Form types | System administration | The system screens

The form builder screen

A reminder – what are forms?

The “forms” are the heart of the system – through each of them you can create “records” of the same “type” [having an identical structure and different data], and once you also connect a “template document” [or a “collection” of such documents] to the form – the system allows generating Word and PDF documents from the data of each of the records, and if needed, also sending the PDF documents for electronic signing.

What is the form editor screen used for?

The screen is used for actions of creating and editing forms for capturing information.

The editing action first and foremost includes visual editing of “input controls” of various types [text, long text, date, number, value list, etc.] on the form itself, so that each time the form is used to capture a new record, the user creating the record can easily type/choose data.

The visual editing begins with “dragging” controls to appropriate positions on the form. These controls can be of various types – new ones of various types into the form, moving/resizing controls already placed on the form, creating different chapters for the form, adding tables and additional controls within them [including designing the dialog window that will open from each table for editing a row in the table], giving values to the “properties” of the controls [name, whether mandatory, etc.], connecting the form to a document collection, setting the form design, and managing access to it, all as detailed below

Things we will learn about the form

The control types
Adding a “control” [input control] to the form
Changing the position and size of a control
Setting a name for a control – for the purpose of merging the value entered into it in the record into a template document [for the document generator]
Updating simple properties of controls – title, mandatory?, etc.
Creating value-list controls
Creating tables and designing their dialog window
Working with chapters
Setting the form design – background
Organizing the form for mobile display
Connecting the form to a document collection
Managing who is authorized to access records from the form

The controls supported in the system

	Control name	About the control
	Title	An independent title – similar to the titles created automatically for every control you create in the form, but one that appears separately… No input from the user
	Paragraph	An independent paragraph of fixed text. No input from the user
	Text line	Typing regular text, in a single line
	Multi-line text	Typing regular text, in multiple lines
	Drop-down list	A value list that opens downward, in which only one value can be selected
	Multi-select list	A value list stretched to the height of several lines, in which several values can be selected simultaneously
	Single-select list	A value list stretched to the height of several lines, in which only one value can be selected
	Checkbox	A box allowing you to check or uncheck. Usually used for yes/no fields…
	Table	A table of values – in which you can define the various columns (each will actually be an input field in itself), and design the dialog window that will open when adding/editing a row of values in the table.
	Date	A drop-down date picker, with the option to page between years and months and choose a date, with support for direct typing of the date
	Number	Input of a number, without letters and special characters
	Currency	Input of a pair – a number and a currency. The currency is drawn from the currency list maintained in the system

The basics of working with controls

Working with tables

Adding a control to the form

Make sure the controls bar is open on the right side of the form. If it is closed – open it

Left-click with the mouse on the control you want to add to the form, then “drag” it into the form, and “release” it at the desired location.

Don’t worry – if you placed it in an unsuitable location – you can easily change its position and size

Changing the position and size of a control

To change the position – click inside the control with the left mouse button, then “drag” the control to another place in the form, and “release” it there

To change the size – first select the control by clicking on it [a selected control displays “handles” on its edges], then drag the appropriate “handle” to change the size

Setting a name for a control

The action of giving a name to a control is essential for merging the information created from the form with a template document to create a final document [and as needed – for electronic signing]

In order to give a name to a control – first select it by clicking on it [a selected control displays “handles” on its edges], then scroll down in the right panel until you see the “properties” of the control, and give it a name under the “name” property.

Note that the control name must not contain spaces or special characters. You can write letters in Hebrew or English, and also use digits. It is recommended to give a name in Hebrew for creating documents in Hebrew, and a name in English for creating documents in English…

Updating control properties

Different controls have different properties, allowing you to determine the way they operate in the record-capture screen.

The simplest properties are the name [discussed above] and the title, which always appears above the control.

In certain controls you can also set “mandatory” – whether the user is required to enter a value in this control in order to save the record, “placeholder” – text that appears inside the control as long as no value has been entered in it, etc…

In advanced controls, there are advanced properties. For example – in all list-type controls, you can set the value list under the “items” property.

Adding a table and controls/columns within it

To create a table in the form, first drag a table-type control into it, and stretch the table so that it “takes” enough space to display several columns and several rows…

Now click “Open table editor” in the properties window, to open the “table editor”.

The table editor is like a “mini form” – you can place controls on it like on a regular form, move them and change their size, but all this under one limitation, that each such control must be a column in the table. This “mini form” actually helps us design how the dialog window will look when adding or editing a row in the table while entering the record data of this form…

Therefore, adding a control is done by adding a column – open the list next to “Add column” [it initially reads “Choose element”], choose the appropriate control, and click “Add”. After adding, the control: [1] will appear on the dialog window’s panel [where you can move and resize it], will appear in the “column editor”, where you can select it, change its column width, set whether it is “displayed” or not [see further explanation below], and move it, so that its column in the table moves from place to place.

