setting form attributes

[Ivan]

I am just starting to learn about forms which will be very useful. My problem - when I make a form I seem to be restricted to picking field names (attributes) from a drop down list - there must be a way to make my own field attributes but I cannot see how to do it. Any help would be appreciated.

[janrif]

Main Menu | Tools | Attributes | Insert

Is that what you mean?

[Ivan]

Since I was making a form I was only focused on the form dialog box - didn't realize that attributes are more general than fields in a form.

One other question if you have the time - should forms normally be inserted into templates rather than items - or would that depend only on whether you wanted to use the form in more than one item?

Thanks for the help.

[ashwken]

Ivan,

Forms are assigned to Templates.

Look in the Templates Folder, you've got three Item Types - Text (rtf - accepts text in the Detail Pane), Document (data file), and Search. Forms can be assigned to either the Text or Document Item Types.

With focus on the Template Folder, right click and Insert, choose Text, a new Text Template is created (focus is on the newly created Item). Do a Ctrl-4 to reveal the Item Attributes Pane, look under the Template Group for the Form Attribute, click in the Attribute Value area and a drop-down list will appear with all the defined Forms.

After you've worked thru this, take a look at the Help file for further details.

HTH

[janrif]

Originally posted by ashwken
Search. Forms can be assigned to either the Text or Document Item Types. I haven't tried this but what's the difference ibetween a document search & a text search?

[Ivan]

Thanks to both of you for your help. I have one last problem I would like to solve to get where I want to be. I have a template based on the document template and a form. I want to make each info item work like the software inventory example - when you fill in the document url it automatically brings in the page to the detail pane. What I have is a link that reads 'Click here to open linked document'. I don't see what is different between my database and the sample. I don't want to import the page - I want it to be current every time I open the item.

Any help is appreciated.

[Ivan]

I found that if I click on store contents to bring in the requested page and then click again to delete the stored copy I get the live page rather than the link as I wanted. Any idea why this works?

[kevina]

Ensure the "Automatically sync documents when URL attribute is changed" option is checked - found at Tools | Options | Grid <tab>.

Also, ensure the "Store contents when importing and syncing files and Outlook items" checkbox is not checked - found at Tools | Options | Import <tab>.

Is the url you are entering a local url? If so, what is the file extension of the local file?