Using the Visual Designer to Modify Existing Fields

Follow these steps to use the Visual Designer to modify a form's field layout on a tab:

1. Identify the changes that you want to make a form. You should have an end result in mind before loading the Visual Designer.
2. Open the Visual Designer for the desired form tab. See Opening the Visual Designer.
3. If you want to change the position of existing fields or controls, follow these steps:
   1. Click Select in the Toolbox, if not already selected.
   2. Select a part that you want to move.
   3. Drag that part to a new position (you can also use the arrow keys to move a selected part). In the example below, the Title field has been moved from the top of the form to below the Description field.
      
      
   4. Drag and drop parts as necessary to rearrange their positions, as desired. In the example below, the fields have been rearrange so Description appears first, followed by Title, and then Date.
      • When you move parts on a form, the Visual Designer automatically updates each part's form location information on the corresponding Form Template Parts records' Placement tab.
      • You can use the design buttons to rearrange multiple parts. See About the Aptify Form Template Properties Dialog for details.
      • Edit the Tab Index for the fields on the tab, as necessary. The Tab Index is found on each part's General tab within the Aptify Form Template Properties Dialog. This controls the order in which focus moves among fields when a user presses the Tab key. Typically, the first field on the tab should have a Tab Index of 0, the second should have a Tab Index of 1, etc.
        
        
4. If you want to modify the behavior of an existing part (such as changing a field's Caption name), follow these steps:
   1. Click Select in the Toolbox, if not already selected.
   2. Select the part that you want to edit to load its values in the Aptify Form Template Properties dialog.
   3. Modify the part's input properties, as necessary.
      • For example, to change the caption name, enter a new caption in the Source field for the LabelCaption input property. In the example below, the caption for the Description field has been changed from Description to Details.

      • In general, all Input Properties in a part's Input Map have Source Type set to Static.

        If a part has a Display Culture String specified, the part uses the Culture String as its caption by default. In that case, the default Display Name that appears in the Form Template Properties dialog for the LabelCaption property may differ from what appears on the actual form. If you modify the LabelCaption for an existing field that uses a Culture String, the form will display the new caption you specify rather than the Culture String. To reinstate the Culture String as the field's caption, blank out the LabelCaption property or return it to the original default value (which is some cases may be blank). Note that the system displays the field's Culture String (if assigned) or Display Name if the LabelCaption is blank.

        
        

      • Modify the part's settings on the General tab, as necessary.
        
        
5. Click elsewhere on the form to remove the focus from the part you selected.
   • The changes you made to the part should now appear on the form. For example, if you changed the part's caption, the new caption appears on the form when you click off of the modified part. Note that in some cases, you may need to save the form and close the Visual Designer and the form before all of your changes appear. Also, in some rare cases, you may need to close and reopen Aptify to refresh the form in order to see all of your changes.
     
     
6. If you want to delete an existing part, follow these steps:
   1. Click Select in the Toolbox, if not already selected.
   2. Select the part that you want to delete to load its values in the Aptify Form Template Properties dialog.
   3. Click the Delete icon in the Aptify Form Template Properties dialog's toolbar.
       
7. Click the Save Form Template button on the Aptify Form Template Properties dialog to save your changes to the form and exit from Visual Designer mode.
   • Click Yes when notified that the form template will become non-generated if it is currently generated. Upon save, the system will mark the corresponding Form Templates record as non-generated when you save changes made using the Visual Designer.
   • Note that when you delete a field, the Visual Designer will automatically reassign Tab Index numbers to reorder the remaining fields.
      
8. Close all open records.