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A control’s label is displayed on your form beside or above the control. When you first drag in a control it is assigned an arbitrary and unique label—checkbox 43 for example. Obviously for your users’ sake you will want more meaningful labels. Change a control’s label either on the form itself (by clicking the control and selecting the label) or by overlaying the arbitrary name in the Properties Label field.  Message controls are the only controls without labels—they are used for static text so you don’t need a label, too.

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1. Click on the selection control (Checkbox, Dropdown, Radio)
2. Select Web Service from the Option Src dropdown
   
   
    
3. Enter the URL of the RESTful web service that you are going to to retrieve the option data from. Data is retrieved using HTTP GET. The URL can contain templates and the options will be automatically updated whenever the value changes of any control referenced by a template in the URL.
   
   Ex: /http(s)://10.0.0.27/:8081/database/BIRT/allCustomers?_mediaType=json - This URL returns a list of all customers from a database The _mediaType parameter specifies that JSON results are returned. In this example, the Database Connector integrates with the database to execute the query. The Database Connector is a Restful service that returns results in XML or JSON.
    
4. After entering the Options URL for your web service, click the save and test icon. Examine the results in the debug console to determine the Value and Label Bindings.
5. The syntax for selection control options is <value>=<label>. The <label> is what will be displayed on your form/flow and the <value> is what is saved as the selected value when the user submits the form or completes the workflow.
   

   1. Enter the Value Binding - this is bind path of the option VALUES within the XML or JSON returned by the RESTful web service. Binding paths are specified with the '/' character used as a delimiter i.e. /resultsSet/CountryID. The path locates the values to be extracted and set into the selection control options. If the data pointed to by the path is repeating, then the data extracted will be a collection of items. This is the value that will be stored in the XML submissions document when the form/flow is submitted/completed.
      The Value Binding can be determined by examining the resultSet in the frevvo debug console.

   2. Enter the Label Binding - this is the bind path of the option display LABELS within the XML or JSON returned by the RESTful web service. This label is displayed in the selection control options in Use mode. The Label Binding can be determined from the debug console by examining the resultSet in the debug console.
      
      

      1. Type the URL to your WebService in the Options Source property then click the save and test icon. Examine the resultSet in the debug console to determine the Value binding.
         

         Code Block
         title Example 1: Results returned in JSON format
         If this is the JSON Data returned: "totalResultsAvailable":2, "resultSet":[{"CountryName":"Argentina","CountryID":"1"},{"CountryName":"Aruba","CountryID":"12"},{"CountryName":"Bahamas","CountryID":"13"}]} If the Value Binding property is set to /resultSet/CountryID - the country id of the selected country will be stored in the Live Forms submission If the Label Binding is set to /resultSet/CountryName - the country names are what the user sees as the selection control options - Argentina, Aruba, Bahamas

         Code Block
         title Example 2: Results returned in XML format
         If the results are returned in XML: Notice that the XML uses namespaces and that they must be part of the bind path. <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <p0:allCountries xmlns:p0="http://www.frevvo.com/database/allCountries"> <row> <CountryID>1</CountryID> <CountryName>Argentina</CountryName> </row> <row> <CountryID>12</CountryID> <CountryName>Aruba</CountryName> </row> <row> <CountryID>13</CountryID> <CountryName>Bahamas</CountryName> </row> </p0:allCountries If the Value Binding and Label Binding properties are be set to the same path: /p0:allCountries/row/CountryName - the Country Name will be included in the submission and Users will see the Country Names as the options of the selection control: Argentina, Aruba, Bahamas

         
         

6. Click the save and test icon to test your form/flow.
   
7. The Example below uses the Database Connector to retrieve a Customer List from a database. It also shows to construct the Value and Label Bindings from the XML results returned in the Debug Console.
   

Dynamic Options Example

Let's say you have a form/flow with a Dropdown control named Customer. You want to populate the options of this control with a list of Customers Names. You also would like to store the Customer Number associated with the Selected customer in the form/flow submission. We will use the Database Connector as our Web Service. For this example, the Database Connector is configured in Standalone mode to work with a MySQL database named classicmodels.

The Customer dropdown options can be populated with a business rule but you can also use the Dynamic Options feature. The frevvo Database Connector executes a query against a database named classicmodels that will return a list of Customers in JSON format. We will determine the Value and Label bindings by examining the results returned in the debug console.

Follow these steps:

1. Click on the Customer control.
2. Select Web Service from the Option Src dropdown
3. The Options URL is: http://localhost:8081/database/BIRT/allCustomers?_mediaType=json  This URL points to an instance of the Database Connector running on the save server/port as . The results of this query will show the Customer Number and Customer Name for each customer in the Customers database table in JSON format.
   
4. After entering the Options URL ,click the save and test icon. Ignore the "No options available due to an error" message that displays. This message will disappear once you have configured the Value and Label BIndings.
   
5. To determine the Value Binding, examine the resultSet in the frevvo debug console.
   
   1. Begin the path with the forward slash - / followed by resultSet.
   2. Add another forward slash - / followed by the value from the results that you want to be stored in the submission XML - in this case - customerNumber
   3. The Value BInding should be set to: /resultSet/customerNumber
6. To determine the Label Binding, examine the resultSet in the frevvo debug console.
   
   1. Begin the path with the forward slash - / followed by resultSet.
   2. Add another forward slash - / followed by value from the results that you want to see as the option labels - in this case - customerName
   3. The Label BInding should be set to: /resultSet/customerName
      
      
      
      
7.  Click the save and test icon to test the form. Note the options display the Customer Name.
   
   
   
   
8. Click Submit.
   
9. Navigate to the Forms Home Page and click the Submissions icon. Open the submissions and view the Document tab. Note the Customer Number is the value stored there.
   

