This documentation is for frevvo v10.0. Not for you? Earlier documentation is available too.
Setting Properties
Each control setting property is explained below. Keep in mind that all controls do not have the same setting properties.
Label
A control’s label is displayed on your form above the control. When you first drag in a control it is assigned an arbitrary and unique label, for example "Checkbox 43." You will want to edit for more meaningful labels for your users. Change a control’s label either on the form itself (by clicking the control and selecting the label) or by replacing the arbitrary text in the Properties Label field. Message controls are used for static text and do not need a label, so they are the only controls without labels.
There are restrictions on what you can do in the label markup due to the incorporation of a whitelist approach to filter out XSS attacks. The whitelist allows a full range of text and structural body HTML: a, b, blockquote, br, caption, cite, code, col, colgroup, dd, dl, dt, em, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, i, img, li, ol, p, pre, q, small, strike, strong, sub, sup, table, tbody, td, tfoot, th, thead, tr, u, ul. This means that you can only use these tags in a label's markup. You can find information about XHTML tags at this w3schools.com website. These restrictions also apply to the Help property.
Let's say you want to underline (6 characters) in the label of a password field.
In the Label field, type this HTML: Password: <u> 6 characters </u>.
When typing labels you are free to use any special characters with the exception of the less-than sign (<). If you need a less-than sign in your label, substitute the characters < (with no spaces between) for the less-than symbol.
Labels can also contain templates that will be replaced by values entered into your form as the form is used. See Templatized Strings for details.
Note that a control's name defaults to its label minus any spaces and special characters. Spaces and special characters are removed in order to make the name valid for use in rules and, for XML users, valid as a xsd schema element name. If the name begins with a numeral (for example,123Name), frevvo prepends an underscore to the it (for example, _123Name) to make it a valid XSD element name. Control names will be truncated to 32 characters for all the controls except triggers and panels.
Also note that if you have two controls with the same label, the control's name will automatically be made unique. If you try to edit the name such that it would no longer be unique frevvo will prevent the edit.
The < sign is not allowed in a label for Input controls. Searchable Fields with values that contain the < sign will not display completely in the Submissions Table.
Control Type
This applies to selection controls (dropdowns, radios and checkboxes) and most input controls (text, text area, email, phone, quantity, number, table, and repeat) and is populated automatically when you first drag in a control. You can change this property if you want to switch a control in your form to a different type of control. This saves you from having to remove the original control and drag in a new one. The Control Type property is also used to change a date control to a time or date/time control. See Date, Time, Date/Time for more information.
There are some limitations: you cannot change a selection control to an input control or vice versa. This means you easily can switch a checkbox to a dropdown list, but you cannot use this property to change a checkbox to a text control.
This property is also useful for verifying what kind of controls are in your form. Since you assign new labels to your controls after you drag them in, you occasionally might forget whether you are looking at a text control or phone control, for example. This property lets you know what kind of controls are in your form no matter what the labels say.
If your control was generated from a schema element, it will have a Setting Properties#DisplayAs property instead of a Control Type property.
Convert Repeat to Table or Table to Repeat
A repeat control can be changed to a table control and vice versa by selecting the appropriate option in the Control Type dropdown. These controls can be changed whether you drag and drop the table or repeat from the palette or populate the form with these controls from schema.
For example, an Address Book form that contains a section with controls for First and Last Name, Home and Cell Phones, Street, City, State and Zip code is dropped into a repeat control by the forms designer. The min and max values for the repeat are set to 1 and 10 respectively. The designer then decides to change the Control Type of the Repeat Control to a Table by selecting this option from the dropdown.
Address Book Controls in a Section in a Repeat in the Forms Designer
Address Book Repeat Changed to Table in the Forms Designer
Notice each control in the Repeating section becomes a column in the table. The min/max values for the table are the same as the repeating section.
A from-schema repeat that does not contain a section cannot be converted to a table. Schemas with a sectionless repeat with just a single control cannot be converted to a table. You will see the message "Cannot change type on a sectionless, from-schema Repeat" if you attempt the conversion in either of these situations.
Attempting to convert an empty repeat or a repeat that contains an empty section to a table, will display the error "Cannot change type on an empty Repeat".
Repeats with nested panels and sections can be converted to a table. The input controls inside the panels and sections are added to the table as columns. Here is an example of a repeat control with a section with panels that contain Contact Name, Email and Phone input controls.
Here is what the Repeat control looks like after it has been converted to a table in the designer. Notice the three input controls become columns in the table.
The Printable, Hide Label and Background Color properties transfer according to the statements below when converting a table to a repeat and vice versa:
- When converting a table to a repeat, the table's printable property is transferred to each section in the new repeat. When converting a repeat to table, the table will always be non-printable. The designer have to set it.
- When converting a table to a repeat, the column's hide label property is transferred to the corresponding control. When converting a repeat to a table, the control's hide label property is not transferred to the column.
- When converting a table to a repeat, you can set the background color on both the column and individual cells. Only the background color on the cells is transferred to the corresponding repeat control. When converting a table to a repeat to a table, the control background color is transferred to the table cell background color.
When you change a table to a repeat or vice versa and there are referencing rules, it is recommended that you verify that your rules still work. See Rules Examples for more information.
Name
Every control has a name. The name is automatically generated and defaults to the control's label minus any spaces and special characters. Spaces and special characters are removed in order to make the name valid for use in rules and, for XML users, this makes the name valid as a xsd schema element name. Control names will be truncated to 32 characters for all the controls except triggers and panels.
