Text Properties

Introduction

Use Text to display one or more lines of text on a graphic page.

To add Text to a graphic page use the Add Text Tool.

Text properties define how text appears on the graphic page. For example, the FontFamily property sets which font face is used to display the text.

When Text is selected, the properties are shown in the Properties Window. To make changes, enter new values for the appropriate property.

Property List

Text supports these properties:

Identification
	Label	An optional label to attach to the item.
Properties
	Comment	A place to store notes and information about the item. The comment property has no effect on how the item is displayed or behaves.
	Text	The text to display. To enter multiple lines of text, Click the Browse button to open a multiple line text editor. A data binding configured in DataBindText will override this property.
	Tooltip	The text to display in a tooltip. To enter multiple lines of text, Click the Browse button . A data binding configured in DataBindTooltip will override this property.
	Visible	The initial visibility in run mode. To dynamically display or hide the item use one of these: DataBindVisible Data Binding GraphicItemSetVisible Function
Text Attributes
	FontFamily	The font family used to display the text. Click the Browse button to open the Font Chooser Dialog.
	FontSize	The size of the text in points. See FontSize Property below.
	TextColor	The color of the text. See Color Values for the different ways you can configure a color. This property supports the color value 'Auto', which selects a contrast color to the graphic page background color. Note: A data binding configured in DataBindTextColor will override this property.
	TextStrikeout	Chooses whether the text is drawn with a strikeout effect. Note: A data binding configured in DataBindTextStrikeout will override this property.
	TextUnderline	Chooses whether the text is drawn with an underline. Note: A data binding configured in DataBindTextUnderline will override this property.
Direction & Alignment
	Direction	Defines the direction of text (horizontal, vertical up, vertical down).
	HorizontalAlignment	Defines the horizontal alignment of text in the bounding rectangle (left, center, right).
	VerticalAlignment	Defines the vertical alignment of text in the bounding rectangle (top, center, bottom).
Blink Attributes
	Blink	Whether the Text blinks. Blinking is enabled using any of these options: This property is set to True. The data binding DataBindBlink evaluates to True. A script function calls GraphicItemSetBlink() with the Blink parameter set to True.
	BlinkMode	Defines how the Text blinks. The options are: Invisible Alternate Color
	BlinkSpeed	Defines how fast the Text blinks. The options are: Slow Medium Fast
	BlinkTextColor	The alternate text color when the BlinkMode is Alternate Color. See Color Values for the different ways you can configure a color.
General Data Bindings
	DataBindBlink	A Data Binding that causes the item to blink. If DataBindBlink evaluates to TRUE, the item will blink. Click the Browse button to edit the data binding using the Data Binding Editor.
	DataBindDisableActions	A Data Binding to disable all actions on the item. If DataBindDisableActions evaluates to TRUE, actions on the item are disabled. Click the Browse button to edit the data binding using the Data Binding Editor.
	DataBindTooltip	A Data Binding which sets the tooltip to display if a user hovers the cursor over the item. Note: Tooltips are not currently supported in the Android Operator Interface. Click the Browse button to edit the data binding using the Data Binding Editor.
	DataBindVisible	A Data Binding which hides the item. If DataBindVisible is defined, and evaluates to FALSE, the item is hidden. Click the Browse button to edit the data binding using the Data Binding Editor.
Size Position Data Bindings
	ClipRegionHorizontal	When the DataBindClipHorizontal data binding is defined, this value chooses whether the left or right side of the item is clipped.
	ClipRegionVertical	When the DataBindClipVertical data binding is defined, this value chooses whether the top or bottom of the item is clipped.
	DataBindClipHorizontal	A Data Binding which sets how much of the item to clip horizontally. A value less than or equal to zero clips the entire item. A value greater than or equal to one does not clip the item. Values between zero and one clip the corresponding portion of the item. Click the Browse button to edit the data binding using the Data Binding Editor.
	DataBindClipVertical	A Data Binding which sets how much of the item to clip vertically. A value less than or equal to zero clips the entire item. A value greater than or equal to one does not clip the item. Values between zero and one clip the corresponding portion of the item. Click the Browse button to edit the data binding using the Data Binding Editor.
	DataBindOffsetX	A Data Binding which moves the item in the horizontal direction. The offset is in canvas units. Click the Browse button to edit the data binding using the Data Binding Editor.
	DataBindOffsetY	A Data Binding which moves the image in the vertical direction. The offset is in canvas units. Click the Browse button to edit the data binding using the Data Binding Editor.
	DataBindScaleX	A Data Binding which resizes the image in the horizontal direction. A value less than 1.0 shrinks the item horizontally. A value greater than 1.0 expands the item horizontally. Note: This property has very little effect on text because font is chosen to fit the available height. The aspect ratio of the characters in the font is always preserved. Click the Browse button to edit the data binding using the Data Binding Editor.
	DataBindScaleY	A Data Binding which resizes the image in the vertical direction. A value less than 1.0 shrinks the item vertically. A value greater than 1.0 expands the item vertically. Click the Browse button to edit the data binding using the Data Binding Editor.
Text Data Bindings
	DataBindLineColor	A Data Binding which sets the text to display. Click the Browse button to edit the data binding using the Data Binding Editor.
	DataBindTextColor	A Data Binding which determines the text color. Click the Browse button to edit the data binding using the Data Binding Editor.
	DataBindTextStrikeout	A Data Binding which draws a strikeout line. If DataBindTextStrikeout evaluates to TRUE, an strikeout line is added to the text. Click the Browse button to edit the data binding using the Data Binding Editor.
	DataBindTextUnderline	A Data Binding which draws an underline. If DataBindTextUnderline evaluates to TRUE, an underline is added to the text. Click the Browse button to edit the data binding using the Data Binding Editor.
Actions
	ActionButtonDown	An Operator Action script to run when the operator presses the left mouse button down, or touches the display. Click the Browse button to edit the operator action using the Operator Action Editor.
	ActionButtonShortcut	A keyboard shortcut to emulate a button press on the item. Click the Browse button to edit the shortcut using the Shortcut Editor.
	ActionButtonUp	An Operator Action script to run when the operator releases the left mouse button, or removes touch from the display. Click the Browse button to edit the operator action using the Operator Action Editor.
	ActionButtonWhileDown	An Operator Action script to run at intervals while the operator holds the left mouse button down, or continuously touches the display. Click the Browse button to edit the operator action using the Operator Action Editor.
	ActionDoubleClick	An Operator Action script to run when the operator double-clicks the left mouse button, or double taps the display. Click the Browse button to edit the operator action using the Operator Action Editor.
	ActionContextMenu	An Operator Action script to run when the operator clicks the right mouse button, or does a long press on the display. Click the Browse button to edit the operator action using the Operator Action Editor.
	WhileDownInterval	The interval between each execution of the ActionButtonWhileDown script.

