(I wasn't exactly sure where to post this but since it has to do more with appearances than anything else, I hope I chose the correct forum; if not, my apologies.)

 

I have a calc field that's a record counter for portal records, e.g., "1 / 9". In my style sheet for the solution, field labels that have scripts tied to their respective field have a dotted underline so users can see that there's a something special about that field label.

 

The problem is, fields are static in length but the record counter can vary its width based on the number of records: 1 / 9 is markedly shorter than say, 138 / 385. What I'd like users to see is the dotted underline appear the length of the text/number string only, not the entire field width that's set to accommodate "### / ###" records.

 

Example:

 

Want:     1 / 9

 

Don't want: ___1 / 9

 

(There's no dotted line choice for posts here so I used the native solid underline character.)

 

As you can see, it looks a little funky to have the underline extend beyond the counter when there aren't enough characters to take up the whole width of the field. Is there a way of doing what I want? TIA for your help!

One possibility is to put a merge field on the layout and format its Inspector > Appearance > Text > Style as 'word underline'.

You don't get the dotted but you get solid line per word.

What I'd like users to see is the dotted underline appear the length of the text/number string only

 

That's not possible, because "dotted underline" is not a text style.