[FX.php List] Display text within a static-sized rectangle (for eventual printing)?

[Jonathan Schwartz]

Joel,

My first thought was to create a calculation that takes into account 
not only word and character count, but line returns as well.

Let's say the limit is 1000 characters over 10 lines, or 100 
characters per line.  That would be the max. The person could put one 
character on each of ten lines and fill the space. Charcount is 10 
but line count is 10.  Line count overides char count.

Did I miss something along the way?

J


At 6:15 PM -0700 9/12/06, Joel Shapiro wrote:
>Hi all
>
>OVERVIEW:
>I'm looking for creative ways to give immediate feedback to Web 
>users when their text (entered into a textarea) won't fit in its 
>alotted space on its printed form -- without users having to wait 
>for the admin to print the form and give it to them -- possibly the 
>next day.
>
>
>SITUATION:
>I've got a project where users enter text into a textarea on a web 
>page (FX.php).  There is a word-count limit on the field which works 
>fine *technically* (i.e. users cannot submit text over the limit).  
>The text in this field is later printed from FileMaker client by an 
>admin.  The field prints on a form and has pre-defined dimensions of 
>approx 2.5" x 4". The problem is that users want to be able to enter 
>their text differently, e.g. some as a paragraph, some as a list, 
>some with blank lines, etc, so a word-count doesn't really make that 
>much difference (e.g. 5 words in a list can take up as much physical 
>space as 20 words in a paragraph).  And getting all users to only 
>enter text in one way (e.g. paragraphs only, no lists) is not an 
>option at this time.  (We'd originally used a character count, but 
>they preferred word-count)
>
>One other complication is that some reports are printed in OS X, and 
>some in Windows XP, so even there there is a discrepancy between how 
>much text will fit into this text box -- however I'd be happy to 
>display at least an *approximation* of what the printed form will 
>look like.
>
>
>OPTIONS EXPLORED:
>I've been playing with creating a PDF (via FPDF) to display just 
>this text field within a bordered rectangle.  This seems to work 
>_OK_, but it's certainly not ideal -- opening a new browser window 
>and/or a PDF-reader app window, with a message to close the window 
>to continue editing.  I don't like how it interrupts the UI of: (1) 
>select record to edit; (2) edit record; (3) click to submit changes. 
>It would be an additional step (2a) to optionally(?) view an 
>approximation of how the field will print, and then (2b) to close 
>that window and continue editing before submitting (step 3).
>
>If I could display this in just a small pop-up window, it would be 
>more acceptable, but that doesn't seem possible since as a PDF it 
>could open up either in the browser or in a PDF-reader app.  And I 
>don't want to put the whole form into a PHP-generated PDF, as it's a 
>large, 2-sided report with very tight text-formatting (and I'm lazy).
>
>Then I thought of maybe creating an image (GD) with the text inside 
>the sized rectangle -- which probably *could* display in a small 
>pop-up window -- but before I tackle that one, I thought I'd ask for 
>suggestions.
>
>Anybody got any for me?
>
>(And if I use a PDF or an image, how consistent will these be for 
>users on different browsers, different platforms, etc.?)
>
>TIA,
>-Joel
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-- 

Jonathan Schwartz
FileMaker 8 Certified  Developer
Associate Member, FileMaker Solutions Alliance
Schwartz & Company
jonathan at eschwartz.com
http://www.eschwartz.com
http://www.exit445.com
415-381-1852