When a text-based object is placed on a report, the object is represented by an object frame. The height of the object frame is based on the height of the font. The width, however, is determined differently, depending on the object you are working on.
Whether the default widths are accepted or the text-based objects are resized, a problem could arise if the text inside the object prints right to the edge of the object frame. While the report may look fine on the machine it was designed on, when the report is printed using another printer driver that measures the font wider, the length of the text grows, but the object frame remains fixed. The resulting text is cut-off or truncated.
Database Fields
For database fields that are not memo fields, the width is initially determined by the width of the field as defined in the database, and by the average character width as provided by the selected font and font size.
For example, you have a database field called {customer.LAST NAME} and your database defines this field as a text field with a length of 35 characters. When you place this field on your report, the width of the boundary is 35 times the average character width of the font and font size that the database field is formatted to. Remember that this is the initial default boundary width. The width can always be resized to increase or decrease as you see fit.
Text-based Objects
For text-based objects, the default width is approximately 17 average character widths wide. Objects are different from database fields in that their width automatically expands as you enter in text and/or database fields into the object. As with all other text-based objects, the width can be resized by the user.
Number Fields
For different number fields (double, single, integer, long integer, and byte) the default widths are all different. As with all text-based objects, the width can be resized by the user.
To prevent the truncation of text inside an object
The object is then formatted to print on multiple lines. If the text prints wider than the object, the text wraps onto additional lines.