Using a default for text format in Note Field

[Dale Mustful]

The Note Field is great if you have large paragraphs of text data coming in from a CSV, however I can’t find a way to set my own default text format preferences for the Notes Field in the program. The text from each entry imported from a CSV to the Notes Field must be selected individually in order to alter the text format. The default size is small and I’d like to see text bigger in my layout without having select it first. There should be a preference setting in the program for the font formatting for Note Fields like there is any other field. Is there a way to control how the Note Field initially displays text entries in my database layout? Keep in mind I could use a Text Field and set a custom text format, but I want to scroll long entries in a fixed height box which is what the Note Field provides.

[Brendan]

Hi Dale,

If you switch to the layout edit mode and then select your Note field and then choose a font and size, Tap Forms should set that as the default used for typing in new text.

However, if you’re copying and pasting, that text may already have font information built-in to it which will override the default setting. In that case you should use the Paste as Plain Text option in the Edit menu.

Thanks,

Brendan

[Dale Mustful]

I think I’ve been doing it as prescribed, but it’s not working. See attached screen shots. One shows larger text the way I want. The other shows what happens when I import a new batch of text to this field from a data-mapped CSV file. I’m not typing in the text, I’m importing data from my CSV file. Upon Import to Tap Forms, these text records should come in styled to the note field style I set. This does work for other records flowing into the text field type. Now, I don’t want to have to re-style 2 or 3 hundred records each time I import new data to the database. What am I doing wrong?

To get the note field to work with my first batch, the records in the form were already imported. Then when I styled the Note Field, all the existing data records converted to the fonts I wanted. But I can’t get new records to import correctly. New imported text appears to default back to small.

Regards,
:Dale

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[Brendan]

Ah I see. Ya, you’re right. The font selection is only applied to the text as you type it.

Importing from a CSV file won’t do it.

What you can do is open the note field edit window from the field on the Default Layout, set the font, then click the Apply to All Records button. That’ll take the currently selected font style and apply it to that field for all the records.

[Dale Mustful]

I’m guessing the Note Field was not designed to be used for data import and was meant to be typed into. But if I use a simple text field I’m limited to viewing text in a fixed box size. There is no scrolling effect. I’m looking to scroll through long text that would otherwise be hidden below the set text box size. If I must use a text field to keep text formatting stable on import, I understand.

I have a future request for Tap Forms then. I would like to see all text fields allow scrolling. The text fields in Bento allowed scroll bars for long text so using a text field was not as limited as it is in Tap Forms. I’m a former Filemaker/Bento user. Sorry.

Regards, :D

[Brendan]

Well, you certainly can import into a Note field, but rich text doesn’t come along with that in an import. I’ve been working on improving the font display situation on custom layouts. I think it works as it should now, even on imported data. It will use the font that set on the layout object itself unless the text content has its own fonts.

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