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Posts from August, 2016
Friday, August 26, 2016PrintSubscribe
Converting Mobile and Azure Factory Projects

As of Release 8.5.10.0, Mobile Factory and Azure Factory project types have been retired.

Both Web Site and Web App Factory projects offer the ability to use Touch UI as well as deploy to Azure. In addition, Azure Factory was built around the “Cloud Service” Azure resource type, which has been marked as “Classic” at the time of this writing.

It will not be possible to create new projects of these types. The app generator will continue to provide support for existing projects created with these project types. However, it is strongly recommended to migrate away from these project types in order to gain access to new features in future releases.

Migrating a Mobile Factory Project to Web Site Factory

Mobile Factory projects were originally based on Web Site Factory, with “Desktop” user interface disabled. Therefore, it is quite easy to migrate a project to Web Site Factory.

Open the app generator. In your list of projects, click on the project name, and press Open.

Opening the project folder for a mobile factory project.

This will open the project folder in File Explorer. Click on the “Up” arrow on the navigation bar to move to the parent directory.

Moving to the parent directory.

Right-click on the project and press “Cut”, or check the box next to the project folder and press “Cut” button on the ribbon.

Cutting the project folder.

Click on the “Up” arrow to navigate to the parent directory “Projects”. If a “Web Site Factory” folder does not exist, create the folder now.

Right-click on the “Web Site Factory” folder, and press Paste, or click once on the folder and press the “Paste” button on the ribbon.

Pasting the project folder into Web Site Factory folder.

Switch back to the list of projects in the app generator. Press “F5” to refresh the page. Notice that the project is now of type “Web Site Factory”.

The Mobile Factory has been converted to a Web Site Factory project.

Proceed to generate the application.

Converting Azure Factory to Web Site Factory

Azure Factory projects are more complicated than Mobile Factory projects. In order to convert these types of projects, multiple files and folders will need to be moved. Follow the table below in order to properly convert your project to Web Site Factory:

Source Destination
~/Azure Factory/[Project]/Application.Log.xml ~/Web Site Factory/[Project]/Application.Log.xml
~/Azure Factory/[Project]/Controllers.Log.xml ~/Web Site Factory/[Project]/Controllers.Log.xml
~/Azure Factory/[Project]/DataAquarium.Project.xml ~/Web Site Factory/[Project]/DataAquarium.Project.xml
~/Azure Factory/[Project]/DataAquarium.Version.xml ~/Web Site Factory/[Project]/DataAquarium.Version.xml
~/Azure Factory/[Project]/DataAquarium.Log.xml ~/Web Site Factory/[Project]/DataAquarium.Log.xml
~/Azure Factory/[Project]/[Namespace]/Controllers ~/Web Site Factory/[Project]/WebSite/Controllers
~/Azure Factory/[Project]/[Namespace]/Views ~/Web Site Factory/[Project]/WebSite/Views
~/Azure Factory/[Project]/[Namespace]/Rules ~/Web Site Factory/[Project]/WebSite/App_Code/Rules
~/Azure Factory/[Project]/WebRole1/Controls ~/Web Site Factory/[Project]/WebSite/Controls
~/Azure Factory/[Project]/WebRole1/Pages ~/Web Site Factory/[Project]/WebSite/Pages

In addition, any other custom files such as classes and stylesheets will need to be moved to the corresponding location in the destination folder. It may be necessary to link these files to the solution after generation.

Once all files have been moved, switch back to the app generator and press F5 to refresh the list of projects. Click on the project name and press “Refresh”. Proceed to generate the application.

Wednesday, August 17, 2016PrintSubscribe
Batch Edit, Surveys, Universal Input, Date Processing.

Please take a look at the Roadmap for 2016/ 2017. It covers the next six months of the development cycle.

Numerous new features and bug fixes are included in the release 8.5.10.0.

