Configuring Forms

As defined earlier, you can use the form to get input or to display detailed content. A form can have any or all of the following important attributes based on the purpose of the form:

  • Form ID – Form ID is a unique identity key, which will be used across the development platform to call or use the form.
  • Form Layout – Form Layout is a virtual layout tool that arranges the form items on the forms in a structured manner. Canvas supports Single Column, TwoColumn, ThreeColumn and Custom form layouts.
  • Form Mode – Form Mode refers to the display mode of the form items on the form. The Form Items can appear in edit (i.e. Write) mode, view (i.e. Read-only) mode or mixed mode.
  • Data-source class path – Canvas provides ability to be display values for the form items such as combo list items, check box names or radio button names on demand from the data support class. The values can be either the pre-configured values or the data-driven values.
  • Form Action Buttons – Action buttons are Save, Submit, Edit, Clear, and Cancel buttons. Each Form can have a button bar at the bottom of the forms which contains set of positive action buttons such as Save, Save as, Edit, Update or Delete and set of negative buttons such as Clear, Cancel, and Exit.


1

ID

Unique ID of the Form. To provide the form ID, click ID in the form configuration ribbon and enter the ID in the text field:

FRM_CREATE_LAYOUT

2

Title

Form Title that appears on the user interface as a title. Form title can be a plain text or property-key driven text. To provide the form title, click Title in the form configuration ribbon and enter the title in the text field:

Create Layout

3

Description

Brief description about the Form for reference. To provide the form description, click Description in the form configuration ribbon and enter the description in the text field:

Create Layout

4

Data Support Class

Class Path of the data-source class will be entered here.

The data source class can contain the data for combo boxes, check boxes and radio buttons.

To enter the data support class for the form, click the Data Support Class in the form configuration ribbon and enter the class name in the text field:


5

Channel

Indicates the devices in which the form must be visible.

By default all the channels are selected in the form configuration ribbon:


To make the form visible in Desktop only, click the Desktop icon in the form configuration ribbon:


To make the form visible in Tablet only, click the Tablet icon in the form configuration ribbon:


To make the form visible in Mobile only, click the Mobile icon in the form configuration ribbon:


6

Label Alignment

Indicates the alignment of the labels of the form items. Three alignments are possible – Left, Top and Inline.

To align the form labels to the left, click the Left icon in the form configuration ribbon:


To align the form labels to the top, click the Top icon in the form configuration ribbon:


To align the form labels inline, click the Inline icon in the form configuration ribbon:

Left

7

Label Width

Indicates the form label width. To specify the label width, click Label Width in the form configuration ribbon and enter the required width in the text field:

10

8

Initial Multiplicity

This is applicable for multi-forms, where the form items within the form have to be displayed several times. This configuration indicates the number of times the form items can be duplicated. For more information, refer Multi-Form (Initial Multiplicity).

2

9

Layout

Indicates the defined number of columns to arrange the form items within the form.

To align the form items in single column, click the Single Column icon in the form configuration ribbon:


To align the form items in two columns, click the Two Column icon in the form configuration ribbon:


To align the form items in three columns, click the Three Column icon in the form configuration ribbon:


To specify the number of columns to align the form items, click the Custom Columns icon in the form configuration ribbon:

2

10

Logo

Indicates the logo image for the form. To specify the logo, click Logo in the form configuration ribbon and enter the URL of the logo in the text field:

/images/logo.gif

11

Bundle

Indicates the name of the key associated with the property file which provides the localized label text for the current form and its form items.

Bundle key field at the form level must have any name of the key associated with the property file and cannot be left blank.

To specify the bundle, click Bundle in the form configuration ribbon and enter the bundle key in the text field:

common

12

Request Model ID

The ID that you provide while creating a request in Request Modeler's Create New Request screen is referred to as Request Model ID.

This property enables you to map forms designed in form designer to the request created in the Request modeler. This property will come handy when you do not want to use the auto generated forms of Request Modeler and want to skip the following steps in form creation:

  1. Create and attach a listener to the form. 
  2. Create and register handlers to action buttons. 
  3. Prepare the AJAX request to place the request to the server. 
  4. Handle the request on the server by attaching a handler to the request. 
  5. Perform business validations and handle errors. 
  6. Prepare SQL maps to insert data and map them to the table columns. 
  7. Invoke Database requests to use the SQL map, pass data and persist. 
  8. Handle responses and display error messages, if required to the user.

In this case, you have the following options:

  • You can design your own form in form designer and create a request in the Request Modeler using the tables created for the form.

OR

  • Create a request in the Request Modeler using the tables needed for the form and then create a form in the form designer.

Then, ensure to map the form created by you to the correct Request Model ID. The Request Modeler submission sequence will be applied to your form.

  • The Form Item IDs must match the column IDs in the referenced table.
  • The same Request Model ID can be mapped to many forms. However, this can be done only if the target tables for the forms are the same and the request created maps to the same tables

For more information on wiring the self-designed forms with Request Modeler, refer Submission Support Provided for Forms Designed in Form Designer.

EMP_FORM_REQ

13

Form Wizard

This Property enables you to create a sequence of forms through which the end user can navigate sequentially in order to achieve a specific objective. It is similar to the Tab panel, but the difference is, Form Wizard enables end user to navigate between the forms using Previous and Next buttons, also allows you to complete the process using the Submit button. Form Wizard can contain any number of forms within the wizard as menus. Sequence of the menus is defined by the sequence in which the forms are selected while adding them to the Form Wizard.


For more information, refer the Form Wizard.


14

Save

Saves the configuration of the form.