Background information
Text objects You cannot enter text into a report directly. Before you can insert text, you have to reserve space for it. The area reserved for text is defined by a "text object". Text for- matting is determined by the text object’s properties. If you, e. g., use different font sizes in your report, you have to define a separate text object for each different text format.
Text-entry mode When in text-entry mode, the pointer is positioned within a text object allowing you to insert text. The text-entry mode is active directly after a text object has been inserted. If you want to edit texts in already existing text objects, doubleclick the text object us-
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ing the left mouse key.
Doubleclicking does not put you in the text-entry mode, but instead opens the dialog box for text properties. The Text tab also allows you to enter or edit text.
Left click on an arbitrary position outside of the text object, in order to end the text- entry mode and to switch to layout mode.
Layout mode You can only edit the text object in the layout mode - not the text itself. You can alter the size of the text object by "pulling" at the selection markers. If you alter the size of a text object, you are thus altering the size of the text object - not of the actual text. Font type and size are not affected. Multi-line text automatically fits itself to the al- tered size of the text object.
Text flow When in the text-entry mode you can enter as many lines of text as you like. The only lines that remain visible are those that fit within the text object. All the lines that do not fit within the text object remain hidden from view. This non-visible text remains however existent - it is simply not shown onscreen. You then need to enlarge the text object correspondingly. This is why text cannot be any longer than a page.
Insertion of text objects
Click this button (in the Report Objects button bar) to insert a text object. A new text object automatically contains the word "text".
Keeping the left mouse button depressed, draw a rectangle by moving the mouse. The area of the rectangle represents the space reserved for text within the report. Re- lease the left mouse button to have the text object inserted into the document.
Text proper- ties
Click the Properties button in the Report Objects button bar to format the text. You can also select several text objects and alter all their properties at the same time.
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Text color is a font property. You can set it in the Font tab.•
Background color is set in the Fill tab. The background is the entire area defined by the text object.•
Use the Line tab to set the frame’s properties (its width and color).Grouping text objects
Select and group several text objects so that you can alter font properties (type, size and color), background color and text frame for all the text objects simultaneously.
Aligning texts
When you wish to align text objects using the functions of the Align button bar, the vertical alignment of all the text objects being aligned should be the same. The rea- son for this is that all the functions are for the text objects, not the texts themselves. If you want to align text within the text frame, then go to the Text tab in the text prop- erties.
AutoTexts
AutoTexts are a specific kind of text objects whose contents are independently de- termined. You can use AutoTexts for reports and report templates.
Insert Auto- Texts
Click this button in the Report Objects button bar to insert an AutoText. The Select AutoText dialog box offers you all of the available AutoTexts. For example, Insert the AutoText called "Page Number" to have report pages numbered. Your image analy- sis program will automatically fill in the correct page number when you, e. g., delete a page located before the current page.
Warning The text may have a somewhat different format in the text-entry mode than in the ac- tual report!
Warning You always determine the properties for the whole text within a text object. This is why individual words cannot be put in bold or italics. If this is what you want, then you’ll have to compose the expressions using separate text objects.
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AutoText properties can be altered - just like the properties of any other report object - in the Report Object Properties dialog box. In addition to the properties to which you can assign text objects, you will find the AutoText tab where you can decide the type (of AutoText), and the way AutoTexts are updated.
Text variables
In order to change a text object to a text variable, you have to alter its name in the
General tab. This tab is located in the text-object properties. The name of a text vari- able has to start with the symbol ‘@’.
Anytime you alter the contents of a text variable, your image analysis program will automatically update all other text variables in the report of the same name. You can change the contents of a text variable as often as you like; in order to, e. g., correct spelling errors.
Text variables are usually defined in a report template so you can structure headers and footers. This means you only have to enter a heading - that is to appear on every report page - once. You can define as many text variables as you like in your report templates; e. g., for headings, author, project title, department.
You can, however, also define text variables on a report page within a report.
Different page templates
When you change the contents of a text variable within a report, this changes the contents of all the report pages containing this text variable. It does not matter wheth- er the report pages are based on the same or different page templates. A text vari- able can also appear on the same page more than once.
Formatting text variables
Text variables are only linked as far as content is concerned and not with regard to the formatting. This means that just because you alter the formatting of a text variable does not automatically mean that the other text variables of the same type will be up- dated in the report.
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The report (above) contains various kinds of text. These are described in the sheet below. Texts that are text variables appear in square brackets. Editable text objects have dotted lines within them as they are to be filled out (with text). Field objects that are automatically filled out when you insert a record object are put in square bracket.
Step-by-step
Inserting text objects
1) Enlarge the display of a report page so that the text is legible. Select an appropriate zoom factor from the Set Zoom list in the button bar of the report window, e. g., 100%, or enter the de- sired zoom factor directly.
2) Click the Text button in the Report Objects button bar to insert a new text object into the report.
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The mouse cursor will change shape and appear as a cross-shaped symbol.3) Now define a rectangular area where you plan on inserting the text. The text has to appear within the area you have defined to be displayed and printed out.
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The new text object has now been selected and the word "Text" will appear within it.4) Click the Properties button in the Report Objects button bar to format the text within the text object.
5) Select the font and font size in the Font tab. Select the "Italic" format for the text. You can also decide on what color you want the text to be.
6) Click the Apply button to try out the text formats selected in the report.
7) Decide on what kind of text to use in the Text tab:
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Select the Multiple Lines check box if the image comment is to have more than one line. The Word Break check box will now become available.Type of text Particular properties Insertion
Report Object Properties dia- log box
Report Objects button bar 1 Background
text
The Background Object check box (Select and Move tab) has been se- lected.
in report template only
2 Text variable The text object’s name (in the General
tab) starts with an "@" symbol. 3 AutoText On the General tab, the text object re-
ceives the type AutoText.
The Report Object Properties dialog box now includes an additional tab: Au- toText.
4 Editable text object
The Background Object check box (Select and Move tab) has not been selected.
NOT in a record or field object
5 Field object On the General tab, the text object re- ceives the type AutoText.
only available in edit-ob- ject mode
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Select the Word Break check box so that your image analysis program cal- culates wordwrap automatically. This is the only way you can be sure the text will automatically adjust to any changes you make to the size and po- sition of the text object.•
Clear the Word Break check box if you, e. g., want to list single words one beneath the other. Now, if you need wordwrap, you’ll have to explicitly set the wordwrap within the text object via the [Enter] key. Text format is now unrelated to the size of the text object.8) Define a frame surrounding your text object in the Line tab.
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Clear the Transparent check box and determine line width and color. A number of line types are only available for the thinnest line width.9) If you wish to have image comment highlighted in color, go to the Fill tab to de- fine a highlighting color.
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Clear the Transparent Fill check box and determine the highlighting color via the Foreground Color button.10) Click OK to close the dialog box.