Each form in Aptify is made up of many parts. These parts include fields on the form as well as tabs. Each part must be defined before it may be added to a form template.
Top Area
Name (Required)
The name of the part.
Description
A description of the Form Template Part.
Category (Required)
The category for this part. This field links to the Form Template Part Categories service.
Base Part
If this part is based on an existing part, the base part is linked here. A form template part may be based on another part to allow the user to create a duplicate with a different display name or display characteristics.
Attachments Tab
The Attachments tab lists any files relevant to the Form Template Parts record. The tab becomes available when the record is first saved.
Comments Tab
Comments
Optional comments concerning this form template part.
General Tab
Display Name (Required)
The name which displays when the Form Part appears on the form.
Icon
This field is applicable for Form Template Parts that correspond to a tab on a form. When specified, the icon appears to the right of the tab name on the form. This field specifies a location in the Aptify Object Repository.
Display Culture String
The Culture Strings record to display for this Form Template Part. When specified, this takes the place of the Display Name. See Using Localization Administration for details.
Type (Required)
The type of part defined. By default, Component is selected. Available types are:
- Component: Components are the different types of fields that may appear on a form, from text box or link box to tab control.
- Tab Control: Tab control parts link another template to display a list of tabs (creating sub tabs for a tab).
- Sub-Template: Sub-Templates describe the template for a tab.
Form Component
This field is applicable only if the Type field is set to Component, and links to the Forms Components service.
Sub Template
This field is applicable only when Type is set to either Tab Control or Sub-Template. This links to the Forms Templates service.
Tabs per Row
This field is applicable only if Type is set to Tab Control. The default value is 6. The value of this field defines the number of tabs which may appear in each row of tabs on the form defined by the template.
Run Mode (Required)
Run mode indicates how the component is enabled for the form template part. By default, All is selected. The options available are:
- All: The component is enabled for both new and existing records.
- New Only: The component is enabled only for new records.
- Save Only: The component is enabled only for existing records and not on new records.
Disabled Behavior
This field determines whether the part is displayed, based on the Run Mode selected. It is only applicable when Run Mode is set to New Only or Save Only. Settings available are:
- Disable: The field or tab is disabled on the form when the record is in a state other than the specified Run Mode (in other words, the form area is disabled on existing records for New Only and on new records for Save Only).
- Hide: The field or tab is hidden on the form when the record is in a state other than the specified Run Mode (in other words, the form area is hidden on existing records for New Only and on new records for Save Only).
A developer can easily control the availability of one or more parts on a form without having to write a Layout Control. Each Form Template Parts record includes Disabled Behavior and Run Mode fields that determine the conditions under which a particular part should be available on a form, as described below:
- When a Form Template Part has a Run Mode of All, the part is always visible on a form.
- When a Form Template Part has a Run Mode of New Only and a Disabled Behavior of Disable, the specified part is only available on new records. Once the record has been saved, the field or tab becomes unavailable.
- When a Form Template Part has a Run Mode of New Only and a Disabled Behavior of Hide, the specified part is only available on new records. Once the record has been saved, the field or tab is automatically removed from the form and is no longer available.
- When a Form Template Part has a Run Mode of Saved Only and a Disabled Behavior of Disable, the specified part is only available for saved records. The field or tab is grayed out and unavailable on new records and automatically becomes available once the record has been saved.
- When a Form Template Part has a Run Mode of Saved Only and a Disabled Behavior of Hide, the specified part is only available for saved records. The field or tab is not visible on new records and is automatically added to the form once the record has been saved.
- If you want to disable the part for all run modes, clear the Enabled option at the bottom of the form.
Location (Required)
Either Automatic or Specific. Automatic is the default.
- Automatic: The location of the part is determined automatically by the sequence in which it appears on the Parts tab of a Forms Templates record. This is the setting used for parts that correspond to tabs on a form.