If you have two controls with the same label and at the same level, the control's name will automatically be made unique. If you try to edit the name such that it would no longer be unique, will prevent the edit. In order to use a control in a rule the name must be unique in your form. When a control is dropped inside a section control, it is at a different nesting level then a control dropped outside a section. Also two controls, one inside a section called Car and another in a section called Boat are also at different nesting levels. In both cases the form designer will allow you to name the controls the same. For example both Car and Boat can contain a control named VIN.
Important Tips for Control Names
- Do not name your controls action or method. These are reserved names. If you use these names your form will not properly submit or cancel and may cause a http 404 error when the users try to submit or cancel. Also, avoid using JavaScript Reserved Keywords as control identifier names as these words have a special function in the JavaScript language. Click here for a partial list.
Do not name your controls form. This is a reserved word and may cause rules to fail and other unexpected issues.
- Use English alphabet characters only when naming controls. For example, controls named with ó as in Póliza may cause issues when the control is used in a business rule and with submission data.
- Control Names cannot start with a number. If you attempt to name a control starting with a number, such as "1Name" it will automatically be corrected to "_1Name."
- frevvo recommends unique names even if controls are in different nesting levels to improve clarity when using wizards and connectors. Controls with the same name, even at different nesting levels, will cause problems with
- Rules based on or affecting the controls.
- Templatized strings referencing the controls in Form Actions, Doc Actions, Properties, etc.
- PDF Mapping of those controls.
The Name property is instrumental in several usages within frevvo:
- Name is how you refer to your control in Rules.
- Name is also used when initializing form fields via the frevvo _data URL parameter for controls added from the palette.
Note: For controls added from XSD schema, you must use the underlying element name to initialize the control via _data. - Name is how you refer to form fields from Document URIs.
- Name is used in Form Action Display Message and Go to URL Templates.
- Name is used in Doc Action Email Address Templates.
- This is the name given to the XML element corresponding to the control you drag into your form from the palette.
You can change the Name of controls from schema, although schema controls maintain their underlying XSD element name. For example, suppose you are using controls from two schemas in a form and both contain a control named ''FName''. You could change the name of one of these controls to ''FirstName'' to make them unique within the form. This is helpful if you're adding rules to the form, or if you want to use the form as a template.
Except for _data, controls from XSD use the same rules (as above) as controls from palette.
HRef
This property applies only to the Link control. Enter the URL that you want to add to your form. Checking the New Window checkbox will open the URL in a new browser window. The use of Templates is supported in this property.
Pattern
Most controls automatically ensure that users provide the correct data type, but patterns give you the flexibility to impose additional restrictions on what users enter in a particular control.
In the Pattern field in the Properties area, type your pattern using XML schema regular expressions. Check this site for more information. A simple example is a pattern that restricts a text control to only allow strings formatted as a US zip code: \d{5}|\d{5}-\d{4}. If you type this expression in the Patterns property, your form will permit values entered into this field only if they are five digits or five digits followed by the '-' character, followed by 4 digits.
When you define patterns you don’t have to restrict what the control handles automatically. It is not necessary to enter a pattern [a-z] for a Number control, since users can’t type letters in a number field anyway. Since essentially you would be attempting to expand the allowed data types in the control, frevvo would ignore this pattern if you entered it.
You have to first save the form before the pattern takes effect. Thus patterns cannot be tested in the form designer, only in use mode.
See Patterns and Validation for more information and useful patterns.
Hint
This property lets you create a tooltip that will display in your form when the user mouses over the control. Simply type the text for your tooltip in the Hint field. The Hint property does not support html markup.
Help
This property lets you provide for your users more detailed help about a specific control. If you enter text here, an
icon will appear next to the control on your form. When the user clicks , the help text you supplied in the Help property will be displayed in a floating box.Decorator
The designer can provide helpful hints for users using the Decorator property. This is a great way to visually enhance the look and feel of your forms/workflows.
Decorators are on by default. You can control this via a decorator checkbox on the Form Setting Properties. If decorators are turned on, when you drag an input control from the palette, it shows a default decorator. The default depends on the type of control being dragged in. You can change the decorator for individual controls by selecting one from the dropdown list. An icon appears on the left side of input controls.
Decorators do not appear in snapshots (PDFs). Decorators will disappear when a decorated control is dropped into a table.
Date, Time & Date/Time controls have a decorator checkbox instead of a dropdown.
Placeholder
Enter text in this field and it will appear in your input control until the user enters some data. When data is entered, the placeholder disappears. If data is removed, it reappears. Placeholders do not appear in snapshots (PDFs). You may have noticed the placeholder in the usename field on the frevvo login screen.
Placeholders for Date and Time controls are not supported in iOS.
Error Message
This lets you display a specific error message if the user does not supply a valid value in the control. If you leave this property blank users will get generic feedback (an “invalid value” message, for example) if they supply a bad value—but if you use this property, you can make the error message more helpful. The Error Message property does not support html markup.
For example, if you are using a pattern that requires the user to enter an area code of 203 in a phone control, you can use the Error Message property to let users know this explicitly if they try to enter a different area code.
The error message only displays when an invalid value has been entered. Required empty fields always display with a yellow or orange background. If the Accessible property is checked, the error message "You can't leave this empty" - not the error message text configured by the designer - will display.