Developer’s Guide

3-12 FileMaker Pro Developer’s Guide
Verify alignment of text objects
Check the alignment of the field labels and their associated fields—they
should both be aligned in the same direction. If you put a left-aligned
label over a column of right-aligned numbers, for example, the report
might look fine on your computer. But font substitution could cause
field labels to shift when the file is opened on another computer. If a
wider font is substituted on the second computer, your column heading
will shift to the right. If a more narrow font is used, the text will display
too far to the left.
Use merge fields
Use merge fields when mixing text and fields, for example, if you want
to place a field in the middle of a sentence. Because character spacing
may vary, avoid mixing text and fields.
Moving files between platforms
There are two ways to move files between Windows and Mac OS
computers: by floppy disk or other removable media, or over a network.
There is no file conversion required when using FileMaker Pro files
cross-platform, as the file format is the same for IBM-compatible and
Mac OS-compatible computers. To get the file onto a floppy disk or
removable media, however, requires file transfer, since the two
computers format their media differently. To transfer files with floppy
disks, you will need high-density disk drives.
There are a variety of products on the market that enable one type of
computer to read and write to a floppy disk formatted for another type
of computer. PC Exchange version 2.2 is included with the Mac OS 8.1
system software and successfully transfers long Windows 95 and
Windows NT filenames to the Mac OS.
Make the text object wide enough
to accommodate font substitution
Text bounding box
too narrow
Make the field deeper to accommodate
substituted fonts
Text bounding box
too shallow