Form templates are made up of parts which are based on generic form components. These components define the functionality of the form template parts and indicate which data may be modified on those parts when they are added to a form template. Components may represent specific field types, such as text boxes or link boxes. They may also represent specific groups of fields, such as the top area of a form or all the fields on a particular tab.
In some cases, an organization may want to add a new tab to a form. This includes generic Aptify controls, such as a Topic Codes tab, as well as controls developed specifically to address an organization's requirements.
The following is an overview of how to add a new control or tab to an existing form template:
- If a developer has written a new component, add the component file to the Aptify Object Repository and create a new Form Components record. See "Creating Form Components" on page 557.
- Create a new Form Template Part for the new control. See "Creating Form Template Parts" on page 560.
- Add the new part to the appropriate Form Template's Part List. See "Adding Parts to Form Templates" on page 567.
- Note that adding a Part to a generated form template will make that template non-generated. Therefore, if you are adding a Part to a generated form template, Aptify recommends that you change the name of the form to alleviate confusion if you regenerate the entity and its forms in the future. Also, you should mark as non-generated any sub-templates that this template's parts use. See "Notes Concerning Form Template Generator" on page 489 for more information.
- Close and reopen Aptify and then open the form to confirm that the new control has been successfully added.