Field grow and shrink properties

Whenever you enter text in a table grid, how much of the text is visible on screen depends on the dimensions of the particular field. Likewise, when you create a report the field may be too small to display all of its contents fully. Previously users have had to expand the field by using their mouse, a rather time-consuming solution that treats all the records under the relevant field in the same way.

However, you can now use a Can grow option to force a field to expand to show all of its contents automatically when the field is displayed in reports. This is especially useful when you have character and memo fields, which are more likely to contain data that is too large for the current field dimensions.

Can grow ensures that a selected field, when displayed in Reports, will expand vertically to display the full data held in the field for each of the records in turn. The records are therefore treated individually, so that each record is adjusted according to the maximum height of data in any of the fields in the particular record. Note that if more than one field has the Can grow attribute switched on, then each of the records will be adjusted to fit the field with the largest amount of data (a particular record may have one line of data in one field and two lines of data in another field, so the record as a whole has to expand to accommodate the larger field).

To set the Can grow option, do the following:

  1. Select the relevant field in Reports (design view) using your mouse.

  2. Right-click and select Properties from the drop-down menu.

  3. Select Align in the Format Object Style box.

  4. Click on the Can grow checkbox to switch it on.

  5. Click on OK.

When you select Print Preview to display the report as it will look when printed, the fields with the Can grow attribute switched on will display their full contents.

There is also a Can shrink option, which will shrink the field height if it is set too high for the contents of the field, again to match individual records.

Click on both Can grow and Can shrink to ensure an exact fit on this field for each of the records.