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Creating and managing layouts and reports
F
ILEMAKER PRO HELP 248
If you insert a symbol, only the variable's symbol appears in Layout mode (such as
{{CurrentDate}}). You see the value of the variable in Browse, Find, and Preview modes, and
when you print the layout.
Note You can type the characters listed for the symbol instead of using the commands on the
Insert menu. For example, you can type {{CurrentTime}} to insert a time symbol. Variables are
not case-sensitive, but they can contain no spaces or extra characters between the curly
braces.
3. To set formatting options such as font, style, line spacing, text color, and alignment for the
variable, see
Formatting and setting up field objects in Layout mode.
4. If necessary, resize the text block that contains the variable’s symbol.
In Browse mode and Preview mode, a text block displays and prints only as much text as will fit
within its dimensions. Because a symbol often expands when replaced with its variable text, the
contents of a text block may be clipped and may not appear in its entirety. If necessary, resize
the text block to display all of the text. For information on resizing text blocks, see
Resizing and
reshaping objects.
Notes
• You can also insert the date or other variables into fields while entering data in your
database. For more information, see
Inserting the current date or other variables into a field.
• To display the current page number with the total number of pages in a report (for example,
Page
1 of 10), see Inserting merge variables onto a layout.
Related topics
Adding text to a layout
Inserting merge variables onto a layout
You can create a merge variable that displays a value from a variable. You can use merge variables
for some tasks in place of global fields or unstored calculation fields. For example, a merge variable
User Name Symbol A variable user name. This name
changes to show the User Name
specified in Preferences.
{{UserName}}
Page Number Symbol A page number. (Page numbers only
appear in Preview mode or on a printed
report.)
{{PageNumber}}
Record Number Symbol A record number (or a row number
when inserted into a portal row)
{{RecordNumber}}
Other Symbol The result of a specified Get function
flag. For information about the flags
available, see
Get functions.
The Get function flag that
you chose in the Select a
symbol to insert dialog box
surrounded by double curly
braces. For example,
{{AccountName}}
Merge Variable A variable that you’ve created. See
Inserting merge variables onto a layout.
Two dollar signs
surrounded by double
angle brackets (<<$$>>)
Choose To insert In Layout mode, you see