orientation

Defines the direction of text on a form. This option is typically used for bidirectional languages, such as Arabic and Hebrew.

For example, if you set your form's locale to bidirectional (xml:lang) , the dominant orientation of the form is right-to-left. However, e-mail addresses and URLs are always displayed left-to-right. Therefore, if you want users to enter their e-mail address into a field, you would need to use the orientation option to change the direction of the text from right-to-left to left-to-right.

This setting also affects the following options in the same item:

To affect the text only, use direction.

Syntax

<orientation>direction</orientation>

Table 1. orientation parameters
Parameter	Type	Description
direction	rtl ltr	Optional. Sets the orientation as Right-To-Left. Optional. Sets the orientation as Left-To-Right.

Available in

button, check, checkgroup, combobox, field, global, global, globalpage, label, list, popup, radio, radiogroup, richtext, pane, slider, table, toolbar.

Example

This following example shows a form using a bidirectional language, and the orientation option to set the text orientation in the field to Left-to-Right direction. The label is using the xml:lang orientation Right-To-Left and the e-mail address field is using the orientation of Left-To-Right.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<XFDL xmlns:xfdl="http://www.ibm.com/xmlns/prod/XFDL/8.0 
   xml:lang="ar-XX">
...
   <label sid="FIELD1_LABEL1">
      <itemlocation>
         <x>160</x>
         <y>108</y>
      </itemlocation>
      <value>E-mail address:</value>
   </label>
   <field sid="FIELD1">
      <orientation>ltr</orientation>
      <scrollhoriz>wordwrap</scrollhoriz>
      <value></value>
   </field>

Usage details

Default: Based on the orientation of the immediate parent. If not set, or no parent, Right-To-Left (rtl) for bidirectional locales, Left-To-Right (ltr) for other locales. If no locale specified, Left-To-Right (ltr).
Child items, such as cell, and help, can inherit the default value of their parent.
The orientation option does not apply to data presented by secondary functions invoked by the item. For example, data presented by the viewer.messageBox function, file name data presented in enclosure dialogs, file dialogs, and data presented in signing ceremonies.