This section describes how to work with objects and blend them with the design of a label or form.
Object is a basic building block of any label or solution. Each object is dedicated to a specific type of content. See the related topics for style and content related object properties.
These are the common actions for multiple object types:
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Adding an object: adds an object to the design surface.
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Adding an object with connected data source: click the down arrow next to the object button and select an existing or new data source to make the newly added object instantly connected to a dynamic data source.
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Grouping: makes multiple object behave as a single object.
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Rotating: changes the angle of a selected object.
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Resizing: sets the size of an object.
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Aligning: make the object positions.
There are multiple methods to add an object to a label or form. Use the most convenient one:
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Click and Click: click the object in the object toolbox. Mouse cursor transforms. Click on the design surface – the selected object appears where clicked.
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Click and Drag: click the object in object toolbox. Mouse cursor transforms. Click on the design surface and drag to define the size of the added object.
Note
Text object's size cannot be defined using this method – its size is defined dynamically.
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Drag and Drop: click the object in the object toolbox and drag it to the design surface. The selected object appears where the mouse button is released.
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Copy and Paste: graphical and textual content can be pasted directly to the design surface. The following rules apply when copying items and pasting them directly to a label or a form:
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Graphical content from clipboard is pasted as embedded Picture object.
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Rich textual content originating from web pages or word processors is pasted as Rich text object. When designing a form, rich text is pasted as Text object.
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Single line text is pasted as Text object.
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Multiple line text is pasted as Text box object.
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Desktop Designer allows you to add an object with the instantly connected dynamic data source (variable, function, or database) to the design surface.
There are multiple methods to add an object to a label or form. Use the most convenient one:
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Click the object button down arrow. This opens the dynamic data connection menu. Select from the existing data sources or add a new one. The newly added object is instantly connected to it when placed on the design surface.
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Click and drag from dynamic data explorer. if you click and drag the data source from Dynamic Data explorer to the design surface, a Text object appears. This object's content source is the dragged data source from the explorer.
To make multiple objects on a label behave as a single object, add them to a group. To group objects:
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Surround the objects you wish to group using a mouse. A rectangle appears marking the selected objects. Right-click and select Group objects to create a group of objects.
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Hold
<Shift>
key and click the objects you wish to group. This selects multiple objects – right-click and select Group objects to create a group of objects.
There are two ways to set the angle of an object:
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Enter the angle manually in degrees or drag the slider. The object rotates around its anchoring point. Rotation commands are accessible in two ways:
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Click Position in the Positioning group of the Design tab.
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Go to Object properties > Position > Rotation angle.
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Click and drag the icon next to the selected object. The icon rotates the object around its central point.
Anchoring point is the spot where an object is pinned to the design surface. Variable size objects increase or decrease their size in the direction that is opposite to the chosen anchoring point.
To instantly resize an object, do the following:
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Select it on the design surface.
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The selected object becomes framed with a rectangle.
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Click and drag one of the object holders.
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The object will resize along with the moving cursor.
Read the below sections to learn about the automatic object resizing option and resizing specifics.
Note
When working with internal printer elements (barcodes, shapes, fonts), object resizing follows the printer driver-defined values.
Graphic resizing is applicable to the picture object on labels and forms.
When placed on a form, two options for automatic object resizing become available. Horizontally resize with form and Vertically resize with form: object size automatically adapts to the changing size of the form.
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Horizontally resize with form: object width adapts to the resized form.
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Vertically resize with form: object height adapts to the resized form.
If both options are enabled, object width and height adapt to the resized form simultaneously.
Data initialization form object allows auto-sizing the table column width. Open the object properties dialog and go to Settings tab.
Columns group sets the width of data initialization table and its Prompt, Value, and Formatted value columns.
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Auto-size: automatic column resizing.
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Show fomatted value: visible Formatted value column.