Desperately seeking A5 forms design tip

[brett s]

Does anyone know of a quick way to make the horizontal and vertical dimensions of my A5 form take on the same dimensions as the form I design and not the dimensions of the window that A5 gives me to design it in?

You probably know of the problem I refer to here. I design a really nice looking form and give it the form dimensions exactly as I want by dragging the form edges to exactly the size I want. But when I preview the form, A5 gives me the dimensions of the window I designed it in. So I try many times to microscopically adjust the forms design window so that it has the same dimensions as the form itself and if I slightly overdo it I get vertical and horizontal scroll bars on my form. Yuk!

Yes, I know there are properties for the scroll bars and the dimensions of the form, but A5 applies these to the form design window rather than the form itself. (A scream with frustration can be heard at this point). 8-)

Any helpful suggestions out there please?

[JerryBrightbill]

RE: Desperately seeking A5 forms design tip

Make the form slightly smaller that the A5 window, and add

parentform.window_position("fill","fill")

to the OnActivate event.

Jerry

[G Gabriel]

RE: Desperately seeking A5 forms design tip

Brett:
In the form design, right click any empty area, choose choose properties, window, click the icon: Current size & position, save.
Gabe

[brett s]

RE: Desperately seeking A5 forms design tip

Gabe, thanks for your reply. I tried your suggestion but the resulting form ended up the same size as the design window. I was trying to avoid having to get the design window the same size as the form because it takes so many trial and error attempts to get it exactly the same size [as the design form].

[brett s]

RE: Desperately seeking A5 forms design tip

Thanks, Jerry. Your suggestion produced, when the form was opened, a window that took up all the available space. I was rather lookin for a window that was the same size as the form's original borders and not of the window size that I designed it in.
It is realy easy to drag my form borders to exactly the size I want the form to be. But A5 says, "uh uh. I don't care what you want", and decides to give the form the dimensions of the design window. To get this window exactly the same size as the form when designing the form is absolutely impossible! The form window scroll bars get in the way and coceal the exact dimensions of the form I want to replicate. Very frustrating.

[G Gabriel]

RE: Desperately seeking A5 forms design tip

Brett:
I am at loss as to what you wish !!
""Does anyone know of a quick way to make the horizontal and vertical dimensions of my A5 form take on the same dimensions as the form I design and not the dimensions of the window that A5 gives me to design it in? ""

What I described to you, will do just that !!

Gabe

[brett s]

RE: Desperately seeking A5 forms design tip

Gabe. When I follow your suggestion I get what I have shown as figure 3 in the attched document (PDF format).

Hopefully the attachment will explain more clearly the forms desgn problem to which I refer.

[CALocklin]

RE: Desperately seeking A5 forms design tip

Try "Use Form Width" and "Use Form Height" but...

IMPORTANT:
The "form width" and "form height" is based on the size of the background that you see in the design mode. Move the outer edges of the background to the desired size and you should get the results you want.

Cal Locklin
www.aimsdc.net

[brett s]

RE: Desperately seeking A5 forms design tip

Thanks, Cal. But as you state, The "form width" and "form height" gives us the same dimensions as the design widow, not the form dimensions. The latter is what I really want.

I believe the dimensions for A5 form design should work more like they do in the A5 report designer. Changing the size of the report design window has no bearing on the dimensions of the final report. But changing the report dimensions by dragging the edges of the report, does.

[G Gabriel]

RE: Desperately seeking A5 forms design tip

Brett:
I wish to help you further but I no longer open zipped file.
""The "form width" and "form height" gives us the same dimensions as the design widow, not the form dimensions. The latter is what I really want.""
If you already have it, then what more can you ask for?? If you have a form and you like it's dimensio, then where is the problem? unless you are asking somewhere when you open the form in design mode and close it, it looses those original dimensions. If that's the case, then do the following:
1-First open the form in view mode
2-Click the design icon at the toolbar
3-Do not make any adjustments to the dimensions
4-right click on an empty area, save current window posion & dimention
5-Save the form
6-Do whatever else you want to do in design mode, save, go to view mode.The original dimensions will be preserved.
Hope that helps
Gabe

[Steve Workings]

RE: Desperately seeking A5 forms design tip

Maybe I'm missing something in what you want, but:

In the form editor, set the Window Size Width to Use the Form Width and the Height to use the Form Height.

Save the form and view it. It won't be correct.

Close the form, open it again, and it'll be correct.

- Steve

[brett s]

RE: Desperately seeking A5 forms design tip

Steve, no you are not missing anything. Tou are spot on! Brilliant. Just the problem I was trying to solve. 8-0

I have previously been setting up my form dimensions as per intuition and some of the earlier suggestions. Then I have been clicking on the form view icon to preview the change and ... no that's not correct, try something else. Little did I realize that it's not sufficient to change it, save it, view it. I have to completely close it as well and then re-open it again. That's nasty. I wonder how many others are caught out by the same trap.

Anyway, thanks once again, Steve. This tip will save me untold hours and ongoing frustration.