About formatting panels and panel stacks

When you insert a panel stack into a document or dashboard, its formatting is determined by the control default for panel stacks. Each control type (text field, selector, panel stack, and so on) has a control default, which contains a full set of formatting properties to specify the default format.

Note: Formatting a filter panel, which is a type of panel stack that contains only selectors, is the same as formatting a panel stack.

You can change the formatting of each new panel stack as desired. You can use different interfaces to define the formatting. Which interface you use depends on your personal preference and what options you want to change. For more information, see Methods to format a panel stack below.

For panel stacks, you can apply different formats to different parts of the control. The following table summarizes the formatting options available for each part of a panel stack.

Panel Stack Part	Formatting Options
Container The object that holds the actual control	Borders, including 3D borders, drop shadows, and rounded corners (Flash only), as well as standard border options such as color and style
Title bar (Optional) Displays a title to identify the panel	Font Background color options, including gradients
Individual panels The different pages or layers of information in a panel stack	Background color options, including gradients

Methods to format a panel stack

You can change the formatting and other properties for panels and panel stacks by using any of the following methods:

For layout properties (such as name, position, and size) and properties specific to selectors such as action type and targets, use the Properties and Formatting dialog box. For panel stacks, these properties include position, size, and title bar information. For panels, these properties include the name. All other properties are defined for the panel stack as a whole.
For the border style of the panel stack and the background fill of the current panel, use the Format options in the Properties dialog box. You can also set a gradient color, which is a gradual color change between two colors, for the current panel.
For easy access to the following, use the Formatting toolbar:
- Background fill for the current panel.
- Line color for the current panel.
- Borders of the panel stack.
Right-click options for alignment, sizing, and ordering options.

The Formatting toolbar is the easiest to use, although it does not contain all of the available formatting options. The Properties dialog box provides all of the formatting options you will use to format panel stacks.