Formatting text using the Property List

The Property List is the most convenient way to format text, as it contains all the options of the other interfaces, and the Property List appears on the same screen as the Layout area. Its text formatting properties include colors, borders, and text direction (vertical or horizontal). The general and layout properties include the properties that define the text field, such as name, position, size, and hyperlink information.

To format text using the Property List

1. Open the document to be formatted. (How?)

2. If the Property List is not displayed, select Property List from the View menu.

3. In the Layout area, select the text field to format.

4. You can change the Name, which identifies the text field.

5. To make the text field appear three-dimensional, like a button, apply a 3D effect:

   • Change 3D effect to either Sunken (to inset the text field, like a pushed button) or Raised (to outset the text field, like a button).

   • Enter the thickness of the 3D line, measured in points, in 3D weight.

     The 3D effect border takes precedence over any existing border. If you later disable the 3D effect, the original border settings are automatically restored.

6. To change the background color, select a new Backcolor using the Color dialog box.

7. Change the Backstyle property to specify whether the background is:

   • Transparent, which allows you to see what is behind the text field.

   • Opaque, which covers what is behind the text field. It also allows the fill color of the text field to be seen.

   • Gradient, which blends two colors together. For more information, see Steps to apply gradient colors.

8. To define the style and color of the borders:

   • Click the ... button in the Border field. The Border tab of the Format Objects dialog box opens.

   • See Steps to format borders for further instructions.

9. To "float" the text field on top of the background, apply a drop shadow:

   • Set Drop shadow to True.

   • Enter the offset of the drop shadow, in points, in Drop shadow depth.

10. To define the font (such as color and size):

    • Click the ... button in the Font field. The Font tab of the Format Objects dialog box opens.

    • See Steps to format the font for further instructions.

11. To specify the font color of the text, select a new Forecolor using the Color dialog box.

12. To apply gradient colors, which blend two colors to create a gradual color change in the background, see Steps to apply gradient colors.

13. To display a pop-up tooltip, enter the text in Tooltip.

14. To hide the text field when a user views the document, set Visible to False. The text field remains visible in Design View in MicroStrategy Developer and Design Mode in MicroStrategy Web. For more information, see Hiding controls.

15. To define formatting such as decimal spaces, currency symbol, time format, zip code format, and so on:

    • Click the ... button in the Number formatting property. The Number tab of the Format Objects dialog box opens.

    • See Steps to format a number for further instructions.

16. To create a hyperlink, which is a selectable connection from a text field or image to another destination, such as a Web page, do the following:

    • Select True from the drop-down list in the Is Hyperlink property. Note that the control will be underlined automatically.

    • In Hyperlink, type the destination URL. Notice that http:// is automatically filled in, although you can delete it if necessary.

      You can include dataset values, such as Region or Category, in the hyperlink URL. Data fields must be typed within braces (that is, { }) and must match either the name of an object in a dataset or an object's alias. In the hyperlink, enter the data fields as shown in the following samples, which use fictitious links:

      • http://www.microstrategy.com/{[Customer Region]}

      • http://www.microstrategy.com&Cat={Category}

    • In Open in new window, select whether the hyperlink opens in the same window as the current document or in a new window. By default, it opens in a new window.

      The hyperlink will open in a new window in HTML View only.

17. The left margin is the distance between the left edge of the text field and the left border of the section. Enter a new number in the Left property.

18. The top margin is the distance between the top edge of the text field and the top of the section. Enter a new number in the Top property.

    • To change the size

19. To change the height of the text field, enter the new number in the Height property.

20. To determine whether the height is dynamic or static, set the Height mode. The options are described below:

    • Fixed: The height does not change from the size set in the Height property.

    • Fit to contents: The height expands to the height of the control, in Express Mode only.

21. To determine how to display the text when it is larger than the dimensions of the text field, set the Text overflow (HTML). The options are:

    • Clip: displays only the text that can fit within the size of the text field.

    • Scroll: displays a scroll bar to allow a user to view all of the text. The scroll bar is displayed for Express Mode and Interactive Mode in MicroStrategy Web, and when the document is exported to HTML. The scroll bar is most useful when the Height mode is set to Fixed.

22. To change the width of the text field, enter the new number in the Width property.

    • To change text properties

23. To determine how the text is aligned horizontally within the control boundaries, change the Horizontal alignment to Left, Center, or Right.

24. To increase the space between the text and the bottom border of the text field, increase the number in Bottom padding.

25. To increase the space between the text and the left border of the text field, increase the number in Left padding.

26. To increase the space between the text and the right border of the text field, increase the number in Right padding.

27. To increase the space between the text and the top border of the text field, increase the number in Top padding.

28. The Text property contains the content of the text field. This can be either static text or dynamic text (in the form of a Dataset Object or auto text code).

29. To display the text vertically rather than horizontally, change Text direction to either:

    • 90 degrees, to print the text from bottom to top

    • -90 degrees, to print the text from top to bottom

    Vertical text is displayed in PDF view, in all MicroStrategy Web display modes, and when the document is exported to Excel. It is not displayed in Design View in MicroStrategy Developer. To display text vertically in Flash Mode in MicroStrategy Web, the font types that support it should be embedded. For more information and instructions, see Embedding fonts for Flash Mode (MicroStrategy Web).

30. By default, the text can wrap within the text field. To disable word wrapping, set Word wrap to False.

Related Topics

• Adding text and data to documents

• Formatting text fields