You use this program to design a full-featured customized form for use within a SYSPRO application. A form in a customized pane has the same look-and-feel and behavior as the standard forms used throughout SYSPRO. The structure of a form can be built by supplying XML within a customized pane's OnLoad function.
This program is accessed by selecting the Design Form function in the Customized Pane Editor program. This function becomes available when the Form object type is selected.
Field | Description | ||||||||
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Save and Exit | Saves your changes and to return to the previous screen. | ||||||||
Delete | Deletes the field currently highlighted in the Form Design pane. | ||||||||
Options | |||||||||
Form ID | This uniquely identifies the form and uses it to define
the name of the saved XML layout
(Form_operator_ProgramNameFormID.XML). For example:
This is especially important if the contents of the form will be changed dynamically using VBScript so that before the new form fields are applied, the current form fields and layout are automatically saved. |
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Clear Form at Runtime | Clears the form contents at runtime (including removing any VBScript variables associated with that form) and re-populates it with the contents from the incoming XML file or string. |
This displays a preview of the form you are designing, with the fields you have added to the form. The Form Design pane is a normal form, so you can reposition fields as required or supply more advanced properties by selecting the Field Properties window (i.e. right-clicking in the Design Form pane).
You add new fields to your form using the Toolbox pane. Fields consist of captions and values.
Field | Description |
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Add Field | Adds the field to the form. Once added to your form, use the Properties pane to adjust the behavior of the form field. |
Caption | Enter a caption for the field. |
Field Type | Indicate the type of field. |
Alpha |
This creates a field which allows alphanumeric characters to be entered for the value. This field can contain up to 3,000 characters, although its maximum length can be restricted using the Length field property. |
Check box | Select this to create a tick box which the operator can either select or deselect. |
Color picker |
This creates a field which enables the operator to select a color. Alternatively, the Red/Green/Blue (RGB) value can be manually entered, delimited by semi colons. |
Date |
This creates a field for a date. This field uses the short date format as defined in the company setup. A date can be entered or selected from the displayed chooser. |
Drop down | Select this to create a list of values from which the
operator can select the value required. When the operator selects an entry from the selection box, the value associated with the entry is automatically placed into the field. A drop down selection box involves defining the contents of the selection box. You generate the drop down list using the Enter Items function. |
Drop down entry | Select this to define a drop down list but also allow
the operator to enter a value in the field rather than only
being able to select it from the drop down list. A drop down selection box involves defining the contents of the selection box. You generate the drop down list using the Enter Items function. The list of values in a dropdown list can be replaced programmatically, using the Drop down list Field property in VBScript. However, if this field property is applied to a Drop down entry field, then it effectively changes the Drop down entry field to be a Drop down. |
Font | This creates a field which enables the operator to select from a number of fonts and font properties. |
Hyperlink |
This displays a hyperlink which calls a VBScript function when selected. |
Group heading |
Select this to create a group item to which you can attach fields. This is typically used to group fields that logically fit together. |
Multiline |
This creates a field which into which more than one line can be entered, for example a Notes field. If the text is greater than the available display space, a slider bar will appear alongside the text. The depth of the multiline field can be defined at the Multiline count field on the Properties pane. |
Numeric |
This creates a field for numeric values. The maximum size of a numeric field on a form is 12.6 (999,999,999,999.999999), but the field can be configured to have a smaller size using the Length and Decimals fields on the Properties pane. |
Picture | This creates a placeholder for a picture in the value section of the field. A browse function is included, enabling the operator to insert the required picture. |
Radio button |
Select this to create a list of items, from which the operator can select one only. You generate the radio button list using the Enter Items function. Because of the amount of space that it can take up, you would usually only use a radio button when there are a limited number of items from which to choose. When the list becomes large you would typically use a dropdown list instead. |
Slider | This creates a field with a slider button which the operator can use to indicate a selection. For example, selecting a volume level. |
Spin button | This creates a field with a spin button allowing the operator to increase (up arrow) or decrease (down arrow) the value in the field. The range of values are defined in the Min value and Max value fields in the Properties pane. |
Time | This creates a field allowing the entry of hours and
minutes and is represented as hh:mm in
the form. The value of this field type is assumed to be 4-digits long, where the first two digits represent the hour, and the next two digits represent the minutes. Therefore, to change the value of a Time form field using VBScript, a value of 1223 would be displayed as 12:23. |
Time span | This creates a field allowing the entry of days, hours
and minutes and is represented as __ Days __ Hours
__ Minutes in the form. The value of this type of field is assumed to be 10-digits long and represents time length in seconds. Therefore, to update this field type with 45 minutes, you must multiply the minutes by 60 to get seconds and apply the calculated value. Similarly, in a VBScript, the value given will be represented in seconds; thus an entered value of 1 Days 1 Hours 1 Minutes would make the VBScript variable value 90060. |
Add to group | Optionally indicate the group heading to which the
field must be added. You can change this later by dragging a field out of a group and attaching it to another group in the Form Design pane. |
Once you have added a field to your form, you use the Properties pane to adjust the behavior of the field (e.g. an editable form requires you to define the length of the field). The properties available depend on the Field type you select.
