FMP v9 adv, Win XP

I'm trying some of the new stuf of the new filemaker. Specifically the
conditional formatting. Could anyone explain the following.

A field with the following condition:

Formula is IsEmpty(Self) <Fill Color>

the field fills with a color when empty. The field I wanted to try is a
calculated textfield that holds some data when in Browse mode. But
(ofcourse) is empty when going into Find mode. So when I go into Find the
color changes. As I want. But the moment the field gets focus (the cursor is
inside it) the background color disappears. It ofcourse appears again when
tabbing out of the field. Why should it do so. The field is stil empty!??

Keep well, Ursus

In article <46c0b303$0$47464$dbd45001 [at] news.wanadoo.nl>, "Ursus"
<ursus.kirk [at] wanadoo.nl> wrote:

> FMP v9 adv, Win XP
>
> I'm trying some of the new stuf of the new filemaker. Specifically the
> conditional formatting. Could anyone explain the following.
>
> A field with the following condition:
>
> Formula is IsEmpty(Self) <Fill Color>
>
> the field fills with a color when empty. The field I wanted to try is a
> calculated textfield that holds some data when in Browse mode. But
> (ofcourse) is empty when going into Find mode. So when I go into Find the
> color changes. As I want. But the moment the field gets focus (the cursor is
> inside it) the background color disappears. It ofcourse appears again when
> tabbing out of the field. Why should it do so. The field is stil empty!??
>
> Keep well, Ursus

It's possibly a continuation of the old bug where fields formatted with
a colour / pattern reverted to the part's background colour when
clicked on. I doubt there's much you can do about it until FileMaker
fixes it ... but you could try putting a second field, formatted NOT to
allow user entry, underneath the original and using the conditional
formatting to format that one instead (leaving the original transparent
of course).

Helpful Harry
Hopefully helping harassed humans happily handle handiwork hardships ;o)

> It's possibly a continuation of the old bug where fields formatted with
> a colour / pattern reverted to the part's background colour when
> clicked on. I doubt there's much you can do about it until FileMaker
> fixes it ... but you could try putting a second field, formatted NOT to
> allow user entry, underneath the original and using the conditional
> formatting to format that one instead (leaving the original transparent
> of course).
>
> Helpful Harry
> Hopefully helping harassed humans happily handle handiwork hardships ;o)

Harry, I liked your explanation until I tried it and it didn't work.

Create a copy of the field
Set it behind the original field
Set the original to transparent
Set the copy to conditional formatting
Set the options of the copy so it can't get focus. (tab, edit, find)
Make the copy slightly larger than the original so to see exactly what
happens.
Goto find mode. Color changes.
now give the original field focus. And behold the original changes color to
the background (NOT the color of the copy field behind).
I see the borders of the slightly larger copy remain in the fill-color.

Keep well, Ursus

In article <46c1d94a$0$15325$dbd4b001 [at] news.wanadoo.nl>, "Ursus"
<ursus.kirk [at] wanadoo.nl> wrote:

> > It's possibly a continuation of the old bug where fields formatted with
> > a colour / pattern reverted to the part's background colour when
> > clicked on. I doubt there's much you can do about it until FileMaker
> > fixes it ... but you could try putting a second field, formatted NOT to
> > allow user entry, underneath the original and using the conditional
> > formatting to format that one instead (leaving the original transparent
> > of course).
>
> Harry, I liked your explanation until I tried it and it didn't work.
>
> Create a copy of the field
> Set it behind the original field
> Set the original to transparent
> Set the copy to conditional formatting
> Set the options of the copy so it can't get focus. (tab, edit, find)
> Make the copy slightly larger than the original so to see exactly what
> happens.
> Goto find mode. Color changes.
> now give the original field focus. And behold the original changes color to
> the background (NOT the color of the copy field behind).
> I see the borders of the slightly larger copy remain in the fill-color.
>
> Keep well, Ursus

Unfortunately as far as I know you're probably stuck with this bug,
just as we are (were?) with the original one. :o(

Helpful Harry
Hopefully helping harassed humans happily handle handiwork hardships ;o)

In article <180820070925026815%helpful_harry [at] nom.de.plume.com>,
Helpful Harry <helpful_harry [at] nom.de.plume.com> wrote:

