Table of contents
What is the layout mode in FileMaker?
The layout mode is in FileMaker one of the four display modes Browse mode, Layout mode, Find mode and Page view mode. This mode is used to create and edit layouts in FileMaker. Layout mode is accessed in FileMaker with the menu command [View > Layout mode] or with the key combination [ctrl/cmd-L]. No data records can be edited in layout mode, only layout objects. To set object properties, the inspector can be opened with the menu command [View > Inspector] be opened.
In layout mode, all objects are only displayed as frames; in the menu bar under [View > Show] The object information to be displayed on the layout can be set in the This includes buttons, sample data, text and field boundaries, objects to be aligned, non-printing objects, popover buttons, placeholder text, hide condition, conditional formatting, script trigger, quick search and tooltip. Corresponding symbols can be shown or hidden on each object for the items mentioned.
Tools in layout mode
FileMaker provides a variety of tools in layout mode to create and edit objects on a layout. A toolbar containing the following tools is located at the top of the window for this purpose:
- Selection tool (Used to select and scale objects on a layout)
- Text tool (For creating text fields and placeholders on a layout)
- Line tool (Creates a line on a layout)
- Molding tools (Creates a rectangle, rounded rectangle or ellipse on a layout)
- Field/control element tool (Used to insert fields on a layout. This tool can also be used to directly create pop-up lists, pop-up menus, checkboxes, radio buttons, pop-up calendars or encrypted input fields on the layout)
- Button or popover button tool (Inserts a button or popover button on a FileMaker layout)
- Key bar tool (inserts a button bar/navigation bar on a layout)
- Register or page control tool (Inserts a tab button area or page control area on a FileMaker layout)
- Cut-out tool (Inserts a section on a layout)
- Diagram tool (Inserts a diagram on a layout)
- Web Viewer tool (Inserts a web viewer on a layout)
- Field tool (Opens a selection window for inserting one or more fields on a layout)
- Area tool (Inserts a new area on a layout)
- Transfer format (Transfers the format of another object to the selected object)
Layout areas
A layout in a FileMaker database can consist of several areas. When creating a new layout, FileMaker inserts a header area, data area and footer area by default. FileMaker allows the following areas to be defined in a layout:
- Upper navigation (area for the upper navigation, in which a button bar can be placed)
- Head 1st page (header area of the first page, mostly used in print layouts with several pages, where the header of the first page should be different from the header of all other pages)
- Header area (header, applies to all pages)
- Preceding overall result (area for displaying a preceding overall result, e.g. via statistics fields)
- Data range (Area for displaying data from FileMaker)
- Intermediate result when sorted by (Area for a conditional intermediate result that is calculated when data records are sorted according to certain criteria)
- Adjusted overall result (Area for the display of a subsequent overall result, e.g. via statistics fields)
- Foot area (footer area, applies to all pages)
- Footer area 1st page (footer of the first page)
- Lower navigation (area for the lower navigation, in which a button bar can be placed)
For some layout areas, additional settings for page breaks, page numbering and line status can be made in the lower part of the dialog.
Layout setting
Under the menu command [Layouts > Layout setting] all basic settings for the called layout can be made.
Layout setting: General
In this dialog, enter a name for the layout and select whether the layout should be displayed in the layout menu in scroll mode. Under [Records show from:] to select the master table that the layout should display. You can also specify whether data record changes should be saved automatically, whether field frames should be displayed for active data records, whether fields should only be outlined in the current data record, whether the current data record should be highlighted in a list view on the left-hand side, the menu set of the layout and whether the quick search should be activated for this layout.
Layout setting: Views
In this dialog, specify how the data should be displayed on the current layout and which views should be selectable by the user. With the form view, all data is displayed as a form. The list view displays several data records one below the other. With the table view, you can activate a view similar to a spreadsheet. Additional properties can be defined for the table view:
- Grid (Horizontal and vertical with specification of a grid style)
- Areas (Additional display of: Top navigation, header area, footer area, bottom navigation)
- Columns (With column headers, scalable columns and movable columns)
- Lines (use special height)
Layout setting: Print
Use this tab to specify whether the data contained in the layout should be printed in multiple columns. You can also define fixed margins for the layout here.
Layout settings: Script Trigger
In the tab [Script trigger] indicates whether layout-related script triggers should be executed. A script can be executed in relation to a layout for the following events:
- WithDatasetLoad
- WithSaveDataSet
- OnResetDataRecord
- WithLayout keystroke
- WithLayoutEnter
- OnLayoutExit
- WithLayoutResize
- ForModeChange
- OnExitMode
- WithViewChange
- WithGestureType
- WithExternalCommandReceive
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