Each form contains a number of fields. A field can have many attributes, e.g. name, value, type, label text, help text.... and many more. It is important to realize conceptually that a field is maintained at form level by the system, as opposed to at page level. This means that the field value and its attributes can be referred to and changed at any time during form processing and that a field can be displayed on many pages if required.

To display a field on a page, we create a new element which we call a field-on-page and this has its own set of attributes, e.g. mandatory, hidden, display only, validation, etc. These attributes apply to the presentation of the field on the page and can be changed dynamically at runtime if required using FPL script commands.

Fields can also be displayed in tables where each table consists of a number of rows each containing column fields.

A form can have any number of pages. As the system completes processing of each page, it passes control to the next page. The sequence of pages is initially set by the Ebase user, but can be changed dynamically at runtime. If there is no next page, end of form processing is then executed any after-form event scripts are executed. Following this, the system displays a special final page. This page is not strictly part of the form itself, but serves two distinct functions:

· allows you to display feedback messages accumulated during the processing of the form e.g. "Your order has been received, order number 347852". Messages such as this can be added to the final page using 'final' messages.

· displays a button - the return button - to allow the user to link to another URL.

Creating and editing a form

A form can be created by selecting from the file menu (File --> New --> Form) or right clicking on a project (Create new --> Form) and edited by double clicking on an existing form in the hierarchy tree panel (Business Projects --> Project --> Forms).

The graphical editor consists of a hierarchy tree panel on the left and the selected form on the right. The form toolbar at the top of the area provides form-level functions such as save, delete, run form, edit texts, etc. Immediately under this are split panels; the pages panel on the left, page editor panel in the middle and the form fields panel on the right. The pages panel shows all the pages of the form and additional functions such as create, delete and edit page properties can be accessed by right mouse click on a page name button. Next to this is the page editor panel with the page toolbar at the top which contains functions to create and design the page. On the right is the form fields panel which displays all the fields for the currently open form. The form fields toolbar which is displayed above allows you to create and maintain these fields.

The Page editor panel can be displayed as either a graphical view or a table view by clicking the appropriate tab at the top of the page editor panel. In the graphical view (shown above) you will see the page toolbar and in table view (not shown) you see the fields on page toolbar.

The divider bars can all be dragged to re-size the panels. In addition, clicking on either the hide/show fields or hide/show pages will minimize and maximize the display of that particular panel.

Page Editor Panel – Graphical View

Form Toolbar functions

These functions are also available from the Form menu item at the top of the page.

· Save: saves the form.

· Form properties: displays the form properties dialog (see below)

· Run: first saves the form and then runs it in your default browser. To build the URL to run the form, the system uses the SERVER_HOST, SERVER_HTTP_SERVLET and SERVER_HTTP_PORT properties which are specified in the start_designer.bat file used to start Ebase Designer. (See Configuring Ebase Designer for more information) Hint: if you want to start testing your form at a certain page, change first page in the general tab of form properties.

· Add a new page: displays the new page dialog. Select page to be inserted after, click OK, enter name of new page and click OK.

· Add a fields-only Component: displays dialog for inserting a fields only component to the current form (see component concepts).

· Display the resource mappings panel: (see field mappings)

· Maintain Language texts: (See Working with Form Texts)

· Parameters: displays a list of those fields which can be passed to the form when it is invoked. To designate a field as a parameter, click the parameter checkbox in the field properties for the field. Note that LANGUAGE can always be passed and does not need to be specified. These parameters are not mandatory.

· Create resource: this button opens a dialog that allows the creation of an external resource e.g. a database or email resource. The dialog asks for the type and name of the new resource and the form fields that should be included in the resource. (See Understanding Ebase Integration for more information)

· Delete: deletes the form.

· Maintain metadata: allows form level support to be maintained. (See Metadata Support for more information)

· Display event map: displays an event view of the form in the references panel (beneath the designer tree). This view shows all configured events for the form together with configured scripts and can be very useful for providing an overview of all the form’s event/script processsing. Double clicking on a script opens the script editor. Please note that if an element (e.g. a page) does not have any configured events, it is not included in this view.

· Documentation: allows documentation to be maintained for the form or component.

· Help: Displays the help documentation for working with forms.

Form properties

General tab

· First Page: the form's first page. The dropdown list contains all pages of the form.

