Form Properties

It is possible to set default values for many of these form properties in the presentation template associated with a form. The default properties are configured in the Form section under Property Sets within the Presentation Template Editor.

General tab

Property	Description
Business View	the Business View associated with this form. This is the link between the form and all the external resources (e.g. databases, email services, etc.) accessed by the form. Double-clicking on the Business View will open the Business View editor. (See Understanding Ebase Integration and Working with Business Views for more information)
First Page	the form's first page. The dropdown list contains all pages of the form.
Unique Form Id	The unique id of the form. This can be used when scanning documents containing barcodes produced from online forms.
HTML Form Tag Position	specifies the position of the HTML form tag as follows: · Use system default - option as specified in UFSSetup.properties parameter Ufs.globalHtmlForm is used. · Includes all JSP Panels - the form tag includes the Ebase form and all included JSP or HTML panels. · Includes form only - the form tag includes just the Ebase form and not any included JSP or HTML panels. Use this option if you need to include your own <form> tags in included JSP or HTML files. See the description of parameter Ufs.globalHtmlForm in UFSSetup.properties for further information.
Browser Back Button Support	Specifies whether the user can use the browser back button. See back button support for more information.
Security authorization	supplies the name of the security authorization used to check whether users have access to this form. (See Ebase Security Authorization for more information)
Secure form	When checked, the system will use the secure https protocol for all communication between the end user and the Ebase Server. You will need to consult the documentation for your web server and application server to configure them to enable https. (See Secure Forms for more information)
Optimistic Locking	Applies to database updates only. When checked, the system will check that the record about to be updated has the same values as it did when it was read from the database using a fetch command. This check is applied only to mapped fields as Ebase is not concerned with the state of any other fields on the database record. If the values are unchanged then the update is performed, otherwise command status is set accordingly. (See update command in FPL script command syntax or the API DatabaseResource.update() method) Unchecked is the default setting and then the update is performed without any checks. Optimistic locking is supported only for update of a single database record using the update command/method – update of multiple records using updatetable is not supported.
Use Ajax	When checked, the system will use Ajax for communication between the client and the server. In general, this results in a smoother transition between web pages and improved responses. The default value for this setting is specified using the Form Options tab of Designer Preferences. Click here for further details.
Skip pages with no visible fields or tables	This is a legacy setting and is generally not applicable for new forms. When checked, a page is not displayed when it contains no visible fields or tables (either they don’t exist or they are hidden). All other controls are ignored when making this determination. The page configured as the next page is shown instead. When unchecked, a page is always displayed.

Events tab

Property	Description
Event Scripts	This tabbed section allows scripts to be associated with or removed from the various form level events. (See Understanding Ebase Events).
Client Callable Functions	Here Client Callable Functions can be added, removed to the form and ordered with respect to one another for use by the Client API. See Working with the Client API for more information.
Shared Functions	Functions that can be used by all Event Scripts as well as Client Callable Functions can be added, removed to the form here and ordered with respect to each other. See Shared Functions for more details.

Presentation tab

Property

Description

Presentation template

The presentation template associated with this form. This controls the look and feel of the form, e.g. images, fonts, font sizes, colors, etc. in the browser. Double-clicking on the template name will open the presentation template editor. (See How Style is Applied and Working with presentation templates for more information)

Html Document Type

These settings control the browser output rendered by the system:

Use system default

Setting is taken from UFSSetup.properties parameter Ufs.outputDocumentType.

Html Version

Type of rendered output:

HTML 4: output is rendered in HTML to the HTML 4 standard
XHTML 1: output is rendered in XHTML to the XHTML 1 standard
HTML 5: output is rendered in HTML to the HTML 5 standard (may give problems with older browsers)

Document Type

This controls the document type and instructs the browser that the HTML/XHTML conforms to the Transitional or Strict part of the standard. Note that Strict is much more restrictive than Transitional and may cause forms containing additional added HTML and/or JSPs to fail.

Form Header Panel

Contains options to configure the form header text panel. The form header text is a single text that can be displayed at the top of each page. The text is configured in texts tab or by double clicking on the form header text in the WYSIWYG panel.

Use settings from template	Check this option to indicate that all settings are taken from the Form defaults section of the presentation template.
Display form header	Check this option to include the optional form header text panel at the top of each page of the form
Form Header Style	The CSS class and style applied to the form header text.
Show top navigation images	Check this option to include the appropriate page navigation image buttons to the right of the form header text. These buttons are shown when a form header text exists and an image URL has been configured.
Next page image	The image URL of the next page image button. This is displayed when a next page exists. See Page Sequencing.
Previous page image	The image URL of the previous page image button located to the right of the form header text. This is displayed when a previous page exists. See Page Sequencing.
Finish image	The image URL of the finish image button located to the right of the form header text. This is displayed when no next page exists. See Page Sequencing.

