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Selecting and working with objects in tab panels

You can add objects anywhere in a tab panel within a tab control. You can also move, resize, delete, copy, and format objects in tab panels.

To select and work with objects in a tab panel:

1.	In Layout mode, choose one of the following:

 

To	Do this
Select the front tab panel	Click its tab or anywhere in the panel.
Switch a tab panel to be in front	Click the tab of the tab panel you want to be in front.
Select more than one tab panel of a tab control	Select one tab panel, then press Shift and double-click each tab panel you want to select.
Select all tab panels and objects	Drag the crosshair pointer around the tab control.
Select multiple objects within a panel	Shift-click and click on the objects in the tab panel.
Select objects on multiple panels	Select some objects in a tab panel, shift-click a tab to switch tab panels, then shift-click objects to add them to the selection.

2.	Do one of the following:

 

To	Do this
Line up the edges of objects on different tab panels in the same place on each tab panel	Shift-click a tab panel and shift-click to select objects. In the Inspector, click Position. In the Arrange & Align area, click one of the following:  • Align Left Edges  • Align on Horizontal Centers  • Align Right Edges  • Align Top Edges  • Align on Vertical Centers  • Align Bottom Edges If you don’t see the Inspector, click Inspector in the layout bar.
Distribute objects horizontally or vertically the same way on different tab panels	Shift-click a tab panel and shift-click to select objects. In the Inspector, click Position. In the Arrange & Align area, click Distribute Horizontally or Distribute Vertically .
Make objects on different tab panels the same size	Shift-click a tab panel and shift-click to select objects. In the Inspector, click Position. In the Arrange & Align area, click one of the following:  • Resize to Smallest Width  • Resize to Smallest Height  • Resize to Smallest Width and Height  • Resize to Largest Width  • Resize to Largest Height  • Resize to Largest Width and Height
Copy an object	Select an object, choose Edit menu > Copy, then choose Edit menu > Paste.
Delete an object	Select an object:  • Choose Edit menu > Clear  • Or press Backspace or Delete
Format an object	See Formatting and setting up field objects in Layout mode

Notes

•	When you print a form, only the front tab panel is printed.

•	When you check spelling, only the text on the front tab panel will be checked.

•	If you save records as an Excel file, only fields that are on the front tab panel will be saved. If you want more control over which fields appear in the Excel file, then use Export Records instead.

•	The objects in a tab panel have their own stacking order within that tab panel. For information on stacking order, see Moving objects forward or backward on a layout.

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You can define a custom tab order for objects within a tab panel. However, when you press the Tab key, you navigate only to objects on the tab panel that is in front. If you want to automate navigation to another tab panel, use the Go To Field script step and specify a target field that is on the panel you want to bring to the front. For general information on tab order, see Setting the tab order for data entry.

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If a script step specifies a field in a tab panel that is not in front, the specified field is selected and the tab panel it is in moves to the front of the tab control. If, however, the same field appears elsewhere on the layout and the script finds that field first, the tab panel with that same field will not come forward. Instead, assign an object name to the field and use the Go to Object script step to move to that instance of the field.

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If you want fields on a tab panel to resize with the tab panel, you must specify resize settings for both the tab panel and fields located inside it. If a tab panel is not set to resize, objects inside it will not resize regardless of their individual resize settings. For more information, see Setting auto-resize options for layout objects.

•	You can format the appearance of one or more tab panels to be conditional (for example, format a tab panel to appear red when a certain condition is met). See Defining conditional formatting for layout objects.

Related topics 

Drawing and inserting objects on a layout

Placing and removing fields on a layout

Selecting and working with objects on a layout

Formatting tab controls