Designing a Static Form
Designing a Dynamic Form
Objects
Creating Objects
Deleting Objects
Arranging Objects
Page Elements
Creating Page Elements
Deleting Page Elements
Arranging Page Elements
    Structure Map Pane
    Navigating between Page Elements
    Placement and Visibility
Preview the Forms
Preview the Forms
Arranging Page Elements

 

Structure Map Pane


The Structure Map Pane lists the page elements that have been created and the variables associated with that page element. The Structure Map Pane is located in the left bottom panel of your FTDesign window.

Mapped Unlinked variable - field is not linked to a variable on the form but has been mapped to a field in the data (green broken link). 

Mapped Linked variable - field is linked to a variable on the form and is associated with a field in the data (green link).

Unmapped Unlinked Variable - field is defined but not linked to a variable on the form nor mapped to a field in the data (grey broken link).

Unmapped Linked Variable - field is linked to a variable on the form but is not associated with a field in the data (grey link). This condition is flagged as an error when trying to preview a form or build a project. You must link all form variables to data prior to building the project or previewing the form.

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Navigating between Page Elements


To swap between page elements:

  • Select the element you wish to swap to on the Go menu.
  • Alternatively, right click on the element in the Structure Map Pane and select Go from the drop down menu.

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Placement and Visibility


When a form design becomes complex, some page elements may obstruct others or may even not fit on the page in the design window. FTDesign adds page elements to the page in the order you create them. If, for example, you add a group header after creating a detail line, it can be difficult to correctly align text to the appropriate header text.

To cater for these situations, FTDesign allows you to define which page elements are currently visible on screen and in which order to place those elements. You can control this from the Placement and visibility option in the Define menu.

Note: this option has no influence on the order of page elements produced at run-time.

To adjust the Placement and visibility:

  • Select Placement and visibility from the Define menu.
  • On the Headers / footers tab:
    • Available - headers and footers in the Available box will not appear on the form in FTDesign. Although the headers and footers in the Available box do not appear on the form, they will still print at run-time.
    • Ordered - headers and footers in the Ordered box will appear on the form in the same sequence.
    • Right/Left arrows - use the right and left arrows to move headers and footers between the Available and Ordered boxes.
    • Up/Down arrows - use the up and down arrows to change the header and footer order in the Ordered box.

  • On the Detail lines tab:
    • Available - detail lines in the Available box will not appear on the form in FTDesign. Although the details lines in the Available box do not appear on the form, they will still print at run-time.
    • Ordered - detail lines in the Ordered box will appear on the form in the same sequence.
    • Right/Left arrows - use the right and left arrows to move detail lines between the Available and Ordered boxes.
    • Up/Down arrows - use the up and down arrows to change the detail line order in the Ordered box.

  • On the Sub-forms tab:
    • Sub-forms - in the sub-forms box check or uncheck the check box to make the sub-form visible or not visible.
    • Show All - click the Show All button to make all sub-forms on the form visible.
    • Hide All - click the Hide All button to make all sub-forms on the form not visible.

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