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Users can typeahead to narrow the choices based on the letters entered. User ids and roles are case sensitive so remember to use the correct case when typing.

The combobox supports the ability to specify single or multiple values. Simply check the single value checkbox if you want to limit the choice to one value.

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Populate Dynamic Pick Lists from a Database with the ComboBox

The ComboBox control can be used to retrieve values from a web service and enable a list of possible partial matches. This is helpful when you have database queries that return a large number of options. You can filter the number of options returned from a query based on the text typed into the ComboBox. Users typeahead and are only presented with the matching options as choices.

• Your web service must be able to filter results and accept parameters that drive filtering
• A dynamic Options URL that contains the {<combobox control name>.matchText} parameter. As the user types text into the CombBox, the text will be substituted into the URL. The web service returns only the options matching the typed in text as choices.  
• The ComboBox control shows up to 100 matching options. If the web service finds more that 100 possible matching options, only the first 100 are to be shown. Informing users that there are additional matches that are not shown is not supported.

Set the Options Source property of the ComboBox to Web Service then provide the Options URL and Bind Path properties:

• Options URL - The URL of the RESTful web service that will retrieve matching options. Be sure that the URL contains the  {<combobox control name>.matchText} template parameter. 
  
• Bind Path - The bind path of the matching options within the XML or JSON returned by the RESTful web service. The Bind Path property determines the selected value that is included in the submission and what the user sees.
  

Example

It is very common to pull options for a typeahead control such as the ComboBox from a database. If you are using the frevvo Database Connector to integrate with your SQL database you already have a Restful service that returns data as resultSets.

Let's say you have a classicmodels MySQL database with a Products table that contains 121 records. You have a form with a ComboBox control named NameofProduct and you want to populate the options from the query results. However, you do not expect your users to scroll through 121 choices until they find the one that they are looking for. Ideally, you would like to filter the results coming back from the query based on the characters inserted into ComboBox. Users can then typeahead and select a value from the filtered choices.

For this example, the frevvo Database Connector is installed on the same machine as and configured in Standalone mode running on port 8081.

1. You will need a query to run against the database. This query, which is included in the BIRT queryset in the configuration.xml file, uses the MySQL Like and % wild cards, to return all the products that match the value in the template (pname}.

   Code Block
   <query name="productsByName"> <retrieve> <!--maps to HTTP GET --> <statement> SELECT * FROM Products where productName LIKE '%{pName}%' order by productName </statement> </retrieve> </query>

    

2. Click on the ComboBox control to display the Properties panel. Select Web Service as the Options Src.

3. Provide the URL to the datasource - in this case the URL to the database query in the BIRT queryset- productsByName. Add the {<combobox control name>.matchText} parameter to specify the value of the variable - pname - in the query as the matching text typed into the Name of Product control.
   

   Code Block
   http://<server>:<port>/database/BIRT/productsByName?pName={NameofProduct.matchText}

4. Click the Image Modifiedsave and test icon. Enter a value into the ComboBox. Determine the Binding Path from the resultSet. In the image, the number 1 was entered into the ComboBox.
   
   Image Modified
   
   
5. The ComboBox Properties panel should look like this. If you want to limit the user selection to one value, check the SIngle Value checkbox.
   
   Image Modified
    
6.  Users will see all the returned options that match the number 1 when it is entered in the ComboBox. Adding 8t into the ComboBox will further filter the options and display the choices that match 18t . Each time a character is entered it is added to the URL and the Web Service is invoked. Only the matching results is displayed to the user.

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You are not permitted to disable grouping controls such as panels or repeats. However, there is an Enabled property for Sections, each of the columns in a Table and each tab in a Tab control. If "enabled" is set on Tab or Section, controls inside of these group controls would be enabled. Conversely, if the property is unchecked, controls inside of a section or tab would be disabled. This property will make it easier to write Business Rules. 

You can enable/disable the selection controls via rules thereby enabling/disabling all the selection control options. It is not possible to enable/disable individual options.

Disabled tabs are still selectable and disabled sections can still be expanded and collapsed. This is as designed. If you are trying to show/hide the contents of a tab/section, use the 359366860 property. 

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Another is the showhelp css class that is built into the Tight layout. For example, you can reduce white space even further with the Tight layout so that you have virtually no space between controls by selecting the hide label property on each control. This can be a way to implement a grid type layout as shown in this sample form below. 

When controls are this tight together there is no room to display the help icon for controls with help text. Notice that the first row of controls does displays the help icon. This is done by putting the string showhelp into the css class property for each control in the first row. This is a useful way to have help at the top of each column.

CSS Class to Set Font Size for the Table and Message Controls

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This property applies only to Submit controls. By default  disables the form's submit button until all required fields are filled and contain valid data. See Valid Forms for details of this feature. However, sometimes you may wish to override ' default behavior and allow the user to submit a form even if it is invalid. To do this, uncheck this property.

When "Enable if Valid" is checked and you click on the Submit button in a form that contains invalid data or required fields that are empty,  the form will not submit and the invalid fields will be highlighted with an orange background color. The designer can also display a message instructing the user what to do.

 This approach is very helpful to users when trying to determine why a form does not submit. Refer to this Invalid Form Notification for the details.

If "Enable if Valid" property is unchecked,  you can control the Submit button behavior in a business rule using the Submit.enabled = [true,false] property.

Prefix Property

Custom groups with rules included when dropped back onto the same or another form, will contain a special "Prefix" property. The property will automatically be given a unique value if you drop the group onto the same form 2 or more times. This ensures that the group controls have unique element name. You can view the impact the prefix has on the element names by viewing the form's schema or the control's property panel. Using the prefix property, you can write a separate rule to manipulate the 2nd or greater instance of the custom control. Refer to this documentation for the details.

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