Database Reference
In-Depth Information
UP TO SPEED: COLOR MY WORLD (WITH 16 MILLION COLORS)
What kind of data is a
color
? The explanation isn't very, er, colorful. FileMaker understands
16,777,216 distinct colors, each subtly different from the one before, and numbered from 0 to
16,777,215. Unfortunately,
learning
all those colors by number is beyond the reach of even the most
bored developer. So FileMaker uses a standard (albeit entirely unintuitive) method of specifying a
color as a mixture of component colors—red, green, and blue—with varying intensities.
Each parameter to the RGB function is a number, from 0 to 255. The number says how intense—or
bright—the component color should be. A zero in the first parameter means red doesn't enter into
the equation at all. The number 255 means FileMaker should crank the red component to the max.
The RGB function returns a number, identifying one of those 16-odd million choices. To make it
doubly confusing for anyone who doesn't have a degree in computer programming or television re-
pair, the RGB system deals with red, green, and blue as sources of
light
, not the more intuitive red-
yellow-blue primary colors of paints and pigments.
When colored lights mix (like those little pixels on a monitor), red and green make…yellow. In oth-
er words, to FileMaker and other RGB experts, it makes perfect sense to see bright yellow as the
following:
RGB (255 ; 255 ; 0)
If, like most people, you don't think of colors as numbers, there are tools that can tell you the RGB
numbers of any hue on your screen.
If you use a Mac, you have just such a tool in the Utilities folder (in your Applications folder). It's
called Digital Color Meter. Launch the application and then, from the pop-up menu in its window
choose “Display in Generic RGB.” The numbers now show the proper red (R), green (G), and blue
(B) values for any color you point to on your screen. For example, in the status area (in Layout
mode), pop open the Fill Color menu and then point to any of the colors there to see the RGB equi-
valent.
In Windows, you can see RGB colors in the standard color picker window. Just go to Layout mode
and then, in the status area, click the Fill Color button. Choose Other Color. When you click a color,
you see the red, green, and blue values listed in the window's bottom-right corner.
If FileMaker can't find the specific font you've asked for, then it selects another font in the
specified script, so if you're on an English-based system and need to select a Chinese font,
this parameter can help. (If you don't specify a script, FileMaker automatically uses the
standard script on your computer. That's why you rarely have to worry about it—you auto-
matically get what you probably want.)