Displaying / hiding columns, their order and their widths

The options are: hiding certain columns, setting the column order, and setting the column widths. These options are set from the “columns” of the table “column editor”:

To hide a column – uncheck the V mark in the “Displayed” column
To change the column order, click the arrows in the “Move” column.
To set a column width, change the value in the “Width[%]” column. Note that any change to one column’s width may cause a change to the widths of the other columns, therefore, once you have reached the desired width of a certain column, you can “lock” its width using the lock mark, and then, changing the width of the other columns will no longer affect it…

Note that deleting a column-in-the-table [or a control] is done from the red trash icon at the top of the properties window…

Designing the dialog window

The table editor is like a “mini form” that helps us design how the dialog window will look when adding or editing a row in the table while entering the record data of this form…We saw that you can place controls on it like on a regular form. You can also move them and change their size, but you cannot delete them from the “mini-form” since they are “connected” to the column we defined in the columns table. If you want to delete the control from the form, you must delete it from the columns table…All the controls also have properties – like in the regular form. You can change the name, title, “mandatory”, etc…

Working with chapters

The form’s properties – background, file collection, permissions…

Every form can be divided into chapters. When a form is created – one chapter is created for it by default. You can change the name of this chapter from the edit icon [pencil] on its left side.

You can add additional chapters from the “Add chapter” button in the top-left corner of the form

Deleting a chapter – from the delete icon [trash] on the left side of the chapter row. You cannot manually delete the first chapter, but you can set the form to have no chapters [from the form’s properties panel – “Hide chapters”], and the first chapter will also be removed from the display…

From the “form properties” (see left), you can request hiding the chapters – intended for the case where there is only one chapter in the form, and therefore there is no need at all to see the chapters.

Also, you can display a “hidden chapter” that is used for adding calculated fields

Displaying the form’s properties	The form’s properties can be set from the form’s properties panel. This panel is revealed in the bottom-right corner of the screen when you select the form. Selecting the form is simple – a click at any point inside it that is not a chapter or a control. Note: a click on a control – will display the control’s properties, and not the form’s properties.
Setting a background	The background for the form can be set from the “Background” button in the form’s properties panel. Clicking it will display a list box with various backgrounds installed in the organization, where each such background has a design for the basic colors of various “states” of controls, of titles, etc., as well as one of two – a uniform background color or a background image. System administrators can define various backgrounds from the screens – the backgrounds list screen, and the color-packages list screen…
Connecting to a document collection	Connecting the form to a document collection is essential if you want to generate documents from the data entered in the records of this form. To make such a connection, the document collection must already exist. If it does not exist – please create it from the document-collections screen first.
Managing authorized users (basic)	This basic access management is done from the “Allow access” button in the form’s properties panel. This button does not appear in the case of using the advanced permissions module – there permissions are set separately and linked to the form types from their list screen. Clicking this button will open a dialog window, in which you can set one of the following: All system users – the records created from this form will be visible to all system users Only the owner – only the person who created the record can see it The person who created the record, and the following users – the person who created the record and a list of other employees who can be selected
Locking a record	You can make the system lock records in the following cases (and for each case – its own toggle in the form’s properties list): Lock a record when a signature request is sent – the record will be locked when the signature request for the file created from it is sent Lock a record on form submission – when you create a new record, the first save action – will lock it Locked records cannot be edited, but you can still view their data. Signed records – delete approval: mark “yes” to allow deleting records that have a digitally signed file. Mark “no” to prevent deleting these records

Organizing the form for mobile display

About separating the displays

About the synchronization between the displays

How do you design the separate displays?

When a form is created, it is created with a uniform and single design, intended for displaying its records on a desktop computer.

Such a design is usually not suitable for mobile display, since on mobile, the display is “vertical”, whereas on a desktop computer – it is horizontal….

You can split the design, so that there is one intended for a desktop computer, and a second intended for mobile.

Our recommendation in managing the two displays is to reorganize the controls in the mobile display, so that there are “fewer” of them in the horizontal dimension – if there were 4 controls in one row – it is advisable to reorganize them into two rows – two controls in each row.

Once you have performed the split, the designs will continue to be managed separately, and you will need to update both of them separately.

Despite this split, the system will synchronize them automatically so that each time you add a control in one, it will be added in the second, each time you delete a control in one, it will be deleted in the second, and likewise – changing the property values of controls in one, will be copied to the second…

The only thing that will not synchronize – is the position and size of each control, since that is the purpose of the split in the first place – to allow a different organization for the desktop computer and for mobile
Note that the system does not know how to “guess” where to place a new control in the mobile display, if you add it in the desktop display… Therefore it is recommended, in any case of adding controls, to go and organize properly those added controls, in the second display…

To create the mobile display [which does not exist in new forms], you must select, in the top-left part of the form, under “Display:”, the “Mobile” option, and allow the system to create the mobile display. In the mobile display, as we already mentioned, it is advisable to move the controls, and change their size, so that their organization on the screen fits a vertical display better. Once you have finished, you can return to the desktop computer display, open the “Display:” box again, and choose “Computer”. How do you check? Computer experts can check the mobile display from the browser on the desktop computer, but that is a bit technical. The best – is to enter the system from your mobile, and create a new record from the form you are organizing for mobile – there you can see how it is organized for working on mobile… Example – if the desktop computer display was like this: [A][ B ][ C ][D] then it is advisable to turn it into this [A][ B ] [ C ][D] or even into this [ A ] [ B ] [ C ] [ D ]