Setting a fill pattern in a table

[bowen192]

Hello ,

As per the title, can you set a fill pattern in a table?

I'm pretty sure I already know the answer...

[Matt-Tech Comm Tools]

Well, um, yes.

Is that what you thought?

[bowen192]

It is not!

Can you really?  You best not be winding me up, Matt.

[Matt-Tech Comm Tools]

Have you looked at the Table Designer? What exactly are you trying to do?

I spend about 45 minutes on the topic in class, 'cause there's plenty of options there.

Clarification: are you looking for a repeating pattern of shading and ruling, or looking to fill a table cell with a pattern of some sort? One of FM's true strengths is handling of long tables, and sophisticated table formats...

[bowen192]

I am after shading. I want to get this effect of filling a cell with a pattern:

At the moment, you can see I've just used shaded boxes.

Not that I doubt you, Matt, but I'd be surprised if it can be done...

[Matt-Tech Comm Tools]

So...it looks like you have it done!!!

All kidding aside, what's the functionality you're looking for? Filling specific cells, creating some sort of visual repeating cell (not row, not column) pattern?

Still not clear. (Sorry, still 'fore 9am over here.)

[bowen192]

You can see the headers.

In various positions of our machine, when the top or lower part is enaged, a light comes on as a visual check.

Due to the manual being printed in black and white, I want to represent this with a pattern.

Does that make sense?

[Matt-Tech Comm Tools]

Got it...

I had a similar client requirement for frequently copied material in text frames.

Oddly, the default FM shading percentages (the fill percentages I dislike) in the Table Designer do the same thing you're looking for. The fill pattern isn't so much a tint, but a collection of ping pong balls to cover a specific percentage of the area. Thus, if you fill with a medium percentage (30-ish) of black, you don't get a gray fill, but rather a reproduce-able series of black dots in the cell.

You can use these fills in the Table designer for clarity in the table layout, or apply them via the Custom Cell Ruling and Shading properties to one or more cells as a table format override (boo, hiss!!!)

For more info, see p169, Customizing Cell Ruling and Shading in my book

-Matt

Matt R. Sullivan
co-author Publishing Fundamentals: Unstructured FrameMaker 11
P: 714.798.7596 | C: 714.585.2335 | matt@mattrsullivan.com

@mattrsullivan LinkedIn facebook mattrsullivan.com

[bowen192]

Hmm.

I have applied a 10% black in the Custom Ruling and Shading, and this is what I get when I pdf (the second Closed):

This is what I would expect.  What am I doing 'wrong'?

[Matt-Tech Comm Tools]

Here's the screen shot of a 30% black in FM

and a screen shot of the same in PDF.

So, yes, I now see what you mean. (And Arnis: when did they finally fix that nasty dot pattern output she's looking for?!)

Offhand, you may have to follow Arnis' instructions on placing an anchored frame, but I'd also lobby for the stripe pattern at adobe.com/go/wish

-Matt

A thought: Can you use custom ruling to accomplish the same emphasis as your shading example? A thick border is likely to draw the same attention to the content, and has the advantage of not obscuring the legibility of the content.

[peter minneapolis]

Hi, Matt:

I'm not seeingn your screenshots in Safari 5.1.9 on Mac OS X 10.6.8. I haven't hat problems viewing other screenshots on these forums. Any ideas?

Regards,

Peter

_______________________

Peter Gold

KnowHow ProServices

mattrsullivan wrote:

Here's the screen shot of a 30% black in FM

and a screen shot of the same in PDF.

So, yes, I now see what you mean. (And Arnis: when did they finally fix that nasty dot pattern output she's looking for?!)

Offhand, you may have to follow Arnis' instructions on placing an anchored frame, but I'd also lobby for the stripe pattern at adobe.com/go/wish

-Matt

A thought: Can you use custom ruling to accomplish the same emphasis as your shading example? A thick border is likely to draw the same attention to the content, and has the advantage of not obscuring the legibility of the content.

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

They're not showing using IE either - looks like Matt didn't use the camera icon in the web interface to post them (tsk, tsk - not enough coffee yet?) ;>)

[Matt-Tech Comm Tools]

Yes, I saw the pix when I posted, but now that I go back, they're not visible to me either (using Safari as well) I suspect it's because I pasted the image, rather than clicking on the "camera" to upload a file.

Here's another attempt using static files

FM

Acrobat

:

[Arnis Gubins]

@Matt,

You can't paste any graphics/images into the editor or email and expect it to show in these Jive forums. The only way is to use the camera icon to upload a file.

The cell shading was tweaked back around FM7.2 or FM8, IIRC.

@bowen192,

Definitely put in a wish list item for having table cell fills support patterns, rather than just colour tints. While you're at it, also ask for table cell styles to be added via the Object Designer...

FrameMaker Bugs & Wish List

[bowen192]

I'll get that done, Arnis. Thanks for the temporary solution, it works a treat.

Thanks to everyone who contributed.

[Arnis Gubins · Accepted solution]

If you want to use a specific FM fill pattern, you can mimic this using an Anchored Frame construct in a special paratag format. With FM11, it's quite easy using the Object Syles applied to the anchorred Frame.

1. Create a paratag (e.g. CellFill) that has the Table cell margins set to a custom size of 0pt and also a small font size (2pt)

2. Create an Anchored Frame set to the insertion point that is the sized to cover the cell, centered and filled with the pattern (& colour) that you want.It may take a bit of tweaking to get the AFrame to fit exactly within the cell.

3. Use the Object Designer to turn this into a named style (e.g. myCellFill).

Then when you need to "shade" the cell with a specific pattern, apply the CellFill paratag and insert the named myCellFill anchored frame.

Note: it would be even easier to set up if FM allowed an "outside table column" settings for AFrames.