Introduction to Blocks
Blocks were introduced into PTC Arbortext Layout Developer in Version 10. They support the Arbortext Styler integration and provide another level of formatting structure on top of paragraphs. Blocks are a common feature of stylesheet tools such as CSS and are used extensively in Arbortext Styler. There is a slight difference in their use between the two products:
• PTC Arbortext Layout Developer sees blocks as containers for content into which paragraph content can be output
This is a similar definition to that used in CSS or XSL-FO.
• In Arbortext Styler blocks are used as the paragraph container
The Formatting Object Model (FOM) provides the fBlock object in the Formatting family of objects. Other related objects represent the parts of a block when it is formatted:
• fBlockColumn — a column inside a block
• fBlockRow — a block row
A horizontal division of a block when it is broken, for example by a page break
• fBlockRegion — a block region
An individual text container within a block’s columns
Refer to
Block Structure for information on a block’s structure.
Blocks are useful because they provide property inheritance. Formatting properties applied to a block pass to its children, for example paragraphs or other blocks. Blocks also provide powerful column configuration and control.