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Inside Macintosh: Apple Guide Complete / Part 4 - Scripting Guide Files

Chapter 10 - Guide Script Command Reference / Guide Script Command Descriptions

/ Formatting Text and Objects in a Panel

<Format>

You can use the <Format> command to apply a specific format to any commands following it that place text and objects in a panel. The specified format applies until the next <Format> or <End Panel> command.

<Format> formatName 

formatName

A text string specifying the name of the format or transparent format to apply to any commands that follow the <Format> command and place text and objects in a panel.

DESCRIPTION

When Guide Maker encounters a <Format> command, it applies the format defined by formatName to any commands following it that place text and objects in a panel until the next <Format> or <End Panel> command is encountered. The format specified by a <Format> command overrides all other defined formats, including any format specified by the <Default Format> command.

Panel objects that follow a <Format> command are placed inline within the bounds specified by the format's column coordinates. Any text attributes specified by the format are applied to panel text, and any prompts are aligned according to the specified format.

Any panel text or objects that appear before a <Format> command are aligned according to the format specified by a <Default Format> command or previous <Format> command. If a <Default Format> or <Format> command has not been specified, then panel text and objects are aligned according to Guide Maker's default full-width panel format.

Once Guide Maker encounters a <Format> command, the new format is applied to all following panel text and objects in that panel, until another <Format> command or <End Panel> command is encountered. Guide Maker resets the format to the default format upon encountering an <End Panel> command.

Thus, you can use the <Default Format> command to specify a format that Guide Maker uses as a default for all panels, and then you can override the default format for a specific panel as needed by using the <Format> command.

EXAMPLES

<Define Panel> "Example panel"
   <Format> "Column1"
   Text that is formatted according to "Column1" format.
   <Format> "Column2"
   Text that is formatted according to "Column2" format.
<End Panel>
<Define Panel> "Example panel 2"
   Text that is formatted using the default format.
<End Panel>
<Define Panel> "Example panel 3"
   #panel that uses the "tag" and "body" formats
   <Format> "Tag"
   Do This
   <Format> "Body"
   Give instruction here.
<End Panel>

SEE ALSO

For information on the <Define Format> command, see page 10-85. For information on the <Default Format> command, see page 10-30.