Working with Forms

You must create a record form for each record type in your schema. You can also define a submit form for each record type.

Using the Form Selection feature, you can set many forms for a record type. These other forms can help users accomplish tasks more quickly. For example, a simplified submit form can have all the required fields on a single tab, or a triage form can use a single tab for all the fields needed to evaluate incoming defects. For more details, see the topic Form Selection.

Each record type can have two forms associated with it: a record form and a submit form. The record form is required, but the submit form is optional. A submit form allows users to use a different form to submit records of that type. When a user submits a new record, the submit form is used; when the user views and works with the record, the record form is used. If the record type does not have a submit form, the record form is used to both submit records and to work with them.

By default, each record form and submit form has one tab; you can add tabs.

You use the Forms window for these tasks:

• Creating forms. To add and delete forms, to change the name of a form, and to change the fonts used on forms.
• Working with form controls. To add controls for the fields to be displayed on the form.
• Working with tabs on forms. To add tabs to the form (each form has one tab by default), to restrict access to tabs, and to change the order in which tabs appear on the form.

For descriptions of the properties for each control type, see Form controls.

You can create one record form and use it in multiple schemas. See Reusing record forms.

If you are updating a schema to accommodate imported records, you can modify existing forms by adding or removing appropriate fields. If you are creating a schema, you can create a form that displays the fields from the imported records.

When creating or modifying forms to view imported records, you might want to add a field to display the old ID of the imported record. The Old ID field is not required for new records, but is useful for identifying imported records by using information from the old database.

You can use the HCL Compass API to submit, view, and edit records programmatically instead of through forms. For more information, see the API reference pages .