Table of Contents

Designing a Form

This chapter discusses how to design new forms and edit existing ones in iDocs (flashFORM). iDocs contains numerous tools in design view that let you create fields and objects, define calculations, and decide how your form will look.

This chapter contains the following sections:

The flashFORM\Sample Forms folder contains several sample forms that you can use or redesign for your needs.

 

The Design Process

This section gives a brief overview of how to design a new form. A form can be as simple as you need or as complex as iDocs allows. Although the steps below are not required, they are recommended.

See “ Editing a Form” for information on how you can change existing forms.

To design a new form:

The Design View Window

This section provides an overview of the design view window.

If a form is open in fill view, click the Design button in the fill toolbar or choose Design in the View menu to switch to design view.

To open a shortcut menu, click the right mouse button and choose Design in this menu.

The design view window (after registration) contains five toolbars and seven menus. If you have not registered your product with inFORM Decisions, the window will have eight menus, including one for registration.

The design view window also contains the calculation toolbar. Choose Calculation in the Tools menu to display this toolbar.

Use design view to edit and create fields on an existing form or to create an entirely new form.

The Design View Toolbars

This section describes each toolbar in design view and defines its buttons. There are seven toolbars:

You can drag these toolbars to any other location in the iDocs window. The toolbars remain where you last positioned them, even when you close and reopen the program.

You can also move the toolbars from a horizontal position to a vertical position. In this case, some of the icons may change. See the specific toolbars for information on which icons may change.

Customizing Toolbars

There are several ways to customize the toolbars.

To customize toolbars using the Toolbars tab:

In the Toolbars tab, you can:

  1. select and deselect the toolbars that you want

displayed on your desktop,

  1. select or deselect the Show ToolTips option,
  2. create a new toolbar,
  3. reset a toolbar to its original state, or
  4. delete a toolbar that you have created.

To customize toolbars using the Commands tab:

In the Commands tab, you can customize the toolbars by selecting a toolbar and then dragging its button or buttons to another toolbar.

The Design Toolbar

Use the design toolbar for basic file operations such as saving and printing. Use it also to define and format the fields you create.

All buttons correspond to menu commands of the same name. Note how the Zoom button changes in the vertical position. Refer to the online help for an explanation of each button/menu command.

The Font/Text Toolbar

Use the font/text toolbar to format text. This toolbar is only active when a fill text, comb, comb element, circle text, or table cell object is selected.

The drop-down lists and buttons correspond to options in the Font or Text dialog boxes (choose Font… or Text… in the Format menu). Note how the Font drop-down list and Font Size drop-down list buttons change in vertical position. Each button displays a thumbnail example of how it formats text.

Text entered in fill view displays the formatting that you specify in design view. Refer to online help for an explanation of each button/menu command. See “ Formatting Text” for detailed information on each formatting option.

The Drawing Toolbar

Use the drawing toolbar to create and select objects. See the online help for an explanation of each tool’s function. See “Creating Objects on a Form” for detailed information on using the drawing tools.

The Arrange Toolbar

Use the arrange toolbar to arrange and align objects on a form. Refer to the online help for a brief explanation of each button’s function. These buttons correspond to the Align, Bring to Front, and Send to Back commands in the Format menu.

The last six buttons on the toolbar are only active when multiple objects are selected. Each button gives a thumbnail example of how it aligns objects.

Creating Objects on a Form

This section explains how to create objects on your form. You can create fillable objects that a user fills in fill view, and non-fillable objects such as lines and rectangles that contribute to a form’s design.

This section discusses general creation guidelines and then lists all objects in the same order as they appear in the drawing toolbar. All instructions assume that you are in design view using either a new form or a designed form.

See “Defining Objects on a Form” for information on how to define objects after you create them.

See “Filling a Form,“ for detailed information on how to fill objects (fields) in fill view.

General Creation Guidelines

Use the same basic steps to create most objects. Some require more steps as described in the following sections.

To create an object:

Creating a Text Object

A text object is most often used as a title, label, or header.

Text object used as label the State mapping field or fill text field

To create a text object:

Creating a Line Object

Use a line object to separate sections of a form or as a design element.

To create a line object:

To make sure a line is horizontal or vertical, hold down the Shift key while you draw.

