Teklynx Form Designer User manual

Form Designer User Guide
DOC-FD-UG-US-23/02/06

The information in this manual is not binding and may be
modified without prior notice.
Supply of the software described in this manual is subject to
a user license. The software may not be used, copied or
reproduced on any medium whatsoever, except in
accordance with this license.
No portion of this manual may be copied, reproduced or
transmitted by any means whatsoever, for purposes other
than the personal use of the buyer, unless written
permission is obtained from Braton Groupe sarl.
©2006 Braton Groupe sarl,
All rights reserved.
Teklynx and its products are trademarks or registered
trademarks of Braton Group sarl or its affiliated
companies. All other brands and product names are the
trademarks of their respective owners.

Table of Contents
Chapter 1:Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-1
Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-1
The layout. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-1
The Menu bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-2
The Tool bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-2
The Tool box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-2
The Properties Grid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-4
The Main Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-4
The Status bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-5
The Basics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-5
What are Actions? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-5
Chapter 2:Creating a form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-9
The designing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-9
Example 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-9
DBForm.xmf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-10
Placing the controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-10
Setting the control properties (no data) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-10
Setting the control properties (with data) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-11
Setting the Database grid’s properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-12
Setting the Form’s properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-12
Setting the Text box’s properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-13
Setting the Combo box’s properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-14
Setting the Buttons’ properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-14
Example 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-17
Generic.xmf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-17
Placing the controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-17
Setting the control properties (no data) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-18
Setting the control properties (with data) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-20
Setting the Buttons’ properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-20
Setting the form properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-22
Setting the ListBox properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-23
Setting the ComboBox properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-24

Setting the Textbox properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-25
Setting the Preview properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-25
Setting the Datagrid properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-25

CHAPTER1
Introduction
Introduction
Form Designer is a visual designing tool that allows the
rapid building of front-end data entry and label printing
applications.
It includes features such as:
• Label and printer type selection
• Print preview
• Page and Printer settings
• Database connections
• Multiple Screen/Form application
• Pre-defined values and data control
The layout
Form Designer’s layout is easy to use reducing the time
necessary to familiarize yourself with the software. It
includes a Menu bar, a Tool bar, a Tool box, aProperties
grid, aMain window and a Status bar..

Chapter 1 - 2 Form Designer User Guide
The Menu bar The Menu bar comprises itself of 6 items: File, Edit, View,
Data, Layout and Help. When clicked, each item will
expand showing a new list of items, to allow the user to
perform a variety of functions. To access the menu items
more quickly, press Alt + the underlined letter from your
desired choice: Alt+F will open the File menu.
The Tool bar The Tool bar is usually displayed just below the Menu bar.
It is made up of icons which represent the most commonly
used software functions. These icons can be clicked to
quickly access these functions.
The Tool box The Tool Box is made up of the 12 controls that can be
added to a form: Label, Link label, Button, TextBox,
CheckBox, GroupBox, ListBox, ComboBox, DataGrid,
DatabaseGrid, PictureBox, Preview.
New
Open
Save
Copy
Cut
Delete
Paste
Undo
Redo
Snap
to Grid
Align
Space
Evenly
Bring to
Front
Send
to Back

Form Designer User Guide Chapter 1 - 3
Each control serves a special purpose. They can be linked
to fixed or variable data and can be associated with actions.
To insert a control into your form; simply click on the control
and drag and drop it into the form.
Control Description
Label non-active text used to show the
name of a input field
LinkLabel active text used to link to a webpage
or other specific location
Button an active control used to perform set
functions/actions
TextBox data entry field
CheckBox a control used to activate/deactivate
or select/deselect predefined features
GroupBox non active box placed around a
group of controls for visual
organization
ListBox displays a list of data as defined in its
properties
ComboBox displays a drop-down list of data as
defined in its properties
Datagrid displays pre-defined data in a grid
such as variable names, values or
customized data

Chapter 1 - 4 Form Designer User Guide
The Properties
Grid The Properties Grid lists all the properties for the selected
control. Here you can change the characteristics of your
controls such as control name, color, size, actions... It is
context sensitive, so the list of properties will change
according to the control selected. Having the grid displayed
replaces the usual right-click menu command.
The Main
Window The Main window, displayed in the center, is your work
area. Here, you will add controls and create the forms you
will use to input data for label printing. Once the form has
been created and configured, you can go to View >
Execution to run the form and see its final result.
DatabaseGrid displays the database defined in the
properties along with some basic
functionalities such as filters and
search fields.
PictureBox a box where an image can be
imported into
Preview a box that will display a preview of the
label attached to the form
Control Description

