IBM Lotus Symphony


General settings for a form control

The General tab enables you to define the general properties of a form control. These properties differ, depending on the control type. Not all of the following properties are available for every control.

To access this command...

Open context menu of a selected form element and then choose Control - General tab

Name

Each control field and each form has a Name property through which it can be identified. The name will appear in the Navigator and, using the name, the control field can be referred to from a macro. A name is already entered in the default settings. The control field is specified by its name which is constructed from using the field's label and number.

This icon marks text containing additional information. If you work with macros, make sure that the names of the controls are unique.

The name is also used to group different controls that belong together functionally, such as radio buttons. To do so, give the same name to all members of the group: Controls with identical names form a group. Grouped controls can be represented visually by using a Group Box.

Label

The Label property sets the label of the control field that is displayed in the form. This property determines the visible label or the column header of the data field in table control forms.

When you create a new control, the description predefined in the Name property is used as the default for labeling the control. The label consists of the control field name and an integer numbering the control (for example, CommandButton1). With the Title property, you can assign another description to the control so that the label reflects the function of the control. Change this entry in order to assign an expressive label to the control that is visible to the user.

To create a multiline title, open the combo box using the arrow button. You can enter a line break by pressing Shift+Ctrl+Enter.

This icon marks text containing additional information. The Title property is only used for labeling a form element in the interface visible to the user. If you work with macros, note that at runtime, a control is always addressed through theName property.

Label field

Specifies the source for the label of the control.

To define one character of the label as a mnemonic, so that the user can access this control by pressing the character on the keyboard, insert a tilde (~) character in front of the character in the label.

Only the text of a group frame can be used as the label field when using radio buttons. This text applies to all of the radio buttons of the same group.

If you click on the ... button next to the text field, you will see the Label Field Selection dialog. Select a control from the list of available controls.

Remove the marking from the No assignment field, otherwise controls cannot be assigned as label fields. You can remove the link to a label field with this field.

Enabled

If a control field has the property "Enabled" (Yes), the form user will be able to use the control field. If the property is disabled, it will not be enabled (No) and will be displayed in a gray color.

Line count

For combo boxes with the Dropdown property, you can specify how many lines should be displayed in the dropdown list. With control fields which do not have the Dropdown option, the line's display will be specified by the size of the control field and the font size.

Max text length

For text and combo boxes, you can define the maximum number of characters that the user can enter. If this control field property is uncertain, the default setting will be zero.

AutoComplete

Specifies whether a combo box should have the AutoComplete function. When the AutoComplete function is enabled, after typing an entry you can choose from among a list of existing entries.

Print

Specifies whether you want the control field to appear in a document's printout.

Width

Sets the column width in the table control field in inches.

Record marker

Specifies whether the first column is displayed with row labels, in which the current record is displayed through a small arrow.

Date format

With date fields you can determine the format for the date readout.

Spin Button

Numerical fields, currency fields, date and time fields can be introduced as spin buttons in the form.

Strict format

You can have a format check with control fields that accept formatted contents (date, time, and so on). If the strict format function is activated (Yes), only the allowed characters will be accepted. For example, in a date field, only numbers or date delimiters will be accepted; all alphabet entries typed with your keyboard will be ignored.

Manual line break

Allows a manual line break for a multiline field. The Manual line break property is only applicable if you chose "Yes" under Multiline Input.

Horizontal scroll bar

Text boxes can have a vertical and a horizontal scroll bar. If you want the text box to have a horizontal scroll bar, select the "Yes" option in the Horizontal scroll bar property.

Vertical scroll bar

Text boxes can have a horizontal and a vertical scroll bar. If the text should have a vertical scroll bar, simply select "Yes" in the Vertical scroll bar property.

Value step

You can preset the value intervals in numerical and currency spin boxes. Use the arrow buttons of the spin box to increase or decrease the value.

List entries

With list and combo boxes, you can define the list entries that will be visible in the document. Open the List entries field and type your text. Please note the tips referring to the entries control and keyboard.

Date max

Determines a date which can not be exceeded by another value introduced by the user.

Date min

Determines the earliest date that a user can enter.

Value max

For numerical and currency fields, you can determine the maximum value that the user can enter.

Value min

For numerical and currency fields you can determine a minimum value to impede the user to enter a lesser value.

Time max

Determines a time which can not be exceeded by another value introduced by the user.

Time min

Determines the minimum time that a user can enter.

Max text length

For text and combo boxes, you can define the maximum number of characters that the user can enter. If this control field property is uncertain, the default setting will be zero.

Multiselection

With list boxes, you can determine if the user can select multiple entries.

Multiline input

With text boxes and labels you can have a multiline text display. A line break can be created by either pressing the Enter key or automatically at the border of the control field. By default, Multiline input is disabled.

Decimal accuracy

With numerical and currency fields you can determine the number of digits displayed to the right of the decimal point.

Read-only

The Read-only property can be assigned to all controls in which the user can enter text.

Border

With control fields that have a frame, you can determine the border display on the form using the Border property. You can select among the "Without frame", "3-D look" or "Flat" options.

