10. A method in a computer system for formatting data in an edit field, the computer system having windows for inputting and displaying data and having an application program that supports editing, the application program providing a rich text edit control for implementing the behavior of the edit field, the method comprising the computer-implemented steps of: displaying the edit field in an open dialog window; displaying data in the edit field according to a first format; and without closing the dialog window, altering the content of the displayed data; determining a second format for displaying the data in the edit field; and using the rich text edit control, re-displaying the data in the edit field according to the determined second format.
10. A method in a computer system for formatting data in an edit field, the computer system having windows for inputting and displaying data and having an application program that supports editing, the application program providing a rich text edit control for implementing the behavior of the edit field, the method comprising the computer-implemented steps of: displaying the edit field in an open dialog window; displaying data in the edit field according to a first format; and without closing the dialog window, altering the content of the displayed data; determining a second format for displaying the data in the edit field; and using the rich text edit control, re-displaying the data in the edit field according to the determined second format. 12. The method of claim 10 wherein the step of determining a second format determines paragraph attributes.