xochi Posted July 18, 2015 Share Posted July 18, 2015 In older versions of FileMaker Pro, I could click on a field, show the text ruler, and graphically set tab stops - as illustrated in the picture here: http://www.filemaker.com/help/12/fmp/html/edit_layout.10.44.html In FM14 Pro Advanced (Mac OS X) I can't for the life of me figure out how to get into this mode. I've tried showing and hiding every toolbar I can think of, but nothing seems to get me the magical TabStop ruler mode. I know I can edit the TabStops numerically (Inspector/Appearance/Tabs) but I like the old graphical way. Did they remove this feature? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee Smith Posted July 19, 2015 Share Posted July 19, 2015 In BROWSE Mode, View >> Ruler Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xochi Posted July 19, 2015 Author Share Posted July 19, 2015 Yes, you can edit tab stops in BROWSE mode, but that only affects the data in a single record. It used to be possible to graphically set the tab stops for a edit field on a layout in LAYOUT mode. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee Smith Posted July 19, 2015 Share Posted July 19, 2015 (edited) Layout >> Inspector >> Appearance >> Tabs (it’s at the bottom) Edited July 19, 2015 by Lee Smith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xochi Posted July 19, 2015 Author Share Posted July 19, 2015 Layout >> Inspector >> Appearance >> Tabs (it’s at the bottom) Right, just like I said in my original post That's the new, numerical way of setting tabs, but it's cumbersome. I'm under the impression (delusion?) that we used to be able to do Layout-mode tab stops graphically in an older version of FileMaker. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doughemi Posted July 20, 2015 Share Posted July 20, 2015 I'm seeing the numeric tab setting screen in FM10A under Format->Text...->Paragraph->Tabs, but I don't see (or recall) a graphical tab setting mechanism. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xochi Posted July 20, 2015 Author Share Posted July 20, 2015 I appears that in recent versions of FM, you can edit TabStops on the Ruler, in Layout mode, but only for Text boxes (made using the "T" text tool icon, but not for Fields). Whether one could ever do it for Fields or not, I don't know: possibly I am mis-remembering. In my case, I'm trying to display formatted text from a Calc field, and the user can't edit it, so I could display the data in a Text box using the <<FieldName>> merge field technique. Unfortunately this text data is also taller than the field, so I need it to be scrollable, and Text objects aren't scrollable. I suppose I could do the formatting using a Text object using the Graphical ruler, then switch to Layout mode and manually copy the TabStop positions over to a Field object? Not terribly elegant but would work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Wagemans Posted February 25, 2019 Share Posted February 25, 2019 Thanks for this question Xochi. Even if this topic is 4 years old. I am missing that possibility as well, and before reading thi posts, I thought I was misremembering how things used to work. . In the end I abandonded using tab stops and used fields, because this is very hard to make and maintain if you do not see what you are doing. Since I am currently working on a list layout, this multiplies the number of objects on the layout by 7. Which is not a good thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
comment Posted February 25, 2019 Share Posted February 25, 2019 38 minutes ago, Peter Wagemans said: In the end I abandonded using tab stops and used fields, because this is very hard to make and maintain if you do not see what you are doing. But you can see what you're doing. If you're merging multiple fields into a single text block, you only need to show the ruler and click into the text object. The problem is only with setting tab stops in field objects placed on the layout as such, not merged. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Wagemans Posted February 25, 2019 Share Posted February 25, 2019 Quote 3 minutes ago, comment said: The problem is only with setting tab stops in field objects placed on the layout as such, not merged. Exactly my point. Merge fields are a pain to use with tab stops, because their name is most of the time way to long, and this interferes with a wysiwyg experience. I last experienced even that the little trick to make the text font really small between the brackets, is not working anymore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
comment Posted February 25, 2019 Share Posted February 25, 2019 I am afraid I don't understand your point then. This thread is about not seeing tab stops in the ruler in Layout mode. You do see tab stops in Layout mode, when you're using merge fields. 25 minutes ago, Peter Wagemans said: Merge fields are a pain to use with tab stops, because their name is most of the time way to long That's a different issue altogether. 27 minutes ago, Peter Wagemans said: the little trick to make the text font really small between the brackets, is not working anymore. It's working if you select everything except the leading bracket. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Wagemans Posted February 25, 2019 Share Posted February 25, 2019 1 minute ago, comment said: It's working if you select everything except the leading bracket. Thanks for the tip. My point is, that it used to be possible to put a field on the layout, and, still in layout mode, assign tab stops to that field, not using the info panel, but using the tab ruler above. As the OP indicates: On 7/19/2015 at 1:56 AM, xochi said: In older versions of FileMaker Pro, I could click on a field, show the text ruler, and graphically set tab stops ... Indeed, this thread started about a field, not a text box with merge fields. I understand the issue can get a bit confusing ... 🙂 You indicate that i am getting off topic, but I was just comparing the workarounds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
comment Posted February 25, 2019 Share Posted February 25, 2019 2 minutes ago, Peter Wagemans said: You indicate that i am getting off topic I was merely confused by your saying: 1 hour ago, Peter Wagemans said: In the end I abandonded using tab stops and used fields ... this multiplies the number of objects on the layout by 7. which I think describes frustration with merged fields - which I tried to explain is not justified. So now you moved to working with field objects, where trying to set tab stops in Layout mode will lead to a justified frustration. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Wagemans Posted February 25, 2019 Share Posted February 25, 2019 This really triggered my curiosity and I fired up my old win7 VM where I still have a 5 version. Even there, I could not find any graphical interface (using the tab bar on top of the window) that would give me a way to set tab stops for text fields (vs text boxes). So... I clearly misremembered that this was an option before. This is from the html file the OP refers to (this is from the 12 help): Quote • You can use the ruler to set margins or tabs for text data in Browse mode or for text in Layout mode. You can't use the ruler to format fields in Layout mode, you must use the Paragraph and Tabs dialog boxes. Well... that settles it 🙂 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
comment Posted February 25, 2019 Share Posted February 25, 2019 This is strange, because I too have a vague memory of being able to do this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ocean West Posted February 25, 2019 Share Posted February 25, 2019 One tip that is helpful.... Say you have a field in layout mode and you wish to set tab stops and see how it will affect the data in in the field, it's difficult to visualize the outcome... copy some text that will appear in the field that you wish to format place that text on the layout use the format painter to format that text block to match the field format make the text block the same dimensions as the field click in to the text block and enable the rulers you can now put the tab stops or margins where you wish. use the format painter to apply the text block back to the field toss the text block off to the right of the layout if you need to tweak the tabs later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
This topic is 1885 days old. Please don't post here. Open a new topic instead.
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now