Focus Options

Standard Focus Style	The CSS class and style used to highlight the current input field.
Error Focus Style	The CSS class and style applied to used to highlight the error input field.

See Controlling Browser Focus for more information on these options.

Texts tab

This allows you to change the form level texts. To view and maintain all language texts in the same window you can click the Maintain language texts button on the form toolbar. Single texts can also be changed by double clicking on the text in the WYSIWYG view.

Property	Description
Form heading text	The language-dependent form header text displayed at the top of each page. See form header panel options in the presentation tab.
HTML title text	The language-dependent text displayed in the browser title bar. This text should always be supplied to make the form accessible to disabled groups. (See Web Accessibility - Forms Designer considerations)
Finish button text	The language-dependent text displayed on the finish button

Final page tab

This allows you to set attributes for the form’s final page - this special page is displayed when the user clicks the special Finish button and form processing has ended (click here for further details).

Property	Description
Return Button URL	Specifies the URL that will be linked to when the user presses the return button .
Return Button text	The language-dependent text to be displayed on the return button.
Page style	The CSS class and style applied to the BODY tag of the final page. Style configured here is applied to the entire page contents including surrounding JSPs.
Page content style	The CSS class and style applied to the page content. Style configured here is applied to all content excluding the surrounding JSPs.
Containing table style	The CSS class and style applied to the TABLE tag of the final page. All content of the final page is included in this table excluding the surrounding JSPs..
Heading text style	The CSS class and style applied to the final page heading text.
Info text style	The CSS class and style applied to the final page information text.
Messages style	The CSS class and style applied to any final messages.
Return button style	The CSS class and style applied to the return button.
Final page heading text	The language-dependent text to be displayed at the top of the final page.
Final page information text	The language-dependent text to be displayed below the final page heading text on the final page.

To view and maintain all texts in the same window you can click the Maintain language texts button on the form toolbar.

JSPs tab

This tab allows you to specify the file locations of the surrounding JSPs. The locations specified are relative to the document root of the Ebase web application. JSPs specified here override any default values configured for form default properties in the form’s presentation template, and can be overridden by specifying values for the Page Control properties for individual pages. Click here for priorities of surrounding JSP configuration parameters.

Note also that additional JSPs can be included at any point on a page using an Include Control.

Property	Description
Enable JSPs	When checked, each form page is surrounded by up to 4 JSPs – see surrounding JSPs; the form page and JSPs are written using HTML <table> tags. When unchecked, JSPs are disabled and the form page is written using an HTML <div> tag.
Top JSP	The file location of the top JSP relative to the document root of the Ebase web application. Only files within the Ebase web application can be included.
Left JSP	The file location of the left JSP relative to the document root of the Ebase web application. Only files within the Ebase web application can be included.
Right JSP	The file location of the right JSP relative to the document root of the Ebase web application. Only files within the Ebase web application can be included.
Bottom JSP	The file location of the bottom JSP relative to the document root of the Ebase web application. Only files within the Ebase web application can be included.
Static content	This checkbox applies only when Ajax communication is enabled. When checked for a JSP, the JSP is not refreshed when a page is redisplayed e.g. when an event such as a button click, hyperlink or field immediate validation results in the same page being redisplayed. Note that JSPs are always refreshed when moving to a different page or when Ajax communication is disabled.
Panel widths configuration
Use settings from template	When checked, the following width settings are taken from the Form Property Set in the presentation template associated with the form.
JSP left width	The width of the table cell used to contain the left JSP
Form panel width	The width of the table cell used to contain the rendered form output
JSP right width	The width of the table cell used to contain the right JSP

Save/Restore tab

This tab allows you to specify all attributes associated with the Ebase save/restore feature.

Property	Description
Save/restore enabled	This is the master switch to enable or disable the feature for this form.
User to supply password	If this option is selected, the user will be prompted to supply a password when saving work. The same password must be used for the corresponding restore.
Client cookie lifetime	this sets the maximum number of days in which the user can restore saved work.
Save text	The language dependent text to be displayed in the save button.
Restore text	The language dependent text to be displayed in the restore button.
Save info text	This language dependent text will be displayed at the top of the save popup window box.
Restore info text	This language dependent text will be displayed at the top of the restore popup window box.

To view and maintain all texts in the same window you can click the Maintain language texts button on the form toolbar.

Web Resources tab

See Working with Web Resources for more information on the properties that can be configured in this tab.

Property	Description
Style Sheets	Associates Style Sheets with the form and manages any inherited from the Presentation Template. Displays the Style Sheet Configuration Dialog.
Client Scripts	Associates Client Scripts (including External Scripts) with the form. Can also manage any Client Scripts inherited from a Presentation Template. Displays the Client Script Configuration Dialog.
Html++	Additional HTML can be added to the HEAD section of the generated output for each page. This is in addition to any HTML configured in a linked Presentation Template.

Workflow tab

This tab displays the in and out parameters and the completion states for workflow.