

[webcat]

AHA!

That's it!

thanks a million.. I don't print from the pages normally, the print layouts are different, ugly things - so I freeze the screen, switch to the print layout, print and then come back to the original...

anyway, now my background is at 0,0 pixels!