Form Designer User Guide Chapter 1 - 5
The Status bar The Status bar gives you the x axis and y axis location of
your pointer, the form name and the name and basic details
of the control you have selected.
The Basics
What are
Actions? Actions are functions that are assigned to buttons and to
load/unload forms. In Form Designer, 12 pre-defined
Actions have been included in the Actions menu to save you
time and to eliminate the need for programming. In some
cases, where specific parameters must be configured,
these, too, have been pre-defined in the Action’s
configuration.
The pre-defined Actions are:.
MAINWINDOW
Action Show the document property dialog box
Displays the properties dialog box for the
selected document which shows information
such as creation date and its location.
Action Show the form dialog box
Displays the form dialog box where the user
can set the values for the form variables

Chapter 1 - 6 Form Designer User Guide
Action Show the options dialog box
Displays an options dialog box where you
can, for instance, change the display
language and other settings.
Action Show the printing dialog box
Displays the print dialog box where you print
from. Here, you can also set the number of
labels printed and see a preview of the print
job among other things.
Action Show the printer selection dialog box
Displays a dialog box showing a list of all of
the possible printers to print from.
Action Show the printer settings dialog box
Displays the printer settings dialog box
where settings can be set
Action Show the page setup dialog box
Displays the page setup dialog box where
the user can set label size, page size, margin
size...
Action Print
Allows the user to print.
Parameters Label Quantity
Sends the printer the number of labels to be
printed. If the document includes a counter,
the counter increments along with the
number of labels.

Form Designer User Guide Chapter 1 - 7
Label Copy
Lets the printer know how many identical
copies of each label should be printer
Inter Cut
Lets the printer know how many labels to
print before each cut.
Page Copy
Lets the printer know how many copies of
each page to print
Action Select printer
Allows the user to print from the selected
printer and override any printers that may be
associated with the document.
Parameter Printer
Allows you to set a printer as the default
printer to use when the button is clicked, or to
use the printer selected from a list - if a printer
selection variable is used and defined in the
form properties
Action Show Label Designer
Allows the user to launch the Label designer
for label editing.
Parameter Show
Launches and displays the Label designer
Action Load a new form.
Allows the user to open a new form.
Parameters File name
Links an xmf file to the action

Chapter 1 - 8 Form Designer User Guide
New Window
Opens the chosen file in a new window if set
to true
Action Execute a VB Script
Allows the user to execute a user-defined VB
Script that can perform actions beyond the
Form Designer’s capabilities. This gives the
user greater flexibility.
Parameters File name
Links a vbs file to the action
Synchronous
Synchronizes the VB Script with Form
Designer

CHAPTER2
Creating a form
The designing
Designing forms is easy with Form Designer. All controls
can be added to a form by way of drag and drop, then
configured in the properties grid to set color, text, action...
To show you how to create a form, we will reproduce 2
examples: the DBF.xmf form and the Generic.xmf form.
Example 1
:

Chapter 2 - 10 Form Designer User Guide
DBForm.xmf This simple form includes a Database Grid where you can
quickly view, change or add data in your database.
• Placing the
controls For this example, you will need to drag and drop the following controls:
• 2 Labels
• 1 TextBox
• 1 ComboBox
• 1 Database Grid
• 1 Preview
• 2 Buttons
Place the items as in the following diagram.
• Setting the control
properties (no data) With Form Designer, it is easy to set your control properties since the Properties grid is displayed on the right-hand side
of your screen. If you do not see the Properties Grid, go to
View > Properties grid.
When you select a control in your form, the associated list of
properties will be displayed in the Properties Grid.
1 Set theLabel properties as follows:
• Name:lblLabelNumber
• Contents > Type: Fixed Contents
• Contents > Value: Number your Labels:
• Font name: MS Sans Serif

