Spacer
The Spacer () form object is invisible in the user interface. It defines a space of absolute size that you can use to ensure that neighboring form objects have enough space to show their contents. Typically, you use a spacer next to tables or plots to ensure that they display properly. If the user resizes the window so it becomes smaller than the size of the spacer, the effective size of the window is maintained by displaying scroll bars. Enter the name of the spacer object in the Name field.
The Settings window contains the following section.
Position and Size
This section contains all layout settings for a spacer in the grid of the parent form.
In the grid mode, you can control the horizontal and vertical alignment of the spacer using the following lists:
From the Horizontal alignment list, choose Left, Center, Right, or Fill, which automatically expands the form object to fill the cell in the horizontal or vertical direction (where applicable).
From the Vertical alignment list, choose Middle, Top, Bottom, or Fill, which automatically expands the form object to fill the cell in the horizontal or vertical direction (where applicable).
The need to specify the alignment is most obvious when working in the grid mode, as it controls how the form object is aligned in its grid cell. Aligning the form object can be useful in the sketch mode too, and you can then use the alignment tools on the Arrange menu in the Form toolbar’s Sketch section. When running the application in any client other than the Windows client, the form objects may not be positioned exactly as seen in the form windows. This is because the form objects may have a different size in other clients, giving them a slightly different positioning. Specifying the alignment ensures that the form objects are aligned as you want them to be in all clients.
You can also specify the width and height of the spacer. Enter a width (in points) in the Width field and a height (in points) in the Height field. If you have chosen Fill from the Horizontal alignment list, you can instead specify a Minimum width. Choose Automatic to compute the minimum width automatically (typically, this means a minimum size of 0) or choose Manual to specify a minimum width in the text field underneath. If you have chosen Fill from the Vertical alignment list, you can instead specify a Minimum height. Choose Automatic to compute the minimum height automatically (typically, this means a minimum size of 0) or choose Manual to specify a minimum height in the text field underneath.
Additionally, in the sketch mode, you can specify absolute position of the spacer using the Position x and Position y fields. In the grid mode, you can position the object in the grid and see the grid position as the Row, Column, Row span, and Column span values.
The Width and Height settings specify the area the spacer occupies. Usually, you set either the width or height to a very small value and the other to the desired size in one direction. Use two fillers to enforce a size in two directions.
Cell Margin
Under Cell margin (in grid mode only), you can control the margins around the form object. By default, the margins are taken from the parent form. From the Cell margin list, choose:
None, for no margin around the form object.
From parent form (the default), to use the margins set for the parent form.
Custom, to specify the margins for the form object in the Horizontal and Vertical text fields.