Introduction to PowerBuilder

Changing the Record Height Automatically

Let's explain it with the help of an example. Take the table book_details that stores details about books. It has a column 'comments', which is of string datatype and allows 256 characters. When you create a DataWindow for this table, you have to make sure that the data in this column fits properly. The space taken by 256 characters on report is a lot. In there, some records may not have data, i.e., no comments. Painting the DataWindow with a fixed amount of space would waste paper.

For situations like these, PowerBuilder provided a special property called 'AutoSize Height' in the Position tab page. If this property is selected, PowerBuilder automatically adjusts the record size depending on the contents of the column. If there is no data in the column, it takes only one line. If there is text, it would take the space required to accommodate the text. Cool feature, Isn't it?

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