Batch Edit

This release re-introduces Batch Edit capability in both Desktop UI and Touch UI applications. If multiple selection is enabled and two or more rows are selected then Batch Edit command becomes availabe in the context menu of data rows.

image

Select the menu option and a standard form will display a list of fields.

image

Specify the field values and choose Update Selection to update the selected data rows. A similar dialog is displayed in Desktop UI.

For the feature to work, you must enable Multi-Selection. Also specify an action with the command name set to “BatchEdit” in the group with the “Row” context. If there is no argument then the “grid1” will become the source of fields. If  you have a form with a large number of fields then specify the form view ID in the action argument. For example, try editForm1.

You can also enable Batch Edit everywhere if you set the corresponding option in the Grid Properties of Features section in your project settings. Make sure to refresh the project and the Batch Edit action will be added to all data controllers.

Surveys

The dynamically created Batch Edit form is implemented as a data controller produced on demand with the help of the new technology called Survey Controller.  We will post a tutorial explaining how to work with the survery controllers. See the rodmap for more details.

In the future releases, we will utilize survey controllers to re-implement several features in the Touch UI:

  • Advanced Search
  • Field-Level Search
  • Import
  • Standard Calendar Event Dialog

Survey controllers can be used as replacements for “confirmation” data controllers. Here is an example of a confirmation survey controller that allows selecting Customer, Order, and Order Detail.

image

All questions asked in the survey are accessible to the server-side business rules with the “Parameters_” prefix.

This is the defintion of the controller stored in ~/scripts/surveys/ThreeLevelMD.js file:

image

The survery will be loaded and displayed for any action if you specify the following in the Confimation property of the action.

_survery=ThreeLevelMD

 

You will be suprised to learn that the new “survey” controller is essentially a repackaged version of XML data controllers. The difference is only in the language used to define it.

Code On Time v9 will introduce the visual designer that will enable drag & drop development of traditional and “survery” data controllers.

The roadmap provides some additonal insights into our wide-ranging plans for the surveys.

Universal Input

Countless enhanements are made to Touch UI.  Continue reading to learn more about individual capabilities and bug fixes.

We would like to highlight the ability to create new items directly from with the list inputs with the style of items set as List Box, Radio Button List, and Check Box List. The option is shown as the last item of Category Name in the screenshot.

image

Note that the lookups with Drop Down List style have a distinctive icon as shown in Discontinued field. Users can select items with Up and Down keys, via auto-complete, or via direct selection of options from the menu.

All inputs now provide excellent support for keyboard data entry and navigation.

Make sure to clear New Data View property of lookup fields with these presentation styles if you do not want your users to create new items.

Retired Project Types

We have retired Azure Factory and Mobile Factory projects. Microsoft considers Cloud Service apps to be in the legacy category. We recommend creating standard Web App Factory projects instead.

Mobile Factory projects are effectively Web Site Factory projects minus the ability to display Desktop UI. We have removed this project type from the menu of new projects.

Any existing projects of the retired types will still work. We recommend considering a conversion to the remaining project types.

Date Time Processing

We have completely re-designed handling of dates to eliminate any issued with the time zones.

Features and Enhancements

The list of features and enhancements introduced in relese 8.5.10.0 is presented below.

  • Visible When for data fields and categories is now fully supported in Touch UI. We have a brand new implementation designed specifically for the Universal Input controls.
  • Read Only When for data fields is now fully supported in Touch UI.
  • BLOB utility fields are correctly captured in Touch UI.
  • GEO utility fields are correctly captured in Touch UI.
  • Collapsible categories are now collapsing in Touch UI in response to user actions and when configured in Project Designer.
  • Touch UI now supports Causes Calculate with Universal Input.
  • Touch UI now supports cascading lookups with Universal Input.
  • JavaScript business rules do not trigger recursive Calculate in Touch UI.
  • JavaScript business rules of confirmation controllers can refernce the current row data fields as $current.FieldName.
  • Tab selection remains when user switches between read and write mode in a form in Touch UI.
  • Llong text fields and many-to-many fields have a 40 column minimum width in grid in Touch UI.
  • Ttooltip remains next to the input field when the page has been scrolled to set the focus in Touch UI.
    Touch UI correctly handles "_blank:" prefix in Hyperlink Format String property of data fields.
  • Method RefreshChildren works correctly in Touch UI and modal forms of Desktop UI.
  • Sidebar calendar remains inactive until it becomes visible.
  • Multi-selection mode does not reset selected row when activated more than once.
  • Fixed JavaScript business rule compilation issues related to field references.
  • Automatic configuration of "Copy" property now ensures fields are copied, even when lookup contains self-referring FK.
  • Model Builder no longer creates lookups if the field is borrowed from a different table.
  • Capture of exception on Windows 10 Build 1607.
  • Removed dependency on MSXML6.dll fromt he app generator.
  • User theme is now stored in cookie.
  • Touch UI themes are now served individually based on browser cookie.
  • ApplicationServices.UserTheme property added.
  • Web App Factory contains proper DLLs for ReportViewer.
  • DataView fields are hidden in grid1 and createForm1 at rutnime.
  • Added 'calendar-drag-disabled' tag to disable dragging in Calendar view.
  • Added "Normalize Model Names" checkbox to allow disabling removal of underscores and other non-word characters.
  • Fixed issue with "Edit Rule" in Visual Studio not looking in correct folder.
  • Touch UI  enables Google Maps for localhost only. Any production deployments now require a Google API key due to the policy changes by Google Inc.
Monday, July 11, 2016PrintSubscribe
Form Templates

Forms in Touch UI apps are laid out by HTML templates. When a form view is requested in the application framework, the ~/Views folder is queried for a template with file name of [Controller Name].[View Name].html. If the developer has placed a file matching that name in the Views folder, then the framework will read the file and pass it to the client library. The client will then use this template and inject data field inputs, labels, data views, and other controls into the template before rendering to the user. Otherwise, the client library will automatically build a template based on the definitions of categories and data fields.

The picture below shows the automatically built template for the default editForm1 view of Orders controller in the sample Northwind app.

The default template for Orders editForm1 view.

The generated template can be seen below. 

<div data-container="collapsible" data-wrap="false" data-header-text="Orders">
    <div data-container="row">
        <div data-control="description">These are the fields of the orders record that can be edited.</div>
    </div>
    <div data-container="row">
        <span data-control="label" data-field="CustomerID">CustomerID</span>
        <span data-control="field" data-field="CustomerID">[CustomerID]</span>
    </div>
    <div data-container="row">
        <span data-control="label" data-field="EmployeeID">EmployeeID</span>
        <span data-control="field" data-field="EmployeeID">[EmployeeID]</span>
    </div>
    <div data-container="row">
        <span data-control="label" data-field="OrderDate">OrderDate</span>
        <span data-control="field" data-field="OrderDate">[OrderDate]</span>
    </div>
    <div data-container="row">
        <span data-control="label" data-field="RequiredDate">RequiredDate</span>
        <span data-control="field" data-field="RequiredDate">[RequiredDate]</span>
    </div>
    <div data-container="row">
        <span data-control="label" data-field="ShippedDate">ShippedDate</span>
        <span data-control="field" data-field="ShippedDate">[ShippedDate]</span>
    </div>
    <div data-container="row">
        <span data-control="label" data-field="ShipVia">ShipVia</span>
        <span data-control="field" data-field="ShipVia">[ShipVia]</span>
    </div>
    <div data-container="row">
        <span data-control="label" data-field="Freight">Freight</span>
        <span data-control="field" data-field="Freight">[Freight]</span>
    </div>
    <div data-container="row">
        <span data-control="label" data-field="ShipName">ShipName</span>
        <span data-control="field" data-field="ShipName">[ShipName]</span>
    </div>
    <div data-container="row">
        <span data-control="label" data-field="ShipAddress">ShipAddress</span>
        <span data-control="field" data-field="ShipAddress">[ShipAddress]</span>
    </div>
    <div data-container="row">
        <span data-control="label" data-field="ShipCity">ShipCity</span>
        <span data-control="field" data-field="ShipCity">[ShipCity]</span>
    </div>
    <div data-container="row">
        <span data-control="label" data-field="ShipRegion">ShipRegion</span>
        <span data-control="field" data-field="ShipRegion">[ShipRegion]</span>
    </div>
    <div data-container="row">
        <span data-control="label" data-field="ShipPostalCode">ShipPostalCode</span>
        <span data-control="field" data-field="ShipPostalCode">[ShipPostalCode]</span>
    </div>
    <div data-container="row">
        <span data-control="label" data-field="ShipCountry">ShipCountry</span>
        <span data-control="field" data-field="ShipCountry">[ShipCountry]</span>
    </div>
</div>

Each category is converted to a div element with attribute data-container set to “collapsible”. A header bar will be rendered, and a border at the bottom of the container. The value of attribute “data-header-text” will be rendered as the text in the header bar. The “data-wrap” attribute is set to “false” in order to allow the field label and value to render in two columns for sufficiently wide screens. Collapsible containers will take the full width if they are the only container in that row. Otherwise, a border and drop shadow will be rendered on the left and right sides. Collapsible containers are an easy way to group fields in an attractive way.

Inside the category, several data containers of type “row” are added. These containers take the full width of the outer container, and will render a border above in order to delineate rows.

Inside each row container, there are various span elements marked with different data-control attributes.

The first data-control element is marked as “description”, and contains the category description. This text will be rendered smaller and with a lighter color.

The next data-control element is marked as “label”, and has a data-field attribute with value defined as the name of a data field in the view. The text of the element will be replaced by the label defined for that data field. When the form is in edit mode, the color of the text will be grey, and clicking on this element will shift focus to the nearest field control with matching data-field.

The other data-control element used in this template is “field”. The content of this element will be replaced by the value of the field matched by the name specified in the data-field attribute. The text wrapped in square brackets provide for easy debugging if the field is not matched to a data field in the view. The text will be rendered as grey when the form is in read-only mode. When the form is switched to edit mode, the color will change to black and the user will be able to click on the element to start editing the field value.

The default Orders editForm1 template in edit mode.

Note that there is no limit to the number of times a data field can be used for a label or field control. The client library will automatically synchronize the values of these fields after a user makes changes to the field.

There are various other utility containers that offer different capabilities for laying out your fields.

Tabs

Tabs are a common user interface element used to group fields. See an example below.

Two tabs rendered in editForm1 view of Orders page.

Tabs can be created by defining a “tabset” container that contains a set of tabs. Within this container, several “tab” containers can be defined, each with a “data-tab-text” value that defines the label displayed on the tab. The template used to create the example can be seen below.

<div data-container="tabset">
    <div data-container="tab" data-tab-text="Order Info">
        <div data-container="collapsible" data-header-text="Order Info">
            <div data-container="row">
                <span data-control="label" data-field="CustomerID">CustomerID</span>
                <span data-control="field" data-field="CustomerID">[CustomerID]</span>
            </div>
            <div data-container="row">
                <span data-control="label" data-field="EmployeeID">EmployeeID</span>
                <span data-control="field" data-field="EmployeeID">[EmployeeID]</span>
            </div>
            <div data-container="row">
                <span data-control="label" data-field="OrderDate">OrderDate</span>
                <span data-control="field" data-field="OrderDate">[OrderDate]</span>
            </div>
            <div data-container="row">
                <span data-control="label" data-field="RequiredDate">RequiredDate</span>
                <span data-control="field" data-field="RequiredDate">[RequiredDate]</span>
            </div>
            <div data-container="row">
                <span data-control="label" data-field="ShippedDate">ShippedDate</span>
                <span data-control="field" data-field="ShippedDate">[ShippedDate]</span>
            </div>
            <div data-container="row">
                <span data-control="label" data-field="ShipVia">ShipVia</span>
                <span data-control="field" data-field="ShipVia">[ShipVia]</span>
            </div>
            <div data-container="row">
                <span data-control="label" data-field="Freight">Freight</span>
                <span data-control="field" data-field="Freight">[Freight]</span>
            </div>
        </div>
    </div>
    <div data-container="tab" data-tab-text="Shipping Info">
        <div data-container="collapsible" data-header-text="Shipping Info">
            <div data-container="row">
                <span data-control="label" data-field="ShipName">ShipName</span>
                <span data-control="field" data-field="ShipName">[ShipName]</span>
            </div>
            <div data-container="row">
                <span data-control="label" data-field="ShipAddress">ShipAddress</span>
                <span data-control="field" data-field="ShipAddress">[ShipAddress]</span>
            </div>
            <div data-container="row">
                <span data-control="label" data-field="ShipCity">ShipCity</span>
                <span data-control="field" data-field="ShipCity">[ShipCity]</span>
            </div>
            <div data-container="row">
                <span data-control="label" data-field="ShipRegion">ShipRegion</span>
                <span data-control="field" data-field="ShipRegion">[ShipRegion]</span>
            </div>
            <div data-container="row">
                <span data-control="label" data-field="ShipPostalCode">ShipPostalCode</span>
                <span data-control="field" data-field="ShipPostalCode">[ShipPostalCode]</span>
            </div>
            <div data-container="row">
                <span data-control="label" data-field="ShipCountry">ShipCountry</span>
                <span data-control="field" data-field="ShipCountry">[ShipCountry]</span>
            </div>
        </div>
    </div>
</div>

This template can be used by creating a file at “~/Views/Orders.editForm1.html” and replacing the contents with the above HTML template.

Columns

Data fields can be placed into multiple columns using the data-container=“column” attribute.

Orders editForm1 view rendered in multiple columns.

Each column container must have a width specified. See example of template below:

<div data-container="tabset">
    <div data-container="tab" data-tab-text="Order Info">
        <div data-container="collapsible" data-header-text="Order">
            <div data-container="column" style="width: 50%">
                <div data-container="row">
                    <span data-control="label" data-field="CustomerID">CustomerID</span>
                    <span data-control="field" data-field="CustomerID">[CustomerID]</span>
                </div>
                <div data-container="row">
                    <span data-control="label" data-field="EmployeeID">EmployeeID</span>
                    <span data-control="field" data-field="EmployeeID">[EmployeeID]</span>
                </div>
                <div data-container="row">
                    <span data-control="label" data-field="OrderDate">OrderDate</span>
                    <span data-control="field" data-field="OrderDate">[OrderDate]</span>
                </div>
            </div>
            <div data-container="column" style="width: 49%">
                <div data-container="row" data-wrap="false">
                    <span data-control="label" data-field="RequiredDate">RequiredDate</span>
                    <span data-control="field" data-field="RequiredDate">[RequiredDate]</span>
                </div>
                <div data-container="row">
                    <span data-control="label" data-field="ShippedDate">ShippedDate</span>
                    <span data-control="field" data-field="ShippedDate">[ShippedDate]</span>
                </div>
                <div data-container="row">
                    <span data-control="label" data-field="Freight">Freight</span>
                    <span data-control="field" data-field="Freight">[Freight]</span>
                </div>
            </div>
        </div>
    </div>
    <div data-container="tab" data-tab-text="Shipping Info">
        <div data-container="row">
            <span data-control="label" data-field="ShipVia">ShipVia</span>
            <span data-control="field" data-field="ShipVia">[ShipVia]</span>
        </div>
        <div data-container="row">
            <span data-control="label" data-field="ShipName">ShipName</span>
            <span data-control="field" data-field="ShipName">[ShipName]</span>
        </div>
        <div data-container="row">
            <span data-control="label" data-field="ShipAddress">ShipAddress</span>
            <span data-control="field" data-field="ShipAddress">[ShipAddress]</span>
        </div>
        <div data-container="row">
            <span data-control="label" data-field="ShipCity">ShipCity</span>
            <span data-control="field" data-field="ShipCity">[ShipCity]</span>
        </div>
        <div data-container="row">
            <span data-control="label" data-field="ShipRegion">ShipRegion</span>
            <span data-control="field" data-field="ShipRegion">[ShipRegion]</span>
        </div>
        <div data-container="row">
            <span data-control="label" data-field="ShipPostalCode">ShipPostalCode</span>
            <span data-control="field" data-field="ShipPostalCode">[ShipPostalCode]</span>
        </div>
        <div data-container="row">
            <span data-control="label" data-field="ShipCountry">ShipCountry</span>
            <span data-control="field" data-field="ShipCountry">[ShipCountry]</span>
        </div>
    </div>
</div>

Custom Content

One of the main reasons to define a custom template for your view would be to place custom content. The example below places several headers, images, and glyphicons among data field rows.

Orders editForm1 view with custom content, including headers, glyphicons, and images injected into the form.

Containers with a type of “content” allow placing any content into them, without any special effects being added by the client library. Styles are applied on the proper elements in order to ensure the correct positioning of form elements.

<div data-container="content" data-wrap="true">
    <div data-container="column" style="width: 50%">
        <div data-container="content">
            <h2 style="padding-left: 12px"><span class="glyphicon glyphicon-cog"></span> General Information</h2>
        </div>
        <div data-container="row">
            <span data-control="label" data-field="CustomerID">CustomerID</span>
            <span data-control="field" data-field="CustomerID">[CustomerID]</span>
        </div>
        <div data-container="row">
            <span data-control="label" data-field="EmployeeID">EmployeeID</span>
            <span data-control="field" data-field="EmployeeID">[EmployeeID]</span>
        </div>
        <div data-container="row">
            <span data-control="label" data-field="OrderDate">OrderDate</span>
            <span data-control="field" data-field="OrderDate">[OrderDate]</span>
        </div>
    </div>
    <div data-container="column" style="width: 49%">
        <div data-container="content">
            <h2 style="padding-left: 12px"><span class="glyphicon glyphicon-time"></span> Date Information</h2>
        </div>
        <div data-container="row" data-wrap="false">
            <span data-control="label" data-field="RequiredDate">RequiredDate</span>
            <span data-control="field" data-field="RequiredDate">[RequiredDate]</span>
        </div>
        <div data-container="row">
            <span data-control="label" data-field="ShippedDate">ShippedDate</span>
            <span data-control="field" data-field="ShippedDate">[ShippedDate]</span>
        </div>
        <div data-container="row">
            <span data-control="label" data-field="Freight">Freight</span>
            <span data-control="field" data-field="Freight">[Freight]</span>
        </div>
    </div>
</div>
<div data-container="content" style="padding: 0 1em 0.5em; text-align: center; height: 100px;">
    <img src="/touch/logo-color.png" style="vertical-align: bottom; padding-right: 6px" />
    <h1>These are my shipping fields.</h1>
</div>
<div data-container="content" data-wrap="false">
    <div data-container="row">
        <span data-control="label" data-field="ShipVia">ShipVia</span>
        <span data-control="field" data-field="ShipVia">[ShipVia]</span>
    </div>
    <div data-container="row">
        <span data-control="label" data-field="ShipName">ShipName</span>
        <span data-control="field" data-field="ShipName">[ShipName]</span>
    </div>
    <div data-container="row">
        <span data-control="label" data-field="ShipAddress">ShipAddress</span>
        <span data-control="field" data-field="ShipAddress">[ShipAddress]</span>
    </div>
    <div data-container="row">
        <span data-control="label" data-field="ShipCity">ShipCity</span>
        <span data-control="field" data-field="ShipCity">[ShipCity]</span>
    </div>
    <div data-container="row">
        <span data-control="label" data-field="ShipRegion">ShipRegion</span>
        <span data-control="field" data-field="ShipRegion">[ShipRegion]</span>
    </div>
    <div data-container="row">
        <span data-control="label" data-field="ShipPostalCode">ShipPostalCode</span>
        <span data-control="field" data-field="ShipPostalCode">[ShipPostalCode]</span>
    </div>
    <div data-container="row">
        <span data-control="label" data-field="ShipCountry">ShipCountry</span>
        <span data-control="field" data-field="ShipCountry">[ShipCountry]</span>
    </div>
</div>

Actions

Form templates also allow positioning actions defined in the controller onto the form.

