You can determine a document's appearance by formatting either its controls (text fields, lines, sections, and so on) or the entire document.
The following list provides some useful formatting suggestions:
The transparent backstyle lets you see what is behind a control. The opaque backstyle covers what is behind a control or colors a control.
Borders, including 3D effect and drop shadows, set off or define a control. Use a 3D effect to make a control appear three-dimensional, like a button. Use a drop shadow to "float" a control on top of the background.
Gradient colors allow you to blend two colors in a gradual color change in the background of a control.
Tooltips display pop-up text when a user positions the mouse over a control. Tooltips can provide extra information, such as the full company name in the tooltip of the company logo.
You can hide a control when the document is viewed in Express Mode or Interactive Mode. This allows you to display information to other document designers in Design Mode but not to users viewing the document in Express Mode or Interactive Mode. For example, you could include a note in a hidden text field about the source of data.
Add a title bar to display title text for a Grid/Graph or a panel stack, or to allow users to minimize and maximize a Grid/Graph when the document is displayed in MicroStrategy Web. This is also referred to as portal grid mode. For steps, see Adding title bars to Grid/Graphs and Displaying title bars in panel stacks.
You can format the "No Data Returned" message that appears in a document when no data is returned in a grid or graph. For a grid or graph displayed in a document, this message is displayed in all Web Modes except Flash Mode. For steps, see the MicroStrategy Document Creation Guide.
When you add a new control, its initial formatting is determined by the control default for that type of control. Each control type (text field, image, rectangle, and so on) has a control default, which contains a full set of formatting properties to specify the default format. For more information on control defaults, including how to apply them and how to change them, see Formatting controls using control defaults. Of course, you can change the formatting of each new control as desired.
Different types of controls have different formatting options. For example, you can set the font color and size for a text field, but those options are not relevant to a rectangle or line. The formatting options that are available for each control type are listed below:
When you add a new control, its formatting is determined by the control default, but you can then change the formatting. You can use different interfaces to define the formatting; which interface you use depends on your personal preference and what options you want to change. The Properties and Formatting dialog box is generally the easiest method to start with, as it contains all the options of the other interfaces and it appears on the same screen as the Layout area.
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Interface |
Properties |
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Formatting toolbar |
Easy access to basic formatting options such as:
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Properties and Formatting dialog box
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Another way to format a control is to copy and paste the formatting. After you have formatted a control in a particular way, you can copy that formatting to other controls of the same type. You cannot copy formatting between objects of different types. For example, you cannot paste a rectangle's formatting onto a text field, because the two types do not have the same formatting properties.
You cannot copy formatting between two Grid/Graph objects. You can create an Autostyle and apply it to multiple Grid/Graphs to apply the same formatting to all of them. For steps, see Applying an autostyle to a Grid/Graph.
Open the document in Design or Editable Mode.
Select the control with the desired formatting and click the Copy icon on the Standard toolbar.
Select the control(s) to copy the formatting to.
Right-click the selected control(s) and choose Paste Format.