The All-in-One Database Software Solution

Online Help System

Back to Brilliant Database Web-Site | Write to Support | Help Index

Form Editor

Form Editor is the starting point of database creation in this application. With Form Editor, you can not only change the visual representation of the form, but also choose the fields to be used for data storage, change their properties and positioning. A single database may incorporate several forms, e.g., to store information on commodity, clients, staff and so on. Also, each form may include some sheets. The picture below shows the form that includes three sheets: General, Financial and More Photos.

Select the Designer > Edit Form menu item to open the form editor window.

Form Editor Window

The Form Editor window consists of four panes:

The list of existing database forms.
Form and elements editing area.
Properties of the selected element.
Toolbars.

Managing Forms

You can manage your forms with the Forms menu or the toolbar commands :

From left to right:

Create a new form.
Clone the selected form.
Delete the selected form.
Move the selected form upwards in the list.
Move the selected form downwards in the list.

The way to change the size and properties of the selected form is described below.

Managing Elements

Use the Add Element Toolbars to add new elements:

To add an element to a form, first click the corresponding toolbar button, then click anywhere on the white space of the form.

General Data Elements (from left to right)

This set contains the main elements in which the major data is usually stored:

Single-Line Text Field is used to store single line text.
Password Field is used to store single line text, all characters are shown as "*" characters.
Numerical Field is used to store numerals.
Mathematical Field is used to store formulas and numerals. Using standard mathematical constructions, you can set a formula, according to which the necessary data will be calculated automatically, e.g., [Field C]=[Field A]+[Field B]. Learn more...
Date Field is used to store dates. In the database you can use the calendar to set the field data.
Time field is used to store time data.

Misc. Data Elements (from left to right)

This set contains the elements that store the data of irregular types, e.g., images or multiline text:

Drop-down List is used to select one of many values in a database.
Multiline Text is used to store multi-line text.
Image is used to store images. An image can be stored in various formats (BMP, JPEG, GIF, ICO).
Flag is used to store Boolean values (yes or no).
Multi-select Field is used to select one or more values in a list of existing ones.
Record UID Number. This field is filled in automatically during the new record creation and contains a serial number of the created record. For the first consistently created records it will be the 1,2,3,4, etc. numbers. The field has the following parameters: Current ID - contains the number to be assigned to the new record. With the help of this field you can begin the records numbering from any number.

Static Elements (from left to right)

This set contains the elements that store no data and are used to simplify the work with the form.

Label (doesn't store data) is used to display static information, such as field captions. Also you can use the element as a separator.
Simple Button (doesn't store data). The buttons are used to automate various operations with the database (e.g., a button that creates a new record or increases the field value by one). To define the script to be executed by the button, use Script Designer. To check the operability of the button, switch from the editing mode to the database mode. Learn more about scripts...
Text Button (doesn't store data). Though this element seems to be the same as a simple text, it stores no information and its behavior is similar to a regular button. Select this element in the database mode, type in the text and press Enter to execute the script and transfer the information entered in this field to the first input dialog. To learn more, see the Text Button section.
Static Shape (doesn't store data). This item allows adding simple geometric figures to the form for grouping other items.
Static Image (doesn't store data). This item is used for displaying an image on the form.

Relational Data Elements (from left to right)

This set contains elements that allow setting relations between records and combine records into groups, e.g., books with authors or orders with clients.

E-mail Field is used to store e-mail addresses.
URL Field is used to store URL addresses and shortcuts to local files.
Many-to-Many Relational Field is used to build relations between records groups of different types (e.g., records group Books with records group Authors, or Products with Clients). To learn more, see the Relational Elements section.
Simple Relational Field is used to create a link to another record. To learn more, see the Relational Elements section.
Relational Lookup Field is used to get additional information from the related record. To learn more, see the Relational Elements section.
Link To Folder field is used to keep the link to a folder in the database. For example, if there is a project database, it is convenient to use this field in the form, describing the project, to keep a link to the folder with all information on the project. Folder ID placed in this field can be used in formulas and scripts.
Note: A Windows folder link cannot be kept in this field. Use URL Field instead.

Working in the Editor Area

The Editor area is used to select elements and change their size and positioning. Click an element to select it. The selected element is highlighted with eight squares around it:

Drag one of the black squares to change the element size. Drag the mouse while holding the left button down to select multiple elements (the same way you select files in Windows):

Element Properties

Use the property window in the upper part of the window to change the properties of the selected element:

To access properties common for all elements, right-click a necessary element.

For each element, properties are categorized into the following groups:

Individual Properties - properties dependent on the element type. For example, list of values for a list or script for a button.
Font/Color/Border - allows you to modify common properties of the elements, such as font or color.
Tab Order - this group sets the tab order, that is, the sequence of input focus switched with the Tab key.
Layout (for elements) - this group sets the element behavior when the size of a form changes.
Layout (for forms) - this group sets the form position in the database window.
Sheet (for elements) - this group allows you to define on which sheets of the form this element will be displayed.
Sheets (for forms) - this group allows is used to add a new sheet to a form, delete an existing sheet or set its properties.
Scripts and Behaviour - on this tab you can change elements behaviour on different user actions (on mouse click, on changing the value, etc.), or assign scripts.
Edit and Visibility - on this tab you can determine conditions, in which the element shall be shown in the form, and conditions, in which the user will be able to change its value. These rules are determined with the help of Rule Wizard.

Layout Property

This property is used only when the position property of a form is set to fit to window. When this option is selected, changing the application window size makes the form resize to fit the window. You have to set the behavior for all of elements of the form using the Layout properties pane. The following figure shows a sample element layout schema.

The light-blue field represents the element, while the texts on its sides allow setting the layout options for the following element properties: width and height; left, right, top and bottom margins. If the FIXED option is set for some property, this property remains unchanged regardless of the form size. On the other hand, setting the float option for some property makes the property value vary according to the form size. Please note that you cannot set all three position properties (vertical or horizontal extent and margins) to FIXED.

For example, let us consider how the width property of the element affects its extent having the left margin fixed and the right margin floating, when the size of the form changes.

Case A illustrates the element clipped due to the form size reduction. Case B shows that the element resized according to the form size has changed: shrank to the form size reduction and increased to the form size extension.

According to the layout rules, the left margin has not changed while the right margin varied in all cases.

Combining elements with various positioning properties in a single form allows gaining the optimal use of the form surface, regardless of the window size. You may consider sample layouts in the example file.