Overview
The FormTrap Tools menu contains the tool set, for which the top menu is
shown below.
Tools apply to all objects types.
Some of the following sections are also under Objects, Object
Manipulation.
Align (Alignment)
These are the alignment tools. We recommend they be moved to the permanent
toolbar as you will use them often.
Align tools allow selected objects to be exactly aligned to any other
object on the page, using targets 
or your own points.
Select one or more objects to align, select the alignment tool - which shows
targets, select a target or your own point to align object(s).
This is alignment of the title to the left 
of a target on the Product Description value in a detail record:
These are the six alignment tools:
-
Left
-
Right -
Top -
Bottom -
Decimal - target is the alignment character for decimal-aligned
fields, see below:
-
Vertically between and -
Horizontally between require two clicks to identify the "between"
points.
Targets are vertically "rationalized" to the Layout where the object to be aligned resides. This is a demonstration of aligning a rectangle to a target in a different Layout:
This selects the top point in a different layer. What is recorded is the
distance that object is below the top of its layer.
That distance is then applied to the object to be aligned.
For Vertical between with different layers, you can see the rationalization with
the first target selection, as below:
about to select
first target selected
first target rationalized
last target selected
These additional tools allow object alignment AND resizing:
-
Horizontal Resize - aligns and resizes the object
horizontally between two points, requires two click to indentify the
"between" points. -
Vertical Resize - aligns and resizes the object
vertically between two points, requires two click to indentify the "between"
points.
Align (size)
Resizing objects to match another object is done using these icons (under
Tools). Objects are normally rectangles and pictures, but may include any
objects and word-wrapped text.
- Set width
- requires two clicks on targets, then sets width of all
object(s) to the difference between targets, with the object(s) top left
remaining as it was. - Set height
- requires two clicks on targets, then sets height of all
object(s) to the difference between targets, with the object(s) top left
remaining as it was. - To widest
- resize all objects to the same width as the widest object. - To narrowest
- resize all objects to the same width as the narrowest object.
- To tallest
- resize all objects to the same height as the tallest object. - To shortest
- resize all objects to the same height as the shortest object.
Following is an example of adjusting the short, fat graph to same size as
the one on its left:
- Select both objects to be sized by clicking on each of them while holding the SHIFT key, or by drawing a marquee through the objects.
-
- Press (Tools) To tallest
-
- Press To narrowest
-
Nudge
Nudge defines horizontal and vertical values to move selected
object(s) using the arrow keys on your keyboard.
Nudge values are predefined in the pull-down, or can be keyed, or can be the
difference between two points when Record ... option is selected.
Selecting Record... redraws the screen showing targets for all objects.
Targets show at corners and mid points. Select two points, if you are within a
small number of pixels of a target, the address rounds to the target.
The difference between points is recorded and can then be used to Nudge. Typical use is to define same-width columns or to copy a framing rectangle and move it to position.
Pressing the Arrow keys shift the object(s) by value in the designated direction, holding down Shift and pressing Arrow changes the dimension of object(s) by value from the bottom or right.
Grid
Grid is an optional feature of FTForm Plus and provides this menu under
Tools:
The pull-downs for Horizontal 
and Vertical 
have pull-downs as below:
Activate Grid 
activates the grid which shows as faint grey lines on screen.
Snap to Grid 
activates "snap to" for objects that are moved or added.
Replace (colors)
This group allows wholesale color and font changes on an entire document,
with this as the group (although each element is individual):
Replace colors 
opens this window of existing colors.
To change any color, select that group and replace the right-side (change to)
color. Make all changes, then press OK to apply the new colors.
This shows before and after, from the above color replacement selections:
Replace (fonts)
This group allows wholesale font changes on an entire document, with this as
the group (although each element is individual):
Font replacement does NOT include Arial which is the default font for
FormTrap. To replace Arial, you will need to change text objects on the
design.
Replace fonts 
opens this window of existing fonts.
To change fonts, select each Current font and select it's Replace
with font. Insert all changes to the list, then press OK to
apply the font change(s).
This shows before and after, from the above color replacement selections:
