Special Option with FormData Welcome and thank you for using FormTool Gold for Windows. This ReadMe file describes additions and changes to the manual. Use the File | Print command to print a copy of this file and keep it along with your manual for future reference. For help in using the NOTEPAD program, press F1 now. ======== INSTALLING FORMTOOL GOLD If your computer is running under version 3.0 of Windows, you will need to install FormTool Gold using the following steps: 1. Place the first program diskette in your disk drive. 2. From the Windows Program Manager, select File | Run, type B:\SETUP30, and press . (If you are using a different disk drive, substitute that letter in place of the "B:") 3. Follow the direction on the screen. NUMBER OF FIELDS ALLOWED FOR FORM ENTRY FormTool Gold for Windows has a maximum number of fields available for form entry. This number is determined by the contents of the file. There is a total of 12K set aside for the descriptors that define the form or forms. This typically translates into about 120 fill-in fields. In Form Design and in Form Entry modes there is only one form. In Formdata databases there can be a screen form and a printer form. This means you can have a situation where you cannot load the designated printer form into the database. Each element (or object) in a form takes a fixed amount of space from this pool. The space taken is as follows (in bytes): Line 14 Box 15 Field 50 Text 16 Image 30 Font 41 LINKING SAMPLE FORM TO DATABASE Included with FormTool Gold for Windows are several sample Databases. In order to use these sample databases with the associated sample forms, you must first link the form to the database. To do this open each one of the included sample forms; JOB.FTW, COVLETER.FTW, TUTOR2.FTW, SLSASSGN.FTW, under Form Design. Choose Layout|Link to Database then click on the Link button. Select the correct database to connect to and then click OK. This will link the database to the form. EDITING FORMS GENERATED IN FORMDATA When you create a database, FormData automatically creates a screen form for your use. This form can be given a name and saved under LAYOUT|SAVE GENERATED FORM. Some users may wish to change the look of that form. To do this, it is necessary to open the form in the Form Design module. The only change you may make to the generated form is the placement of the fields. Make sure you saved the form under the LAYOUT|SAVE GENERATED FORM option before you attempt to edit it. Failure to save the form prior to editing will cause the fields to duplicate themselves. If this happens, when you open the form up in the Form Data module, all the fields will have the same information. If you want to make major changes to the form, we suggest you create a completely new form in Form Design and link that form to your database. GO TO BOTTOM OF PAGE The GO TO BOTTOM OF PAGE function in Form Filler has been disabled for this version of the software. You will need to use the scroll bars to advance to the end of the page. DEFAULT FONT FormTool Gold V1.1 has been supplied with a default font to allow users of the electronic Rapidforms forms to track to the printed Rapidforms forms. This font is called FTG-Normal and it is a clone of Helvetica. The 8 pt. version uses the same leading as the 9 pt. font. FormTool Gold does not support printer fonts. You need to use TrueType or Postscript fonts with this product to have the forms you design track properly. This program will support up to a total of 160 different TrueType and Postscript fonts. DATABASE CALCULATIONS The database supplied via FormData is a flat file database and it takes a snap shot of the information stored in it. If you are storing information via a form with calculations and find that you need to go back and adjust the information in one of the fields used with a calculation, the database will not update the calculation automatically. You will need to create a new record and re-enter the information. PRINTER TIPS Different printers have different internal margin settings, typically varying between 1/16 to 1/4 of an inch. If you are having trouble getting your data to print on pre-printed forms because of this problem, you should try moving the entire contents of the form to fit your printer's margin settings. You can do this by using the Group select option in Form Design. (Refer to Chapter 5 in your FormTool Gold User's Guide for instructions on Grouping). All of the forms shipped with FormTool Gold and our Form Packs were designed on HP LaserJet 4. MONITOR TIPS FormTool Gold does not support EGA monitors. You will need to run the product on VGA or Super VGA monitors. If you have a mixed monitor environment you will need to design you forms in the VGA mode to have them display on a Super VGA monitor. Forms designed on a Super VGA monitor and then used on a VGA monitor will often have text fields and boxes that do not track correctly. TIME CALCULATIONS All time calculations used in FormTool are based on a 24-hour clock (military time). Time should always be entered in 15 minute increments. To enter time, follow these examples: 7:15AM is entered as 7.15 8:30AM is entered as 8.30 9:45PM is entered as 21.75 ORDER PRINTED FORMS When you order printed forms, the settings are in the partner.ini file. You can use the same techniques to modify these files. There is also a "My modem is a FAX modem." checkbox in the Order Forms dialog. MISCELLANEOUS FORM INFORMATION Occasionally when printing a form you will get a dialog box that says something to the effect of , if you press continue, most of these forms will in fact print correctly. The Israeli Certificate of Origin found in one of the 50 forms that ship with FormTool Gold MUST be printed on the original document with it’s patterned green background. The Israeli government will not accept a laser printed copy. You must order this form from RapidForms (or another source) to create an original for submission. Manual Updates: User's Guide =========================================================================== page 3-5, #1 until you reach 6" on the top ruler and 1" on the vertical (not bottom) ruler. page 3-5, #3 should state to click at 1" top ruler and 6/10" vertical ruler. Drag to 5 1/2" top and 9/10" vertical. page 3-9/10,#2 click and hold to move. Or click on the field, hit and hold the left and use arrow keys to move. page 3-10, #1 Draw a box 2 1/" should be 2 1/2". page 3-11, #11 Change the period to a comma and add," and 2 1/2" on vertical ruler." page 3-12, #5 change the font size to 10point in the FONT box, then click on style button and choose Centered option. page 3-22, #1 Pressing to bring up Save As is not an option. brings up Field tool. You will need to choose the File | Save As menu selection. page 4-3, #5 Change "pressing the key after the first two lines" to "pressing the enter key after each of the first two lines." page 4-5 The Preview screen shot should be of the Delivery.FTW form, not the Tutorial form shown. page 5-9, Bot "Undo Deletion" replaces the object you just deleted not selected. page 5-13, #3 "As you draw the frame, each object you select is outlines," should state, "As you draw the frame, each object is outlined in a dotted box," page 5-14 Aligning Boxes and Lines as You Draw. FormTool Gold uses a ruler of 1/60th of an inch page A-1, #4 Change Ency directory to Forms directory. page A-2, Top "...do the forms in the ency directory." Replace ency with forms. page B-4 The top field labels should be the same. Change Field_X to FieldX. page B-10 Sample Forms Using Formulas and Functions - Change Ency to Forms. FormData manual. ============================================================================ page 1-4 Files - Change Ency Forms to Forms. page 3-2, #4 Change ency to Database. page 3-3, #6 Says to press or click Yes. The default button is No. If you hit enter, you go back to the file-open dialog. page 3-5, #8 Value's length field should be 10.2. page 3-6, #4 78745 needs to be switched with USA. page 3-12, #10 Change line 10 by deleting, "You are now ready to print the report." page 3-12 Need a number 11. "You are returned to the Report Layout dialog box. Now click on OK, and you will be ready to print the report. page 3-13, #2 Need a space between allows and you on the second paragraph. -- End of Text --