Hi,

I'm converting an FMP6 solution to FMP8.5.

On one layout is the following merge field setup:

Charges: <<gStatementTotalCharges>> Credits:
<<gStatementTotalCredits>>

The data being merged will be in red text if the amount is negative,
or black if it is positive. The words "Charges:" and "Credits:" need
to always be black. This works perfectly in FMP6.

In FMP8.5, it doesn't work as expected. If either of the merged
numbers are red text, then the whole thing turns red, including
"Charges:", "Credits:"... and even the other number, whether it is
negative or not.

I tried searching Google Groups, thinking this would have been seen
before, but didn't come up with anything. I can think of some
workarounds, but I'd like to know why it's not working as expected.

I've created an example: http://myweb.cableone.net/steward/colorproblem.fp7.zip

Ideas? (And thanks!)
-Rob Steward

<robdsteward (AT) gmail (DOT) com> schreef in bericht
news:1181511185.069346.130460 (AT) m36g2000hse (DOT) googlegroups.com...
IMHO
The simplest would be to create four different text blocks and align them in
the way you need.

Keep well, Ursus

On Jun 11, 6:47 am, "Ursus" <ursus.k... (AT) wanadoo (DOT) nl> wrote:

Of course, I oversimplified the question. There are actually about 10
or so such numbers/merge fields on this layout. Separate text boxes
will be complicated and mess up some of the alignment.

This behavior of turning the entire text box red (and not just the
merged number itself) has to be a bug... doesn't it? What if you had a
business letter with a number merged in the middle of the letter body?
If the number was negative, the entire letter would turn red.

I'd hope FileMaker would fix this, but the behavior is in version 7.0
as well. (Though, there, I found a workaround--make the "regular" text
99% black, but that doesn't work in FMP8.5. Grr.)

-Rob

I updated your test DB file and if you want to see what I did, it's
at
members.cox.net/voicesinmyhead/fmp/colorproblem_solved.fp7

Maybe not a perfect solution, but it works...

1) Under "Number Format", I removed the check from "Use Color"

2) I created 2 new calc fields that format the number color "outside"
of the text block formating. Use these new fields as your merge
fields:

number1a / Calculation / Number Result
If(number 1 < 0 ;
TextColor(number 1 ; RGB(255;0;0)) ;
TextColor(number 1 ; RGB(0;0;0)))

number2a / Calculation / Number Result
If(number 2 < 0 ;
TextColor(number 2 ; RGB(255;0;0)) ;
TextColor(number 2 ; RGB(0;0;0)))

So, you could even specify your text block to be Blue, but if the
number is a negative, it will turn Red.

Take a look at "Text formatting functions" in the help file
(specifically, TextStyleAdd function
to add a bold to the positive or to the negative... lots of stuff you
can do to the text output.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Reality is the leading cause of stress...
....amongst those in touch with it.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
WinXP Pro 64Bit / FMP Adv 8.5v2
VoicesInMyHead
a.k.a. The Voices
No, we're not... Yes, we are...
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Thanks.

Obviously, adding 7 or so additional calculations to the table just
for text formatting isn't something I'm thrilled about. A merge field
ought to "just work"... and it *did* up until FMP7.

How, exactly, do we report bugs to FileMaker? Or do they prefer not to
be bothered with such things? :-/

-Rob