FontSize Property

The FontSize property defines the height of text in points. A point is traditionally 1/72 of an inch or 0.3528 millimetres.

The drawing canvas is notionally an A4 page in landscape orientation (297 x 210 millimetres). The height of the text drawn is chosen by scaling the point size relative to the notional A4 size of the drawing canvas.

In typography an em is a unit of measurement equal to the current point size. For example in a 24 point font, the size of an em will be 24 points or 8.4672 millimetres. An em is the same size in all font faces.

Font designers layout fonts relative to an em square, but are not constrained by its dimensions. A font designer could design font glyphs that are substantially smaller than the em square, or stray outside its boundaries. This is why two characters from different type faces can have different sizes even though they are using the same point size.

Underline and Strikeout Properties

The Underline and Strikeout properties draw a line under the text or through the text respectively:

Direction Property

The Direction property controls the direction of the text:

Horizontal	Vertical up	Vertical down

Alignment Properties

The HorizontalAlignment and VerticalAlignment properties control how the text is aligned in the bounding box:

Line Breaking

Text will be drawn as multiple lines if:

There are hard breaks (for example carriage return) in the text.
The text is wider than the bounding rectangle and there are break opportunities in the text.

Text can be drawn outside the bounding box if:

A text line is wider than the bounding box and there are no line break opportunities in the text line.
The number of text lines exceeds the height of the bounding box.

Further Information

Data Bindings

For a complete description of all data binding options.

Graphic Editor Toolbar

For the different tools available to edit graphic pages.

Graphic Editor

For information about editing graphic pages in Fernhill SCADA.

Glossary

For the meaning of terms used in Fernhill SCADA.