Create a database form in 3 minutes

While tables are simply repositories of data, forms can capture and validate user input based on business rules, before storing them in the tables. Forms can also retrieve data from tables and perform complex searches based on criteria entered by the user.

Create a Form

Make sure that you have created a database application on the Codistri platform and logged in.

1. Go to the Application List page

2. Double-click on a application to display the Application Design page

3. Click on the [Form List] tab

4. Click on [New] and enter the Name of your form

5. Enter the Caption which is a more user-friendly name for your form

6. Enter the Default View - choose [Grid] if you want the data to appear as rows and columns or choose [Card] if you want the data to be presented as a card

7. Click on [Accept] to save the form

8. You can click on the [Form Url] to preview how the form would look to your users

9. You can edit any of the details of the form at anytime by right-clicking on the form to display a context menu, and selecting [Edit]

Edit the Form Design

1. On the [Form List] tab, double-click on the form you created to display the Form Design page

2. Click on [Edit] to change the design settings

3. The Form ID is a unique system-generated ID for internal use

4. You can change the Name of the form

5. You can change the Caption that appears at the top of the window whenever the form is displayed

6. You can specify the Source Table (or Form) which allows this form to inherit the design of another table or form - a real time saving feature! 😊

7. You can change the Default View - choose [Grid] if you want the data to appear as rows and columns or choose [Card] if you want the data to be presented as a card

8. You can tick Prompt for new record after insertion to speed up bulk entry of new records by reducing the number of clicks of the mouse during the process

9. Card only: You can specify the Number of columns that the card will be split into - fields will be arranged into columns and ordered from top to bottom, left to right

10. Grid only: You can tick Display [New] row at bottom of grid to display a row at the bottom of the grid that allows the user to insert new data, otherwise row will be at the top of the grid

11. Grid only: You can choose which Macro to run on double-click of a row in the grid

Create a Field

1. On the Form Design page, click on the [Field List] tab

2. Click on [New] and enter the Name of your field

3. Enter the Caption which is a more user-friendly name for your field

4. Enter the Type of field to create (e.g. Button, Check, Combo, Date, Label, Link, Memo, Numeric, Radio, Text)

5. Enter the Width of the field either as a percentage of the form width (in card view), or a percentage of the grid width (in grid view)

6. Tick the Primary Key box if this field is used to uniquely identify a record; this field may act alone or be part of a combination of fields

7. Click on [Accept]

Edit the Field Design

1. On the [Field List] tab, double-click on the field you created to display the Field Design page

2. Click on [Edit] to change the design settings

3. The Field ID is a unique system-generated ID for internal use

4. You can change the Name of the field

5. You can change the Caption that appears next to the field

6. You can tick Editable Field? to allow this field to be edited by the user; otherwise it will be read-only

7. You can tick Mandatory field? to specify that this field must be entered by the user when saving the record; an error message will be displayed if this field is left blank

8. You can tick Invisible field? if you want this field is to be hidden from the user but contain data that your form uses

9. You can tick Can search on this field? to allow the user to search on this field; all searchable fields will be shown on a search criteria form which can be submitted and results returned

10. You can enter a default Value for the field