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palette offers a rich variety of controls that let you create virtually any form. All controls provide functionality as soon as you drop them into your form but need to be customized (edited) to suit the form you are designing.

The purpose of each control is described below.

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Input Controls
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Input Controls
Input Controls

Input controls allow users to enter data (text, dates, numbers, etc.) into your form and automatically prevent them from entering the wrong data types. For example, if users enter letters into a number control, your form will display an error message and the Submit button will not be enabled until valid data is supplied. This validation happens automatically; you do not have to do anything special. The purpose of each input control is described below.

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The browser’s time zone can be overridden by appending the &_formTz=<tz> parameter to the form URL. Modern Time Zone Strings must be used with the &_formTz parameter. Other time zone formats are not supported. The time zone strings can be found here. A

Here is an example: A Product Order form running in the PST timezone displays all the time and date/time control data in the America/Tijuana timezone if the &_formTz=<tz> is appended to the URL as shown below. 

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When users enter data into a form, the &_formTz=<tz> parameter is not required. You may notice that URLs for the following  functions will contain the  _formTz parameter appended to them:

  • Edit form/flow
  • Test form/flow
  • Initialize submission
  • Access form/flow/tasklist (outside space)
  • Access form/flow/tasklist (from space)
Warning

You must specify the _formTz=<tz> parameter appended to the share URL when initializing a form with date, time or date/time controls from an XML init document, the _data parameter or a business rule that uses the rule identifier,form.load. The form server needs to know the timezone in which to return the date and time. Successful initialization cannot be guaranteed if the &_formTz parameter is not supplied. Refer to Initializing Forms with Data for the details. This URL parameter is not needed if your form/flow only contains Date controls.

Time data in a form is always converted from the browser's timezone to a valid UTC format when posted in the form XML document in the submissions database. Refer to Viewing XML Documents for more information. Business Rules execute in the form time zone. 

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Allows users to enter U.S. currency. Users may type commas and a decimal point , but if they don’t, the form will display these symbols for them. For example if a user types 4000, the form will redisplay the value as 4,000.00. will not add them to the data automatically. The form also will round all entries to two decimal places. (Note that if a user types more than two digits after the decimal place the XML submissions document will store as many digits as the user entered but will not include the dollar symbol, decimal point or commas.)For example, if the user enters 4000, it will display as 4000.00 when the user exits the field.

Phone

Used for entering a phone number and allows any of the following formats: xxx.xxx.xxxx, xxx-xxx-xxxx, xxx.xxxx, or xxx-xxxx.  If you want to enforce one of the 10-digit formats (to require an area code), you can edit the control’s Pattern.

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Note

You may notice that the Max Length property for the numeric controls: Number, Quantity and Money is no longer present in the v5 designer. Uploading forms that were designed in v4.1.7+, with the Max Length set to a value, will not show this property in the v5 designer. However, the max length value will be honored when the form is executed in v5 use mode.

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Selection Controls

 supports 4 types of Selection controls. Selection controls let users choose from a list of options instead of having to enter text.  

  • Dropdown
  • Radio
  • Checkbox
  • T/F
Tip

See the Item Width and Option Width properties for styling options.

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The control options default to "true=Yes" and "false=No". When you drag the control from the palette, only the "Yes" option will be visible. You can change the option labels from Yes and No to whatever you want. It is important to note changes to the label for false are irrelevant as it will never be visible on the form. The option values cannot be changed and will always stay as true and false. Blank labels for options are not allowedChecking the “Yes” checkbox of the Boolean control results in a true value in the XML document.

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You can specify the minimum and maximum number of attachments that can be uploaded to your form using the Min # and the Max # properties. Setting the min and max values to 0 or if the maximum # field is left empty means an unlimited number of files can be uploaded. Setting the min # to a value greater than zero makes the field required. Set the min # to 1 to ensure that the user uploads at least one attachment to your form. Use the max # for the maximum attachments allowed. The upload control will be grayed out when the maximum # of attachments have been uploaded. No further uploads will be allowed. Setting the Max # to 1 disables the multi-select feature. See below for more information.

Restricted Content Types and Other Mime/Ext

Use the Restricted Content Types field on the Upload Control Property pane to restrict the content type of the files uploaded to your form. This property lets the designer specify one or more types which restricts the content to those types. Uploads can be restricted by using MIME Types (limited set supported) or File Extensions or both.

