block

This element is used to organize content within containers. Blocks can only be nested within container elements.

Blocks may not have a visual representation or have a border around them.

Block layout

Syntax

The element declaration begins with ?block=[name] statement and ends with &block statement. These statements must be placed on separate lines.

name attribute is used as a reminder of the block’s purpose; for example, “First column”. This is an optional attribute - you can use the same name for multiple blocks or just omit it. The name is not displayed on the form.

Never add empty lines after the opening ?block= statement. Doing so will result in an error when rendering a form.

Attributes

The block element can be customized by adding optional attributes to it.

An attribute is written as [attribute_name]=[value]. Each attribute must be placed on a new line immediately after the opening ?block= statement or another attribute, and must begin with a tab character.

Attribute	Default value	Description	Usage example
column	1	The number of the column in which the block will be placed. This number must not exceed the number of columns of the parent container element.	`column=2`
border	none	Whether to draw a border around the block. `none` - no border. `square` - draw a rectangular border. `rounded` - draw a rectangular border with rounded corners.	`border=square`
border_size	3	Width of the block borders.	`border_size=10`
border_color	black	Color of the block borders. Can be picked from one of the supported values.	`border_color=red`
border_top_style	inherits border_size and border_color	Override the width and color of the element’s top border in `<border width> <border color>` format. Specify `none` to remove the top border.	`border_top_style=10 red`
border_bottom_style	inherits border_size and border_color	Override the width and color of the element’s bottom border in `<border width> <border color>` format. Specify `none` to remove the bottom border.	`border_bottom_style=10 red`
border_left_style	inherits border_size and border_color	Override the width and color of the element’s left border in `<border width> <border color>` format. Specify `none` to remove the left border.	`border_left_style=10 red`
border_right_style	inherits border_size and border_color	Override the width and color of the element’s right border in `<border width> <border color>` format. Specify `none` to remove the right border.	`border_right_style=10 red`
is_clipped	false	If set to `true`, the content of the block is stored as a image during recognition, similar to the write_in element. The image can be can be passed to optical character recognition library, such as Aspose.OCR, or saved. If the block contains OMR elements, they will be recognized even if this attribute is set to `true`.	`is_clipped=true`
background_color	no fill	Background color of the block element. Can be picked from one of the supported values.	`background_color=red`
height	Automatically adjust height to fit content	Set fixed block height, in pixels.	`height=200`
horizontal_padding	20	Set the left and right padding of the block, in pixels.	`horizontal_padding=40`
vertical_padding	20	Set the top and bottom padding of the block, in pixels.	`vertical_padding=40`
overflow	Inherit the global page settings	Define how to clip and wrap elements inside the block: `noclip` - overflow content is displayed outside of the block boundaries; `clip` - the content outside of the horizontal and vertical boundaries of the block will be invisible; `wrap` - the content that does not match the block’s bounds will automatically appear in the next column. See Clipping and wrapping block content for details.	`overflow=noclip`

Allowed child elements

All, except for block.

Clipping and wrapping block content

When designing OMR forms, you may run into a situation where the content does not fit inside the block. The handling of these edge cases is performed through the use of overflow attribute.

This attribute overrides the global page setting for the specific block.

`overflow=noclip`

Overflow content is rendered outside the block boundaries. This can result in content overlapping with other elements or being clipped at page boundaries.

This is the default rendering method.

Do not clip content

`overflow=clip`

Overflow content will be invisible. Cropping will be done both horizontally and vertically. This may result in some content (images, bubbles, text, and so on) not being presented in the rendered OMR form.

Do not clip content

`overflow=wrap`

Content that does not fit inside the block will automatically appear in the next column. This rendering method only applies to multi-column layouts and cannot slice monolithic elements such as images and barcodes.

Move overlapping content on the next column

Examples

Check out the code examples to see how block elements can be used and combined with each other.

Two-column layout

?container=Two-column
	columns_count=2
?block=Column 1-1
	column=1
	border=none
?paragraph=
?content=First column, first block.
&paragraph
&block
?block=Column 1-2
	column=1
	border=square
?paragraph=
?content=First column, second block.
&paragraph
&block
?block=Column 2
	column=2
	border=square
	border_size=10
	border_color=blue
?paragraph=
?content=Second column, first block.
&paragraph
&block
&container

Two-column layout

Fake table layout

?container=Two-column
	columns_count=2
	block_right_margin=0
	block_bottom_margin=0
	block_top_padding=0
?block=
	column=1
	border=square
?content=Row 1, cell 1
&block
?block=
	column=1
	border=square
?content=Row 1, cell 2
&block
?block=
	column=2
	border=square
?content=Row 2, cell 1
&block
?block=
	column=2
	border=square
?content=Row 2, cell 2
&block
&container

Fake table layout with container and blocks

container text