To rotate a line:

Creating an Oval Object

Use an oval object to highlight areas on a form or as a design element.

To create an oval object:

To create a circle, hold down the Shift key as you draw.

Creating a Rectangle Object

Use a rectangle object to highlight areas on a form or as a design element.

To create a rectangle object:

To create a square, hold down the Shift key as you draw.

Adding Graphics to Your Form

You can add graphics to your form by first creating a rectangular object by using the Graphics tool. Then copy, import, or scan graphics into this object. For example, use this feature when you want the same graphic (such as a company logo) to appear in every copy of your form.

To copy a graphic from your original scanned form to your designed form:

Each view window has its own scroll bar so that you can scroll to the same place in each form.You can use the horizontal bar in-between the two windows to resize the view.Your cursor turns into a resize cursor over the bar.

To import a graphic into your form:

To create a square graphic object, hold down the Shift key as you draw.

The Graphic Definition dialog box appears.

To scan a graphic into your form:

To create a square graphic object, hold down the Shift key as you draw.

The Graphic Definition dialog box appears

To define attributes of your graphic object:


Select Scale Proportionally to fit the graphic in the fill graphic field while maintaining its exact proportions.


Select Stretch to Fit to change your graphic’s original shape and size to fit in the fill graphic field.


This option does not maintain a graphic’s original proportions. Depending on the shape of the fill graphic field, your graphic may be stretched or compressed. You might want to use this for special effects.
Select Just Change the Options for this Graphic if the graphic object already contains a graphic. This changes how the graphic appears without reimporting it.
Select Store a Copy of the Graphic with the Form to place a copy of the graphic directly in the form. This increases form size depending on graphic file size. Otherwise, iDocs loads the graphic each time you open the form. If you move the original graphic, iDocs cannot load it and it will not appear in the form until you re-import it.
This option only appears if Graphic File is selected in the Source drop-down list.

Creating a Fill Text Object

Use a fill text field wherever you want to enter text in fill view. Fill text fields are commonly used for information such as name, company, address, comments, and so forth.

To create a fill text object:

To create a square field, hold down the Shift key as you draw.

Creating a Comb Object

Use a comb field to separate information into separate groups of elements while maintaining the field as a whole. This object is used for PC fill applications only. For example, forms used in the United States typically require that you enter zip code numbers in five or nine separate boxes.

To create a comb object:


Many sample forms included with your iDocs package, such as the Objects form, contain comb objects that you can copy and paste into your own form.

Creating a Check Box Object

Use check boxes for Yes/No questions and for selecting one or more choices on a form. This object is used for PC based fill applications only.

To create a check box object:

To create a square check box, hold down the Shift key as you draw.

Creating a Circle Text Object

Use circle text objects for Yes/No questions and for selecting one or more choices on a form. This object is used for PC fill applications only.

To create a circle text object:

To create a circle instead of an oval, hold down the Shift key as you draw.

Creating a Table Object

Use a table to enter information for order forms, invoices, comparison charts, purchase orders, and so forth. This object is used for PC fill applications only.

A table consists of cells. Each cell contains a fill text object by default, with the exception of the header. The header cells contain text objects by default.

You can convert these objects to any other kind of object. You can insert any object in a table cell. Cells can contain multiple objects.

See “ Formatting a Table”, “ Placing Objects in Table Cells”, and “ Breaking a Table Apart” for more information on tables.

To create a table object:

To create a square table, hold down the Shift key as you draw.

Creating a Fill Graphic Object

Use a fill graphic object to allow the person who fills in the form to add a graphic.

This object is used for PC fill applications. For example, suppose you have designed a real estate form that requires a picture of the property. You place a fill graphic object on the form so that the person who fills in the form can add the picture of the property. If, instead, you want to add a graphic to the form, see “ Adding Graphics to Your Form”.

To create a fill graphic object:

To create a square, hold down the Shift key as you draw.

Defining Objects on a Form

This section describes the options in the Object Definition command and how they affect a selected object. The dialog box that appears varies according to the selected object and form language. Each definable object is described in this section in the order it appears in the drawing toolbar.

When you define an object you can:

Give it a unique name that is useful when sorting or searching records, arranging tab order, or defining calculations.

