Using the RichText presentation style – PB Docs 2018

The RichText presentation style allows you to combine input fields
that represent database columns with formatted text. This presentation
style is useful for display-only reports, especially mail-merge
documents. However, if you want to use the RichText DataWindow object
for data entry, you can specify validation rules and display formats for
the input fields.

In the Design view, you see the text along with placeholders
called input fields:

In the Preview view, the text is the same, but PowerBuilder
replaces the input fields with values from the database:

Document template

The formatted text acts like a document template. There is only
one copy of the text. As the user scrolls from row to row, the data for
the current row is inserted in the input fields and the user sees the
document with the current data. If the user edits the text, the changes
show up in every row of data.

Input fields

In the RichText presentation style, an input field is associated
with a column or computed field. It gets its value from the retrieved
data or from the computed field’s expression.

If an input field is not a computed field and its name does not
match a column, there is no way to specify data for the input
field.

There can be more than one copy of an input field in the rich
text. In the sample above, there are two instances of the field FNAME.
Each instance of the field displays the same data.

Unavailable settings

Not all the settings available in other DataWindow styles are
available. You cannot apply code tables and edit styles, such as a
DropDownDataWindow or EditMask, to input fields. You cannot use slide
left and slide up settings to reposition input fields automatically.
However, you can set the LineRemove property at runtime to achieve a
similar effect.