Form Templates records define how forms appear when records are viewed within services. Templates are made up of a list of form template parts, given a particular sequence. There are three types of Form Templates records:
- Top Level Form Template: This record is a container that defines the entire form. In Aptify, a Top Level Form Template typically has a name in one of these formats: -Standard Aptify [Entity Name] Form or [Entity Name] Form.
- Tab Sub-Template: This record is a container for the tabs that appear on a form.
- Tab Template: A Tab Template defines what fields appear on a tab.
Top Area
Name (Required)
The Name field stores the name of the form template.
Description
The Description field stores the description of the template.-
Generated
If Generated appears to the right of the Name field, then Aptify's Baseline Form Template Generator automatically generated the template.
If you make a change to a generated template and save the record, Aptify prompts you to confirm the operation. Once a change is made, the form becomes non-generated (the generated tag disappears), and the Baseline Form Template Generator will no longer update that form template. If the entity is subsequently regenerated, the generator will create a set of new Form Template records for that entity.
Attachments Tab
The Attachments tab lists any files relevant to the Form Templates record. The tab becomes available when the record is initially saved.
Comments Tab
The Comments tab contains any comments relevant to the Form Templates record.
Format Tab
The fields on the Format tab are only applicable for top level Form Templates records.
Default Height
The default height (in pixels) of the form defined by the template.
Default Width
The default width (in pixels) of the form defined by the template.
General Tab
Entity
The entity selected determines the form the template defines. For example, if the Persons entity is selected, the form template defines how Persons records are viewed. The entity chosen may be a sub-type entity as well.
Base Template
The template upon which this form template is based. This field is applicable for user and group-level tab sub-templates. See Modifying the Tab Layout on a Form for more information.
Is Top Level
When selected, this field indicates that the Form Template is the top-level container for a form in the form template hierarchy.
Rank
The template's rank. If two templates have the same Usage Scope, the one with the lower rank takes precedence. This field supports a value from 0 to 100. By default, generated Form Templates have a rank of 100.
Usage Scope (Required)
Usage scope determines the scope of the template. By default, Global is selected. Values are:
- Global: The template is applicable to all users. The system uses a Global template if an applicable User or Group template does not exist for a particular user.
- Group: The template is applicable to users whose Primary Group is the group specified in the Form Template's Group field. (A user is assigned a Primary Group in the Users record.)
- User: The template is applicable only to the user designated in the User field.
For a particular user and entity, the system selects a User template first (if one exists). If a User template does not exist, the system selects a Group template. If neither a User or Group template exists, then the system selects the Global template.
Status
Specifies if the Form Template is Active or Inactive.
Group
The user group for which this template applies. This field is applicable only when Usage Scope is set to Group.
User
The user for whom this template applies. This field is applicable only when Usage Scope is set to User.
Layout Control Tab
If a developer has designed a layout control for this template (for either Windows and/or Web interfaces), specify the object information on this tab. Note that writing a layout control is beyond the scope of this document; see the information on the Aptify.Framework.WindowsControl.FormTemplateLayout class in the Aptify Software Development Kit (SDK) for information on writing a layout control.
Layout Control Object
The location in the Aptify Object Repository of the .NET assembly file for the layout control.
Layout Control Class
The class in the object that implements the layout control.
Layout Control Assembly
The .NET assembly name of the object in the layout control field.
LayoutKey Field
In LayoutKey field is used to find and reference form template parts within a Form Template Layout control. The LayoutKey is the first candidate for match. If no match is found, the search will continue with the match criteria used in earlier versions. Adding LayoutKey as the primary match removes the dependency on the Name of the form template part, which is often changed to identify configurations. The LayoutKey can remain unchanged while the Name is updated to provide a better identifier.
During the 5.5. Service Pack install, the LayoutKey field will be populated with the Form Template Part's Name for all existing Form Template Parts.
Web Layout Control Object
The location in the Aptify Object Repository of the .NET web assembly file for the layout control.
Web Layout Control Class
The class in the web object that implements the layout control.
Web Layout Control Assembly
The .NET assembly name of the web object in the layout control field.
Part List Tab
This tab lists all associated Form Template Parts records which make up how the form template defines the form. Depending on the nature of the Form Templates record, the Parts may correspond to:
- Top Level Form Template: Part List contains Top Area Part (for non-generated forms) and Tab Sub-Template Part.
- Tab Sub-Template: Part List contains the Tabs included on the tab sub-template.
- Tab Template: Part List contains the Fields included on the tab.
Parts can be sorted into a custom order on the form by using the arrow buttons or they can be sorted alphabetically (ascending or descending) by click the Part column heading.
Security Tab
The Security tab is used to identify which user groups and users have permissions to use the form templates. Regardless of which usage scope is selected for the form template, a corresponding user or group must be listed on a security tab in order to use the template. Note that these security settings are only applicable for Form Templates records that correspond to top level form templates and tab sub-templates (for example, a Standard Aptify [Entity Name] Form record is a top-level template and Tab Sub-Template for the [Entity Name] Entity record is a tab sub-template). In other words, this tab is not applicable for records that correspond to form tabs.
Groups Permissions Sub-Tab
The Groups Permissions tab lists all the Form Template Group Permissions records that identify the user groups that have access to the form template.
User Permissions Sub-Tab
The User Permissions tab list all the Form Template User Permissions records that identify the users that have access to the form template.
Visual Designer Tab
This tab provides a graphical WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editing interface to rearrange and modify the fields that appear on a tab. This tab is only available for system administrators (that is, users who are members of the SQL server's system admin group).
Note that this tab is only applicable for Tab Template Form Templates records. See Modifying Field Layout with the Visual Designer for details.