Filemaker Pro 9 22

Question 1

1. SLIDING LAYOUT OBJECTS. What is SLIDING and what page is it on?

Answer 1

p 210. Say you have a NOTE field that may or may not have much info. If it does not, SLIDING causes the FIELD BELOW to move up and occupy the empty space between records.

Question 2

2. Why would you NOT want to use SLIDING?

Answer 2

You may want the empty space because you’re printing onto a PREPRINTED FORM, or your report design counts on consistent field sizes so things line up properly.

Question 3

3. Sometimes you do want to tighten things up on the printed page to avoid wasted paper or excessive spacing around data. How does SLIDING help in this situation?

Answer 3

a. It lets FIELDS SHRINK TO JUST THE RIGHT SIZE for their DATA.
b. AFTER a field has SHRUNK, any object on the layout can SLIDE UP.
c. OR to the LEFT to fill the space left behind.

Question 4

4. When objects slide up, what happens to all the blank space left at the bottom of the BODY PART?

Answer 4

The ENTIRE BODY PART SHRINKS, and the RECORD BELOW moves UP.

Question 5

5. What is the reason for the concept of SLIDING?

Answer 5

SLIDING exists FOR ONLY ONE REASON: to COMPENSATE FOR CHANGING FIELD DATA.

Question 6

6. Since SLIDING exists ONLY to compensate for changing field data, UNLESS YOU SET AT LEAST ONE FIELD TO SHRINK, then:

Answer 6

NOTHING on the layout MOVES.

Question 7

7. However, you CANNOT explicitly set a field to SHRINK, you have to:

Answer 7

set it to SLIDE, and FileMaker makes sure it SHRINKS too.

Question 8

8. If you have a LARGE TEXT BOX with a line and another TEXT BOX below, and the line and the TEXT BOX below are set to SLIDE UP, then:

Answer 8

NOTHING HAPPENS. The FIELD ABOVE THEM, the LARGE TEXT BOX, HAS TO BE SET TO SLIDE, and then the large TEXT BOX WILL SHRINK and the two bottom objects will slide up.

Question 9

9. Once you’ve figured out which fields should shrink to fit THEIR CONTENTS, you need to:

Answer 9

DECIDE which objects should slide.

Question 10

10. What EXACTLY is SLIDING?

Answer 10

Normally, when you add an object to the layout, you specify EXACTLY where it goes. But when the object is SET TO SLIDE, its position is NO LONGER FIXED AT AN EXACT SPOT ON THE LAYOUT.

Question 11

11. So an OBJECT will move UP or to the LEFT if other objects:

Answer 11

ABOVE or to the LEFT of it MOVE OR SHRINK.

Question 12

12. SLIDING OBJECTS position themselves RELATIVE TO:

Answer 12

OTHER objects on the layout. As a field above shrinks, the object below it will SLIDE UP, but will always be the same RELATIVE DISTANCE from the field above.