Function documentationMaintaining Forms with the Form Builder

 

You use the graphical user interface in the Form Builder to define your Smart Form.

Integration

The user interface of the Form Builder consists of three work areas (see screen capture):

  • Navigation tree (left); clearly displays general attributes and all other output elements of the form

  • Maintenance screen (middle); allows you to maintain the attributes of the navigation tree nodes

  • Form Painter (right); allows you to maintain the layout of your form. If you do not need the Form Painter, you can suppress it by choosing Form Painter on / off.

    On the maintenance screen additional graphical tools are integrated, depending on the individual node type:

  • The PC Editor for text nodes

  • The Table Painter for tables and template nodes (see screen capture)

Features

Navigation

There are several ways of changing the contents of the maintenance screen:

  • If you double-click a node in the navigation tree, the system displays the corresponding maintenance screen. Depending on the node type, the selection of tabs may vary. In addition, the relevant output area in the Form Painter is highlighted.

  • If you single-click an output area in the Form Painter, the corresponding node in the navigation tree is highlighted. In addition, the system displays the maintenance screen for this node.

  • If you double-click a cell of a line type in the Table Painter, you go to the first node in the Form Builder that uses this line type.

Updating the Display

Some settings you make graphically in the Form Painter are copied directly to the maintenance screen. For example, if you use the mouse to change the size of an output area, the system immediately copies these new values into the fields Width and Height on the Output Options tab. However, if you change attributes in the maintenance screen, they take effect in the Form Painter or navigation tree only after you press RETURN.

Service Functions

The Form Builder offers the following service functions:

  • A field list that contains all fields of the Smart Form

  • An error list that helps you localize errors in the definition of the Smart Form

    Note Note

    See also: Field List and Error List

    End of the note.

  • You can undo changes to the form description step by step (see: Undo/Redo)

  • You can store a form or a subtree locally and reload it (see: Downloading and Uploading Forms)

  • You can choose Start of the navigation path Utilities Next navigation step Back to Active Version End of the navigation path to return to the last active version of your form. However, any changes you made since then are lost.