Creating and editing an item

You create a study object (study design, study element, study event, form, section, item, codelist, and codelist item) in a study or library. You can create a study object outside the hierarchy of a study or library, but the study object is not deployed until you add it to a parent study object in a study or library. To include a study object in the hierarchy of a study or library, add it to an existing parent in the study or library.

Note: You can use an item only one time in any level of a particular study object hierarchy. For example, you can use the same item in different sections of a form but not twice in the same section of the form. In a single section, you can use the same item as a child item in two different compound items. To use identical item definitions multiple times in a single form, section, or compound item, copy the item as many times as you need, and use the copies.

In the Project Explorer, select the Forms and Transactions Explorer bar.
In the Forms folder, select a form.
Select the Design tab.
On the toolbar, click Columns , and display the columns that you need in the grid, including Codelist and Item Properties .
In the grid, create items on the form or section by typing values in each field. Press Tab to advance to the next field and, when you have reached the end of a row, to the next item.
Your changes are added to the grid after you move the cursor away from the row but are not saved in the database until you explicitly save them.

Note: To type extended ASCII characters in text fields, press ALT while entering the decimal code for the character. You can also add HTML formatting characters to a text field to control its appearance when deployed.
To modify the properties of an item:
1. In the Item Properties field, click Edit , or on the toolbar, select Item Properties .
  The Item Properties dialog box appears.
2. Define the properties of the item. The fields that appear in the dialog box depend upon the type of item that you select. These properties are also available on the Design tab for an item.

In the Project Explorer, select the Items Explorer bar.
Select the InForm Items folder.
The InForm Items editor appears.
On the toolbar, click New .
A drop-down list appears with a list of available item types.
Select the type on which to create the item.
Type the title, RefName, and description, and click OK .
The new item is added to the grid and to the container in the Project Explorer.

In the Project Explorer, select the Forms and Transactions Explorer bar.
In the Forms folder, select the form or section that contains the item, and select the Design tab.
In the grid, select an integer, text, or float item.
Do one of the following:
- If the codelist already exists, select it from the drop-down list in the Codelist field.
- Create a codelist on the item.

In the Project Explorer, select the Forms and Transactions Explorer bar.
In the Forms folder, select a form, and select the Design tab.
In the grid, select an item.
In the Conditional On column, select the title of the item with which to create a conditional relationship.
In the Conditional Value column, select the Code and Label of the codelist item on which to make the current item conditional.
For more information, see Conditional relationships between items.

In the Project Explorer, select the Items Explorer bar.
In the InForm Items folder, select an item.
Open the Properties Browser.
Note: If the Properties Browser is not visible, open the View menu and select Properties .
From the Special Fields drop-down list, select the type of special field.

You can indicate that an item is critical for source verification in the InForm application by setting its SDV Critical property.

Note: All items that are marked SDV Critical are automatically marked SDV Required.

In the Project Explorer, select the Items Explorer bar.
In the InForm Items folder, select an item.
The Item Editor appears.
Select the Properties Browser.
Note: If the Properties Browser is not visible, select View > Properties .
From the SDV Critical drop-down list, select True, and press Enter .

You can indicate that an item is collapsible, meaning that it does not appear in the InForm application until specified conditions are met, by setting its Collapsible property.

Note: The Collapsible property is only available for child items that are conditional on parent items.

In the Project Explorer, select the Items Explorer bar.
In the InForm Items folder, select an item.
The Item Editor appears.
Select the Properties Browser.
Note: If the Properties Browser is not visible, select View > Properties .
From the Collapsible drop-down list, select True, and press Enter .

You can indicate that an item contains Personal/Protected Health Information (PHI) so that, during rule design and validation, the Central Designer application can verify that no PHI is transmitted through email in the InForm application because of a rule with an email action. For more information, see Item properties.

In the Project Explorer, select the Items Explorer bar.
In the InForm Items folder, select an item.
The Item Editor appears.
Select the Properties Browser.
Note: If the Properties Browser is not visible, select View > Properties .
From the PHI drop-down list, select True, and press Enter .

In the Project Explorer, select the Forms and Transactions Explorer bar.
In the Forms folder, select a form, and select the Design tab.
In the grid, select an item.
In the Item Properties field, click Edit , or, on the toolbar, select Item Properties .
The Item Properties dialog box appears.
Define the properties of the item. The fields that appear in the dialog box depend upon the type of item that you select. These properties are also available on the Design tab for an item.

In the Project Explorer, select the Items Explorer bar.
In the InForm Items folder, select an item.
Select the Properties Browser.
Note: If the Properties Browser is not visible, select View > Properties .
Edit the properties of the item. After changing each property, press Enter , or tab to the next property.
Note: The values of editable properties appear in bold, black text, and the values of non-editable properties appear in gray text.

When you create an item, you specify the length of the input field. The Central Designer application supports the following maximum field lengths as a default.

Default maximum input field lengths

Type of input field	Maximum length
Text item	2000
Integer item	10
Float item	18
Float precision	10