Select the content types you want to allow by checking the associated check box in the Restricted Content Types field. The choices are: pdf, MS Word, MS Excel, MS PowerPoint, MS Access, gif, jpeg, png, tiff, rtf, tar, zip, gzip, xml and bmp.  will map the content types that you choose to one or more mime types. Content type filtering will be enabled for the extensions selected. For example, the image shows an upload control in a form that will only allow files with .jpeg, .pdf and .png extensions. This list can be expanded for customers using in-house by modifying the context parameter: frevvo.upload.file.types in the web.xml file. See Installation Tasks for the details.

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An easier way to add extensions or other mime types for filtering can be accomplished via the Other Mime/Ext field. You can use this field to restrict uploads to a mime type or file extension that is not included in the subset of the most common file content types provided by . Enter one or more extensions (of any length) or mime types, separated by a space, to enable extension and additional mime type filtering. An upload matches on an extension if it's name ends in a period followed by one of the extensions.  The comparison is case insensitive.  Likewise, an upload matches on mime type if it's mime type matches one of the additional mime types entered. For example, the extensions, txt and htm, shown in the Other Mime/Ext field in the image above, restricts uploaded files to ones that have .jpeg, .png, .pdf, .txt and .htm extensions.

Tip

You may notice that some file types are misidentified when uploaded in Use mode. Files with .xls and .ppt extensions are described as an application/msword file and .docx and .xlsx are shown with an application/zip description. This is a limitation of the mime detection library used in version 5.1. This library will be replaced in a future release.

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Info

Selecting zip as the Restricted/Mime type, uploading a zipfile and submitting the form may exhibit some unexpected behavior when downloading the zipfile from the submission if you are using IE9+ as your browser. Clicking on the attachment in the  submission repository does not save the uploaded zipfile as a zipfile. Instead, it will save it as a file named Upload91. As a workaround, you can open the file using winrar.exe and then save it or simply use right click and and select the 'save as' option.

 

Error Messages

The user will see error messages if upload filtering is applied and the uploaded content types do not match. The error message, shown below, will be displayed if content type only filtering or both content type and extension/mime filtering has been applied and the uploaded content does not match either restriction. For instance, uploading a file with a .jpeg extension will not match the selected content type choices or the .docx file extension listed in the Other Mime/Ext field as shown in the Upload Control Property Pane image:

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When extension and additional mime type filtering only has been specified and the uploaded content does not match, the error message below will display:

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Multi-select

The user can select more than a one file (during a single file browse) to be uploaded by holding down the control/command key then click on each file you want to select. The multi-select feature support has been added in HTML 5 with a multiple attribute. Multi-select of files for the Upload control is supported in newer versions of browsers. For example, multi-selection of files works in Safari, Chrome and Firefox.

Warning

Internet Explorer (IE 7, 8 9) currently do not support the multi- select feature.

The multi-select of files in the browser is dependent upon the max files property of the upload control. Multi-select is disabled by setting the max # files to 1. It is possible to select too many files . For example, turn on multi-select by setting the max # to 2. Multi-select 3 files. This will show an error and none of the 3 will be uploaded.

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Max Size

 itself sets an upper limit on attachment sizes. If you enter a value into the control's max attachment size property greater than ' internal default upper limit, you will see an error message displayed on the upload control.

In-house, a download customer can control ' internal upper limit via the web.xml parameter frevvo.attachment.maxsize. Initially, this value is set to 10485760 bytes. You can also set the max attachment size per user by editing the user's profile as the admin user and editing the Configuration field shown below:

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Now that you can take pictures using your mobile device camera and/or upload images to your , the default value of max_allowed_packet may not be large enough if you are using MySql. Refer to this website for detailed information about the MySql configuration parameter. Increasing the max_allowed_packet variable setting in your MySQL Server from the default (1M) to something like 16M (16777125) fixes the issue. To fix the issue temporarily, run the following commands:

  • mysql -u root
  • set global max_allowed_packet=16777216

To permanently set it, choose one of the two methods listed below:

  • You can add the parameter  - max_allowed_packet=16M to the mysqld command line or (mysqld_safe command line) as shown: 

 mysqld --max_allowed_packet=16M 

  • Edit the MySql configuration file (my.ini on Windows/ my.cnf on Mac OS) and add max_allowed_packet=16777216 to the [mysqld] section. 
Info
Code Block
[mysqld]
max_allowed_packet = 16M
  • Restart MySQL.
  • Restart frevvo. 
  • The setting will permanently take effect.

