Creating and working with styles in layouts
A style is a collection of attributes—such as font, color, line style, and text alignment—that determine the appearance of a layout. Each FileMaker Pro theme includes a default style for every object, layout part, and the layout background. Some themes have additional default styles for some objects; for example, there are default styles for the dots on a slide control and the rows in a portal. A theme also includes a default style for the layout background.
Styles give layouts a consistent appearance. They also save you the time of reassigning formatting attributes each time you create a new object or part. When you add objects or layout parts to a layout, FileMaker Pro uses the default style defined in the current theme for that object type or part type. When you create a new layout, FileMaker Pro uses the theme's default style for the layout background.
You can modify default styles or design new styles and save them for use in the current layout. When you edit and save formatting attributes for styles that are applied to multiple objects or layout parts, your changes are applied to all objects and parts that use those styles on the current layout.
You can also create new styles with custom names, which you can then apply to objects, layout parts, or the layout background in the current layout. To use your custom styles in other layouts, save your styles to FileMaker Pro themes or to new custom themes that you create.
As you create and work with styles and themes:
- Use the Styles
tab in the Inspector to view and apply defined styles. - Use the Appearance
tab in the Inspector to create and modify styles and themes. - Use the Change Theme dialog box to apply default and custom themes to layouts in a file.
- Use the Manage Themes dialog box to see which themes are in use in a file, and to import themes from other files.