Orders editForm1 view with multiple actions positioned on the form.

Actions are defined in the HTML template by placing an element with attribute data-control of value “action”. Then, add an attribute “data-action” with value of “[Action Group ID]/[Action ID]”. The text of the element will be replaced by the action label.

<div data-container="content" data-wrap="true">
    <div data-container="column" style="width: 50%">
        <div data-container="content">
            <h2 style="padding-left: 12px"><span class="glyphicon glyphicon-cog"></span> General Information</h2>
        </div>
        <div data-container="row">
            <span data-control="label" data-field="CustomerID">CustomerID</span>
            <span data-control="field" data-field="CustomerID">[CustomerID]</span>
        </div>
        <div data-container="row">
            <span data-control="label" data-field="EmployeeID">EmployeeID</span>
            <span data-control="field" data-field="EmployeeID">[EmployeeID]</span>
        </div>
        <div data-container="row">
            <span data-control="label" data-field="OrderDate">OrderDate</span>
            <span data-control="field" data-field="OrderDate">[OrderDate]</span>
        </div>
    </div>
    <div data-container="column" style="width: 49%">
        <div data-container="content">
            <h2 style="padding-left: 12px"><span class="glyphicon glyphicon-time"></span> Date Information</h2>
        </div>
        <div data-container="row" data-wrap="false">
            <span data-control="label" data-field="RequiredDate">RequiredDate</span>
            <span data-control="field" data-field="RequiredDate">[RequiredDate]</span>
        </div>
        <div data-container="row">
            <span data-control="label" data-field="ShippedDate">ShippedDate</span>
            <span data-control="field" data-field="ShippedDate">[ShippedDate]</span>
        </div>
        <div data-container="row">
            <span data-control="label" data-field="Freight">Freight</span>
            <span data-control="field" data-field="Freight">[Freight]</span>
        </div>
    </div>
</div>
<div data-container="content" style="padding: 0 1em 0.5em; height: 40px; text-align: center;">
    <h4 style="padding-bottom: 6px">Create a report of this record:</h4>
    <span data-control="action" data-action="ag7/a1" style="width: 25%; float: left">PDF</span>
    <span data-control="action" data-action="ag7/a2" style="width: 25%; float: left">Image</span>
    <span data-control="action" data-action="ag7/a3" style="width: 25%; float: left">Excel</span>
    <span data-control="action" data-action="ag7/a4" style="width: 25%; float: left">Word</span>
</div>
<div data-container="content" data-wrap="false">
    <div data-container="row">
        <span data-control="label" data-field="ShipVia">ShipVia</span>
        <span data-control="field" data-field="ShipVia">[ShipVia]</span>
    </div>
    <div data-container="row">
        <span data-control="label" data-field="ShipName">ShipName</span>
        <span data-control="field" data-field="ShipName">[ShipName]</span>
    </div>
    <div data-container="row">
        <span data-control="label" data-field="ShipAddress">ShipAddress</span>
        <span data-control="field" data-field="ShipAddress">[ShipAddress]</span>
    </div>
    <div data-container="row">
        <span data-control="label" data-field="ShipCity">ShipCity</span>
        <span data-control="field" data-field="ShipCity">[ShipCity]</span>
    </div>
    <div data-container="row">
        <span data-control="label" data-field="ShipRegion">ShipRegion</span>
        <span data-control="field" data-field="ShipRegion">[ShipRegion]</span>
    </div>
    <div data-container="row">
        <span data-control="label" data-field="ShipPostalCode">ShipPostalCode</span>
        <span data-control="field" data-field="ShipPostalCode">[ShipPostalCode]</span>
    </div>
    <div data-container="row">
        <span data-control="label" data-field="ShipCountry">ShipCountry</span>
        <span data-control="field" data-field="ShipCountry">[ShipCountry]</span>
    </div>
</div>

Note that the action will always be visible in the form. If the action is not configured to be usable in the current form mode, it will render as greyed out. For example, see the screenshot below to see the actions greyed out when the user presses “Edit”.

