nudge with arrows in a table

[jjohnsonace]

HI Everyone,

This is probably a really silly question, but that has never stopped me before.

I am working with objects in a table cell and I cannot nudge them with my arrow keys.

Instead, the arrow keys take me to other cells in the table.

I must be unaware of some CTL key combination? Shift? Tilda?

I can use the alignment toolbar, but I still want to be able to "nudge" the location of fields within a table cell while I am working on the form.

Thanks,

Joe

[Former Community Member]

When you drop an object in a table cell it will take up the entire space in the cell - so it is not nudgable(thats a marketing term ). You woudl have to wrap it in a positioned subform and then shrink the size of the field before you can move it. BTW I do not recommend doing that in a table.

Make sense?

Paul

[jjohnsonace]

HI Paul,

Thanks.

You are correct. I do put subforms into the table cells and then I put fields into those subforms. (I have always felt that this was awkward, but I don't know how to do it more elegantly/correctly.) (Your suggestions are most welcome )

Also, even though this is an admittedly bad design, when I do it, I still cannot nudge those fields within those subforms. (?)

I think I use this approach because I want to take advantage of reproducing the rows dynamically and I have more fields than will fit on a standard table row. So...the subform lets me stack/arrange all the fields I need.

Why is it incorrect to put subforms into table cells? What is a better way?

Sorry. I know that was not my original question in this post.

Thanks,

Joe

Joe Johnson

Senior Instructional Designer

ACE Private Risk Services

Cell: 973.224.1388

[Former Community Member]

Putting more than one object in a cell has an impact on performance ...I do not know the specifics but I do know that performance is affected by it.

Paul

[jjohnsonace]

Hi Paul,

I understand what you are saying and I think that maybe I should start another post and explain why I put so many objects into a table cell.

For example...

I need to show automobiles in a dynamic table...one per row. Each automobile may have one or more drivers (with traits like Name, License # and so on). And each auto may also have more than one lienholder with traits or have more than one coverage (like glass, collision, bodily injury).

So...I sometimes even put (dynamic) tables into (dynamic) tables, (!) because I don't know how many cars the user will want to enter and then I don't know, for any given car, how many drivers there will be or how many lienholders or if there will be any lienholders at all.

Sorry. I don't mean to squeeze your brain, but I guess it might be helpful for other forum readers to discuss the design possibilities for cases like this?

Thus far, my forms have held up to use in the real world, but you have me worried that I am making something needlessly complex. I just want to do it correctly and I especially want to ensure that my designs are sturdy.

Thanks,

Joe

[Former Community Member]

With something as complex as that I woudl not use a table .....I woudl build my own subform structures for that.

paul