· 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)

· Presentation template: the presentation template associated with this form. This controls the look and feel of the form, e.g. images, fonts, font sizes, colours, etc. in the browser. Double-clicking on the template name will open the presentation template editor. (See Customizing presentation and Working with presentation templates 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: if set to 'Yes' 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)

· Display finish button as: the finish button is the button used to end the form. It is normally displayed only on the last page of a form, but can be configured to appear on earlier pages if required. If 'button' is selected, it will be displayed as a normal HTML button with the finish text inside. If 'image' is selected, the finish button image as specified in the presentation template (navigation buttons) will be displayed with an alternate text taken from system text number 30. This text can be customized if necessary (See System Administration and Page navigation)

· 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.

Events tab

This allows scripts to be associated with or removed from the before-form, after-form, browser back button and on-error events. (See Understanding Ebase Events)

Texts tab

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

· 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)

· Form heading text: the language-dependent text displayed at the top of each page. If this text is specified, the system will display small navigation image buttons for next page, previous page and finish to the right of the text. These images are specified in the presentation template (navigation buttons).

· 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 - the special page displayed after form processing has ended (See form basics).

· Return URL: specifies the URL that will be linked to when the user presses the 'return' button on the final page.

· Return URL button text: the language-dependent text to be displayed on the return button of the final page.

· 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 JSPs used to surround the form. The file locations specified are relative to the document root of the Ebase web application. (See Standards for naming web resources, Customizing presentation and Working with JSPs)

Save/Restore tab

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

· 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.

· Display save/restore as: If 'button' is selected, the save and restore buttons will be displayed as normal HTML buttons with the corresponding save and restore texts. If 'image' is selected, the save and restore button images as specified in the presentation template (navigation buttons) will be displayed with alternate texts taken from system text number 240 and 250 respectively. These texts can be customized if required. (See System Administration).

· 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.

Transactions tab

This tab allows you to specify behaviour associated with writing to external resources: databases, email, message systems such as MQSeries, XML, web services. (See Transaction Support for more information)

· Transactional: if set to 'Yes' the system will treat all "writes" to external resources as a transaction. A transaction in Ebase is defined as all events occurring between 2 distinct points in time, starting from the time the user makes a request, until the time the user receives a response. 'Yes' is the default setting and should only be changed where external resource managers cannot support transactions. Please note that in some environments, setting this flag to 'No' can cause database updates to fail with error messages or to not occur.

· Optimistic Locking: applies to database updates only. If set to 'Yes' 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) 'No' is the default setting and if set to 'No' then the update is performed without any checks. Optimistic locking is supported only for update of a single database record using the update command – update of multiple records using updatetable is not supported.

Html++ tab

This tab provides a single box where additional HTML to be inserted into the HTML page header section can be entered. This allows the specification of style sheet classes which may be needed by any of the JSPs associated with the page (see JSPs tab), the insertion of Javascript functions etc.

Workflow tab

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

Info tab

This is display-only information.

· form created by: user who created the form

· form created date: date form was created

· form imported by: user who imported the form

· form imported date: date form was imported

· last updated by: user who last updated the form

· last updated date: date form was last updated

· start of text range: the start of the range of textids used for this form

· high used text id: the highest used textid for this form

· number of pages: total number of pages in the form

· number of fields: total number of fields in the form

Pages Panel

This contains a button for each page of the form. The currently selected page is highlighted. Single-clicking on a page button selects that page as the current page. Double-clicking selects that page as the current page and displays the page properties dialog. Right-clicking presents a menu allowing you to add a page, delete a page, insert one-or-more-pages component, display page properties and field groups.

Page toolbar

· Fields Wizard: for adding fields to the page, create new fields and import fields from external resources.

· Insert part-page component: select from the dropdown list of available part-page components to add one to the current page.

· Add Table: for adding a table

· Button: clicking this adds a Button to the top of the page or after any selected field(s).

· Print Button: adds a Print Button to the top of the page or after any selected field(s). The button is automatically set with the PRINTPDF script.

· Delete: deletes the currently selected field(s) from the page. The fields stay on the form unless they are deleted from the form fields panel.

· Group: select one or more fields-on-page and click ‘group’ to display the field(s) in a group.

