Forms – Remove Extra Space Between Fields

[Sharon Levadnuk]

I am trying out the trial version of Tapforms. I have created a simple form with address info, and need the space between Firstname and Lastname to adjust based on the length of the firstname (for an envelope, for example).

I am a long time Filemaker user. In Filemaker, they call this “Slide”. You can “Slide” fields right to left, or up if there are empty fields.

Is there a similar feature here, and if so, how do I use it?

Technically Challenged
MacOS 10.13.5

[Brendan]

Hi Sharon,

There’s a couple of ways to do it. But it depends on what the goal is. If you’re printing envelopes or labels, then you can just add a Text block to your layout and type in the field names surrounded by square brackets. For example:

[First Name] [Last Name]

To create a Text block, click the Layout button, then click the A button in the toolbar at the top-right of the window. It’s next to the circle, rectangle, and line tool. Then drag out a box on your layout and type in the above text.

When you go to print, Tap Forms will substitute the values of those fields and place them in the printout.

The other way to do it is to add a Calculation field to your form and use the following formula:

First Name + ” ” + Last Name

Make sure that when you add the First Name and Last Name fields that you double-click on the fields on the left side panel rather than just typing them out. That’ll make sure that it’s the field objects that get inserted into your formula.

Then you can drag out your calculation field onto your custom layout and then there won’t be any issues with the lengths of the values and you’ll get just one space between them.

Hope that helps!

Thanks

Brendan

[Brendan]

Also, if you look at the Clients sample form, you’ll see a similar Calculation field called Full Name which does exactly this.

[Sharon Levadnuk]

Thanks for the quick reply, I think the Text Box will do the trick!

I have much to learn here. And I am sure there will be many more questions when I attempt to import all the data from Filemaker. Sure hope I can find a video for that!

[Brendan]

There’s no video for importing from FileMaker, but what you want to do is export using the Merge formate. You’ll get a file with a .mer file extension. Use the Import Records function in the File menu to import that file.

[Sharon Levadnuk]

Thanks, will use that when I get to that point!

[MRAnderson]

I need to tell my envelope layout to slide the city/state/zip line up if the second address line (apartment or suite #) is empty. Looking for help online, I am finding ways to script this, and I have tried to follow the instructions to no avail. I know I’m doing it wrong. I didn’t expect to need programming skills (I know, they’re basic, but still above me) to use this app, which I love otherwise. Please help!

FYI, my layout fields are “address name”; “address A1” (street address for primary residence); “address A2” (suite or apartment #); and “csz” (city/state/zip). (I don’t need separate fields for these in my anticipated use, so there’s no horizontal-slide issue, just vertical.)

Thank you!

[Rafael Roa]

Are layouts available for iOS/iPadOS or only for MacOS version?

[Sam Moffatt]

@mranderson: I created a video on using a script field to format an address that handled some values missing and options you can use to format them.

@rafaelroa: Layouts are only on MacOS.

[Brendan]

A Script would be perfect for this. But can also be done with a Calculation field.

See the section called:

Eliminating blank lines from a mailing address label if certain values are empty

https://www.tapforms.com/help-mac/5.3/en/topic/calculation

[Author]

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