I want to be able to display text for a certain field but not let the user modify the text. I also want the text to be scrollable, since it will often overflow its object on the layout. I can't seem to have it both ways. If I unselect browse mode in the inspector under field entry, I can't scroll. If I select browse mode, the text of course becomes modifiable. See simple attached example.

Is there a way to have it both ways?

ScrollingProblem.fp7.zip

not let the user modify the text

For what reason?

For what reason?

A bit complicated. I have automated the sending of an email confirmation to a list of people (presenters). The mass email is prepared in a layout with three sections. The user modifies a template for the email (middle of the layout) and sees the result (the text of the actual email to be sent) for any presenter (selected via a portal at the top of the layout) in a box at the bottom of the layout. Some emails are long and would overflow the text display box at the bottom of the window. The user should be able to modify the template but not the text for any individual message. Obviously space is at a premium, so some emails will not be viewable without scrolling.

The user modifies a template for the email (middle of the layout) and sees the result (the text of the actual email to be sent)

So how exactly is this result produced?

Each recipient is a related record in a single email batch. The layout is based on a record created in the email batch table, and each recipient has a field for its individual message that is calculated based on the text the user enters into the template, which is part of the email batch record. The display box (section 3 of the layout) is a text field in the email batch that is recomputed every time the user clicks on a field in the template. (A trigger runs a script that reenters the email text for the recipient based on the row number in the recipients portal.) When the user is satisfied with the emails that will be generated, he or she clicks a send button, and a script runs through each portal row and generates an email for that recipient. It's a bit like a mail merge in Word.

If you want the field to be modifiable by script only, you can set it to "Prohibit modification of value during data entry" in field options.

Or perhaps you could make it a calculation field.

If you want the field to be modifiable by script only, you can set it to "Prohibit modification of value during data entry" in field options.

Or perhaps you could make it a calculation field.

The first solution works nicely.

Thanks very much.