Provide filling options such as a list of possible entries and help messages that appear in fill view.

Set validation options such as whether a field must be filled or can be skipped.

See the previous section, “Creating Objects on a Form” to learn how to create objects. See “International Settings” for information on selecting a form language.

To open a shortcut menu, click the right mouse button over the selected object. Choose Object Definition… in this menu.

The dialog box that appears varies depending on the selected object. See the following sections for descriptions of the definition options available for each type of fillable object in a form.

Defining a Graphic Object

Click the Object Definition button in the design toolbar (or choose Object Definition… in the Format menu) to open the Graphic Definition Dialog box when a graphic object is selected. This dialog box lets you select how you want the graphic object to appear in the fill graphic field. See “ Adding Graphics to Your Form” 66 for detailed information.

Defining a Fill Text Object

Click the Object Definition button in the design toolbar (or choose Object Definition… in the Format menu) to open the Fill Text Definition dialog box when a fill text object is selected. This dialog box allows you to set property, filling, and validation options. The properties tab allows you to:

Provide a name for your field.

Select a field type.

Select a data format and define the format further.

To set property options for fill text objects:

See “ International Settings” for detailed information on selecting a language for a form. \\Select Enclose Negatives in Parentheses to display negative num¬bers within parentheses in the field; for example, -123 would dis¬play as (123).

To set filling options for fill text objects:


The Filling tab lets you:
Enable the AutoFill Wizard to set up automated data entry.
Designate whether a field can be filled.
Set tab stops to allow the user to automatically move to the next field.
Set the length of the allowable characters in a field.
Enter help messages that will appear in the status bar in fill view.

The Can be Filled option, when deselected, overrides the Must be Filled in option when it is selected in the Validation tab.

To set validation options for fill text objects:

The Can be Filled option in the Filling tab, when deselected, overrides the Must be Filled in option when it is selected.

Defining a Comb Object

Choose Object Definition… in the Format menu to open the Comb Definition dialog box when a comb object is selected.

This dialog box contains most of the same options as the Fill Text Definition dialog box, but with these additions:

It contains an Interpret As drop-down list in the Properties tab instead of a Format drop-down list.

It contains an Elements section in the Properties tab.

It contains a Fill Right to Left option in the Filling tab.

These options are described in this section. See “ Defining a Fill Text Object” for detailed information on the other options.

Interpret As drop-down list

The Interpret As selection determines the way information entered in the comb field will be used when searching, sorting, importing, and exporting. Available options vary according to the Type selection.

For example, suppose you select Number in the Type drop-down list and 0.00 in the Interpret As drop-down list. If you enter 1234 in the field in fill view, iDocs would interpret this number as 12.34 even if the comb did not contain a decimal point as a prefill element. A search for 12.34 would return this record.

A specific Interpret As setting is not necessary when you define the correct prefill elements in a comb object, such as a decimal point. iDocs would know the entry in this case is a decimal number even if you select the General option in the Interpret As drop-down list.

Element Options

You have three element options: number of elements, width of elements, and inter-element spacing.

To set the Element options:

Fill Right to Left Option

The Fill Right to Left option allows you to designate whether you want the user to fill the comb elements from right to left.

To set the Fill Right to Left option:

Defining a Comb Element Object

Choose Object Definition… in the Format menu to open the Comb Element Definition dialog box when a comb element is selected.

This dialog box allows you to:

Designate the border height of the element.

Create a prefill element.

Enter a number to designate the amount of allowable numbers for each element.

To define a comb element:

Defining a Check Box Object

Choose Object Definition… in the Format menu to open the Check Box Definition dialog box when a check box object is selected.

This dialog box allows you to set property, filling, and validation options for your selected check box.

To set property options for check boxes:

To set filling options for check boxes:

To set validation options for check boxes:

Defining a Circle Text Object

Choose Object Definition… in the Format menu to open the Circle Text Definition dialog box when a fill circle object is selected.

This dialog box has the same options as the Check Box Definition dialog box. See “ Defining a Check Box Object” for information.

Defining a Table Object

Choose Object Definition… in the Format menu to open the Table Definition dialog box when a table object is selected. This dialog box lets you:

Set tabbing properties so that you can tab either from left to right or top to bottom.

