Home > Designing and creating databases > Editing objects on layouts > Selecting and working with objects on a layout > Setting the fill, line style, and borders on objects

Setting the fill, line style, and borders on objects

Use the Inspector to change the appearance of objects — including fields, tab controls, and portals — on a layout. You can add or change:

•	the background color, fill, or transparency of objects

•	line style and color

•	borders around objects

•	the shape of object corners

Tip  To quickly change an object’s fill and border, use the formatting bar. (You must have already specified borders in the Graphic area of the Inspector.) To display the formatting bar below the status area, click Formatting in the layout bar.

To add or change object appearance:

1.	In Layout mode, select one or more objects.

See Selecting objects.

2.	Click Inspector in the layout bar, then click Appearance.

3.	In the Graphic area, select the options you want to use.

The options you choose affect the appearance of the selected objects in all modes.

 

To add or change	Use this control
The fill of an object, including the backgrounds of text objects, fields, layout parts, and portals	Fill See also Filling an object or a layout part with a color gradient and Filling an object or a layout part with an image.
The style and width of a line, or the width of a border around an object	Line
The color of a line or border around an object	Color

 

To add or change	Use this control
The border around an object	All borders, or choose any combination of Left border, Top border, Right border, or Bottom border
Borders between repeating fields or portal rows
The shape of object corners	Corner radius Choose each corner that you want to have a rounded appearance, and specify a value in points. The larger the value, the more a corner is rounded.

To make an object transparent:

•	In the Inspector: For Fill and Line, choose None.

•	In the formatting bar: For Line, choose None and for Fill, choose transparent .

Notes

•	Changes made in the formatting bar replace settings in the Inspector, and vice versa.

•	To create a custom color, choose Other Color in a color palette, then click the color to use.

•	To change the value of the fill color, move the Opacity slider in the color palette.

•	You can set right, top, left and bottom borders on fields, layout parts, text objects, rectangles, rounded rectangles, fields, buttons, portals, charts, and web viewers. You can’t set individual borders on lines, ovals, circles, or tab controls.

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You can display attributes that are specific to the state of the object when it is viewed in Browse mode. For example, you can set a lighter fill and border when a user pauses the mouse pointer over a field to draw attention to the field. For more information, see Specifying the display state for an object.

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If a file was created in a version earlier than FileMaker Pro 12 and contained object border effects, effect settings appear in the Line menu. You can’t use the Line menu to apply effects to other objects, but you can copy and paste effect styles between fields. See Copying style attributes between objects or layout parts. To remove field effects, apply a different line style from the Line menu.

•	To determine the RGB value of a color:

•	Windows: In Layout mode, click the Fill color palette and choose Other Color. Values are shown for each of the basic colors.

•	Mac OS: Start the DigitalColor Meter application in the Applications/Utilities folder. Choose RGB As Actual Value, 8-bit. Move the pointer over colors onscreen to see their values.

Related topics 

Drawing and inserting objects on a layout

Selecting and working with objects on a layout

Adding borders, fill, and baselines to fields

Formatting tab controls