Working with cells and cell contents

To clear a cell

You cannot delete a cell. However, you can clear the contents of the cell. This action changes the cell type to a Text object that is empty.

  1. Select the cell. See To select a table, row, column, cell, or section.

  2. Select Edit > Clear Contents.

To merge and split cells

You can combine two or more adjacent cells in the same row into a single cell. For example, you can merge several cells horizontally to create a table heading that spans several columns. You can only merge cells that are in the same row.

You cannot merge the data from two cells into one cell. You can only merge text. For example, if the header row is merged, the text is merged because these two cells are Text objects. However, if the body row is merged, and the cells are bound to items in the data source, only the left most cell is retained.

View full size graphic
A.
Before merging cells

B.
After merging cells, the header row text is merged, but the data for the body row only retains data from the left-most cell

It is a good idea to merge cells at the end of the process of designing a table because adding new columns or removing columns does not work the same if there is a merged cell in the table.

To merge cells into one cell

  1. Select the cells you want to merge. See To select a table, row, column, cell, or section.

  2. Select Table > Merge Cells.

    If the cells contain Text objects, Designer combines the text. If the cells contain other objects, the objects are deleted.

    To make the columns the same size by using the Distribute Columns Evenly command after you have merged cells, delete the hidden columns first by using the Table > Delete > Column command.

To split a merged cell

  1. Select a merged cell. See To select a table, row, column, cell, or section.

  2. Select Table > Split Cell Horizontally.

    The split cells will be converted to an empty Text object or, if the original cells were subforms, they will be converted to empty subforms. For example, if the merged cell was a numeric field, all the split cells will be numeric fields.

    Note: You can use these two buttons in the Cell tab of the Object palette: Merge Cells Merge Cells icon, Split Cells Horizontally Split Cells Horizontally icon.

To orient text vertically in cells

You can change the orientation in table cells so that the information is displayed vertically instead of horizontally.

Only cells can be rotated (not rows, columns, sections, or entire tables).

  1. Select the cell. See To select a table, row, column, cell, or section.

  2. In the Layout palette, select one of the rotation buttons.

  3. Click the orientation you want. For example, the vertical text in the previous example is rotated 90°.

  4. In the Paragraph palette, select the align option that works best for the cell. For example, the vertical text in the previous example is aligned right and aligned to the top.

    Note: If you rotate a field that users fill in, users will have to enter their data at the angle of rotation.

To change a cell to another object type

By default, all cells are set to text objects. Text objects present read-only text that users cannot edit. You can use text objects to do these tasks:

  • Label an area in the form, such as headers in the table

  • Provide instructions for filling the form

  • Enhance the form

You can change the cell to any other type of object, such as a numeric field or text field. In this way, you could use a table to lay out an entire form.

A cell can also be a button that submits data, executes a web service operation or database query, or emails data to someone.

A cell can even be a subform. A subform acts as a container for other objects, including fields, boilerplate objects, and other subforms. Subforms also help to position objects relative to each other and provide structure. If a cell is a subform, the cell can hold more than one object. For example, it can have two buttons.

When a cell becomes an object other than a Text object, it behaves differently in a cell than if it were in the form design on its own. For example, a Text Field object in a cell has the caption set to None.

Here are ways to change a cell to another object type; however, the results are different, depending on what is already in the cell and what you change it to:

  • Use the Type list in the Cell tab of the Object palette.

  • Drag an object from the Object Library palette into a cell.

Depending on what you select from the Type list or Object Library palette and what is in the cell, the new object replaces the existing object. If you change a cell to a subform, objects that existed in the cell already are wrapped in the subform. For example, if a text field already existed in the cell and you choose Subform from the Type list, the Text Field is wrapped in the subform. If a text field already existed in the cell and you choose Numeric Field from the Type list, the Numeric Field replaces the Text Field.

  • Drag an existing object in the form design that is outside of the table into a cell. This method preserves the look of the object. For example, if you drag a formatted phone number field into a cell, the caption is retained along with the size of the field.

    If you click and drag a Subform object that is outside of the table into a cell, it replaces the contents of the cell.

    Note: If you change a cell to a text field, you can select the Allow Multiple Lines option in the Cell tab of the Object palette to show more than one line of text.

To change a cell to another object type by using the Type list in the Cell tab of the Object palette

  1. Select the cell. See To select a table, row, column, cell, or section.

  2. In the Object palette, click the Cell tab and select another object type from the Type list.

To change a cell to another object type by dragging an object from the Object Library palette

 Drag the object from the Object Library palette into the cell where you want it to appear.

To change a cell to another object type by dragging an object from the form design

 In the form design, drag the existing object that is outside of the table into the cell where you want it to appear.

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