Select the amount and width of columns.

Select the amount and height of rows.

To define a table object:

1. Define the table object. Click the Properties tab and type a unique name in the Name text box.


Each table object must have a unique name. A descriptive name such as Order Information makes a field easy to find when sorting, searching, changing tab order, and so forth.

Defining a Table Cell

A table cell contains a fill text object by default. See “Defining a Fill Text Object” for more information. See any relevant entry in ” Defining Objects on a Form” if the table cell contains another type of object.

A table cell can contain more than one object. It can also contain graphics. See “Placing Objects in Table Cells” for information.

Defining a Fill Graphic Object

Setting Serial Numbers

You can keep track of your form by using serial numbers. You can set serial numbers for fill text objects and comb objects. You define serial numbers in design view and they appear in fill view. As a new record is created in fill view, serial numbers will automatically change by the increment you have entered. You can also use serial numbers in calculations. If you save your form to an older version of iDocs, the serial number fields will convert to a General field type and General format.

To set serial numbers:

Changing Object Appearance on a Form

This section describes the options in the Object Appearance dialog box and how they affect a selected object. See the section “ Creating Objects on a Form” to learn how to create objects.

To change object appearance:

Click the Object Appearance button in the design toolbar or choose Object Appearance… in the Format menu.

To open a shortcut menu, click the right mouse button over the selected object. Choose Object Appearance… in this menu.

Background options

There are four options that affect the background of your form. These are Color, Pattern, Pattern Color, and Clear.

Color

For background color of the object, select a color from the Color drop-down palette.

For custom colors, click More Colors…. The Color dialog box appears. To customize a color, enter a number from 0 to 255 in the text boxes (Hue, Sat, Lum, Red, Green, and Blue). Or, drag the crosshair across the Color box.

See “ Adding Color to your form” for more information about the Color dialog box and how to add color to a form’s background.

As long as your program is open, you can store up to eight custom colors in your Color drop-down palette. Each time you choose a custom color and click OK, the new custom color is stored in the area below the 40-color drop-down palette. This makes it easy to use a variety of custom colors in your form.

You can also change the colors of your object. See “ Adjusting Colors” for more information.

Pattern

For background pattern of the object, select a pattern from the Pattern drop- down list.

Gradient

You can select from Gradient (Horizontal) and Gradient (Vertical).

Select Gradient (Horizontal) to have the background color gradually change to the pattern color, from top to bottom.

Select Gradient (Vertical) to have the background color gradually change to the pattern color, from left to right.

Pattern Color

For a color for the background pattern, select a pattern color from the Pattern Color drop-down list.

Clear

Make sure that Clear is deselected so that your selected colors and pattern appear as the object’s background.

See “ Paint Order” for a description of how paint order affects color and pattern display Border Options

Border options affect the sides of your object. There are six Border options: Color, Style, Weight, Clear, Borders, and Shadow.

Color

For a border color, select a color in the Color drop-down palette. See “Color” for more information about how to choose color.

Style

To change a line style, select Style from the drop-down list. You can select from one continuous line to a variety of dotted line styles.

Weight

To change the border thickness, select Weight from the drop-down list. You can select from a 1- to 12-point thickness.

Clear

Select Clear to hide the border and iDocs will display any paint layers beneath it. See“ Paint Order” for an explanation of how paint order affects border display.

Borders

The Borders section lets you remove borders from your object. The rectangle in the Borders section represents your object. With your object selected, click each side of the Borders rectangle that you want to remove.

To round the corners of the border, select Rounded.

To round or square individual corners, click the corners of the rectangle after selecting Rounded.

To indicate the degree of border curve, enter a measurement from 0 to 14 in the Rounded text box.

Shadows

For a shadow effect, select an option in the Location drop-down list in the Shadow section. To offset the shadow from the border, select the amount of points in the Offset drop-down list.

Fill Line Options

Fill Line options affect fill lines inside an object. There are four Fill line options: Color, Style, Weight, Clear, and Start Fill Line at First Line Indentation.

Options in this tab are only active for selected fill text objects. Text alignment must be set to Top or Exactly in the Text dialog box before fill lines can be set. See “ Formatting Text” for information.

Fill lines appear inside the object much like lines appear on writing paper.