On Mac OS, you can access the my.cnf file by typing

    • sudo vi /etc/my.cnf
 The location of the my.ini/my.cnf file varies by configuration. Note

You will not see the Required property on the Properties panel for the Upload control. This is because "Required" is not a valid property of an upload control so trying to set that property using a rule will not work. However, you can make the control required by setting the min # property greater than 1. Then you can use a rule to change an upload control from Required to Not Required. If you need to make the Upload control required from a rule, you can put the upload control into a section and then create a rule to make the SECTION required.

Restricted Content Types and Other Mime/Ext

Use the Restricted Content Types field on the Upload Control Property pane to restrict the content type of the files uploaded to your form. This property lets the designer specify one or more types which restricts the content to those types. Uploads can be restricted by using MIME Types (limited set supported) or File Extensions or both.

Select the content types you want to allow by checking the associated check box in the Restricted Content Types field. The choices are: pdf, MS Word, MS Excel, MS PowerPoint, MS Access, gif, jpeg, png, tiff, rtf, tar, zip, gzip, xml and bmp.  will map the content types that you choose to one or more mime types. Content type filtering will be enabled for the extensions selected. For example, the image shows an upload control in a form that will only allow files with .jpeg, .pdf and .png extensions. This list can be expanded for customers using in-house by modifying the context parameter: frevvo.upload.file.types in the web.xml file. See Installation Tasks for the details.

Image Added

An easier way to add extensions or other mime types for filtering can be accomplished via the Other Mime/Ext field. You can use this field to restrict uploads to a mime type or file extension that is not included in the subset of the most common file content types provided by . Enter one or more extensions (of any length) or mime types, separated by a space, to enable extension and additional mime type filtering. An upload matches on an extension if it's name ends in a period followed by one of the extensions.  The comparison is case insensitive.  Likewise, an upload matches on mime type if it's mime type matches one of the additional mime types entered. For example, the extensions, txt and htm, shown in the Other Mime/Ext field in the image above, restricts uploaded files to ones that have .jpeg, .png, .pdf, .txt and .htm extensions.

Tip

You may notice that some file types are misidentified when uploaded in Use mode. Files with .xls and .ppt extensions are described as an application/msword file and .docx and .xlsx are shown with an application/zip description. This is a limitation of the mime detection library used in version 5.1. This library will be replaced in a future release.

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Info

Selecting zip as the Restricted/Mime type, uploading a zipfile and submitting the form may exhibit some unexpected behavior when downloading the zipfile from the submission if you are using IE9+ as your browser. Clicking on the attachment in the  submission repository does not save the uploaded zipfile as a zipfile. Instead, it will save it as a file named Upload91. As a workaround, you can open the file using winrar.exe and then save it or simply use right click and and select the 'save as' option.

 

Error Messages

The user will see error messages if upload filtering is applied and the uploaded content types do not match. The error message, shown below, will be displayed if content type only filtering or both content type and extension/mime filtering has been applied and the uploaded content does not match either restriction. For instance, uploading a file with a .jpeg extension will not match the selected content type choices or the .docx file extension listed in the Other Mime/Ext field as shown in the Upload Control Property Pane image:

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When extension and additional mime type filtering only has been specified and the uploaded content does not match, the error message below will display:

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Multi-select

The user can select more than a one file (during a single file browse) to be uploaded by holding down the control/command key then click on each file you want to select. The multi-select feature support has been added in HTML 5 with a multiple attribute. Multi-select of files for the Upload control is supported in newer versions of browsers. For example, multi-selection of files works in Safari, Chrome and Firefox.

Warning

Internet Explorer (IE 7, 8 9) currently do not support the multi- select feature.

The multi-select of files in the browser is dependent upon the max files property of the upload control. Multi-select is disabled by setting the max # files to 1. It is possible to select too many files . For example, turn on multi-select by setting the max # to 2. Multi-select 3 files. This will show an error and none of the 3 will be uploaded.