- Specific: The location of the part is determined by the position and size coordinates detailed on the Placement tab. This is the setting used by all parts that correspond to individual fields on a form.
Enabled
Specifies whether or not the Form Template Part is enabled on the form. This option is selected by default and the Form Template Part is enabled. When this option is cleared, the form template part appears on the form but it is grayed out and disabled for all run modes.
Placement Tab
This tab is only applicable when Location is set to Specific and applies to fields that appear on a form. All of the placement values are defined in pixels.
Width (Required)
The width of the field, specified in pixels. The default value is 0.
Height (Required)
The height of the field, specified in pixels. The default value is 0.
Left Pos (Required)
The number of pixels the part is positioned from the left of the form. The default value is 0.
Top Pos (Required)
The number of pixels the part is positioned from the top of the form. The default value is 0.
Resize Width (Required)
Resize width determines the mode for resizing the width of the field when the form is resized. It supports the following values:
- None (default)
- Proportional Growth/Shrinkage
- Fill — Auto-Fill To Container Height
Note that field parts created by the Baseline Form Template Generator use Fill for the Resize Width.
Resize Height (required)
Resize height determines the mode for resizing the height of the field when the form is resized. It supports the following values:
- None (default)
- Proportional Growth/Shrinkage
- Fill — Auto-Fill To Container Height
Input Map Tab
The fields included on the Input Map tab are dependant upon the defined part's Type. If the defined part's Type is set to Component, the Input Map tab provides list of mappings for the input properties associated with the component upon which this form template part is based. If the defined part's Type is set to Tab Control, the Input Map provide information about the tab's styling including the color of the tabs and the font of the tab headings. Note that this tab is not available if the part's Type is set to Sub-Template.
This section includes the following topics:
- Component Input Map Tab
- Tab Control Input Map Tab
Component Input Map Tab
If the defined part's Type is set to Component, the Input Map tab provides a list of mappings for the input properties associated with the component upon which this form template part is based. These input properties list the details that may be modified for the component selected. For example, some properties that may be modified on a text field include the label, or the type and size of the font.
This tab automatically inherits a list of all input properties associated with the form component selected on the General tab and is therefore only available when the Type field on the General tab is set to Component. Fields may be updated directly in the grid.
Input Property (read-only)
The name of the input property.
Default Value (read-only)
The property's default value, if applicable. This is set at the Input Properties record and cannot be changed in the Input Map.
Required (read-only)
This field indicates whether the input property for the component requires source type and source information.
Source Type
Source Type indicates the method to obtain data to fulfill the input property. The value selected in Source Type drives how the Source field is populated.
Source
This field holds the actual source of the data for the Input Map, and is dependent on the value chosen in the Source Type field.
- Source Type = Static Value: Source is set to an alphanumeric string which indicates a permanent and static value to fulfill the input property. This string may include field tags, as long as the field name is enclosed in <% %>.
- Source Type = Entity Field: Source is set to a field on the entity on which the event handler is based.
- Source Type = SQL statement: Source is set to an SQL statement to extract the data from the database.
- Source Type = GE Object: A Generic Entity (GE) object that is in memory. Enter oGE as the source.
Comments
The comments field contains any additional details relevant to the Form Templates Parts record.
Tab Control Input Map Tab
If the defined part's Type is set to Tab Control, the Input Map provides information about the way in which the tabs appear of the form including the style of the tabs, the font of the tab headings and the color of both the tab headings and the form area that appears under the selected tab.
Use Default Settings
When selected, Aptify's default tab styling is used and the others fields on the Input Map tab become disabled. When cleared, the tab styling settings defined on the Input Map tab are used. Note that when you select this option, the default values are populated in the corresponding field and any customized settings are lost.
Custom Settings
The section below defines the appearance of the tab control, tab color, and the style of the display area under each tab..
View Style
The View Style determines the appearance of the entire tab control. The available view styles are Office 2003, Default, VisualStudio2005, Standard and Office2007.
