The terms static or dynamic are used to describe the handling of the Detail Area in a form design. In a Static form, the Detail Area is a fixed area on the page. In a Dynamic form, the size of the Detail Area will shrink and grow to accommodate document headers and footers.

A Static form is the simplest design method. You can use this approach for most standard documents, particularly when there are a constant number of detail lines on each page of the input file. You would typically use this approach to handle Print Line mode data.

A Dynamic form is more flexible but in being so is also more complex to design. You would use a Dynamic form if you want the Page headers to have less detail on pages after the first page of a document, or if you want your Page footer on the final page to carry trailer details, or even if you simply want to fit more details onto the non-terminating pages of a document. This approach is typically better suited to handling Records mode data or repaginated Print Line mode data.

These approaches describe the extremes in terms of planning your form layout. You may find that a combination of the features used in each method best suits your needs.

It is not always necessary to have a Detail Area. Forms that document a single transaction (like a car hire) or that are largely details about an individual (like a loan transaction) will not normally need a detail area.

Forms dealing with multiple products or multiple transactions will require a detail area. A typical example is an invoice, where the detail area details multiple products.

In Print Line mode, you must accommodate the number of detail lines that are printed on any one page. If all the detail lines do not fit into the detail area, FormTrap will produce an overflow page, with the same Base page information and the remaining detail lines. In Records mode, FormTrap calculates the “fit” and paginates when necessary.

While you can easily identify various items of information on an existing printed page, some fields may be uncommon and may only print when some special event occurs. Similarly, some fields may have special conditions that are not obvious.

Once you have identified all of the data fields, it is a good idea to list them and allocate a name to them. At this time you should also note the maximum number of characters in each field and any special characteristics.

Here is an example of some data fields we have extracted from an invoice and the field names we have assigned them:

More information on Defining Variables in Print Line Mode

More information on Defining Variables in Records Mode

This is again a decision you need to make to produce the clearest and most legible form possible. Good practice is to have a detail line on the form for each different type of detail line in the data. Note that a consistent block of data over more than one line should defined as a single "detail line". Highlight important information by using different font styles and sizes.

In Print Line mode, it is common to define only those detail lines that you require and to remove irrelevant and unwanted lines from your input.

Use these features when designing a Dynamic form. Headers and footers allow you to define a different amount of space at the top and bottom of given pages in a document, such as having a large space for the headers of the first page and a smaller space for the headers of the remaining pages. The same is true of footers, which allow you to define a larger space on the final page to cater for trailer details such as totals.

These options are useful when you don't need detailed information in the headers and footers on every page of a document, such as delivery address details, which would only be necessary on the opening page.

Group headers appear in the Detail Area and can be considered as the table headers of a typical document. There are two types of group header, implicit, which is defined by the subsequent detail line, and explicit, which is defined by the input data.

When headers appear in the detail section of your input data, you should use an explicit header in your form design. This type of header works in the same way as a normal detail line and is generated when the appropriate conditions exist in the input data.

When headers do not appear in the input data, you can use the successful creation of a detail line to imply the preceding header. In this case, when a certain type of detail line is created in the output, FormTrap will generate an implicit header object before printing that detail line.