Find Your Way Around Lasernet Form Editor

The Form Editor is part of Lasernet Developer. When you create or open a form in Lasernet Developer, it opens in the Form Editor.

After you have installed the Form Editor (as part of following the Setup Wizard), select a report in Lasernet Essentials / Professional / Advanced and then click Open designer.

The Form Editor window has several distinct areas.

Each of these areas is described below.

Sheet Design Area

In general, this area enables you to specify the structure and content of the output that the selected sheet will generate. Depending on the output format of the selected sheet, you can specify how parts of that sheet's output will look.

What you can see (and do) in this area depends on the output format of the selected sheet:

• Visual formats (such as EMF, PDF, XHTML, and DOCX): You can select, move, and manipulate items on the page (such as text, data, images, and charts).

• Data-oriented formats (such as XML, CSV, JSON, EDI, and XLSX): You can design the structure of the output data (and its format, if applicable) and see how the form's input data will be inserted into the output data structure. For data-oriented formats that can have a visual element (such as XSLX), you can add images and move them to a suitable position in the output.

You use the sheet design area tabs (j) to do these tasks.

Data Area

This area displays data from the selected grab file tab. The data in grab files (see Add Grab Files to a Form for more information) is representative of the data that Lasernet will encounter when it processes your form as part of a live, running workflow. As a result, grab files help you design the form, because you can consider them as test data.

The way that the Form Editor displays grab file data in the data area depends on the form's input format.

In general, you use this area to specify how the form's input data is used in the form's output. For example, you can add a rearrange that is linked to particular input data, to specify that the data will appear in the output document. Then, you could use the form design area to move the data to an appropriate position on the page.

The data area displays highlighting that indicates which input data the form's design uses, and for what purpose it uses the data. For example, colored highlights indicate that particular data is used by rearranges; a different color indicates data used by patterns. Several other colors indicate other important aspects of how input data is used.

Grab File Tabs

Click a grab file's tab to apply that file's data to the currently selected sheet's design (and see the outcome in the sheet design area).

For more information about grab files, see Add Grab Files to a Form.

Menu Bar

You can access the Form Editor’s functions and options through the various menus in the menu bar.

Main Toolbar

The main toolbar provides easy access to useful tools such as Save, Cut, Copy, Paste, Undo/Redo, and Preview. You can drag this toolbar (and all other toolbars) to different locations in the Form Editor window.

Zoom Control for Sheet Design Area

This control determines the zoom level of the sheet design area. Zoom in for greater detail or zoom out to see an overview of the page. This is a toolbar, so you can drag it to another location in the Form Editor.

Environment Toolbar

You can select any Lasernet environment that is present in the configuration (that is loaded in Lasernet Developer). JobInfos created for that environment become available in the Form Editor for testing purposes. Also, the Download, Start, and Stop buttons in the Grab toolbar operate on the selected environment.

Grab Toolbar

This toolbar enables you to start and stop grab mode (for form engines) on the environment selected in the Environment toolbar. You can also download (to the form you are working on) the last generated grab file from that environment.

Sheet Tabs

Each sheet in a form specifies the design of a particular document that the form can generate. To design the output of a sheet, click its tab.

A form can consist of one or more sheets, and each sheet has an output format (such as PDF). If necessary, a sheet’s output format can differ from the output format of other sheets in the form.

A Form Engine module will generate output for one, some, all, or none of a form's sheets when it processes a form. A sheet's "sheet criteria" (see Add a Sheet) determine whether the Form Engine module will generate output for that sheet (usually depending on some aspect of the input data).

Tip

You can use multiple sheets to create variants of the same document, or different documents that are based on the same data.

For example, suppose that a bank operates three distinct banking brands, and that the form's input data (which consists of a particular person's transactions for the previous month, for inclusion in their monthly statement) additionally specifies which brand that person is a customer of. The form could consist of three sheets that generate statements, but whose design differs only in the colors and brand logo used.

