Types of InForm rules

Calculation

Enable you to set the value of a data item by performing a calculation that uses the value entered in one or more related items.

The data item to which the calculation is applied is a calculated control in an item on a form. When the values in all dependent items are submitted or one or more values is updated, the InForm application runs the calculation rule and places the result in the calculated control.

Form rule (edit check)

Perform a wide range of edit checks on items entered or updated on a form. For example:

• You can check for conformity with a specified range of values.
• You can make sure that two items are in an appropriate relationship with each other; for example, that the date of the second visit is between ten days and two weeks later than the date of the first visit.
• You can make sure that all parts of a multiple-part control are filled in; for example, you make sure that users select a unit value on an item where units are specified, or that all parts of a required date and time control are specified.
• You can pass a message to an execution plan that logs an event in the Windows event log or sends email.

  Form rules run when both of the following are true:

• All items that the rule needs for processing have data values.
• The value of at least one of the items on which the rule depends is entered or updated.

  Each form rule is associated with an event. Depending on the result to which the rule evaluates and on the definition of the event, the following can occur:

• The event can generate a query or clear an existing query.
• The event can run execution plans that:
  • Send e-mail.
  • Send an entry to the Windows event log.

Conversion

Convert values from one unit to another.

You can define unit form components with reference to other units, so that data can be displayed online as one unit and stored in the database, after conversion, as the other.

For example, you can design a form so that a CRC can choose whether to enter a weight in kilograms or pounds and specify that the weight is always stored in the database in kilograms. The unit in which data is stored in the database after conversion is called the base unit, and the data value, after conversion to the base unit, is called the normalized value.

To perform conversions between the entered and base unit values, you create conversion rules and associate them with unit definitions.

Randomization rule

A specialized form of calculation that returns the number of a drug kit to assign to a randomized subject.

In a randomization rule you test the criteria for subject stratification, if any, set the properties of the Randomization object, and call a function that generates the drug kit number. This rule is attached to a special drug kit calculated control in a randomization item and section. The rule runs when a user clicks the Randomization button in the form window.

Note: A randomization rule can be attached to only one control; that is, it can have only one context.