Upper Form Templates

For most companies, the upper forms in business processes contain many of the same fields. It can be difficult to ensure that forms are consistent, with fields in the same location for similar forms. To make creating upper forms easier, and reduce the chances of errors when modifications are made, you can create templates for upper forms so that you do not have to design and edit each one manually. When you add blocks from a template to an upper form, the template becomes linked to the upper form so that any changes you make to the template can be quickly and automatically "pushed" to the upper form.

A template provides only a layout of fields for the upper form. After a template layout is on the form design and linked to the template, you can use all the design features for the fields, such as formulas, auto-population, and dynamic data sets; but you:

Cannot add, remove, or rearrange the template fields.
Cannot move fields into or out of the template block.
Cannot link template elements.

The procedure that follows explains how to create a template.

For information on how to use these templates to design an upper form, see Adding Blocks to the Attribute Form.

Creating a Template

You can create a template manually, from a snapshot of the template, or copy a template from another business process.

Template "Cans" and "Cannots"

When you are creating a template, be aware of the following:

The template provides only a layout of fields for the upper form.
You can make fields in the template editable, required, or read-only.
You cannot create dynamic data sets in a template.
You cannot link elements in a template.
You cannot validate the fields in a template.
You cannot see a preview of the template design.
You cannot use any of the functions that are available on the layout properties, such as formulas or auto-population.

To create a template manually:

Open the business process for which you want to create a template and click Templates > Upper Forms in the Navigator.
From the New menu, choose Manual. A Form Design window opens.
Enter a name and description for the template.
The name must be unique. A description is optional, but recommended.
Click OK. uDesigner displays the name of the template on the right pane.
Double-click the template name to open the design window. The Form Designer window opens.
Create the template using the instructions under "Adding Blocks to a Form" and also "Adding Fields to the Form and Adding Blocks to a Form.

To copy a template from another business process:

Open the business process for which you want to create a template and click Templates > Upper Forms in the Navigator.
From the New menu, choose Copy From. The BP Template Forms window opens, showing a list of the upper form templates that have been created for this business process.
Select an upper form from the list and click Open. A Form Design window opens.
Enter a name and description for the template.
The name must be unique. A description is optional, but recommended.
Click OK.

uDesigner copies the layout of the template to the template you are designing. At this point, you can edit the template. To edit the template, use the instructions under "Adding Blocks to a Form" and also "Adding Fields to the Form."

Using a Template In a Design

After you have created a template, you can add it to the design of the upper form when you add blocks to the form. For information on adding template blocks, see Using a Template in a Design.

Updating an Upper Form Using a Template

After a template has been used in the design, you can make changes to that template and push those changes to any upper form that is linked to the template.

To push template changes to upper forms:

Open the business process with the upper form(s) you want to update and go to Templates > Upper Forms in the Navigator.
On the right pane, select the name of the template you want to use to update the form(s).
Click the Update Forms button. uDesigner will ask you to confirm the update. Click Yes.

uDesigner updates all upper forms in the business process that are linked to this template. Here is what the template will update:

Any block label name, width, or position change
Show or hide setting for the block border or label
Blocks added to the template will be added at the end of the form
Field positions, to reflect a change in the template (however, field settings, such as editable or read-only, will not be updated)
Fields added to the template will be added to the form and will reflect the editable, required, or read-only settings from the template.
Note: This is an "all or nothing" operation. If uDesigner finds any errors, it will not update any of the upper forms. For example, if the template does not exist in an upper form, or if you have added a field to the template that already exists on the form, the update will fail and uDesigner will display a window listing the errors.

Unlinking an Upper Form from a Template

When you unlink a form from a template, uDesigner leaves the block on the form design; however, the fields in the block are now available for any of the field functions, such as formulas or auto-population.

To unlink the form from a template:

Open the business process with the template you want to unlink and go to Templates > Upper Forms in the Navigator.
On the right pane, select the name of the template you want to unlink from the form.
Click the Usage button. The Template Usage window opens, showing a list of all the upper forms the template is linked to.
Select the upper form you want to unlink and click the Unlink button.
Click Close Window.

Last Published Monday, June 3, 2024