Working with text blocks and
fields
You can add an editable multi-line text block in your report or
invoice layout by clicking the A icon
in the Layout Tools palette and dragging
to the header of your layout.
To change the text of a text block you double-click it and type the
desired text in the dialog that appears. To add multi-line text,
type the Return key between lines. (Hitting the keypad's Enter key
is the same as clicking OK.)
NOTE: This results in the same object as
when choosing Report>Add Header Field... or
Report>Add Footer Field>Custom Footer Field...
and typing field text in the dialog box that appears.
Text block characteristics are mostly self-explanatory. When a text
block is selected, you can change: Line width, Line color, Fill
color, Left, Top, Width, Height, Text font, Text size, Text
alignment, Text color, Bold, Italic, Underline, Horizontal offset,
Vertical offset, Line spacing, and Transparent properties.
Here is more information for some of the less obvious
settings:
Horizontal offset applies an offset
value in pixels from the left or right side of the text block to
left-aligned or right-aligned text respectively.
Vertical offset applies an offset value
in pixels from the top of the text block.
Line spacing applies a relative line
spacing value to multi-line text blocks, which also affects the
vertical location of text in single-line text blocks.
The Transparent checkbox turns text box
transparency on and off. With it off, line width, line color and
fill color settings are ignored.
Text blocks vs. fields
The text blocks you can add via the Layout Tools palette are
different in several ways from the fields that TimeCache
automatically generates for reports. The "automatic" fields' text
comes from listings and data entries you have added to your
TimeCache file, e.g. client and project/matter names, client
addresses, etc. In most cases they auto-resize themselves and do
not allow you to adjust their sizes. You can apply basic styling,
including text color, to both types.
You cannot set a line or field color for an "automatic" field.
There is a workaround for achieving the same effect though. The
secret is to create a filled rectangle over the field. When you
first drag such a field over an automatic field, it will be covered
by the rectangle. As soon as you leave layout editing mode, the
rectangle goes behind the field to achieve the effect you want. It
can be selected and edited further if desired at that
point.
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