# FormattedText Learn how to set the background, border, visibility, etc. for the FormattedText control in ActiveReports to perform the mail merge operations. ## Content The FormattedText report control can perform mail merge operations, plus it displays richly formatted text in HTML. To format text in the FormattedText report control, enter HTML code into the **Html** property. > type=note > **Note**: All text written in the **Html** property must be enclosed in the **\\** tags. The design-time editor displays the HTML text with the applied formatting, so you can view the text just as it will be displayed on the preview. ## Important Properties By clicking on the FormattedText control, you can set its properties in the Properties window. | **Property** | **Description** | | --- | --- | | AccessibleDescription | Enter the alternative description of the control for use by accessibility client application. The property on exporting the report adds the ‘alternative text’ in PDF and ‘alt’ attribute in HTML. | | EncodeMailMergeFields | Select whether you want to encode mail merge fields or not. | | Html | Enter HTML code to format text. | | MailMergeFields | Add new mail merge fields to the FormattedText. | | Size | Set the Width and Height of the FormattedText control. | ## FormattedText Dialog Properties You can set the FormattedText properties in the FormattedText dialog. To open it, with the FormattedText selected on the report, under the Properties window, click the **Property dialog** link. ### General **Name**: Enter a name for the FormattedText that is unique within the report. This name can be called in code. You can only use underscore (\_) as a special character in the Name field. Other special characters such as period (.), space ( ), forward slash (/), backslash (\\), exclamation (!), and hyphen (-) are not supported. **Tooltip**: A textual label for the report item used to include TITLE or ALT attributes in HTML reports. ### Visibility **Initial visibility** * **Visible**: The FormattedText is visible when the report runs. * **Hidden**: The FormattedText is hidden when the report runs. * **Expression**: Use an expression with a Boolean result to decide whether the FormattedText is visible. True for hidden, false for visible. **Visibility can be toggled by another report item**: Select this check box to display a toggle image next to another report control. This enables the drop-down box below where you can specify the TextBox control that toggles the visibility of the FormattedText. The user can click the toggle item to show or hide this FormattedText. ### Navigation **Document map label**: Enter an expression to use as a label to represent this item in the table of contents (document map). **Bookmark ID**: Enter an expression to use as a locator for this FormattedText. You will then be able to provide a bookmark link to this item from another report control using a **Jump to bookmark** action. ### Appearance **Background** **Color**: Select a color to use for the background of the FormattedText. **Image**: Add an image to use for the background of the FormattedText. **Border** **Style**: Select a style for the border. **Width**: Enter a value in points to set the width of the border. **Color**: Select a color to use for the border, or select the **** option to open the Expression Editor and create an expression that evaluates to a .NET color. ### Data Output **Element Name**: Enter a name to be used in the XML output for this FormattedText report control. **Output**: Choose **Auto**, **Yes**, **No,** or **Contents Only** to decide whether to include this FormattedText in the XML output. Choosing **Auto** exports the contents of the FormattedText report control. ### Mail Merge Check on the **Encode Mail Merge Fields** option to encode mail merge fields. Click the plus sign button to add a new mail merge field to the FormattedText, and delete them using the X button. **Field**: Enter a name for the field that is unique within the report. This is used in the Html property inside <%FieldName%> tags to display the field in the formatted text. **Value**: Enter an expression to pull data into the control for mail merge operations. Here is a very simple example of HTML code that you can use to add mail merge fields to formatted text. This example assumes that you have added two mail merge fields named **Field1** and **Field2**. ```html

This is <%Field1/%> and this is <%Field2/%>.

``` ## Supported HTML Tags and Attributes The FormattedText control supports almost all HTML tags and attributes from the XHTML 1.1 specification (see [https://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml11/](https://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml11/) for details) with some extensions to partially support the HTML5 specification (see [https://www.w3.org/TR/2011/WD-html5-20110405/](https://www.w3.org/TR/2011/WD-html5-20110405/) for details). Additionally, the FormattedText control supports many (but not all) CSS styles. For example, the FormattedText control supports these HTML tags and attributes. If you use valid HTML tags that are not in the list below, ActiveReports ignores them. > type=warning > **Caution**: To enter **&** in the HTML property, you need to use **&**. Supported HTML Tags and Attributes | **HTML Tags** | **Attributes** | **Description** | | --- | --- | --- | | **<%MergeFieldName/%>** | | **Inserts a mail merge field.** | |