Custom positioned actions in the form template will be greyed out when not applicable.

Data View Fields

One powerful capability offered by form templates is the positioning of data view fields. The example below places a list of order details associated with the current order.

Orders editForm1 view with a custom template that positions a list of order details on the right side.

For the example below, make sure to add a new field to the Orders controller:

Property Value
Field Name OrderDetails
Type DataView
Data View Controller OrderDetails
Data View grid1
Filter Field #1 OrderID

Save the new field. Then, drag the new field onto editForm1 of Orders controller to create a data field.

The template for the example can be seen below. The data view field is placed in the template as a data-control with value “dataview”.

<div data-container="column" style="width: 50%">
    <div data-container="collapsible" data-header-text="Order">
        <div data-container="row">
            <span data-control="label" data-field="CustomerID">CustomerID</span>
            <span data-control="field" data-field="CustomerID">[CustomerID]</span>
        </div>
        <div data-container="row">
            <span data-control="label" data-field="EmployeeID">EmployeeID</span>
            <span data-control="field" data-field="EmployeeID">[EmployeeID]</span>
        </div>
        <div data-container="row">
            <span data-control="label" data-field="OrderDate">OrderDate</span>
            <span data-control="field" data-field="OrderDate">[OrderDate]</span>
        </div>
        <div data-container="row">
            <span data-control="label" data-field="RequiredDate">RequiredDate</span>
            <span data-control="field" data-field="RequiredDate">[RequiredDate]</span>
        </div>
        <div data-container="row">
            <span data-control="label" data-field="ShippedDate">ShippedDate</span>
            <span data-control="field" data-field="ShippedDate">[ShippedDate]</span>
        </div>
        <div data-container="row">
            <span data-control="label" data-field="Freight">Freight</span>
            <span data-control="field" data-field="Freight">[Freight]</span>
        </div>
    </div>
</div>
<div data-container="column" style="width: 49%">
    <div style="padding-left: 1em">
        <div data-control="dataview" data-field="OrderDetails">[OrderDetails]</div>
    </div>
</div>
<div data-container="content" data-wrap="false">
    <div data-container="collapsible" data-header-text="More Info">
        <div data-container="row">
            <span data-control="label" data-field="ShipVia">ShipVia</span>
            <span data-control="field" data-field="ShipVia">[ShipVia]</span>
        </div>
        <div data-container="row">
            <span data-control="label" data-field="ShipName">ShipName</span>
            <span data-control="field" data-field="ShipName">[ShipName]</span>
        </div>
        <div data-container="row">
            <span data-control="label" data-field="ShipAddress">ShipAddress</span>
            <span data-control="field" data-field="ShipAddress">[ShipAddress]</span>
        </div>
        <div data-container="row">
            <span data-control="label" data-field="ShipCity">ShipCity</span>
            <span data-control="field" data-field="ShipCity">[ShipCity]</span>
        </div>
        <div data-container="row">
            <span data-control="label" data-field="ShipRegion">ShipRegion</span>
            <span data-control="field" data-field="ShipRegion">[ShipRegion]</span>
        </div>
        <div data-container="row">
            <span data-control="label" data-field="ShipPostalCode">ShipPostalCode</span>
            <span data-control="field" data-field="ShipPostalCode">[ShipPostalCode]</span>
        </div>
        <div data-container="row">
            <span data-control="label" data-field="ShipCountry">ShipCountry</span>
            <span data-control="field" data-field="ShipCountry">[ShipCountry]</span>
        </div>
    </div>
</div>