How do I make tables with rounded corners! (help)

[badhairdude]

Using framemaker 11 and I can't seem to find a way to get rounded corners on a table.

The only way is a fake way, and draw a rounded rectangle over the borderless table. But I have set up a program to import this document into another document but it doesn't take the rounded rectangle but takes the table. What gives?

So the only methods I see working is figuring out how 1) to get rounded corners on a table, 2) have the rectangle 'stick' to the table so when everything is imported when I import the file, 3) create a rounded rectangle graphic outside of framemaker and import it in?

Please help,

chris

[Bob_Niland · Accepted solution]

Rounded corners on tables is a pretty rare feature. No version of FM that I've ever used (up thru 9) has it, nor do any of the spreadsheets I use.

My inclination would be to find an app that does (InDesign perhaps?).

Export each table as a PDF.

Import that into an anchored frame in FM.

> ... draw a rounded rectangle over the borderless table.

> But I have set up a program to import this document into

> another document but it doesn't take the rounded rectangle

> but takes the table. What gives?

A normal FM table does not represent an Anchored Frame. My guess that you are just drawing the RR on the page. It is not linked to the content (Flow A). Not only will it not export if you use that document as a Text Inset source, the RR will not even stay with that table if other content changes reflow the table to a different page number.

You need to create an anchored frame.

Put the RR in that.

Also put a Text Frame in that AF.

Put the table in the text frame.

Adjust the RR to hit the table borders.

[badhairdude]

i love you

[Bob_Niland]

> My inclination would be to find an app that does (InDesign perhaps?).

Just poking around on the web, it appears that as of CS6, ID still doesn't do this either, and the various hacks to fake it are at least as much work (and as unstable as) the hacks in FM.

Unstable?

Yep. Unless you lock down your row heights, changes to the text, paragraphs, or character formats, or font substitution, could easily cause the overlaid RR to get out of alignment with the table edges.