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-->  <!DOCTYPE concept PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DITA Concept//EN" "concept.dtd"><concept id="GUID-A5756C5F-9C93-4949-8B60-03DCA1BAF683" xml:lang="en"><title>Form
items</title><prolog><metadata><keywords></keywords></metadata></prolog><conbody>
<p>Empty items (that contain no data) can be hidden in a form's View state.
However, this is not a requirement; forms can be designed either way, whichever
is better for the given application.</p>
<p>Unlike ordinary list items, the form items may have different sizes in
the layout but only in the Edit state. A long data field may occupy more than
one line in the Edit state, but in the View state it is truncated to the first
line.</p>
<p>The user may be able to add and remove form items. This is done with commands
in the Options menu.</p>
<p>Form items always have a label. The label has a text part, or a text and
a graphical part; however, all items in one form must have the same column
layout (see <xref href="GUID-CB548959-A1D6-4585-B8E3-B09E37E0CB43.dita">List layouts</xref> for
detailed information about layouts).</p>
<p>The following item types can be used in a form:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Text field (alphanumeric or numeric content) </p></li>
<li><p>Pop-up field </p></li>
<li><p>Slider</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Any combination of these types is possible within one form.</p>
<p>When a form is in the Edit state, the user can move the focus up and down
like in a list. The highlight in the Edit state is different from the highlight
in the View state, acting as a visual cue. The cursor blinks in the text field
that is in focus. There is no need to save each field separately; the user
can browse and modify the fields in any order and then accept all modifications.
During the browsing of a form in the Edit state, the keypad functions are
as follows:</p>
<table id="GUID-437191CE-D3E0-4CFB-875C-9C308B18F7E9"><title>Default key events
in editing state of a form</title>
<tgroup cols="2"><colspec colname="col1"></colspec><colspec colname="col2"></colspec>
<thead>
<row>
<entry>Key</entry>
<entry>Action</entry>
</row>
</thead>
<tbody>
<row>
<entry><p>Arrow up / down</p></entry>
<entry><p>Move the focus between form items (when in a text field, move the
cursor within an item line by line).</p></entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry><p>Arrow left / right</p></entry>
<entry><ul>
<li><p>In a pop-up field: change the value without opening the list. </p></li>
<li><p>In a text field: move the cursor character by character. </p></li>
<li><p>In a slider: adjust the slider value.</p></li>
</ul></entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry><p>Selection key</p></entry>
<entry><ul>
<li><p>In a pop-up field: opens the list. </p></li>
<li><p>In a text field: opens the context sensitive <b>Options</b> menu or
no action.</p></li>
</ul></entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry><p>Left softkey (Options)</p></entry>
<entry><p>Opens the <b>Options</b> menu (in a form without the <b>Options</b> menu,
the left softkey is <b>Done</b>).</p></entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry><p>Right softkey (Done)</p></entry>
<entry><p>Accepts the contents and returns to the previous state (in a form
without the Options menu, the right softkey is Cancel.)</p></entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry><p>Clear</p></entry>
<entry><ul>
<li><p>Pop-up: ignored. </p></li>
<li><p>Text: deletes characters. </p></li>
<li><p>Slider: ignored.</p></li>
</ul></entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry><p>Edit</p></entry>
<entry><ul>
<li><p>Pop-up: ignored. </p></li>
<li><p>Text: opens the editing menu; selects text. </p></li>
<li><p>Slider: ignored.</p></li>
</ul></entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry><p>Numeric keypad</p></entry>
<entry><ul>
<li><p>Pop-up: ignored. </p></li>
<li><p>Text: input. </p></li>
<li><p>Slider: ignored.</p></li>
</ul></entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry><p>Other keys</p></entry>
<entry><p>The default action of the key.</p></entry>
</row>
</tbody>
</tgroup>
</table>
<p>The field types are described in the following table:</p>
<table id="GUID-A22394D3-9C39-4DC2-8A65-255F985F97E9"><title> Form field types</title>
<tgroup cols="2"><colspec colname="col1"></colspec><colspec colname="col2"></colspec>
<thead>
<row>
<entry>Field</entry>
<entry>Description</entry>
</row>
</thead>
<tbody>
<row>
<entry><p>Text field</p></entry>
<entry><p>A text field contains some type of numeric or alphanumeric data.
It can be edited directly using the usual editing functions when the form
is in the Edit state. The text field can expand to more than one lines if
necessary.</p><p>In the View state, a text field looks identical to a corresponding
list item.</p></entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry><p>Pop-up field</p></entry>
<entry><p>A pop-up field offers the possibility to choose one value from a
pre-defined list. In the View state, a pop-up field looks identical to a list
item; the text is the current value of the field. In the Edit state, it has
a distinct look that identifies the field as a pop-up list.</p><p>To edit
an item in the Edit state, the user can press the Selection key, which opens
a menu list that contains the available values. The highlight is on the current
value. When the list is open, the softkeys are <b>OK</b> and <b>Cancel</b>,
as usual with a menu list. Both the softkeys return to the Edit state in the
form.</p><p>A pop-up field may also allow the user to enter a textual value
in addition to the pre-defined values. In this case, the last option is named
for example <b>Other</b>, and selecting it opens a Data query.</p><p>See figure
below.</p></entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry><p>Slider</p></entry>
<entry><p>With a slider, the user can adjust a numeric value (although it
is not necessary to present the actual value to the user as a number). In
the View state, the item is presented as a textual item. In the Edit state,
the value of the slider is immediately adjustable using the Arrow left and
Arrow right keys.</p></entry>
</row>
</tbody>
</tgroup>
</table>
<fig id="GUID-AA0170E3-BBB2-478A-A9A1-24C48BCF917F">
<title>Pop-up field</title>
<image href="GUID-DC4E42CA-2A65-44D7-8DBE-386F60F998A0_d0e56297_href.png" scale="40" placement="inline"></image>
</fig>
<section><title>Using forms in C++ applications</title><p>The
API to use for creating forms is the Form
API. For implementation information, see Using
the Form API.</p></section>
</conbody></concept>