Form Designer User Guide Chapter 2 - 11
• Font size: 8,25
• Font Bold: True
• Name:lblPrinter
• Contents > Type: Fixed Contents
• Contents > Value: Printer:
• Font name: MS Sans Serif
• Font size: 8,25
• Font Bold: False
2 Set thePreview properties as follows:
• Name: prvPreview
• Contents > Type: Fixed Contents
• Contents > Value: Preview
3 Set theDatabase Grid properties as follows:
• Name: dbgDatabase
• Contents > Type: Fixed contents
• Contents > Value: DataBaseGrid
4 Set theText box properties as follows:
• Name: txbQty
5 Set theCombo Box properties as follows:
• Name: cbxPrinter
6 Set theButton properties as follows:
• Name: btnPrint
• Contents > Type: Fixed Contents
• Contents > Value: Print
and the second button as:
• Name: btnPortal
• Contents > Type: Fixed contents
• Contents > Value: Back to Portal
• Setting the control
properties (with
data)
Some of the controls require more than just setting text
properties. Buttons require actions, grids require data,
boxes require variables. The next few steps will walk you

Chapter 2 - 12 Form Designer User Guide
through these controls, their properties and configurations.
Setting the Database grid’s properties
A Database grid allows the user to view a pre-selected
database. A selected row will display the associated label
in the preview box. The user can Add,Delete,Filter and
Search for information with the Database grid.
• Database > Connection: select Batcher from the drop-
down menu
• Database > Table: Select Print Job from the drop
down menu
Note
In Database > Connection, you can select from an
existing list of linked databases or add a new one. The
latter will take you to the ‘Add Database Connection’
wizard.
Setting the Form’s properties
Although the form does not appear in the ToolBox, it, too, is
a control to be configured. In fact, for certain controls, such
as datagrids or listboxes, where data can be linked, the
Form acts as the base, and requires specific parameters to
be set in order for the data controls to be functional.
• Attached label: Identity.lab
• Variables: 7 variables should have automatically filled
in this field. The 7 variables are the label variables
received from the label’s attached database. However,
two Form variables must also be added to use with the

Form Designer User Guide Chapter 2 - 13
print button to set the label’s default printer as the one
be used for printing and to state the number of labels
printed.
To add these new variables:
1 Click on the down-arrow from theVariables field.
2 In the section titled Form Variables, click Add
3 Type-in Printer andOK
4 Repeat steps 2 and 3 for Qty
When you return to the Form properties grid, you will notice
that you now have 9 variables.
Setting the Text box’s properties
This TextBox is used to tell the printer how many label
copies it must print. The number entered in the textbox by
the user defines the number of copies. If a counter is present
on the label, the counter will be incremented with each label
copy. To set the properties:
• Contents > Type: Variable contents
• Contents > Value: select Qty from the drop-down list

Chapter 2 - 14 Form Designer User Guide
(this variable was created in the form properties)
Setting the Combo box’s properties
The ComboBox is used to select a printer from the
predefined list. To set the properties:
• Contents >Type: Variable contents
• Contents > Value: select Printer from the drop-down
list (this variable was created in the form properties)
• Data > Type: Printers
• Data > Value > Printers type: selectTHT
Setting the Buttons’ properties
Buttons not only require the standard text properties such as
Name and Font, they also require an action. Form Designer
hasincluded,initsButtonproperties grid,anactionfieldthat
allows you to pick from a standard list of actions. These
actions have been created and predefined for the ease of
theuser, eliminatingthe needfor complex programming and
reducing the possibility of errors.
1 Click on thePrint button (btnPrint)
2 Go to Actions and click the button. A dialog box
appears
3 Click Add
4 In Description, click the down-arrow and choose Select
printer. One parameter must be defined.

Form Designer User Guide Chapter 2 - 15
5 Click on parameters. A new dialog box appears.
6 Set Type as Variable
7 Set Value as Printer (which you can select from a drop
down list... Printer is the form variable created in the form
properties). Click OK
8 Back in the original Actions window, click Add
9 Under Various > Description, click the down-arrow and
choose Print. Four parameters must be defined.
• Label Quantity: set Type as Variable and Value as
Qty (this variable can be selected from a drop-down
list... it is the variable created in the form properties)
• Label Copy: leave with default settings
• Inter Cut: leave with default settings
• Page Copy: leave with default settings
10 Click OK
The Print button has been configured to print the number of
labels as defined by the user intxbQty. The label’s counter
will be incremented accordingly (if appllicable).
1 Click theBack to Portal button (btnPortal)

Chapter 2 - 16 Form Designer User Guide
2 Click on the button. A new dialog box appears
3 Go to Various > Description and select Load new form
from the drop-down menu. 2 parameters must be defined.
• File Name: set Type as Fixed and Value as
MainMenu.xmf
• New Window: set Type as Fixed and leave Value
empty
The Back to Portal button has been configured to open the
MainMenu.xmf form where the user can select a printer and
access the page setup, the printer settings and printer
management