Default Designs for Forms

What is a Default Design for a Form?

Most of the frequently used upper-level forms are pre-designed. That is, they display a single record organized into sets of vertical columns within tabs. The number of tabs, their titles, how columns are organized and the like, are all determined by the designer. Users can then use the Organize Field utility to rearrange tabs and their columns, hide columns, change titles and so forth.

Creating a Default Design

To create a default design:

  1. Open the form (e.g. Sales Orders) in Priority and design it using the system's Organize Fields utility. You can design both the single-record view (with tabs and columns) and the table view (rearranging the order of columns). More information on using this utility can be found in the User Interface Guide.
  2. Once you are satisfied with your design, open the form in question in the Form Generator, and run the Set My Design as Default program from the Actions menu.

The new design will be set as the default for that installation of Priority – users will revert to it after clicking Restore Default in the Organize Fields utility.

Note: Default Designs replace screen-painting as a method to design a form. However, an existing screen-painting takes precedence over a default design. If you have changed the default design and see no effect in the form for other users, check if there is an existing screen-painting file in the system/document folder. If there is one, delete it (save a backup) or move it, and check if the default design has taken effect.

The screen-painting files use internal form numbers for the file name. To find the internal number of a given form, run the following query via the SQL Development program (fill in the form name):

 SELECT EXEC FROM EXEC
 WHERE ENAME = 'formname' AND TYPE = 'F' FORMAT;

Distributing a Default Design in a Revision

If you are creating a new form or design in your test environment, you can distribute it as part of a revision:

  1. Open the Version Revisions form and add a revision.
  2. A step with code TAKEENTHEADER is automatically recorded for the form which you designed. Flag it for inclusion in the revision.
  3. Return to the upper level form and enter S in the Designed Form field.
  4. Prepare the revision.