Forms
Configuring the lookup and data entry forms.
The Forms configurator is available from the App Studio.
Forms Configurator
The forms configurator is a modal popup dialogue which shows all of the forms in the left panel and the properties of each form in the right panel. It operates as master/detail so that selecting a form in the left panel grid, shows the associated form properties to the right.
Forms Panel
This panel has two buttons and a data grid.
Add
This button is used to add a new form. It opens the following modal popup:
The process of editing new forms is the same as that for existing forms.
Clone
This button is used to take a copy of the selected form, and immediately saves it with a new name:
Use the Edit button in the form panel to change the name and design the new form.
Forms Grid
This is the data grid showing all existing forms showing their name, size, data created and last modified. The Edit button opens the form properties modal popup. The grid operates as a master/detail where each form selected, shows its properties in the form panel.
Form Panel
This panel has two buttons and a list of selected form properties.
Edit
The edit button opens the editor for the form, allowing it's properties to be changed. Note that editing the form is not the same as designing the form. Editing the form properties is focused on accessibility and how it is managed by the application, whereas the form design process focuses on the specific fields, tabs, components, layout and functionality of the form itself.
Delete
The delete button removes the selected form. Any navigation bar links, activity metrics links or history menu items will cease to function if forms are removed.
The form properties are as follows:
Name
This is the unique name of the form.
Icon
This is the icon used when the form is referenced in menus and drop downs.
Type
The type of form is either a lookup to display data sets, or a data entry form to allow editing of a master record.
Purpose
This describes what the purpose of the form is.
Description
A description about why the form exists and any additional information.
Record Summary
When the record was opened by the end-user, it appears in the History menu. If a record summary is specified, then a string identifying the record is displayed instead of the form name. For example "Guinness" may be displayed if the form name is "Drink" and the record name was used instead.
Data Source(s)
For data entry forms, typically 4 data sources for each of the CRUD methods will be specified.
Date Created
The date that this form was created.
Last Modified
The date that this form was last modified.
Full Path
The internal path to the form on the server. This is only of interest to developers.
Editing Forms
When adding or cloning a new form, or editing one from the grid, or using the Edit button on the form properties panel, this modal popup form is displayed.
There are three buttons at the bottom right of this modal popup dialogue.
Design
Switch into form designer mode after closing the popup.
Apply
Save all changes and close the popup.
Cancel
Cancel all changes and close the popup.
The form has five tabs.
Form Details
This tab is the basic details of the form.
Name
This is the unique name of the form.
Purpose
This describes what the purpose of the form is.
Type
The type of form is either a lookup to display data sets, or a data entry form to allow editing of a master record.
Icon
This is the icon used when the form is referenced in menus and drop downs.
Caption
The text which will be displayed when the form is referenced.
Description
A description about why the form exists and any additional information.
Data Sources
This tab is where multiple ReST API data source requests can be linked to provide CRUD capabilities to the data entry form.
As shown in this example, this form has four linked CRUD data source requests to respectively create, read, update and delete a data record.
The two buttons to the right of each request allows for requests to be linked or unlinked.
For this automated CRUD to work, form fields and components on the respective form design need to be mapped to custom variables and data source requests.
CRUD
This tab specifies how the form data is created, read, updated and deleted.
The mechanism to create a new record is via the Add menu on the app toolbar. Use this configurator to enabled this.
In order to read a data record into the data entry form, a Read data source request must be configured on the Data Sources tab.
To enable updating, there is a button top right of the data entry form. You can enable this, set it's caption and its icon on this tab. The Update data source request must be configured on the Data Sources tab.
To enable deleting, there is a button top right of the data entry form. You can enable this, set it's caption and its icon on this tab. The Delete data source request must be configured on the Data Sources tab.
The visibility and enabled status of these form buttons can also be configured on a per user basis on the user security configurator.
History Menu
This tab specifies how the history menu displays data associated with this form when it was loaded. Typically end-users want to see the actual data in the history menu, not the name of the form they last opened.
Use the database button to the right of the Record Summary field to choose which of the form fields is used to identify the record in the History Menu.
Multiple fields can be appended together to show the record details in the History menu:
Developer Configuration
This tab is only for use by developers who wish to implement highly bespoke custom modifications to the form. Whilst the application is 100% no-code, we make provision for a low-code approach in cases where custom business logic needs to be implemented.
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