Tabstop

The Tabstop property determines if a control field can be selected with the tab key. The following options are available:

Table 1. Tabstop options
Option Result
Default Tabstops are set for all edit controls. For example, a label gets no tabstop, whereas a text input field will.
No When using the tab key, focusing skips the control.
Yes The control can be selected with the Tab key.

Order

The Order property sets the order in which the controls are focused in the formula if the Tab key is pressed. If there are several controls in the formula, pressing the Tab key will move the focus to the next control. You can specify the order in which this occurs with an index under Order. The index of the first control that the focus should have is 1.

This icon marks text containing additional information. The Order property does not exist for Hidden Controls. Image buttons and controls by default cannot be selected with the Tab key, but for accessibility reasons you can set this property.

When creating a form, an index is automatically assigned to the control fields that are added to this form; every control field added is assigned an index increased by 1. If you change the index of a control, the indices of the other controls are updated automatically. Elements that cannot be focused (Tabstop = No) are also assigned a value. However, these controls are skipped when using the Tab key.

Reference value

You can assign a reference value to option buttons and check boxes. The reference value will be remitted to a server when sending the web form.

Default status

Specifies whether an option or a mark is defined by default. When you load the document, this status will be accepted.

Default selection

Use this list box property to determine which list entry is to be selected as the default. When the document is loaded, this defined condition is presumed: first list entry is 0, second is 1, and so on.

Default value

Sets the default value for the control field. For example, the default value will be entered when a form is opened.

Default button

The Default button property specifies that the corresponding button will be operated when you press the Return key. If you open the dialog or form and do not carry out any further action, the button with this property is the default button.

This icon marks text containing additional information. This property should always be assigned only to a single button within the document.

When using Web page forms, you might come across this property in search masks. These are edit masks that contain a text field and a Submit Type button. The search term is entered in the text field and the search is started by activating the button. If the button is defined as the default button, however, simply hit Enter after entering the search term in order to start the search.

Prefix symbol

Determines if the currency symbol is displayed before or after the number when using currency fields. The default setting is currency symbols are not prefixed.

Thousands separator

With numerical and currency fields you can determine whether thousands separators are used.

URL

With Type URL buttons, enter the URL address under URL. This address will be downloaded by clicking the button. This could be a file, a new form, or a web site in the internet.

If you move the mouse over the button in User mode, the URL appears as the extended tip, provided that no other Help text was entered.

Currency symbol

In a currency field, you can pre-define the currency symbol by entering the character or string in the Currency symbol property.

Value

In a hidden control, under Value, you can enter the data which is inherited by the hidden control. This data will be transferred when sending the form.

Password characters

If the user enters a password, you can determine the characters that will be displayed instead of the characters typed by the user. Under Password character, enter the ASCII code of the desired character. You can use the values from 0 to 255.

Literal mask

With masked fields you can specify a literal mask. A literal mask contains the initial values of a form, and is always visible after downloading a form. Using a character code for the Edit mask, you can determine the entries that the user can type into the masked field.

Character set

For control fields which have a visible text in the form or a Title , you can select a character set that will be used to display the text in the form. Click the ... button to access the Font dialog, which enables you to define the font. The selected character set will be used to name control fields. In a table control field, the character set determines the data display. In this dialog, you can also set the color for the text display in the control field.

Background color

A background color is available for most control fields. If you click on Backgound color, a list will open which enables you to select among various colors. The "Standard" option adopts the system setting. If the desired color is not listed, click the ... button to define a color in the Color dialog.

Button Type

The button type you determines which type of action should be initiated. For example, a button can send files or reset the custom control fields. The default values are set on the special properties dialogs of the respective buttons.

Choose from the following types and actions:

Table 2. Button Type options
Option Action
Push When activating the button, no action is triggered.
Submit Activating Submit sends the data that is entered in other control fields of the current form. The recipient's address is specified in Form Properties under URL.
Reset Activating the button resets the settings in other control fields to the predefined defaults (Default Status, Default Selection, Default Value). The user can therefore cancel changes made within a form that do not correspond to the default setting.
URL Activating URL calls a URL. The link address is specified under URL. Under Frame, you can define the target frame.

Alignment

Many controls have an Alignment property. Select one of the options to specify whether text should be left-aligned, right-aligned or centered. In the case of label fields, the alignment option refers to the title of the field, in the case of text fields, to their content, and in the case of columns of a table control, to the content of the table fields (data). In the case of buttons, the alignment refers to the alignment of a graphic that you insert in addition to the text or instead of a text.

Row height

In table controls, you can determine the row height in millimeters.

Time format

You can define the desired format for the time display.

Additional information

The additional information on this page can be controlled with the Show context menu. The display of the additional information can be suppressed, limited to some document properties, or included. All information is presented, whether or not a folder or other object is selected.

Help text

In each control field you can specify additional information or a descriptive text for the control field. This property helps the programmer to save additional information that can be used in the program code. This field can be used, for example, for variables or other evaluation parameters.


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