Colm,
When you're used to the way Mac windows work and you design these nice
multi-window interfaces for your users, you have to throw all that out
when you go to the PC. It is not FileMaker's fault. Windows manages
windows differently. That's just a fact of life. Like gravity, it's
painful when you don't respect the way it works.
On a Mac you can set the position and size of every window by script.
On Windows, you can set the size and position of every file window,
WITHIN THE APPLICATION WINDOW. That means that you have to pay
attention to what the application window is doing before you attempt
to set the arrangement of file windows. The app window is not
scriptable within FileMaker, leaving the sizing to only two options:
manually, or with an external script.
In order to get a FileMaker solution to fit on a screen you will need
to grab the size of the screen, subtract off the menu bar and then set
your windows accordingly. Because of the aforementioned varying screen
sizes and ratios I never use more than one window at a time, unless it
is a temporary utility window. That way I have fewer variables to deal
with from monitor to monitor.
As to the issue of the layout being too big, you can set the zoom
lower to enable it to fit in less space. If is becomes hard to read
then you need to redesign the window to be smaller or set the type
size bigger. You might consider putting less information on one
layout, too.
I have found that when FileMaker doesn't give me the window size and
location that I have specified, then I probably made a mistake. I do
find that I call my screen resize script more often when switching
between windows (an absolute necessity on XP/Vista/7).
Another reason why the size and ratio can change on OS X is when you
call the Adjust Window [Resize to Fit] script step: FileMaker will
attempt to fit all the layout elements tightly within the window. That
means that if you have any off screen elements, it will try to include
them. If you have some adjustable layout objects, they will reduce to
their non-expanded size. Either way your window can resize to
something you might not have expected. Sometimes you can use that to
your benefit, and sometimes that can masticate your posterior.
j.
On Jul 10, 2009, at 5:22 PM, Colm Osiris wrote:
> Thanks Jonathan.
>
> Again, sorry for the delay in replying.
>
>> I see. In that case I would just maximize the window and let the
>> interface elements stretch to fit.
>
> It's not really the maximising that's the problem, it's the
> minimising! What I mean is that the window is too big for the
> MacBook, so I have to make a special smaller window just for that
> machine, That's what's causing the problems.
>
>> It's not perfect, but it gives you a little bit of control. You can
>> also set the zoom size by what the pixel count on the screen is.
>> Always set the zoom so the window fits completely on the screen and
>> a little more and then let the variable-size objects take up the
>> slack.
>
> If the window was smaller than the monitor's resolution, I could do
> this, but unfortunately it's too big.
>
>> The problem is that screen sizes and aspect ratios vary all over
>> the place.
>
> I understand that, and I know that monitor ratios vary, but that
> doesn't explain why FileMaker would change its ratio, unbidden by
> me, and ignore the fact that that I've specified the height and
> width. Sizes, yes, of course they change, as do the ratios of
> monitors, but FileMaker windows should not change their ratio when
> I've told it specifically not to. So it is doing what it thinks is
> best, and overriding what I've told it to do.
>
>> In an environment like the Mac that is not a big issue because you
>> can set the window to fit your app. No such luck on Windows because
>> setting the app window to a certain size is not doable within
>> FileMaker.
>
> Really?! How on earth do you cope with that? I have all sorts of
> windows in my solution, including a lot of small dialogue windows.
> Are you saying that I couldn't do that on a PC? Wow! And I thought
> *I* had problems.
>
> It does strongly indicate that FileMaker is more Windows-orientated
> than Mac-orientated, otherwise they would make sure that these
> things work properly. Okay, so you can do it on a Mac but not a PC,
> but what's the point, if it doesn't work properly?!
>
> Colm
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Jonathan Fletcher
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