Defining Formatting Rules at Design Time

Administrators can now define format rules for a form at design time, which users can then view for a form at runtime when custom styles are applied.

The format-only rules are defined at the segment level in the form designer so that, at runtime, the formatting gets applied to all cells that belong to the segments after the functions are evaluated, and security and suppression options are applied.

With design-time format rules, forms will now:

  • Support most of the formatting capabilities that we do today in Smart View client such as borders, colors, font sizes, fonts, numeric formats, and so on
  • Allow rules to be created for pure formatting purposes in addition to today’s data validation rules
  • Allow format rules to be applied to header and metadata cells in addition to data cells

Format rules are defined by Administrators on the Layout tab of the Form Designer. In Layout, right-click the row heading, column heading, or cell for which you want to add a format rule, and then select Add/Edit Format/Validation Rules or Add/Edit Format/Validation Rules for Metadata. In the Format/Validation Rule Builder, for conditions with Source Type: Process Cell, click the Process Cell icon in the Actions column on the right and select format rule options.

To apply format rules to forms at runtime, open a form in Forms 2.0. Click the style icon on the toolbar that is displayed above the form, and select a style option:

  • Cell Style: Applies only cell styles to the form, such as read-only cells, locked cells, supporting detail, attachments, and so on. No custom (format-only) rules are applied. 
  • Custom Style: Applies format-only rules that were defined in the rule builder at design-time and Excel custom formatting that users can add in Smart View client. No cell styles (such as read-only cells, locked cells, supporting detail, attachments, and so on) are applied.
  • Custom and Cell Style (default): Applies both cell styles (such as read-only cells, locked cells, supporting detail, attachments, and so on) and format rules (including Excel custom formatting added in Smart View) to the form. This is the default style option.

Business Benefit: Defining format rules at design time enables every user to see the formatting you create rules for, and it improves adoption among users who are used to spreadsheet formatting.

Key Resources