Elements

Adding and moving elements

Adding and moving elements always works according to the same principle. New elements are dragged and dropped from the Available Elements widget into the Structure Display, while moving existing elements in the Structure Display widget are dragged and dropped at the desired new position.

If elements are dropped on an element that can have sub-elements, it will ask whether the dragged elements should be inserted as new sub-objects or in front of the target element. If the target element is a row, a new row is automatically created at the position, and all dragged elements are inserted into the row. If, on the other hand, the target element is not an element that can have sub-elements, the dragged elements are always inserted before the target element and no query dialog is displayed.

initial situation

new row

Adding Elements

It is possible to select several elements in the worklist and drag them to the widget “Structure Display”. If the identifier field and the corresponding data field and, if applicable, description field are dragged together from the worklist (available elements) into the structure display, the identifier field is inserted first, followed by the data field and finally the description field at the corresponding position, regardless of the position in which they are displayed in the worklist. If several data fields are dragged into a container, it is possible by means of the context menu function new line from here to divide these simply on different lines (see also Container Types).

Moving Elements

With the multiple selection it is possible to select and move several elements in the structure. Elements are always moved with their subelements, even if they were not explicitly selected. The existing order of the fields is maintained.

Deleting and hiding elements

Elements can be either deleted or hidden using the corresponding context menu functions in the Form Structure widget. Multiple selection is also supported for both deleting and hiding.

Hiding elements

Hidden fields are not displayed on the form. The corresponding area is also not reserved. If the context function Hide is executed on a row, all elements of a row are hidden, because a row is not an element (see also Container Types). If all fields of a row are hidden, the whole row is not displayed. Hidden elements are correspondingly shown as disabled in the structure display.

Usually it is sufficient to hide the main element (e.g. container or table), which should not be displayed anymore. All subordinate elements are then also not displayed, regardless of whether they are also hidden in the form or not.

Deleting elements

If an element with sub-elements or a row is deleted, all sub-elements are also removed from the form. If this is not desired, the elements that are not to be deleted must first be moved out of the element to be deleted.

It is recommended to hide standard fields that are not needed instead of deleting them. This makes it easier to restore them if necessary.

Change element type

For bound input fields as well as for unbound elements it is possible to adjust the type in the form. This is done via the context menu.

This is necessary or useful when new fields are dragged onto the form, since new data fields are (usually) inserted as text fields.

Frequently used element types

Here the most frequently used types are explained and presented in more detail.

Field change	Before	After

Field change

Before

After

Change Custom View Object Type from "Text Field" to "Input Field"

Change custom view object type from "Text field" to "Checkbox"

Change Custom View Object Type from "Input Field" to "Checkbox"(Dropdown)

Special Attribute of Element

Special attribute of element properties

Attribute from "not highlighted" to "highlighted Attribute from "insert in same cell" to "insert in new row".

With "Expandable" the container can be expanded/shrunk. See also Container Types.

If the container is set to "Expanded", the container will be displayed expanded when the form is opened, otherwise collapsed.

Columns in tables

Columns in tables are represented by the "column" element type. The columns are displayed according to their order later on the GUI. For each column, a caption can be specified via a subordinate identifier field.

Insert pictures

Images can be inserted into the form via the "Image" element. All images must be accessible for the client (central storage). The path must be specified without leading/terminating quotes.

Aligning elements

To align elements in flow layouts or fixed flow layouts, the length of each element in the rows can be adjusted accordingly. In the following example, the lengths for the identifier fields are changed to a Fixed value to achieve homogeneous alignment.

To achieve this, the width of the description fields must be changed.