Image Added 

Max Size

 itself sets an upper limit on attachment sizes. If you enter a value into the control's max attachment size property greater than ' internal default upper limit, you will see an error message displayed on the upload control.

In-house, a download customer can control ' internal upper limit via the frevvo.attachment.maxsize parameter in the web.xml or frevvo.xml files. Initially, this value is set to 10485760 bytes. You can also set the max attachment size per user by editing the user's profile as the admin user and editing the Configuration field shown below:

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Enable Camera

The"Enable Camera" property for the upload control refers to the camera in your mobile device .It is enabled by default. Here is how it works:

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Note

IOS Safari decides access to the camera on the iPhone or iPad. Unchecking the "Enable Camera" checkbox does not disable the camera because it is not possible. If you check it, it will disable the multi-select (multiple attribute) of files to upload, even when max # is > 1.

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Message Control (for Static Text)

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The PageBreak control cannot be dropped BELOW any control. It can be dropped BETWEEN 2 controls or ABOVE any control. Let's say you are designing a form for mobile devices. You drag and drop one control on the form. Now you want to add the PageBreak control and then add other controls below it. You cannot drop the PageBreak below any control so you will have to add the other controls first and then drop the PageBreak control where you want it. Once you add more than one control to the form, you can drop controls from the palette or the form above or below the page break. You can drag and drop the PageBreak itself anywhere at the root of the form. The PageBreak control should not be inside sections, panels, tables or repeat group controls. The only exception is the Tab control. See below for the details.

PageBreaks in a Tab Control

Dropping a page break control in one tab of the tab control adds the page break to all tabs. You must drag and drop the Tab control into the form first and then drop the PageBreak into one of the tabs in the tab control. If you drag and drop the PageBreak control onto the canvas first and then try to move it into a tab control, it will not work. When you drag and drop a page break control into a tab, it will always be at the top. You cannot drag it but if you drop another control from the palette or the form it will always drop below the page break control even if you drop it on the tab header. Setting/unsetting a property (e.g. uncheck Phone) in one Tab will duplicate the action in all tabs. If you try to add more than one PageBreak control to a tab, you will see the following message:

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Tabs Display on a Tablet

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Tabs become Pages on a Smart Phone

Testing Your Mobile Form

Currently, the best way to test mobile forms/flows is to click the Test icon on the Forms Home Page in the designer. Sometimes, the mobile form/flow does not look the same in your desktop browser as it does on the mobile device. It is recommended that you design/debug your form/flow completely on the desktop first. Then you can add your form/flow to a space and look at it on the tablet. You can also add ?_device=phone or ?_device=tablet to the raw form/flow link or the share URL for a space or task list to render it for that device in a regular browser. Use ?_device= if this is the first parameter you are adding to the URL. Change the ? to an & if this parameter follows other parameters in the URL.

Signature

Drag a signature control from the palette to add an electronic wet signature in your form. You cannot enter a signature into the control in edit mode. In use mode, clicking or touching a signature control presents the signature entry dialog that is illustrated in the image below. Use your mouse, track pad, touchscreen or a stylus to sign. You can clear the signature in order to sign again by clicking the Clear button.The Cancel button negates any changes. All signature controls are empty of any signature (shows the X and a line) when the user first displays the form. Entered signatures are only applied to the use mode form when the user selects Done. Notice the signature is displayed in the form scaled down into the signature control.

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will display the error message "Signature support not available. Please use a later browser version with HTML5 support for canvas." if your browser does not support HTML5 canvases. 

Tip

If you add a Signature control from schema to your form and then change any property of that control, the Signature control will display with a border. Change the border property on the Style tab back to none to remove it.

Refer to Electronic Signatures for more information.

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  •  does not support drag and drop of a Signature control into a repeat control or its descendants or a table control. 
  • The signature control in thin forms is not supported. 

Form Viewer Control

The Form Viewer Control is used to allow a generated PDF to be viewed as part of a form activity in a flow. In this version of , this control only appears on the Forms palette when you click the  icon to edit an activity in the flow designer.  Refer to this documentation for the details.,

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The ability to generate additional PDFs in the Forms designer is available in  version 5.2.  This control will be visible in the Forms designer palette in this release when generating "Pixel Perfect' PDFs.