Field Objects

Selects or changes the characteristics of a field taken from a database, or defines a formula or bar code.

Code

Enter the name of the field to add to the form. You can also select a field name by double clicking on a code in the Field List.

Decimal Places

The number of decimal places to print. This parameter affects numeric fields but not quantity fields. See Type below.

Display Length

The length of the field to display in characters.

  Resizing the field with the mouse will have no effect if the display length of the field is set too small.

Body

Select the body section you wish to associate the field with. For more information on this topic see: Form Bodies.

List

You may select field names from three different lists:

Dictionary

This is the standard field name list. It includes fields found in the databases you have selected and useful predefined field formulas. When a form is created using the Forms Wizard a default dictionary is automatically attached to it. When creating reports or labels you may wish to attach a dictionary manually. This can be done by selecting Files|Preferences.

Note, however, that your form must have certain databases attached to it before the dictionary becomes visible. See the topic: Form Dictionaries for more information on the requirements for adding dictionaries to forms.

Database

This is the list of fields actually contained in the database. You should select the Database view when you have user defined fields you wish to include on the form.

Formula

Lists all formulas that have been defined for the form.

Show

Allows you to specify under what conditions the field will print on your form:

All pages

The field is always printed.

First page only

The field is only printed on the first page.

Last page only

The field is only printed on the last (final) page.

Even pages

The field is only printed on even numbered pages.

Odd pages

The field is only printed on odd numbered pages.

Hide

The field is never printed. This can sometimes be useful if you wish to perform a calculation at this point but do not wish to display the contents of the calculation on the form, particularly if it is an intermediate result.

All pages but last

Prints text on all pages but last.

Type

Determines the type of special formatting that is applied to the field:

Normal

No special formatting is applied to the field.

Transaction

The field is converted to a transaction type. Transactions have a width of 9 characters and may consist of letters and numbers. Decimal points and punctuation is not allowed. Letters must always come before numbers, so these are valid transactions: 1000, 50, A1000, C223, DD1311. These are not valid transaction numbers: $1000, 550E, 134F1.

Quantity

The field will be formatted as a quantity according to current CAPITAL system settings for the display of quantity values. The field will not be formatted if it contains any characters besides numbers and/or the decimal point. Using Quantity formatting can be very convenient as it can minimize alterations that later need to be made to forms. For example, if current system settings specify 2 decimal places for quantity values, and this is changed later on, the form will automatically adopt the new system settings.

Debit/Credit

Adds a CR to the end of the number if it is positive and a DB if it is negative. The negative sign is not displayed for a negative number. Only fields containing numbers and/or the decimal point are formatted in this way.

Suppress Duplicates

If this option is checked Visual Builder will suppress duplicated column data. Only body fields are affected by this option. Use when it makes sense to reduce the "clutter" on a page. Consider the body fields consisting of these columns of data:

If the field object listing the name in the first column had Hide Duplicates selected, the above would appear as follows:

Suppress If Zero

If the field contains only "0" (zero) or "." (decimal point) printing of the field is suppressed. Note: This option also works with character fields as well as number fields.

Trim Field

Check this option if you want all space between the field and other fields and text objects to be removed. This is useful when you wish to produce form letters. For example, the following line is made up of a text object "Dear", a field object, CUSCONTACT (the customer contact name), which in this case is "John", and following this is another text object that makes up the welcome address:

DearJohn I'm writing this letter to welcome you to our association.

If the field object "John" is clicked on and the Trim field option ticked, the above sentence would appear as follows:

Dear John I'm writing this letter to welcome you to our association.

Trimming only applies to text and field objects. Boxes, lines, pictures, etc., are not altered by the trim setting of the field. As well, for trimming to take affect, the field or text object to the right of the trimmed field must have approximately the same vertical alignment. Only fields of the "parent" databases of the form can be trimmed. You cannot trim the contents of body columns.

000,000 Separator

Insert comma separators between thousands, and assume dollar format. For example, the number 10000 would be printed as 10,000.00 if this option is ticked. This option will work on either number fields or character fields. Character fields will only be formatted if they contain valid decimal numbers and an optional decimal point. The string "1000" would be formatted, but the string "1000B" would not as "B" is not a valid number symbol.

Return As Image File

If this option is ticked, Visual Builder will use the formula or field return value as a path and filename pointing to either a Windows bitmap file or JPEG image. If the file exists and it is a valid graphic file, it will be displayed on the form, report or label at the specified location of the field object. The field object's borders should be stretched using your mouse, to accomodate the size of the image or images to be displayed.

JPEG images are compressed graphic files and require more processor resources to uncompress and display. If processing speed is critical in your environment, use less complex Windows bitmap files in place of JPEG's.

Alignment

Aligns the text of the field.

Left

Aligns the text inside the field up against the left margin of the field's region. (The field's region is the box that appears around the field text.)

Right

Aligns the text inside the field to the right of the field region. Numeric fields should normally be aligned to the right. If this is not done numbers may not line up evenly.

Centre

Aligns the text inside the field to the center of the field region.

You cannot right or center align note pads.

The Field List

The list of dictionary, database or formula fields you may choose from for the selected Body. When you select a different body the contents of these lists may change. Double-click on an entry to copy it into the Code.

Short-cut: To add a field object to a specific body, move the mouse over the body you wish to add to and drop the field object onto it. Do this by clicking on the field icon on the toolbar and then clicking on the body object.