· Ungroup: select a field from the beginning or end of the group, clicking ‘ungroup’ will remove the field from that group. To ungroup all the fields in a group, select the group by clicking on the group header, or selecting all the fields in the group, and clicking ‘ungroup’.

· Toggle Hidden Fields: hides/displays the hidden fields on the current page.

· Toggle Unset Text: hides/displays any texts that are empty, including field label text, page/group headers, etc. This enables the Ebase Designer to see the form layout more clearly.

· Insert selected fields from form fields panel: inserts the selected form field(s) from the form fields panel onto the current page, either at the top of the page or after any selected field(s)-on-page.

· Add Text Field: to add a new field-on-page (and add it to the form fields panel) or select an existing Text form field to be added to the page.

· Add Text Area Field: add a new Text Area field-on-page (and add it to the form fields panel) or select an existing Text Area form field to be added to the page.

· Add Yes/No Field:

· Add Boolean Field:

· Add Choice Field:

· Add Radio Field:

· Add Password Field:

Page properties

You can access the page properties by right-clicking on the page name in the page panel.

General tab

· Page name: the name of the page

· Next page: the name of the next page.

· Override Template Properties:

· Template sheet: the name of the template sheet within the presentation template specified in form properties. The attributes from the specified sheet are applied to this page. The dropdown list contains all sheets available within the template. Selecting 'None' indicates that the DEFAULT template sheet will be used. (See Working with Presentation Templates for more information)

· Override Template Widths: when checked, the widths of the field label, field element and field help columns are specified for fields on the page in the following properties; note that these values may be overridden at group level for grouped fields. When unchecked, these values are taken from the presentation template. Moving the width slider controls displayed at the top of each page in the form editor results in this checkbox being checked.

o Width Type: when Override Template Widths is checked, specifies the width control units; can be either Percentage or Pixels. Percentage is recommended. Note that Pixels can lead to unpredictable layouts in some circumstances.

o Label Width: when Override Template Widths is checked, specifies the width of the field label column

o Field Width: when Override Template Widths is checked, specifies the width of the field element column

o Help Width: when Override Template Widths is checked, specifies the width of the field help column

Events tab

This allows FPL scripts to be associated with or removed from the before-page and after-page events. (See Understanding Ebase Events for more information)

Texts tab

This allows you to change the label and information (help) texts. To view and maintain all texts in the same window you can click the Maintain language texts button on the form toolbar.

· Page heading text: the language-dependent text displayed at the top of each page immediately below the form heading text.

· Information text: the language-dependent text displayed immediately below the page heading text.

· Trailer text: the language-dependent text displayed at the bottom of the page.

Navigation Buttons tab

· Display next page as: If 'button' is selected, the next page button will be displayed as a normal HTML button with the next page text. If 'image' is selected, the next page button image as specified in the presentation template (navigation buttons) will be displayed with an alternate text taken from system text number 10. This text can be customized if necessary. (See System Administration and Page Navigation)

· Display previous page as: If 'button' is selected, the previous page button will be displayed as a normal HTML button with the previous page text. If 'image' is selected, the previous page button image as specified in the presentation template (navigation buttons) will be displayed with an alternate text taken from system text number 20. This text can be customized if necessary. (See System Administration and Page Navigation for more information)

· Next page text: the language-dependent text displayed in the next page button. The default is set to ">>" when the page is created.

· Previous page text: the language-dependent text displayed on the previous page button. The default is set to "<<" when the page is created.

Form Fields Panel

This contains a list of all the fields of the form. The list will normally be in alphabetical order except that any newly added fields will appear at the top. The columns of the display can be re-sized by dragging the column heading borders or re-organized by dragging the column headers. Double-clicking on a field selects the field properties dialog. Right-clicking presents a menu allowing you to delete selected fields, convert link to embedded or display the form field properties dialog box.

The tabular display contains:

· Field name: this is display only. If you need to change this, use field properties, General tab.

· Display type: clicking on this field presents a dropdown list of the supported display types

· Field type: clicking on this field presents a dropdown list of the supported internal Ebase field types. (See Supported field types)

· List: shows the list (static or dynamic) that is associated with this field. This is display only. To select a different list, use field properties lists tab.

Form Fields toolbar

· Field properties: displays the Form field properties dialog.

