Center Layout?

[JCJXXL]

Is there a way for me to center my layout and still stay within the printing margins?

I've accepted the fact that I need to stay within the 8 x 11 boundaries for printing purposes, but it sure drives me crazy when working in the database and my database is shoved to the left while I have a huge margin of empty area to the right of the center.

I would like for it to be dead center in the middle of the screen.

Thanks for your help.

[Lee Smith]

You can see page margins in layout mode. If you go into Layout Mode, Main Menu >> View >> [color:blue]Page Margins, you can then use [color:blue]Object Info, along with the different Arrange Tools, etc. to line things up.

HTH

Lee

[JCJXXL]

Hmmm...I think I may have worded it wrong. My screen is a 19" wide set at 1440 x 900. I have everything within the 8.5 x 11 "canvas" that is set by Filemaker. Everything is centered and lined up the way I need it to be within the 8.5 x 11 boundary. However, because of the size of my screen everything is to the left. If I was using a standard resolution setting of 800 x 600 then I am sure the standard 8.5 x 11 canvas would be dead center on my screen.

Imagine it like when you go to view a website that the developer has not centered on to your screen. The entire site displays starting at the far left and you end up with a nice gap over to the right side of your screen. For examples check out msn.com and foxnews.com

Msn is dead center on your screen no matter what the resolution is set at. Foxnews on the other is not dead center if your resolution is higher than the standard 800 x 600 dimensions. It is left justified with a nice white gap to the right.

Does that make sense? I hope I worded it right.

I appreciate the response. And if anyone can shed some light on centering my database interface on my screen without messing up page breaks when the screen is printed, I would be ever so grateful.

Thanks again!

[Fenton]

The current window can be centered by (look in the Windows section of the Script steps)

Freeze Window

Adjust Window [ Resize to fit ]

Move Window [ top: ((Get(WindowDesktopHeight) - Get(WindowHeight)) / 2); left: ((Get(WindowDesktopWidth) - Get(WindowWidth)) / 2) ]

The way the window looks on the screen (in Browse mode) is likely different from the way it's going to print. There's a correlation, but they're not quite the same. Go into Preview mode to see how it's going to print. I wouldn't worry about "centering" the print view especially [unless you're really fussy about your Preview :-], just center Browse mode.

[Genx]

... that or zoom in... My app looks fine in 1024 x 768 and zoomed in 1280 x 1024... I think.

[JCJXXL]

I'll give it a shot. Thanks again for the help.

[Ender]

I'd suggest you have print layout separate from data-entry/view layouts. They each have their own purpose, and trying to get one layout to do both does not usually work.

For the data-entry/view layouts, I'd suggest picking a layout size to fit a common resolution (or to fit your client's resolution). In my opinion, you shouldn't be concerned about filling the entire screen, or centering everything within the FileMaker window. Since FileMaker can't reposition elements on the layout based on the window size anyway (like those websites) you'll need to take another approach. Besides, why would you want to fill up your jumbo screen with a database layout? Jumbo screens are for multi-tasking!

[comment]

This seems a duplication of your previous thread.

[JCJXXL]

Somewhat. Although both are dealing with a sepcific problem they do kind of overlap.