Then, each sheet's "sheet conditions" could specify that the form engine will generate output for that sheet only if the "brand" name included in the input data matches the name of the brand that the sheet generates statements for.

Sheet Design Area Tabs

You use these tabs to design the output for the currently selected sheet. The tabs that are present here depend on the output format of the selected sheet.

For example, if the output format of the selected sheet is PDF, you use the Single Page tab to design the output for scenarios in which the input data will fit on a single page, and you use the First Page, Middle Page, and Last Page tabs to design the PDF output in scenarios where the amount of input data will result in a multipage document.

Whereas if the output of the selected sheet is XLSX, there is a single XLSX tab where you can type static data into cells, see where input data will be inserted into cells, format cell data (visual appearance and data format), and add content such as images to the spreadsheet.

Developer Toolbar

This toolbar provides easy access to tools that enable you to do important form design tasks in the Form Editor.

Status Bar

The status bar is located in the bottom left-hand corner of the window and provides information about rows and columns in the input sheet and the X and Y coordinates in the sheet design.

The Form Editor window has several distinct areas.

Sheet Design Area

In general, this area enables you to specify the structure, content, and appearance of the output that the selected sheet will generate. For visual output formats such as EMF, PDF, and XHTML, you can select, move, and manipulate items on the page (such as text, data, images, and charts) and specify how they look.

You use the sheet design area tabs (j) to do these tasks.

Data Area

This area displays grab data. Grab data is representative of the data that Lasernet will encounter when it processes your form to generate output documents. As a result, grab data helps you design the form, because you can consider it as test data.

In general, you use this area to specify how the form's input data is used in the form's output. For example, you can add a rearrange that is linked to particular input data, to specify that the data will appear in the output document. Then, you could use the form design area to move the data to an appropriate position on the page.

The data area displays highlighting that indicates which input data the form's design uses, and for what purpose it uses the data. For example, colored highlights indicate that particular data is used by rearranges; a different color indicates data used by patterns. Several other colors indicate other important aspects of how input data is used.

Grab Data Tabs

Click a grab data tab to apply that data to the currently selected sheet's design (and see the outcome in the sheet design area).

Menu Bar

You can access the Form Editor’s functions and options through the various menus in the menu bar.

Main Toolbar

The main toolbar provides easy access to useful tools such as Save, Cut, Copy, Paste, Undo/Redo, and Preview. You can drag this toolbar (and all other toolbars) to different locations in the Form Editor window.

Zoom Control for Sheet Design Area

This control determines the zoom level of the sheet design area. Zoom in for greater detail or zoom out to see an overview of the page. This is a toolbar, so you can drag it to another location in the Form Editor.

Sheet Tabs

Each sheet in a form specifies the design of a particular document that the form can generate. To design the output of a sheet, click its tab.

A form can consist of one or more sheets, and each sheet has an output format (such as PDF). If necessary, a sheet’s output format can differ from the output format of other sheets in the form.

Tip

You can use multiple sheets to create variants of the same document, or different documents that are based on the same data.

For example, suppose that a bank operates three distinct banking brands, and that the form's input data (which consists of a particular person's transactions for the previous month, for inclusion in their monthly statement) additionally specifies which brand that person is a customer of. The form could consist of three sheets that generate statements, but whose design differs only in the colors and brand logo used.

Then, each sheet's "sheet conditions" could specify that the form engine will generate output for that sheet only if the "brand" name included in the input data matches the name of the brand that the sheet generates statements for.

Sheet Design Area Tabs

You use these tabs to design the output for the currently selected sheet.

You use the Single Page tab to design the output for scenarios in which the input data will fit on a single page, and you use the First Page, Middle Page, and Last Page tabs to design the output in scenarios where the amount of input data will result in a multipage document.

Developer Toolbar

This toolbar provides easy access to tools that enable you to do important form design tasks in Form Editor.

Status Bar

The status bar is located in the bottom left-hand corner of the window and provides information about rows and columns in the input sheet and the X and Y coordinates in the sheet design.