Color

Select a color for the fill lines in the Color drop-down palette. See “ Color” for more information about how to choose color.

Style

Select a line style in the Style drop-down list. See “Style” for more information.

Weight

Select line thickness in the Weight drop-down list. See “ Weight” for more information.

Clear

Deselect Clear to display the fill lines.

See “ Paint Order” for information on how paint order affects fill line display.

Start Fill Line at First Line Indentation

Select Start Fill Line at First Line Indentation to indent the first fill line the same amount as the first line of text entered in the field.

See “ To format the placement of text objects” for more information.

Visible Options

Visible options pertain to how you want the selected object to appear to the user.

Display

Select how you want the selected object to appear to the user.

Select Always if you want the field/object to always appear on screen and when printed.

Select Never if you do not want the field/object to appear in fill view. However as the designer of the form, you can see the object in design view.

Select Print Only if you want the field/object to appear on the printed form, but not on the screen.

Select Screen Only when you want the field/object to appear on the screen, but not when printed.

Paint Order

iDocs uses a specific paint order. For example, a table object itself is painted first, then the cells inside the table, and then objects inside the cell. This makes it possible to have three layers of paint. The last layer painted in an object overrides all other layers. Because objects inside a cell are painted last, they will cover up the cells and portions of the table.

If an object’s background or border is Clear, however, then that part of the object is transparent and an object painted below can show through. You can use the Send to Back and Bring to Front commands in the Format menu to change paint order.

Adding Color to a Form

You can add color to the background of your form. You can add it to one page or to all pages of your form.

You can also add color to an object on your form. For information about adding color to an object, see “ Changing Object Appearance on a Form” .

You can adjust the color of the background of your form, the selected objects, or the background of your form.

To add background color to your form:

Adjusting Colors

You can change the existing colors on your form to new colors. You can change the background color as well as the color of selected objects.

To adjust the colors:

Editing a Form

This section describes how to edit a form using the design view tools and commands. Once you have created objects, you may want to move, resize, or convert them. You may also want to make changes to a newly scanned or imported form.

This section contains the following topics:

Selecting an Object

Moving an Object

Resizing an Object

Deleting an Object

Formatting Text

Merging Text

Formatting a Table

Breaking a Table Apart

Aligning Objects on a Form

Sending Objects Front or Back

Changing Tab Order on a Form

Placing Objects in Table Cells

Converting an Object to Another Type of Object

Selecting an Object

You can select one or more objects in several ways.

Click an object to select it.

Shift-click to select multiple objects.

Click an object such as a table once to select it, and then click again to select an individual table cell. Do the same to select an individual comb element.

Hold down the mouse button and drag the cursor around or through all objects to select them.

Choose Select All in the Edit menu to select all objects on a form.

Choose Select Special… in the Edit menu to select all objects of the same type.

Moving an Object

You can move a selected object or objects in several ways.

Hold down the mouse button and drag the selected object to another location.

Choose Size and Position… in the Format menu to position the selected object precisely on the form.

Use the Align commands in the Format menu or the corresponding button in the arrange toolbar to align selected objects.

Use the Bring to Front and Bring to Back commands in the Format menu or the corresponding buttons in the arrange toolbar to layer overlapping objects.

Hold down the Shift Key and drag a line handle to rotate it in 45-degree increments.

Use the nudge/arrow keys to move the object(s).

Resizing an Object

You can resize a selected object in the following ways.

Click any handle on the selected object, hold down the mouse button and resize the object as needed.

Hold down the Shift key before clicking a handle to:

Constrain an oval or a fill circle object to a circle shape.

Keep a line object straight.

Constrain any other object to a square shape.

Or, choose Size and Position… in the Format menu to enter exact measurements for an object’s size.

Deleting an Object

Choose Delete in the Edit menu or press Delete on your keyboard to delete one or more selected objects.

Formatting Text

Use the Font… and Text… commands in the Format menu or the corresponding buttons in the font/text toolbar to format text in selected objects. See “The Font/Text Toolbar” for information about each button in the toolbar. To format fonts:

To format the placement of text objects:

1. Click the Alignment tab. 2. Select a horizontal alignment option: Left, Center, Right, or Justify. 3. Select a vertical alignment option: Top, Center, Bottom, or Exactly.


