Text Color/Format of Merge Field?

[Wickerman]

Here's another example of a larger species of a problem that keeps coming up: I don't quite 'get' how Filemaker prioritizes and applies text formatting.

here I have a simple text box for "Title" - set for black 14 pt. Times. Simple enough. But for some reason, when I use this field as a 'Merge Field' to display the title in a heading on a colored background along with some other text, it refuses to display the assigned formatting. So, in Layout mode, I have a text block That reads:

<>Value List for <>

It's all in 24 pt WHITE text -- and everything appears that way in Browse mode except for the Title data! it works for the Archive Name, but 'Title' stubbornly remains in 14 pt. black!

Can someone suggest why this instance of formatting isn't 'taking'? This drives me nuts.

Thanks,

Albert

[comment]

I am only guessing here, but it sounds like the data in the Title field is styled text. Any formatting done in Layout mode, be it a field or a text object, is only applied to plain text data. Any styling applied to the data itself (either by styling it in Browse mode, or by pasting styled text into a field) will always take precedence.

It would be easier to pinpoint the cause if you upload a sample file showing the problem.

[Vaughan]

I'm adding auto-enter calculations to most data entry fields with Trim4( TextFormatRemove( self ) ) to remove all lading and trailing white space and remove formatting. A lot of printing problems are disappearing!

[Wickerman]

Thanks comment, for clarifying that -- it's exactly the issue I was trying to grasp and that explains it. ...and thanks for the calculation suggestion, vaughan -- I'll do some reading on that particular function.

But broadly speaking, how would I apply the calculation? You seem to imply that the calc could be part of a field definition such that any value pasted in would automatically be stripped oif formatting -- that's *exactly* what I need, but I'm having a hard time envisioning an auto-enter calc that acts on data the user is entering in that field? Or do you make two fields - one for the formatted entry and then a second that stores it stripped. Wouldn't that double the storage space, or slow down the file a lot?

Wickerman

[comment]

I'm having a hard time envisioning an auto-enter calc that acts on data the user is entering in that field?

That's exactly how it works, provided you (a) turn off the 'Do not replace existing value' option, and ( reference the field in the calculation. For example, a Title field with auto-entered calculation =

TextFormatRemove ( Title )

will overwrite entered styled text with a plain text version of the same. This only happens when the field (or another referenced field in the same record) is modified, so it will not automatically clean up your existing data. You will need to use Replace Field Contents for that.