WebDirect Guide

Appendix A | Design considerations 38
1 Fields formatted as edit boxes, checkboxes, radio buttons, and drop-down calendar fields are
always rendered as top-aligned. Fields formatted as pop-up menus and drop-down lists are
always rendered as center-aligned.
1 If users add leading or trailing spaces before or after the data in a text field, the data may not
appear in the text field when the solution opens in FileMaker
WebDirect. Tell users to avoid
adding leading spaces. If extra spaces are necessary, make sure the text field length is wide
enough to accommodate the extra spaces, or add a scroll bar to the text field.
Pop-up menus and drop-down lists
1 Web users can’t edit value lists by using an Edit item, or enter values that aren’t in a value list
by using an Other item.
1 Pop-up menus and drop-down lists display a blank value at the top of value lists.
1 Field controls for pop-up menus and drop-down lists do not display leading or trailing spaces
before or after the data for value list items.
1 If a pop-up menu or drop-down list uses values from two fields, the field control may appear
cropped in FileMaker
WebDirect. To increase the width of the field control in
FileMaker
WebDirect, increase the width of the field on the FileMaker Pro layout.
Checkbox sets and radio button sets
1 Fields that are formatted as checkbox sets or radio button sets organize values horizontally. To
display values vertically, decrease the field’s width.
1 Radio button sets and checkbox sets display as standard HTML controls; they do not support
object styles. If they appear cropped, enlarge the fields on the FileMaker
Pro layout.
Container fields
1 Web users can insert a file of up to 300 MB into each container field. To insert files larger than
300 MB, use FileMaker
Pro.
1 To allow web users to export data from container fields, set Available menu commands to All
in the Edit Privilege Set dialog box.
1 To avoid cropping of movies, make sure the container field is large enough to display the movie
and the movie controls.
1 Plug-in files, XML files, and some sound files may display as a generic file icon when the files
are stored as a file in a container field.
1 Filenames for files entered in container fields are center-aligned and may be truncated,
depending on the length of the filename and the width of the field.
1 Only files should be entered as container data. Do not enter text, numbers, dates, times, or
timestamps into container fields.