· Delete selected fields: deletes any highlighted fields in the tabular fields display area. A single field can also be deleted by right-clicking in the fields display area and selecting delete.

· Add field: adds a new field to the top of the form fields panel.

· Import fields from external resource: allows you to import fields from an external resource. This will create one form field for each external resource field that is imported and will also create the mapping between the form field and the resource field. The format and lengths will automatically be set to the appropriate values. A Business View containing the required resources must already be associated with the form (see form properties general tab). Clicking this icon displays a dialog as shown below:

Select the resource from the dropdown at the top of the window - this contains all the resources in the business view. Then select all the required fields and click OK. You can use the select all and de-select all buttons. You can also select a range of fields by holding down the SHIFT key, or select multiple fields using the CTRL key.

Field properties

The field properties are a mixture of attributes that apply to the field itself, e.g. field type, and display attributes that apply to the field when it is displayed on a page, e.g. display type. For the latter group, the properties apply to the field on all pages where it is displayed.

General tab

· Field name: changing the field name will automatically rename the field on all pages where it is displayed.

· Field type: This can also be changed by selecting from the dropdown list in the fields area. (See Supported field types)

· Rounding option: this applies only to fields of field type Numeric and Currency and specifies the rounding mode applied each time a numeric value is stored and the value contains more decimal places than the target field. The following options are available:

The following examples assume a target field with 2 decimal places:

Up Values are rounded up.
For example: 2.193 becomes 2.20, 2.459 becomes 2.46, -2.193 becomes -2.20, -2.459 becomes -2.46

Down Values are rounded down.
For example: 2.193 becomes 2.19, 2.459 becomes 2.45, -2.193 becomes -2.19, -2.459 becomes -2.45

Ceiling The same as Up except negative numbers are rounded down
For example: 2.193 becomes 2.20, 2.459 becomes 2.46, -2.193 becomes -2.19, -2.459 becomes -2.45

Floor The same as Down except negative numbers are rounded up.
For example: 2.193 becomes 2.19, 2.459 becomes 2.45, -2.193 becomes -2.20, -2.459 becomes -2.46

Half up Values less than 5 are rounded down, values of 5 and above are rounded up.
For example: 2.193 becomes 2.19, 2.459 becomes 2.46, 3.455 becomes 3.46

Half down Values of 5 or less are rounded down, values of 5 and above are rounded up.
For example: 2.193 becomes 2.19, 2.459 becomes 2.46, 3.455 becomes 3.45

Half even Values of less than 5 are rounded down, values greater than 5 are rounded up, values of 5 are rounded towards the nearest even number.
For example: 2.193 becomes 2.19, 2.459 becomes 2.46, 3.455 becomes 3.46, 4.455 becomes 4.46. Note that this is the rounding mode that minimizes cumulative error when applied repeatedly over a sequence of calculations.

The default is Half up.

· Default value: Enter the default value initially assigned to the field if required. The value must be consistent with the field type.

· Control field: indicates this field is a control field. A control field is a special type of form field that has the following characteristics:

a. It is never displayed to the user

b. before field and field validation events are always fired

· Return field: indicates that the field will be returned to a calling form when this form is called using the CALL FORM command. Only applies to called forms.

· Workflow Priority Field: It means the field is a workflow priority field. It will be displayed as a dropdown and will have the static list defined in (Tools --> System Preferences --> Workflow).

· Parameter: indicates that this field value can be passed from the URL that invokes the form. The parameters button on the form toolbar gives a display of all fields with this checkbox set.

· Encrypted: this checkbox is only enabled if the parameter checkbox is also enabled. It indicates that an additional parameter will be passed containing an encrypted value of the parameter value. The encrypted value will be checked against the parameter value to ensure that the parameter has not been changed. (See Encryption of form parameters for more information)

· Validation: In addition to the field type and mandatory setting, system validators can be used to validate data entered by the user .

Presentation tab

· Display type: Text A text entry field

Textarea A text area - same as text but covering multiple lines

Radio Button A choice of options displayed as radio buttons. The field must be associated with either a dynamic or static list.

Dropdown A choice of options displayed as a dropdown list. The field must be associated with either a dynamic or static list.

Checkbox If associated with a field of field type Boolean, a single checkbox will be displayed where a tick corresponds to the value 'Y' and no tick corresponds with value 'N'. When associated with other field types, a choice of options will be displayed as a number of checkboxes. The field must then be associated with either a dynamic or static list.

