Create a Free Trim
Free trim is a field type that appears as text without a boundary on a form. You indicate the starting point for the free trim field and enter a text string of any length.
To add a free trim field to a frame
1. Open your frame in the Frame Editor (see Open an Existing Frame).
2. Select the Free Trim icon on the field palette.
3. Position the cursor on the form and click.
4. Enter the free trim text in the free trim field that appears.
Note: Workbench does not wrap the text. To start a new line, you must press Enter.
5. Click the Select Mode icon to exit Text Mode.
6. Select the free trim field to access its properties in the Property Inspector.
The text defaults to the StringValue property's value cell.
7. Select the BgColor property and change the background color on one of the palettes.
Note: For more information about the various properties, see Common Field Properties.
8. Select the FgColor property, and choose a foreground color.
9. Change other properties such as IsBold, TypeFace, and TypeSize.
Note: You can also use the Frame Editor's font palette to specify type face, type size, italics, and boldface for an individual field. Additionally, you can apply these selected attributes to all fields that are currently selected by clicking the Apply button. If you also select the Apply to Children option, then the selected font attributes are applied to all selected fields and their children. Furthermore, if the form itself is selected and Apply to Children is on, the font palette applies to all fields on the form.
For complete descriptions of each field property, see Free Trim Properties and Common Field Properties.
Free Trim Properties
All the properties for free trim fields are described under Common Field Properties, with the exception of the following properties that are specific to this type of field:
CharsPerLine
Indicates the number of average-sized characters that a box trim, free trim, or entry field can display, thereby controlling the size of the field.
Note: This number may differ from that specified for the MaxCharacters property. For example, suppose an entry field's data type is set to varchar(32), CharsPerLine is set to 10, and MaxCharacters to 32. The end user will be able to enter up to 32 characters, but the data in the entry field will scroll. When the entry field contains more characters than are visible, the end user can use the right and left arrow keys, and Home and End, to scroll through the entry field. The user can also insert and delete characters, using the Insert key to switch between overtype and insert mode.
StringValue
Displays the text of the field, exactly as it appears. For multiline entry fields, this property does not include any extra spaces added for word wrap, although it does include hard tabs and newline characters.
TextValue
Displays the first 256 characters of text in the field, exactly as they appear. If this field is an entry field, then this property holds the first 256 characters of data. For multiline entry fields, this property does not include any extra spaces added for word wrap, although it does include hard tabs and newline characters.
If this field is a box trim or free trim field, this property holds the first 256 characters.
UseWidestCharacter
Specifies whether a maximum character width must be used to calculate the field width. This property applies only to entry fields, box trim, and free trim. It is used in conjunction with the CharsPerLine property. Possible values are:
TRUE
Specifies that a maximum character width is used to calculate the field width
FALSE
Specifies that a maximum character width is not used to calculate the field width
WidestCharacterWidth
Specifies the width (in pixels) to use for characters if UseWidestCharacter is set to UWC_USER
Last modified date: 12/20/2023