Creating Form Template Parts

The pieces of form templates are defined individually as form template parts. For example, a part might be a field or a tab that displays on the form or even the entire tab section of the form combined. These parts are combined on the form template to create the unique data view. In general, the system automatically creates Form Template Parts as necessary when generating forms for a new entity. A sample form template part is shown below.

However, if you want to create your own part, follow these steps:

1. Open a new record from the Form Template Parts service.
2. Enter a name and description.
3. Select an existing Form Template Part Categories record in the Category field. Or, you can create a new category. See Creating Form Template Part Categories.
4. Enter a Base Part, if applicable.
   • 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. 
5. Enter the Display Name for the part.
6. If this part corresponds to a tab on a form, you can specify an icon from the Object Repository in the Icon field.
   • The tab will automatically display the selected icon to the right of the tab name, as shown above. 
7. If you want to localize the display name of this form template part based a user's assigned culture, enter a Culture String in the Display Culture String field (see Linking Fields to Culture Strings for more information).
8. Select the Type from the list.

   • Component: The form template part is based on a form component. Enter the name of an existing form component in the Form Component field.

     You can also enter an existing form template in the Sub-Template field, if the form component is identified as a Container component. See the information on the Is Container option in Creating Form Components for details.

   • Tab Control: template part is based on another form template. Enter the name of an existing form template in the Sub-Template field and specify the number of tabs to display per row on the form in the Tabs Per Row field. 
   • Sub-Template: The form template part is based on another form template. Enter the name of an existing form template in the Sub-Template field. 
9. If the Type is set to Component, enter the name of the form component in the Form Component field. See Creating Form Components for more information. 

10. If the Type is set to Tab Control or Sub-Template, you can specify a sub-template in the Sub Template field. 

    The sub-templates can also be specified when the Type is set to Component, if the form component is identified as a Container component. See the information on the Is Container option in Creating Form Components for details.

11. Set the Run Mode and Disabled Behavior to control the behavior of this part.
    • A developer can easily conditional 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. 
12. Enter the location for the template part from the list in the Location field.
    • Select Automatic if the part corresponds to a tab on a form. The location of the tab on the form is determined automatically by the sequence in which it appears on the Part List tab of a Forms Templates record.
    • Select Specific if the part corresponds to a field on a form. Also, configure the settings on the Placement tab; the location of the field on the form is determined by the Placement tab's position and size coordinates, which are in pixels. 
13. If you want the template part to be disabled on the form (no matter the run mode), clear the Enabled option.
14. Save the record.
    • Note that the Enabled option is reserved for future use. 
15. Configure the Input Map (see Configuring Form Template Part Input Map Tab) if you set the form template Type to Component or Tab Control.

This topic consists of below sub-topics.

• Configuring Form Template Part Input Map Tab
• Creating Form Template Part Categories

Configuring Form Template Part Input Map Tab

The Input Maps tab on the Form Template Parts record is applicable when Type is set to Component or Tab Control on the General tab. When the 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. If the defined part's Type is set to Tab Control, the Input Map allows a form template administrator to define the tab control's styling including the coloring of the tabs and display area as well as the font of the tab headings.

Select the appropriate steps depending on the part's Type: 

• Configuring Component Input Maps
• Configuring a Tab Control Input Map Tab

Configuring Component Input Maps

When the Type is set to Component, the form template part inherits a list of input maps that reflect the input properties set up on the Form Component selected. Follow the steps below to define input properties for a form component:

1. Select the Input Maps tab on the Form Template Parts record.
   
    
2. Select a Source Type and Source for the input map:
   • If the Source Type is Static Value, enter an alphanumeric value in the Source cell.
   • If the Source Type is Entity Field, enter the name of an entity field in the Source cell.
   • If the Source Type is SQL Statement, enter an SQL statement in the Source cell.
   • If the Source Type is GE Object, the source is an in-memory generic entity object; enter oGE in the Source field. 
3. Save the record.

Note that typically all Form Template Part inputs use a Static Value source type. 

Configuring a Tab Control Input Map Tab

When the Type is set to Tab Control, a form template administrator can define the way in which a tab control appears on a form including the font of the tab headings and the color of both the tab headings and the form area that appears under the selected tab. Follow the steps below to define the tab styling for the Tab Control.

1. Select the Input Maps tab on the Form Template Parts record.
   
    
2. If you want to use the default Aptify Tab Control settings, select the Use Default Settings option.
   • When checked, Aptify's default tab styling is used and the other fields on the Input Map tab become disabled. Note that when you check this option, the default values are populated in the corresponding field and any customized settings are lost. 
3. If you want to define the appearance of the tabs and display area on the form, make sure the User Default Settings check box is cleared and modify the tab control's style, color and fonts as desired.

Creating Form Template Part Categories

Form template parts are, by default, grouped together based on the entity or sub-entity to which they belong. These groupings are defined in Form Template Part Categories records. The system automatically creates Form Template Part Categories as necessary when generating forms for a new entity. A sample category created by the Form Template Generator is shown below. For example, to distinguish form template parts that may be used on the Cultures form, those parts are grouped under the Cultures Form Parts form template part category.

If necessary, you can create your own categories:

1. Open a new record from the Form Template Part Categories service.
2. Enter a name and description.
3. Enter the name of an Entity to which this part category applies.
4. Save and close the record.