Field | Description | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Appearance | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Caption |
The label that is displayed in the field. The caption can be changed after the form has been created. |
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Override description |
Use this property for forms with multiple fields that have identical captions. You also use this property to use the functionality that automatically becomes available when you add a field to the form that has the same name as a standard SYSPRO field. If the standard SYSPRO field has a browse, the field you add with that same name will automatically have a browse against it. |
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Field type |
The type of field you are defining. This is a read only field for all fields. The field type cannot be changed so if the field type is incorrect against a field, the field will need to be deleted and added again. |
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Behaviour | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
ID | The unique identity number of the field. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Length |
The maximum permitted size of the data entry field you are creating. The fields making use of this property include Alpha, Numeric, Multiline, Drop down entry and Spin button. |
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Read only | Create a non-editable field. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Password |
Replaces each character of the password with an asterisk as it is entered into the field. Passwords can only be added to alpha fields. |
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Items | Use the Enter items hyperlink to
define a list of items for the field. This is used for drop
down, drop down entry and radio button field
types.
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Upper-case conversion | Automatically converts any alphabetic text entered in
the field value to uppercase (only applicable to alpha
fields). This overrides your Case setting within your setup options. |
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Input mask |
Enter a mask to limit the type of characters and the number of characters that can be entered for a field value. The input mask consists of character types which define the edit mask and placeholders for the number of characters which can be entered for each specific character type. The placeholders are defined using the underscore ( _ ) key. Input masks can be applied to editable and non-editable fields, but cannot be applied to a hyperlinked form field (i.e. you cannot apply an input mask and a hyperlink to the same caption on a display form). The basic format for an input mask is an underscore followed by the mask character (e.g. _0_0_0 for a 3 digit number). For example: The input mask for a telephone number, restricted to only numeric values with the area code displayed inside of parentheses, would be (_0_0_0) _0_0_0-_0_0_0_0. Additional characters can be combined with the mask characters to create a restrictive field for text entry. For example: you could define an input mask for Stock code as: Color: _L_L_L Size: _0_0_0. This entry would be displayed in the form as: Stock code Color:___ Size: ___ The following mask characters can be used to define the input mask:
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Tooltip | Enter the text you want to display for the
tooltip. You typically use this to display additional information about the field or the type of entry required for the field. |
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Hyperlink caption | Enter a caption for a hyperlink. The caption is displayed when the operator hovers the mouse pointer over the hyperlink. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Multiline count | The number of lines to display before a scroll bar appears. This applies to a multiline field type. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Allow zero date | Allows a zero date to be entered against the field. By default a date is assumed to have to be a valid date, so select this if you want to allow a zero date. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Disallow null field | Indicates that the value of the field cannot be blank. This forces the operator to enter data in the field. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Cannot remove field | Prevents the operator from being able to remove the field from the form. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Icon | Adds an icon to the field caption. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Help text | Enter any text you want to display for the field. This
is displayed at the bottom of the form. This is particularly useful for adding information about any custom fields you added to the form. Help text is not available for a Group heading. |
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Category |
Select an address category to help describe what the address field contains. By setting one of the Address category property's options against a field, when the Resolve Geolocation button is selected SYSPRO knows which field refers to the street, which field refers to the state/province, which refers to the country, etc |
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Address group |
Enter one character to group the components of an address together, primarily so that the Geolocation function knows which fields to match up. If a form has more than one set of address fields, such as a delivery address and a billing address, when the Resolve Geolocation button is selected it needs to know which set of address fields it must use. It will use those that have the same Address group as it has. When the Resolve Geolocation button is selected, SYSPRO attempts to resolve the address using fields against the form that match the Address group of the Geolocation field. |
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Numeric behaviour | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Decimals | Specify how many digits are to appear to the right of the decimal point. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Allow negative values | Allows the entry of negative values in the field. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Edit without commas | Displays the value without any thousand's separators. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Min value |
The minimum value allowed for the field. This property is only available with the Slider and Spin button field types. |
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Max value |
The maximum value allowed for the field. This property is only available with the Slider and Spin button field types. |
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On first time load | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Show hidden |
Hides the field when the form is loaded. |
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Show group collapsed |
Displays only the group headings when the form is initially loaded (and not the fields within the groups). The operator must select the plus sign against the group heading to display the fields in the group. |