User manual

Creating and managing layouts and reports 6-15
Keep these points in mind:
1 Resizing the first repetition of a repeating field resizes all
repetitions.
1 Resizing a grouped object resizes all the objects in the group. See
“Grouping and ungrouping objects” on page 7-17.
Protecting objects from change
Prevent objects from being changed, edited, moved, or deleted from
the layout by locking them. Locking a field in Layout mode does not
prevent changes to the information in Browse mode.
To lock objects on a layout, in Layout mode, select the objects, then
choose Arrange menu > Lock. A locked object’s handles are gray
instead of black.
To unlock objects, select the locked objects, and then choose Arrange
menu > Unlock.
Note When you copy or duplicate a locked object, the copy isn’t
locked. When you group objects that include a locked object, the
grouped object is locked. Locking doesn’t prevent changes to the
stacking order.
About working with fields on a layout
After you create a layout, you can place new fields on it, remove
fields you don’t want displayed, and determine the format in which
you want data displayed. (To prevent fields that you define from
being automatically placed on the current layout, see “Setting layout
preferences” on page A-2.)
Fields on a layout are objects, which you can select, move, resize,
and reshape (see the previous sections). In Layout mode, each field
displays its field name, formatted with its attributes for font, size,
style, alignment, line spacing, and color. All fields except container
fields display text baselines to indicate where the data appears in
Browse mode and to help you align fields with each other.
Keep these points in mind:
1 A field that doesn’t appear on a layout still exists in the database,
and its data can be used in calculations and summaries.
1 To control the formatting for data in a field (text formatting,
formats for number, date, time, and container fields) as well as how
the field looks (fill and border settings, scroll bars, and so on), choose
field formatting options with no fields selected. FileMaker Pro
applies these formats to all fields added later. You can also specify
formatting options individually for each field. See “Formatting field
data on a layout” on page 6-21 and “Customizing fields on a layout”
on page 7-1.
Placing and removing fields on a layout
You can place a field anywhere on any layout, as many times as you
want. (You can place only fields that you’ve defined. See “About
defining database fields” on page 5-3).
Fields display
field names
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Field tool