Password Same as a text entry field except that entered data will not be visible. Each character is displayed as a bullet point

Label A non-enterable field containing descriptive text.

· Display length: Use Default: The length that will be displayed for the field.

Use Value: The length that will be displayed for the field.

· Number of rows: This applies only to fields of field type Textarea and is the number of rows displayed (The width of each row is specified by display length).

· Show Digit Group Separator: For numeric and currency fields, whether to show 1,000 or 1000

· Display Calendar: Specifies that the calendar image will be placed to the right of the date field. When clicked, a calendar popup is displayed allowing the user to select a date. This option is only available for fields of type DATE.

· Html Indicates that the field value contains formatting HTML. If the field value contains HTML and this option is not checked, the HTML will be escaped by the system and will appear as part of the data value displayed to the user. This option is only effective for display only fields.

· Alignment: Specifies the alignment used to display radio buttons or checkboxes. Horizontal or vertical can be selected. This option is only available if the field has a display type of radio button or checkbox.

· Label position: Specifies the position of the text element of radio button or checkbox fields. Left or right can be selected. This option is only available if the field has a display type of radio button or checkbox.

Note: Display type can also be changed by selecting from the dropdown list on the form fields panel.

Texts tab

This allows you to change the label and information (help) texts. To view and maintain all texts in the same window you can click the Maintain language texts button on the form toolbar.

Lists tab

· Type of list: select the type of list - either 'static' or 'dynamic' - or 'None'. (See Working with lists for more information)

- Static list: Shows a dropdown list with all static lists defined to the system. (See How to use static lists for more information)

- Dynamic list: Shows a dropdown list with all dynamic lists defined to the system. (See How to use dynamic lists for more information)

· Dynamic list is built: controls when the list is built. See Working with Dynamic Lists for details.

· Mappings button: displays a dialog where dynamic list fields can be mapped to form fields.

· Set field value when list only has a single value: when this option is checked, a list that contains just a single entry will result in the field being set with the value prior to being displayed. This option is only available for fields with a display type of dropdown. Setting immediate validation for the field causes this option to be ignored.

· List error message: select either 'System' or 'None' from the dropdown list or enter a message number of a message in the current project. This message will be issued automatically by the system when the list is operating in validation mode and a not found condition has occurred. (See Working with lists)

· Validation Mode Options: displays a dialog where options are configured for a list operating in validation mode.

o List error message: This option can be either System, None, or the number of an error message within the project. If System is chosen, system message 1 is issued. The default is System.

o Error message type: This can be set to Error or Warning with Error being the default. Error forces the end-user to correct the entry whereas Warning allows them to continue once the warning message has been acknowledged.

Page Editor Panel – Table View

This contains a table of all the fields on the currently selected page. The fields are displayed in the order that they will appear on the page. The columns of the display can be re-sized by dragging the column heading borders or re-organized by dragging the column headers. The display contains checkboxes for options mandatory, hidden, display only, immediate validation, hyperlink and new line. It also contains group, any configured before script or immediate script (on click or on change) - if there are multiple scripts, only the first is displayed - and the button checkbox. The configured script(s) can be changed using the properties dialog box or right-clicking on the field row and selecting “Actions”. The button checkbox is for information and shows that the field is a button - it cannot be changed. Double-clicking on a field selects the field on page properties dialog box. Right clicking presents a menu with the following options:

· Group: allows you to assign a field group to all selected fields. (See field groups)

· Ungroup: removes a field group from all selected fields. (See field groups)

· Change column: to assign the selected field(s) to either the left or the right column on the page. See Form Page Layout for examples of the type of layouts that are supported. By default, all fields are in the left column and this will fill the available width of the form panel. The two-column layout is only applied when fields in both the left and right hand columns exist on the same page.

See Fields-on-Page toolbar below for descriptions of the following options

· Delete:

· Insert selected fields:

· Properties:

· Actions:

· Insert button:

Fields-on-Page Toolbar

· Presentation properties for selected field on this page: displays the field-on-page properties dialog.

· Actions for selected field:

· Delete selected fields: deletes any selected fields from the current page.

