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Adding Custom Spacing


ksulliv1

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Hi, is it possible using JS to add extra space that is less than a standard space? So can I set the area to be "x" amount of points instead of one space, or decimal of an inch value? I know to add a space it would just be + '< >' but I am wondering about something like + '<&2pts;>' or + '<&.0312in;>' or similar.

 

Thanks,

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but I am wondering about something like + '<&2pts;>' or + '<&.0312in;>' or similar.

Ha! That's certainly creative, but I don't think tagging is quite so robust. ;)

 

I would suggest using the tracking tag to sandwich the character(s) -- including spaces -- that you want to adjust and then apply a negative or positive tracking amount to tweak the space to your preference. Check out page 48 of the Tags Reference Guide.

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Oh ok then let me elaborate a little more about what I am trying to do. I am creating a bus card template with the possibility for three phone numbers. And I have a drop down list for each number to select what type of number it is (Office, Cell, Fax or None) and a rule created for each of the three drop downs to add either a prefix of "o", "c", "f" or "" depending on the user selection. And I have a space between the prefix and the number in the text editor, so it would look like this:

 

<<PhoneType1Rule>> <<Phone1>>

<<PhoneType2Rule>> <<Phone2>>

<<PhoneType3Rule>> <<Phone3>>

 

And the card would look like this:

 

o 616-212-3214

c 616-212-5532

f 616-212-4578

 

and as you can see the office and cell numbers line up nicely, however because the character "f" is narrower, the fax number is a little left of the other two. Even though there is an equal space in between the rule and the phone field in all three. If I add an additional space to the rule where it applies for the f in fax, it moves it over to the right a little to far and looks like this:

 

o 616-212-3214

c 616-212-5532

f 616-212-4578 sorry the site won't honor the second sapce here so it is not to far to the right in this example

 

So somehow I need to get all three numbers to line up vertically, with the whole mess being left aligned so that the left edge of all three prefixes also line up vertically. So the custom spacing needs to be tied to the instance of the rule where the user selects "Fax" in the dropdown list. And since the loaction of that choice may change from one user to the next, it can't be tied to just one of the three lines.

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Business cards shouldn't be so complicated, should they? I had a problem similar to this with a business card project of my own.

 

In your scenario, it looks as though you could get by with tabs. Instead of messing with spaces between the letter and the number, add a tab to your tagged output.

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Kent,

 

Have you tried a simple TAB with a custom tab-stop setting?

 

In the variable text editor, enter the 3 lines you have there for the variables but enter a tab (with the TAB key) instead of a space between the label and the number variables.

 

Then customize the tab spacing (maybe .25" or whatever you want) by pressing the "Tabs" button there in the variable text editor.

 

If I understand what you are looking to achieve, this might be the quickest solution.

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Ok I am trying to apply a tab to do this but I don't seem to know what I am doing. I have removed the spaces typed between the labels and the phone numbers and used a tab (Tab key) instead. Then I clicked the Tabs... button in the text editor and changed the default tab from .5in to .1875in (3/16") using the change button, but it doesn't seem to matter what I "change" the default tab to be, it remains a half inch in the text field. How do I make the tab stop to be three sixteenths?
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Kent,

 

As I'm sure you have seen, FusionPro has a tabstop precision of thousandths of an inch as opposed to ten-thousandths (so .1875" becomes .188). I hope this is sufficient for your job.

 

Check to make sure that .188" from the left-margin isn't a position that is on top of the label for the phone number (the o, c, or f characters you have there). If FusionPro goes to the first tabstop (.188" from left margin) and there is text there (like the phone label), FusionPro goes to the next tabstop (which is .376" in this example).

 

Also, ensure you select all the lines that this tabstop should be applied to in the variable text editor.

 

I've attached 2 screenshots that show a correct tabstop application as well as an undesirable result where a second tabstop was added (because the label for the phone number was at the first tabstop location).

 

I would try increasing the tabstop slightly to see if you can get a position and result that gives you the layout you are looking for.

 

hth

tabs-correct.thumb.jpg.f50e88d9bee088848ab3182f5860f591.jpg

tabs-incorrect.thumb.jpg.d719050757635e73ea0f044ac222c1ab.jpg

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Ok got it. My error was that I wasn't selecting the items in the editor window before going in to the tabs dialog and making changes. I thought that once you went in and made a change to the default tab setting, every time you used the tab key in the text editor window it applied that automatically. Once I saw your post and started clicking between the label and the number variables, hitting the tab key, and then leaving the curser active in the editor window while clicking the tabs button and making the changes, it worked as it should. It would be nice to have a video tutorial in the library walking through this process. And unless I was looking in the wrong spot (page 185), the information in the user guide for this feature was not very helpful either.

 

Just a simple USER ERROR! Thanks for the help

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