Forms Questions

Submitted by viking on 2016/10/27 05:06
1. Is there a way to enter the item text directly in the form.....? It is an extra step to enter the item by form and then have to search for it in the grid to enter the text there.
 
2. For a Date Field item, I set the default to "Now". However, then only the date w/o the time is entered.
 
3. Is there some trick to change the Field order in the form? Drag-and-drop the Fields is incredible difficult to do.
 
4. I frequently use View by form in Ecco. I can't find that in IQ. Is that missing?
 
5. Can I somehow make the form Grid specific so that it only shows up when that Grid is active?
 
6. Is there some way to get a Pop-up window (e.g. by using a short-cut) that display the Form [like in Ecco]?

Comments

  1. Put the Item field in the form ?
  2. Should work. Try it in a sample IQBase and report back the details
  3. Drag-drop works. I'll try to improve it and add Alt + Up / Down arrow to move fields
  4. ?? Isn't that what the Forms section of the Properties pane does ?
  5. No
  6. No, use the Properties pane or load column sets
 
Pierre_Admin
IQ Designer
 

viking

2016/10/27 15:37

In reply to by Pierre_Admin

1. Ah, I didn't realize that Item is an actual field (it is not in Ecco).
2. Before responding , I need to solve #4 below
3. OK.
 
4. I see. Yes, when I select an item, it indeed shows the item properties per the form (i.e. "View by form"). However, how do I now clear the form, so that it shows the default vales and I can enter a new item?
 
5. OK
6. OK

Pierre_Admin

2016/10/27 16:05

In reply to by viking

[quote=viking]
However, how do I now clear the form, so that it shows the default vales and I can enter a new item?
[/quote]
Good suggestion, I'll add a clear form button. Right now, clear the cell and then double-click to have it auto-fill
 
Pierre_Admin
IQ Designer
 

viking

2016/10/27 18:46

In reply to by Pierre_Admin

Currently it seems very difficult to use Forms; I first need to create a new dummy item and then clear it to be able to have a blank Form. Like this
Blank dummy items:
 
and corresponding Form view of the dummy item:
 
I then add the properties for my new "add by form item":
 
Note that I left the date field (Tdate) blank because I wanted it to auto-fill with Today's Date and time
 
Here are my Form defaults:
 
I next clicked on add item (left-most button), and got 2(!) new items (neither have today's date and time):
 

viking

2016/10/27 19:18

In reply to by Pierre_Admin

[quote=Pierre_Admin]
Humm. Have you read 4. Forms ?
  [/quote]
Yes, I have actually read it (twice now). Maybe I am missing something fundamental here?

Pierre_Admin

2016/10/27 20:05

In reply to by viking

Why not use the Add Item by Form button (or add sub-item by form button) ?
 
Pierre_Admin
IQ Designer
 

viking

2016/10/27 20:09

In reply to by Pierre_Admin

[quote=Pierre_Admin]
Why not use the Add Item by Form button (or add sub-item by form button) ?
 
Pierre_Admin
IQ Designer
 
[/quote]
Isn't that what the first button is doing? From the help file:
Clicking the first one will add a new item to the grid with the form's default values.

Pierre_Admin

2016/10/27 20:29

In reply to by viking

[quote=viking]
Currently it seems very difficult to use Forms; I first need to create a new dummy item and then clear it to be able to have a blank Form.
[/quote]
Why not use the add item by form button ?
 
Pierre_Admin
IQ Designer
 

viking

2016/10/28 00:17

In reply to by Pierre_Admin

[quote=Pierre_Admin]
[quote=viking]
Currently it seems very difficult to use Forms; I first need to create a new dummy item and then clear it to be able to have a blank Form.
[/quote]
Why not use the add item by form button ?
 
Pierre_Admin
IQ Designer
 
[/quote]
I am sorry, but I do not understand. You already suggested this 3 posts above, and I responded that I indeed used the add item by form button (at least that is what I think that I am doing?).

Pierre_Admin

2016/10/28 00:26

In reply to by viking

In v85:
  • Change: Properties pane: Form buttons are now: 1- Add item, 2- Add sub-item, 3- Apply form, 4- Clear form
 
@viking:
Honestly, I could not quite follow your train of thoughts and what the problem was but the above changes should, I hope, help.
 