> In article <46c1d94a$0$15325$dbd4b001 [at] news.wanadoo.nl>, "Ursus"
> <ursus.kirk [at] wanadoo.nl> wrote:
>
> > > It's possibly a continuation of the old bug where fields formatted with
> > > a colour / pattern reverted to the part's background colour when
> > > clicked on. I doubt there's much you can do about it until FileMaker
> > > fixes it ... but you could try putting a second field, formatted NOT to
> > > allow user entry, underneath the original and using the conditional
> > > formatting to format that one instead (leaving the original transparent
> > > of course).
> >
> > Harry, I liked your explanation until I tried it and it didn't work.
> >
> > Create a copy of the field
> > Set it behind the original field
> > Set the original to transparent
> > Set the copy to conditional formatting
> > Set the options of the copy so it can't get focus. (tab, edit, find)
> > Make the copy slightly larger than the original so to see exactly what
> > happens.
> > Goto find mode. Color changes.
> > now give the original field focus. And behold the original changes color to
> > the background (NOT the color of the copy field behind).
> > I see the borders of the slightly larger copy remain in the fill-color.
> >
> > Keep well, Ursus
>
> Unfortunately as far as I know you're probably stuck with this bug,
> just as we are (were?) with the original one. :o(
>
> Helpful Harry
> Hopefully helping harassed humans happily handle handiwork hardships ;o)

Some people regard it as a feature, so that the user easily sees what
field his cursor is in. One FileMaker engineer at DevCon got applause
for demonstrating this.

--
For email, change <fake> to <earthlink>
Bill Collins

In article
<bbcollins-C6A0E5.18214218082007 [at] 032-478-847.area7.spcsdns.net>, Bill
<bbcollins [at] fake.net> wrote:

> In article <180820070925026815%helpful_harry [at] nom.de.plume.com>,
> Helpful Harry <helpful_harry [at] nom.de.plume.com> wrote:
>
> > In article <46c1d94a$0$15325$dbd4b001 [at] news.wanadoo.nl>, "Ursus"
> > <ursus.kirk [at] wanadoo.nl> wrote:
> >
> > > > It's possibly a continuation of the old bug where fields formatted with
> > > > a colour / pattern reverted to the part's background colour when
> > > > clicked on. I doubt there's much you can do about it until FileMaker
> > > > fixes it ... but you could try putting a second field, formatted NOT to
> > > > allow user entry, underneath the original and using the conditional
> > > > formatting to format that one instead (leaving the original transparent
> > > > of course).
> > >
> > > Harry, I liked your explanation until I tried it and it didn't work.
> > >
> > > Create a copy of the field
> > > Set it behind the original field
> > > Set the original to transparent
> > > Set the copy to conditional formatting
> > > Set the options of the copy so it can't get focus. (tab, edit, find)
> > > Make the copy slightly larger than the original so to see exactly what
> > > happens.
> > > Goto find mode. Color changes.
> > > now give the original field focus. And behold the original changes color
> > > to
> > > the background (NOT the color of the copy field behind).
> > > I see the borders of the slightly larger copy remain in the fill-color.
> > >
> > > Keep well, Ursus
> >
> > Unfortunately as far as I know you're probably stuck with this bug,
> > just as we are (were?) with the original one. :o(
>
> Some people regard it as a feature, so that the user easily sees what
> field his cursor is in. One FileMaker engineer at DevCon got applause
> for demonstrating this.

Yes, but judging by the look of most of the example database done by
FileMaker themselves, they have absolutely no idea about the aesthetics
/ looks of the databse for the user. ;o)

It would be nice, for example, to have fields that use the conditional
formatting to colour a field red when data is required to be entered,
remains red when the user clicks in it, and then the red disappears.

Instead, we get the field becoming the same colour as the Layout Parts'
background ... which may not even be the same as the colour of the
field or the colour underneath the field (if you've used the rectangle
tool).

As with some other "features", this one is definitely more of an
annoying bug. :o(

Helpful Harry
Hopefully helping harassed humans happily handle handiwork hardships ;o)

>
> It would be nice, for example, to have fields that use the conditional
> formatting to colour a field red when data is required to be entered,
> remains red when the user clicks in it, and then the red disappears.
>
> Instead, we get the field becoming the same colour as the Layout Parts'
> background ... which may not even be the same as the colour of the
> field or the colour underneath the field (if you've used the rectangle
> tool).
>
> As with some other "features", this one is definitely more of an
> annoying bug. :o(
>
> Helpful Harry
> Hopefully helping harassed humans happily handle handiwork hardships ;o)

hear, hear!

Ursus