Fastest, simplest way to apply a span class?

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Phlawm53
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Fastest, simplest way to apply a span class?

Post by Phlawm53 »

In Flare 6, I have a custom span class called UserInterface. It formats text with the same font and font style as that used in a particular product's user interface.

Applying this custom span class in the multiple places it's needed is a pain in the [wrist]! I must (1) carefully highlight the text, right-click, (2) choose Span Class, (3) select the UserInterface span class. These three steps are labour intensive when citing bunches of u.i. elements.
  • Is there a faster "out of the box" way to apply span classes in Flare 6?
  • Is this a valid enhancement request, or is the need too narrow to be of general benefit?
  • Might a better attack be a general purpose macro facility?
Cheers & thanks,
Riley
Andrew
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Joined: Fri Feb 10, 2006 5:37 am

Re: Fastest, simplest way to apply a span class?

Post by Andrew »

1) Highlight the text you want to add a span to.

2) Press Ctrl - Shift - H. The Style Picker pops up.

3) Start typing span.UserInterface -- it selects as you type.

4) When your class is selected, press Enter. The style class is applied and the Style Picker closes.

Alternately, if you are more a mouse person, go to View > Style Window (or press F12). This gives you a style window that displays the valid styles. You can pin it to your workspace and when you highlight your text for a span, simply click span.UserInterface.

Personally, I like the Style Picker, but I'm a keyboard person when it comes to editing while I'm typing.

Oh, one note: this is a annoying behavior when dealing with applying span classes: if you select an entire paragraph, Flare thinks you want to do paragraph formatting, so it won't show you the span (or any other character-based) classes; it only shows block-level classes. You have to put on an extra space, highlight everything except that space, and then you'll see the character styles.
Flare v6.1 | Capture 4.0.0
Phlawm53
Sr. Propeller Head
Posts: 442
Joined: Tue Mar 16, 2010 10:58 am
Location: San Francisco, CA
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Re: Fastest, simplest way to apply a span class?

Post by Phlawm53 »

Andrew:

Yes!

I too prefer driving a program from the keyboard whenever possible. So I was delighted to learn of this particular feature.

Cheers & thanks much,
Riley
Lalitha
Jr. Propeller Head
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Joined: Thu May 05, 2011 7:59 am

Re: Fastest, simplest way to apply a span class?

Post by Lalitha »

This was very useful, thanks!
shwetae
Propeller Head
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Joined: Wed Jul 21, 2010 1:20 pm
Location: Pune,India

Re: Fastest, simplest way to apply a span class?

Post by shwetae »

A very useful and easy trick to apply the styles
Thanks Andrew

Cheers
Shweta
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