 
Pierre_Admin
IQ Designer
 

viking

2016/10/28 00:34

In reply to by Pierre_Admin

[quote=Pierre_Admin]
In v85:
  • Change: Properties pane: Form buttons are now: 1- Add item, 2- Add sub-item, 3- Apply form, 4- Clear form
 
@viking:
Honestly, I could not quite follow your train of thoughts and what the problem was but the above changes should, I hope, help.
 
 
Pierre_Admin
IQ Designer
 
[/quote]
Yes, I used 1- Add item, and got the results as shown in the images above. I am currently using v0.9.84 (portable). Not sure if v85 would help?
Do you have an ETA?

viking

2016/10/28 01:02

In reply to by viking

I am doing something fundamentally wrong. As soon as I type in the Form item field, and before I even press the button, the item text is entered into the grid... WHY?
It appears that I somehow need to unselect the current item before entering text in the form. How do I do that?

Pierre_Admin

2016/10/28 01:23

In reply to by viking

I don't understand what you're doing, please provide a video or detailed step by step instructions using the sample IQBase
It works just fine here. 
 

OK, I think I might have deciphered this .  Comments in red.
 
[quote=viking]
Currently it seems very difficult to use Forms; I first need to create a new dummy item and then clear it to be able to have a blank Form. Like this
Blank dummy items:

No you don't need to first create a dummy item.  I think the issue here is that you are confused by the verbiage and doing things in the wrong order.  When you go to a form, it's always going to be active for the current (active) item in the grid your're in.  And in that scenario the form allows you to quickly apply several properties to the item.  However what you are doing is going to a form and you want to create a new item.  So you don't need to create a dummy item, what you want to do is FIRST (NOT last) click on the button to the left for "add new item".  Now you've created a new item AND added it to the grid.  NOW modify your form properties as desired.

Unless I'm mistaken your confusion is in thinking that you are supposed to add all the data in the form and THEN click "add item" to add it to the grid, and as a result you're doing things in the wrong order (modifying one item, then clicking "add new item" and ending up with multiple items as a result).  I'm not sure how you're getting 2 identically named items but I still think it's some combination of doing things in the wrong order and/or misusing the "speed" buttons because the steps you are explaining are not in the right order.
 
and corresponding Form view of the dummy item:
 
I then add the properties for my new "add by form item":
 
Note that I left the date field (Tdate) blank because I wanted it to auto-fill with Today's Date and time
 
Here are my Form defaults:
 
I next clicked on add item (left-most button), and got 2(!) new items (neither have today's date and time):
 
[/quote]

viking

2016/10/28 05:15

In reply to by David_H

@ David, Thanks!
You were right. I did it the way it is done in Ecco: First specify the field values and then click on "Add" to create the new item.
When I did it in reverse order it worked .
 
However, Tdate is still wrong. It should be current date and time (since "now" is default). However, it only shows the date (see images above)
 

Try this.  Tools > Field Properties
 
Find your tdate field and if it doesn't have it, add the value in the attached screenshot and make sure to save it.  Does that fix it?
 

Sorry, I gave you the wrong instruction there.  I'll check on that one tomorrow if someone else has not already given the answer.  I believe there is a value that needs to be added in place of "now" to make both date and time display, but I may be mistaken.

viking

2016/10/28 13:56

In reply to by David_H

[quote=David_H]
Sorry, I gave you the wrong instruction there.  I'll check on that one tomorrow if someone else has not already given the answer.  I believe there is a value that needs to be added in place of "now" to make both date and time display, but I may be mistaken.
[/quote]
According to the Help file, "Now" should do it in the form. See here:www.sqlnotes.net/drupal5/index.php

Pierre_Admin

2016/10/28 14:17

In reply to by viking

[quote=viking]
According to the Help file, "Now" should do it in the form. See 4. Forms
[/quote]
Doc says to use =Now, not Now
 
FYI, do check Linking to other pages on how to best link to another page:  [  node : nodeID  ] (without spaces)
 
Pierre_Admin
IQ Designer
 

viking

2016/10/28 17:36

In reply to by Pierre_Admin

[quote=Pierre_Admin]
[quote=viking]
According to the Help file, "Now" should do it in the form. See 4. Forms
[/quote]
Doc says to use =Now, not Now
 
FYI, do check Linking to other pages on how to best link to another page:  [  node : nodeID  ] (without spaces)
 
Pierre_Admin
IQ Designer
 
[/quote]
Ah, missed that. Works now . Thanks.