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Overview of Using Applet Form Templates

This topic describes an overview of using applet form templates.

About Form Layouts That Use a Grid

A grid layout template does not use placeholder tags. It uses the following Siebel tags in a single location for all controls that reside in the main body of the form:

swe:form-applet-layout
/swe:form-applet-layout

A grid layout template includes the following items:

• Body. The following tag defines the body. It contains no placeholder tags:

  swe:form-applet-layout

• Header or footer. You must not use placeholder tags for items such as buttons in a header or footer. You cannot use the Web Layout Editor to modify the layout of a header or footer.

An applet Web template that uses a grid is different from an applet Web template that does not use a grid in the following ways:

• To modify a form layout, you can use a grid template in the Web Layout Editor in Siebel Tools without modifying the web template that the form references.
• Labels and controls in a grid template are separate items in the Web Layout Editor. You can place them independently in the applet layout. However, a label and the control that it references are actually a single object in the repository with one set of shared properties.
• A grid template does not compress empty space in a column. The browser compresses horizontal space as much as possible without modifying the size of any field on the form applet.

For examples of grid layout templates, see Grid Layout Form Template and Popup Form, Grid Layout Template.

About Form Layouts That Do Not Use a Grid

This topic describes form layouts that do not use a grid that are available but that no longer come predefined with Siebel CRM. Siebel CRM versions before version 7.7 use form applets that do not use a grid in Edit mode in standard interactivity mode. Starting with Siebel CRM version 7.7, most form applets use a grid layout.

The four column form templates define a set of layout regions. A region can include one or more label and field pairs. You can use Siebel Tools to place a control in a region and to resize the control. The four column form includes regions that are different in height. It can accommodate controls that span one, two, or four columns.

Siebel CRM groups these regions. This grouping helps make sure that each region uses only the minimum vertical space that Siebel CRM requires to display it. If Siebel CRM does not map any control to a region, then it collapses this region and moves the next region up in the form.

To create a wide variety of form designs while maintaining only one form template, you can combine horizontally proportioned regions with grouped regions.

Figure 1 displays the master template for layout regions.

Figure 1. Master Template for Layout Regions

Figure 2 includes an example of a layout that Siebel CRM creates from the master template. Each X indicates a region that does not contain any mapped control.

Figure 2. Example of a Layout That Siebel CRM Creates From the Master Template

Figure 3 includes another example of a layout that Siebel CRM creates from the master template.

Figure 3. Another Example of a Layout That Siebel CRM Creates From the Master Template

How Siebel CRM Maps Controls for Forms That Do Not Use a Grid

Figure 4 displays the ID ranges that Siebel CRM uses for the controls that it displays in each region. It is recommended that you configure Siebel CRM to map each control to the lowest ID that is available in each region.

Figure 4. How Siebel CRM Maps Controls for Forms That Do Not Use a Grid

About the Style That Some Four Column Form Templates Use

The following templates create the same layout for a form that includes four columns. They also support child and grandchild styles.

• Four Column Form Template for Base Mode
• Four Column Form Template for Edit or New Mode
• Form Template for Edit, New, or Query Mode

Figure 5 includes a parent style that these templates display.

Figure 5. Example of the Parent Style That Some Four Column Templates Use

Figure 6 includes a child style that these templates display.

Figure 6. Example of the Child Style That Some Four Column Templates Use

Capabilities of Four Column Form Templates

Form templates that include four columns can do the following:

• Define a large number of control placeholders. Some of these placeholders can span one column, two columns, or four columns.
• Map fields up to four columns.
• Display labels above field values.
• Display validation errors at the top of the form.
• Support text in ID 91 that spans all four columns.
• Support the predefined applet styles.