Form Panel
In case of detail form or grid+detail form , the form definition panel is showed; through it the user has to define settings related to the form component:
form title (optional, can be hidden)
business component (for a single record loading) to link to the form; the fields specified in the select clause are used to automatically create the form controls; user can then show/hide each of them, as well as define many other control settings
form width and height
flags to show/hide border and to set panel opacity
flags to allow the CRUD operations, i.e. insert, update and delete (only if the data model linked to the selected business component is writable);
flags to define if the window embedding the detail form must be closed after the operations of insert/update/delete
flag to define if data loading is automatically performed when the form is showed
initial form mode, when the form is showed; grids and forms have 3 alternative modes: readonly, insert, edit; in insert mode all controls are cleared up
flag "copy enabled", used to show a "copy" button in the form toolbar, used to switch to insert mode the form, clear up all controls and then copy the values from the previous record to the new one
boolean javascript expression "disable when", to disable everything when the boolean condition is true
linked grid, used to manage some default operations, such as the grid reloading after inserting/updating the form content
number of columns and label length, used to define the labels+controls layout; it is also possible to arrange labels and controls by specifying the x and y coordinates for each of them.
flags "enable tag" and "enable rating" used only for detail form based on a business component that uses Alfresco service.
Important note: when defining a form panel, a linked grid should be selected; in this way, Platform can automate many operations involved with the interaction between grid and form: automatic form opening when double clicking on a grid, form loading when selecting a row in grid, grid content automatic update when saving/deleting data in the form. However, it is also allowed not to set any linked grid when defining the form : in that case, the form is disconnected from any other panel and the previous automatisms are not available; that means that the required input parameters for the form must be explicitelly provided by the programmer, for example when opening a window containing that form. This is relatively easy to do, by passing to the openWindowXXX(args) instruction the required input parameters through the args obiect. If case the form (not linked to any grid) is directly opened starting from a menu item , there aren’t any input values passed to the window containg the form; it that case, the required input parameters must be defined within the window and before the creation of the form. That means that t he required input parameters must be defined through a javascript action linked to the "before render" event of the window , which can be defined in the window detail form.
When creating the form, a form toolbar is automatically showed on top of it; this toolbar always includes the reload button; the other buttons (insert, edit, delete and save/cancel) are showed/hidden according to the flags described above. These buttons change the current form mode, according to the following policy:
insert button, from readonly mode -> insert mode, insert/edit/delete buttons are disabled, save/cancel buttons are enabled
edit button, from readonly mode -> edit mode, insert/edit/delete buttons are disabled, save/cancel buttons are enabled
delete button, from readonly mode -> after confirming the operation, the selected records are deleted
cancel button, from insert/edit mode -> after confirming the operation, the form is switched to readonly mode and the content reloaded
save button, from insert/edit mode -> the form is switched to readonly mode if the saving operation has been performed successfully.
Control types
Through the "type" property for a control, it is possible to set a wide range of different controls.
Every control is usually composed of:
a label; it can be rendered either on the left or on top of the input field
an input field; according to the type, the field can be read-only (a button, an image type control) or editable or can miss at all (e.g. a label type control).
Supported types are:
Button - a clickable button; a click event can be linked to it, through Column Events folders
CMS File - it shows a clickable button to use when the form panel is used combined with the "Internal CMS module"; the button leads to a File Upload Dialog, to manage File upload/download/Preview and its automatic reading/writing into the CMS module; when this type is set, the Directory property must be set as well
Checkbox - the checkbox is clickable in insert/edit grid modes; when this type is set, also Positive/Negative value properties must be set
Counter based on a component - this type cannot be changed, since it is inherited by the bounded data model
Counter based on a table - this type cannot be changed, since it is inherited by the bounded data model
Date - it shows a date formatted according to the current user language; in insert/edit mode a calendar can be opened to choose the date
Date+Time - it shows a date+time formatted according to the current user language; in insert/edit mode, a calendar can be opened to choose the date
File Id - it shows a clickable button to use when the form panel is used combined with the "Alfresco ECM module"; the button leads to a File Upload Dialog, to manage File upload/download/Preview and its automatic reading/writing into the Alfresco module; when this type is set, the Directory property must be set as well
HTML - a read only control composed of a HTML area when showing any kind of HTML scriptlet; helpful when very complex content must be showed within the form
HTML Editor - an HTML editor to use to write formatted text (e.g. with bold, italics, fonts, etc)
Internal counter - this type cannot be changed, since it is inherited by the bounded data model
Label - a component composed of a label only: no input field is showed
Number - numeric input field, with a large variety of different properties; support for integer/decimal/currency values
Password - an input text field, where typed character are never showed in plain mode, but they are replaced by *
Radio button - a radio button is rendered; they are always used combined with other radio buttons
Sequence/Autoincrement - this type cannot be changed, since it is inherited by the bounded data model
Text - text input field
Text area - multi-line text field (not a very good choice for a grid...)
Time only - it shows a date formatted according to the current user language; a calendar can be opened to choose the date part
Tree Lookup - a "lookup button" is rendered: when clicking on the button a "lookup tree" is showed, in order to select a node from the list (the code to set in the cell); when filling this type, the Selector property must be set too
UUID - this type cannot be changed, since it is inherited by the bounded data model
Upload to directory - an old version type; it is recommended not to use it any more
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