Sections
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Overview
Within a document, there is often a need for groupings of content on a basis larger than a paragraph (for example, ensuring that a specific set of paragraphs and tables are printed in a landscape view, while ensuring that the remainder of the document is printed in a portrait view). In order to group this content, a document can be divided into multiple sections, each of which defines a region of content in the document and allows the application of a set of section-level properties.
Definition
A document contains at least one section. A section is a sequence of contiguous paragraphs within a sub-document’s text buffer. To delimit document sections, the end of a section is marked by a specific section break (or by the final paragraph’s end mark at the end of the document). The boundaries of sections mark locations where the layout rules for a document (the page size and orientation, the size of columns, text of headers and footers, the availability and display of page numbers, etc.) are changed.
A section is a logical unit that contains settings specific for its different elements and that defines to which text buffer interval these settings should be applied. Programmatically, a section is implemented as the Section client object. A list of section objects in the document can be accessed through the sectionsInfo client property (RichEditDocument.sectionsInfo) in the following notation:
clientRichEditName.document.sectionsInfo
A section defines the following settings.
Start position (Section.start)
A position in a sub-document text buffer where the section’s first paragraph starts.
Length (Section.length)
The number of characters in a section within the text buffer.
Element properties
Page properties
Page-specific formatting settings such as the page size and orientation.
Column properties (SectionColumn)
Column-specific formatting settings such as the column size.
Header/footer properties (Section.headers, Section.headers)
Formatting settings specific to headers or footers.
Client API
The following client commands are available for manipulating sections and their settings. Call the commands in the notation given below:
clientRichEditName.commands.commandName.execute(parameter_if_any)
| Command Name | Link | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Page | ||
| changePageMargins | RichEditCommands.changePageMargins | Gets a command to apply page margins settings to sections located within a selected range. |
| changePageOrientation | RichEditCommands.changePageOrientation | Gets a command to apply page orientation settings to sections located within a selected range. |
| changePageSize | RichEditCommands.changePageSize | Gets a command to apply page size settings to sections located within a selected range. |
| Columns | ||
| changeSectionColumns | RichEditCommands.changeSectionColumns | Gets a command to apply column layout settings to a section. |
| changeSectionEqualColumnCount | RichEditCommands.changeSectionEqualColumnCount | Gets a command to change the number of columns having the same width in a section. |
| Header/Footer | ||
| setDifferentFirstPageHeaderFooter | RichEditCommands.setDifferentFirstPageHeaderFooter | Gets a command to enable (or disable if it is enabled) a different page header and footer for the first page of the current section. |
| Dialogs | ||
| openPageMarginsDialog | RichEditCommands.openPageMarginsDialog | Gets a command to invoke the Margins tab of the Page Setup dialog window. |
| openPagePaperSizeDialog | RichEditCommands.openPagePaperSizeDialog | Gets a command to invoke the Paper tab of the Page Setup dialog window. |
| openSectionColumnsDialog | RichEditCommands.openSectionColumnsDialog | Gets a command to invoke the Columns dialog window. |
| setPageSizeDialog | RichEditCommands.setPageSizeDialog | Gets a command to invoke the Page Setup dialog. |