APPLICATION DESIGN

Text, rich text, and rich text lite fields
To collect, store, and display text in a field, create a text field, rich text field, or rich text lite field.
Rich text fields and rich text lite fields can be used anywhere except in a layout region. They are not subject to the size limitations imposed on other field types.

Rich text lite fields are not available on the Web.

Displaying graphics, attachments, and objects in a rich text field

Many databases use an editable, rich-text field named Body to give users the flexibility of adding whatever they want to the main part of a document -- attachments, graphics, objects, or different fonts and colors. A rich text field can contain anything a page contains.

Note You cannot write to a rich text field by using simple actions or formulas. If you want to use simple actions or formulas to write to a field, use text fields.

You can use a rich text field to launch an OLE object -- that is, to open an object from another application within a form. You can even define the field so that an OLE object automatically launches when a user opens the form.

For more information, see the topic Launching objects automatically.

Using rich text lite fields

To add a rich text lite field to a form, select rich text lite from the field type list (Field Info tab of the Field Properties box). At the Control tab of the Field Properties box, check the object types you want to add to the drop-down menu that appears when the user clicks the down arrow. Note that if you select only one of these object types, no down arrow appears because there is no need to change types.

You can select or deselect one or more of the following object types (the object types selected have a check next to them):


Note Links is a new type with IBMR LotusR Domino(TM) Designer Release 7.0. It allows links to documents, views, databases, and URLs.
Note The exclusive Thumbnail option is new with Release 8.0. Selecting this option will deselect all other options, and change the First display to Thumbnail. Selecting any other option will deselect the Thumbnail option, and change the First display to whichever other option was selected.

In addition, you can check the following options:


At the "First display" field, select the object you want as the default icon when a document is first created. For example, if a rich text lite field is limited to Photos, DatePickers, and Shared Images, you can choose to display Photos as the first icon (indicating the intended use of the field while still giving users the opportunity to add other types). If the user chooses another object type from the drop-down menu, the icon changes.

The "Field help" field lets you add help for each object type. When the Thumbnail option is selected, the field help is exclusive to the Thumbnail object. Note that for inclusive options, you must enter help text in the order the fields are listed in the listbox. Also, you must separate each help text with the vertical bar character (|). For example, to add help if you have selected photos, graphics, shared images, and a datepicker, enter the following in the Field Limit Help field:

Note the extra vertical bar characters between Shared Image help and Date Picker help. These extra characters indicate that no help text exists for attachments and views.

If you select the Thumbnail option, you will also be able to Resize the thumbnail image in the field to a fixed height and width. You must specify an Image attachment name. The default name is Untitled.

This is what happens when a user clicks on an icon next to the rich text lite field:


Note Rich text lite fields are not available on the Web.

See Also