Select Make Text Fit to Lines to fit text to the size of the line. This can alter the appearance of text.


Press Enter to create a new line of text. Each new line can be resized separately from other lines.

iDocs uses the Make Text Fit to Lines option to design forms during scanning and importing. Generally, you would want to use the Flow Text Across Lines option when formatting your text and circle text objects.

In the Orientation box, select how you want the text positioned:
Select the first box to position the text from left to right.
Select the middle box to position the text from bottom to top.
Select the last box to position the text from top to bottom.

Merging Text

You can merge text objects by choosing Merge Text in the Format menu. This option is useful if you want to combine text from different locations on your form.

To merge text:

Formatting a Table

Use the Table AutoFormat… command in the Format menu to format a selected table.

To format a table:

Breaking a Table Apart

Use Break Table Apart in the Format menu to break a selected table in sections.

This option is useful if you need to rearrange the elements of your table.

You cannot regroup the objects once you break them apart. For this reason, you might want to save your table before you break it apart; and if you do not like what you have created, you can always revert to the saved copy.

To break a table apart:

Aligning Objects on a Form

Use the Align commands in the Format menu or the corresponding buttons in the arrange toolbar to move and align multiple selected objects. See “ The Drawing Toolbar” for information about each button in the toolbar.

Each selected object aligns to the edge of its bounding box, the imaginary box that surrounds all objects. A bounding box appears when you select an object and hold down the mouse button. Objects align to the outermost selected object.

To align objects:

Select Top to align all selected objects by their top edges.
Select Bottom to align all selected objects by their bottom edges.
Select Center Vertically to align the selected objects by their vertical center.

The objects align according to the chosen command.

Sending Objects Front or Back

You can use the Bring to Front or Send to Back commands in the Format menu to layer overlapping objects.

Choose Bring to Front to move one or more selected objects in front of all objects on a form.

Choose Send to Back to move one or more selected objects behind all objects on a form.

Changing Tab Order on a Form

Tab order is the order in which the cursor moves from field to field on a form in fill view. You should check the tab order on all the forms you design or scan.

To change tab order:

Drag the fields up or down in the Tab Order window to change their tab order.
Select the tab numbers on the form and enter a new order number.
Click the Move Up button in the Tab Order window to move the se¬lected fields up. Click as many times as needed to move the fields into place.
Or, you can right-click your mouse button to get a shortcut menu to move the selected fields up.
Click the Move Down button in the Tab Order window to move the selected fields down. Click as many times as needed to move the fields into place
Or, you can right-click your mouse button to get a shortcut menu to move the selected fields down.
Click Auto Order to reorder all the fields on the form.
iDocs uses “smart” auto ordering, and generally reorders fields from top to bottom and left to right.

Reordering Fields Not in a Sequential Order

You can select fields that are not in a sequential tab order on the form and group them together.

To reorder fields not in a sequential order:

Grouping Check Boxes or Circle Text Objects

You can group check boxes or circle text objects into an option group.

Alternatively, you can group check boxes and circle text objects by choosing Object Definition… in the Format menu. See “Defining a Check Box Object” and “Defining a Circle Text Object” for more information.

To group check boxes or circle text objects:

Reordering Tables:

Tables can be ordered from left to right or top to bottom.

To reorder tables:

Changing the tab order within a table cell

You can also change the tab order within a cell if it contains multiple fillable fields.

To change the tab order within a table cell:

Alternatively, you can select a tab number on the form (one that has a decimal point; for example, 10.3) and type a new order number.

Placing Objects in Table Cells

Each table cell contains one fill text object by default (except for column headers which contain a text object). A cell can contain more than one object, fillable or nonfillable.

To place objects in a table cell:

To resize an object to fit a cell exactly:

Converting an Object to Another Type of Object

You can convert any selected object to another type of object. You might, for example, want to convert objects in table cells to check boxes.

Be careful when converting objects in an existing form. If the old object contained information, you will permanently lose that object’s information in every record.

You can also convert objects that were not defined properly during import; for example, iDocs might define a line with space above it as a fill text field. You could convert this to a line.

To convert a selected object:

Use the Select Special… command in the Edit menu to select all objects of a specific type.