Text Fields explorer

The Text Fields explorer lets you create text fields you can add to custom reports and dash­boards. When you create a text field, you can specify the field’s text, fonts, borders, colors, and margins. You can also adjust these settings after you add the field to a report or dashboard. Refer to Adding text fields to report sections for information on adding text fields to a cus­tom report, or Adding images and text fields to dashboards for information on adding text fields to dashboards.

For example, you could create a text field with your organization’s name, using your organiza­tion’s preferred fonts and colors, which you could add to your reports’ titles. Since the text fields can be edited once they are added to reports, you can also create a template text field with your customized settings, and change the wording in the field as necessary.

Using the Text Fields explorer, you can edit, copy, delete, and rename text fields using right-click functionality. You can also create new text fields.

To create a text field:

1	Double-click Text Fields Explorer.

2	Click the New button. A new text field opens on the content pane.

3	Enter the following field information.

Field	Description
Text*	Type the text you want to display in this field. This text will also serve as the text field name.
Text Alignment	Click this drop-down menu to select the horizontal alignment for the text in the text field. Options are Left, Center, and Right.
Line Alignment	Click this drop-down menu to select the vertical alignment for the text in the text field. Options are Top, Center, and Bottom.
Anchor Style	Click this drop-down menu to select the anchor style for the field. Refer to Defining anchor styles for information on anchor styles.

4	Click the Size tab.

5	Enter the following field information.

Field	Description
Best Fit	Select this radio button to have the size of the text field automati­cally adjusted to best fit the available space in the report.
Specific Size (Pixels)	Select this radio button to manually enter the specific width and height settings for the text field. Any text in the field boundaries that exceeds the size of the field will be clipped.

6	Click the Font tab to select the font settings for the text field. Refer to Choosing font attributes for information on font settings.

7	Click the Margins tab to define the amount of space surrounding the text in the text field.

8	Enter the following field information.

Field	Description
Left	Select the number of pixels between the text in the text field and the left side of the text field.
Right	Select the number of pixels between the text in the text field and the right side of the text field.
Top	Select the number of pixels between the text in the text field and the top of the text field.
Bottom	Select the number of pixels between the text in the text field and the bottom of the text field.

9	Click the Fill tab to define the background fill colors for the text field.

10	Enter the following field information.

Field	Description
Color/Top Color/Left Color	The text description for this option will vary depending on the Gradient Mode you select. Click this box to select a primary color as the background. For procedures on selecting a color, refer to Choosing colors.
No Fill	Select this check box to clear any fill colors previously selected. If this box is selected, the other options on the Fill tab will be dis­abled except Color. Selecting a color will automatically clear the No Fill check box, thus enabling the other options.
Gradient Mode	Click this drop-down menu to select the positioning of the primary and secondary colors for the background. Using gradient coloring lets you merge two colors.
None	Select this option to use only the primary color as the fill color. If you select None, the Gradient Color field is disabled.
Top to Bottom	Select this option to merge the colors from the top of the back­ground to the bottom.
Left to Right	Select this option to merge the colors from the left of the back­ground to the right.
Gradient Color/Bottom Color/Right Color	The text description for this option will vary depending on the Gradient Mode you select. Click this box to select a secondary color to merge with the primary color. The fill colors will then merge using the method defined in the Gradient Mode menu. For procedures on selecting a color, refer to Choosing colors.
Transparency (%)	Select a percentage to define how intense the fill colors are. A set­ting of 100% is completely transparent, which prevents the fill col­ors from displaying. A setting of 0% has no transparency, resulting in intense background colors. The selected percentage is immedi­ately reflected in the Preview area, so you can easily scroll through the transparency percentages to find a value that best suits your needs.
Preview	This area provides a sample of how the fill colors you select will appear on the text field’s background.

11	Click the Borders tab to define the borders for the text field.

12	Enter the following field information

Field	Description
Color	Click the color box to select a color for the border. For procedures on selecting a color, refer to Choosing colors.
Style	Click this drop-down menu to select one of the following border styles: Solid, Dashed, Dotted, Double, Inset, Outset, Groove, Ridge, Rounded, or Separator. The Separator option lets you add empty space around the text field.
Weight	Click this drop-down menu to select the pixel size of the border. The border weight can be from 1 to 10 pixels.
Preview	This area defines the placement of the borders you define. Select any of the following buttons to place the borders, or click the area in the Preview white space where you want the border.
Top Border	Click this button to add the selected border attributes to the top border of the text field.
Bottom Border	Click this button to add the selected border attributes to the bot­tom border of the text field.
Left Border	Click this button to add the selected border attributes to the left border of the text field.
Right Border	Click this button to add the selected border attributes to the right border of the text field.
All Borders	Click this button to add the selected border attributes to all sides of the text field.
No Borders	Click this button to remove the borders from all sides of the text field.

13	To preview the text field, click the Preview button on the ribbon.

14	Click the Close button to close the preview window.

15	Save the text field.

Copyright © 2000, , Oracle Corporation and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Oracle is a registered trademark of Oracle Corporation and/or its affiliates. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.