custom-shaped buttons

[databaser]

I don't suppose there's anyway to have custom-shaped buttons.

like if you wanted a map of the 48 states with the area of each state being it's own button.

I'm surprised that filemaker made that pretty impossible.

(so i'm wondering if there's any chance that there's a way i have not discovered)

even, if there were a way to group lines, and make their shape into a button, but there seems to be no way, because the only the actual lines would be buttons, not the shape.

[comment]

It's possible, but VERY tedious - you need to group many adjacent lines of various lengths.

[iMarcW]

Couldn't you use graphics in the shape of states as buttons? It would be high-bandwidth, but much easier.

I think it would be surprisingly effective, though hard to keep track of, to just use FileMaker circles and squares with white fill and no border as buttons inside the borders on a single US map graphic. The buttons wouldn't completely fill the area of each state, but turning on "show cursor as hand over button" and using tooltips would guide the user well enough.

Edited July 10, 2008 by Guest
tooltips!

[Lee Smith]

Take a look at this file at Database Pros site. US State Buttons

Lee

[iMarcW]

The EPA Web site has available for public download an Adobe Illustrator file of a US map with each state as a separate shape and all of the elements layered and grouped so you could copy and paste them into Photoshop and produce PNG files of each individual state. It would take you some time to do, but it's free (well, you paid for it with your tax dollars, I guess), and you could make the graphics any size you want because the AI file is resolution-independent.

http://www.epa.gov/epafiles/samples/map.html#states

Edited July 10, 2008 by Guest

[comment]

you could copy and paste them into Photoshop and produce PNG files of each individual state

And then what?

[iMarcW]

Then use them in your layouts as buttons.

[comment]

Perhaps I am missing something: I thought the question was about custom-shaped buttons. I believe in your method each state button would have a clickable area filling the entire bounding rectangle.

[iMarcW]

You're right. The PNG format provides transparency, but doesn't change the active area of the button.

Oh, well, maybe if you paired them (not grouped them) with the state buttons in the databasepros.com example (which are made from countless little shapes grouped together -- a yeoman effort, to be sure, but looks a little Commodore 64-ish), you'd have some state buttons that looked good and provided a the correct clickable area, too.

[comment]

Well, there is another way, but it would require a plugin: do it in web viewer.

[David Jondreau]

You can build shaped buttons, but it's not super versatile. You can use line shapes, but if you "draw" a shape, only the outline will be clickable.

You can use shapes that fill, ie rectangle, circle, and rounded corner rectangle and group them together to produce a clickable button.

And of course, you can use a standard shaped button that is the same color as the background and drop a graphic over it, so it will look custom shaped.

The last won't really work for the states, though Wyoming and Colorado should be easey peasey.

Edited July 10, 2008 by Guest

[Joe King]

The above user implies that 'custom active areas' could be done with a Web Viewer object, but I fear that he is mistaken.

1. Web Viewer objects do no layer with other objects

2. It's tedious to 'kill' the emboss effect on Windows Web Viewer Objects

3. Using a plug-in like Fusion reactor is required to 'connect' to FMP from a Web View object...

The only way this makes sense if the entire object was done as a Web Viewer Object and Fusion Reactor or MDS plug-in was used to 'trigger' a script in FileMaker.

----

Moving back the initial request, I need a custom object in FileMaker. There use to be a trick using AppleWorks for Windows, but it does work with FMP10.

I fear that adding hundreds of tiny objects is a recipe to added file size, redraw times, and other issues.

I think a hint to the solution may be the question to this question. What can we get a 'round' object from FileMaker (layout mode copy) and be able to paste it and keep a 'transparent' background?

Ideas?

[comment]

The above user implies that 'custom active areas' could be done with a Web Viewer object, but I fear that he is mistaken.

If by "above user" you mean me, then note that I have stated it would require a plugin. I am not saying it's an ideal solution, but it is an option.

And if you require the button to "layer with other objects" you can recreate those objects in the web viewer, too - in fact, you can have nothing but the web viewer on the layout, if you want.