Style
The Style field determines the appearance of each tab on the control. The available styles are Default, PropertyPage, PropertyPageSelected, PropertyPageFlat, PropertyPage2003, StateButtons:, Flat, VisualStudio, Excel, VisualStudio2005, and Office2007Ribbon.
Tab Color
The Tab Color field defines the main background color that is applied to enabled tabs on the form. The default value for this field is Gainsboro.
If the color defined in the Tab Color field is the same as the color specified in the Tab Color2 field, the background color of each selected tab will appear solid. Using different values for these fields creates a gradient effect with the Tab Color field's value as the top most color.
Tab Color2
The Tab Color2 field defines the secondary background color that is applied to enabled tabs on the form. The default value for the this field is White.
Display Area Tab Color
The Display Area Tab Color field defines the main background color that is applied to the form area that displays under a selected tab. The default value for the this field is Gainsboro.
If the color defined in the Display Area Tab Color field is the same as the color specified in the Display Area Tab Color2 field, the background of the selected tab's display area will appear solid. Using different values for these fields creates a gradient affect with the Display Area Tab Color as the top most color.
Display Area Tab Color2
The Display Area Tab Color2 field defines the secondary color that is applied to the form area that displays under a selected tab. The default value for this field is White.
Disabled Tab Color
The Disabled Tab Color field defines the main background color for the tabs that are disabled on the form. The default value for this field is Gray.
If the color defined in the Disabled Tab Color field is the same as the color specified in the Tab Disabled Color2 field, the background color of each disabled tab will appear solid. Using different values for these fields creates a gradient affect with the Disabled Tab Color field's value as the top most color.
Disabled Tab Color2
The Disabled Tab Color2 field defines the secondary background color for the tabs that are disabled on the form. The default value for this field is White.
Border Color
The Border Color field defines the main border color of each tab on the form. The default value is Gainsboro.
If the color defined in the Border Color field is the same as the color specified in the Border Color2 field, the border color of each selected tab will appear solid. Using different values for these fields creates a gradient effect with the Border Color field's value as the top most color.
Border Color2
The Border Color2 field defines the secondary border color of each tab on form. The default value is White.
Global Settings
The settings in this section define the font settings for non-selected tabs.
Font
This field defines the font for the caption on thenon-selected (and enabled) tabs. The default value is Tahoma.
Font Color
This field defines the font color for the caption on non-selected (and enabled) tabs. The default value is Black.
Disabled Font Color
This field defines the font color for the caption on disabled non-selected (and enabled) tabs. The default value is Gray.
Bold
When selected, the caption on both enabled and disabled non-selected (and enabled) tabs are bold.
Italic
When selected, the caption on both enabled and disabled non-selected (and enabled) tabs are italicized.
Underline
When selected, the caption on both enabled and disabled non-selected (and enabled) tabs are underlined.
Selected Tab Settings
The settings in this section define the font settings for tab that is selected.
Font
This field defines the font for the caption on selected tabs. The default value is Tahoma.
Font Color
This field defines the font color for the caption on the selected tabs. The default value is Black.
Highlight
This field defines the highlighting settings for the selected tabs. The available options are: Default Highlight (Aptify's default settings are used), No Highlight, and Color Override. When set to Color Override the Color and Color 2 drop-down options become available to set the desired first and secondary colors for the selected tab. The default value is Default Highlight.
Color
The Selected tab Color field defines the main background color for the selected tab on the form. The default value is Silver.
If the color defined in the Selected Tab Color field is the same as the color specified in the Selected Tab Color2 field, the background color of each selected tab will appear solid. Using different values for these fields creates a gradient affect with the Selected Tab Color field's value as the top most color.
Color2
The Selected Tab Color2 field defines the secondary background color for the selected tab on the form. The default value is White.
Bold
When selected, the caption on the selected tab is bold. This option is selected by default
Italic
When selected, the caption on the selected tab is italicized.
Underline
When selected, the caption on the selected tab is underlined.