· Insert selected fields from form fields panel: inserts all selected fields from the form fields panel after the selected field in the fields on page area. If no field is currently selected, the fields will be inserted at the top of the page.

· Insert button: (See Form Action Buttons)

Field-on-Page Properties

· Mandatory: indicates this is a required field. An asterisk (*) will be shown to the right of the label text. This option can be enabled or disabled dynamically using the FPL script commands set/unset FIELDNAME mandatory. The mandatory field text (asterisk by default) can be customized by changing system text 22 (See System Administration).

· Hidden: indicates this is a hidden field and will not be displayed on the page. This option can be enabled or disabled dynamically using the FPL script commands show/hide FIELDNAME or set/unset FIELDNAME hidden.

· Display Only: indicates this is a display only field and the user will not be able to enter data. For multiple choice fields such as radio buttons, dropdown lists or checkboxes, the current selection is displayed. This option can be enabled or disabled dynamically using the FPL script commands set/unset FIELDNAME displayonly.

· Immediate Validation: indicates that control is passed to the Ebase Server as soon as the field is changed. In normal operation, the Ebase Server component receives control whenever a user clicks on a button. Ebase Server then works out what the user has entered and starts validating all the fields on the page by running scripts associated with events. When immediate validation is set, the server is notified as soon as data is entered and changed. The server then validates all fields up to and including the field with the immediate validation option set. Before the page is re-displayed, any lists for subsequent fields on the page are re-built. This makes the concept of dependent lists possible where each field is dependent on data entered earlier. (See How to use Dynamic Lists for more information)

· Hyperlink: indicates that control is passed to the Ebase Server when the link is clicked. The server then validates all fields up to and including the hyperlink field, and then runs the on click event scripts for the hyperlink field.

· New Line: indicates this field will appear on a new line. (See Form Page Layout)

Action Buttons

An action button represents a button to be placed on a page. Any number of buttons can be added to any page. When a button is clicked by the end user, the system runs any validation events for fields which appear above the button – starting from the top of the page. If these events do not generate error messages, the button’s on click event is then executed. (See Understanding Ebase Events for more information)

A button is added to a page by one of the following methods:

From the page editor Graphical View:

· click the Button icon on the page toolbar

· select insert button from the popup menu presented by right-clicking in the page editor

· right-click on a field and select Add... then select Button.

From the page editor Table View:

· click the Insert Button icon on the page toolbar

· right-click on a field and select Insert Button.

The button is inserted after the currently selected field or at the top of the page if no field is selected.

In most respects, a button is treated the same as any other field on the page, with the following exceptions:

· Buttons cannot have values

· They cannot be made mandatory or display only

· Buttons have an on click event which is only executed when the button is clicked

· Each button has an additional text 'button text' which contains the text to be displayed in the button. This is maintained by double clicking the button or using the Maintain language texts button on the form toolbar. For buttons in tables, the text is maintained by right clicking the header for the table column and selecting option Set button text.

· Buttons have additional attributes which are configured in a separate button properties dialog as shown below. This is displayed by right clicking a button then selecting option Edit button properties. For buttons in tables, right click on the header for the table column then select option Edit button properties.

Display button as image: when checked, the image specified in Image URL is displayed instead of a button. If displayed as an image, any configured button text is displayed as alternate text. Accessibility note: when using image buttons, you should always supply an alternate text – this is a priority 1 item within the WCAG standard.

Image URL: contains the URL of the image on the Ebase server when Display button as image is checked. A relative URL (relative to the web root of the Ebase web application) can be entered as shown above. A && variable can also be entered which is then dynamically evaluated at runtime. This can be useful when displaying images in tables where the image to be displayed varies for each row. A variable can be entered as either:

&&VAR1 or…

&&{VAR2} e.g. images/&&{IMAGES_DIR}/&&{IMAGE_NAME}.gif

Environment variables can also be specified.

Skip Validation: when checked, the system will omit all validation with the exception of field type validation (e.g. only numeric data is entered for numeric fields) for all fields on the page. This option is provided so that designers can add cancel or page back buttons which will be honoured immediately and will not display validation error messages such as mandatory fields missing etc.

Caution!!: it is important to understand that use of this option can result in unvalidated data entering the system. Any data entered by the end user on the page is received by the system, but any configured validation has been bypassed. The application should not rely on the integrity of any field values entered in this way.