The form designer is where you design, modify and preview and print evaluation forms. You can also output designed forms in Microsoft Word format or PDF.

 

The left side panel is where you compose the elements of your form. On the right panel you can view the layout of your form and manage edits and the sequence of elements in the form.

 

You can access the form designer as follows:

 

From the application menu select Forms -> Designer

 

Or

Click on the evaluation form designer icon in the toolbar .

 

 

 

The Designer Toolbars - from left to right

 

1 - New form

 Creates a blank form with a default name of Untitledx.  If you have a form open in the designer, it will be closed.  If the open form has any unsaved changes, you will be prompted to save your changes after which and a blank layout panel will be presented.

 

2 - Import an form from a project

 Allows you to navigate evaluation project folders and import project forms.  You can then save an imported form to the template library or to another evaluation project.

 

3 - Open a form

 Shows the Open Evaluation form dialog window and allows you to open forms from the template library or from the currently open evaluation project.  If a form is open with any unsaved changes you will be prompted to save and then the new form will be opened.

 

4 - Save form

 Will save the form to the Trellis database.  If the form has not been given a name, you will be prompted with the Save As dialog window which allows you to enter a name for the form and then save it to either the currently open evaluation form or the template library.  See here for more information on saving a new form.

 

5 - Preview Form

 Provides you with a WYSIWYG view of the form. It also provides optional settings for printing the document. See here for more information on working with the preview window.

 

6 - Print Form

 Send the created form to the printer.

 

7 - Web Preview

 Allows you to see what the designed form will look like in a web browser.

 

8 - Export Form in MS Word Format

 Allows you to save the form in MS Word format to a folder of your choice.

 

9 - Export Form as PDF

 Allows you to save the form as PDF in a folder of your choice.

 

10 - Work with Form Benchmarks

 Will open up the Benchmark dialog which allows you to add benchmark scores for the active forms. See here for more information on working with form benchmarks.

 

11 - Lock/Unlock Form

 This button only applies to forms that have been added to an evaluation project. It switches from locked to unlocked and from unlocked to unlocked. See here for more information on Locking and Unlocking forms.

 

This button will be disabled for template forms.

 

12 - Import form element from text library

 Opens the text library window and allows you to select form elements to add to the form. See here for more information on working with the form element library.

 

13 - Save selected form element to Text library

 Will copy the selected element to the form text library.  Once it has been saved you will receive a confirmation message. The text is then be available for use by anyone opening up the Text library.

 

See here for more information on working with the form element library.

 

14 - Move selected form element up in the sequence order

 Will move the selected element up one position at a time. This function does not apply to the form header, introduction text or the end note as these elements have fixed locations.

 

15 - Move selected form element down in the sequence order

 Will move the selected element down one position at a time. This function does not apply to the form header, introduction text or the end note as these elements have fixed locations.        

 

16 - Edit the selected form element

 Will open the edit window related to the selected form element allowing you to make changes to it.  Once you are  satisfiedwith your changes, click on save and the changes will be made to the form. You will also see the changes reflected on the layout window.

 

For more information on editing form elements see Working with form Elements.

 

17 - Copy the selected form element

 Will make a copy of the selected form element and append it to the bottom of the form. You can then modify and move it into a more appropriate position if required.

 

18 - Insert page break above the selected element

 Will insert a page break at the point above the selected element.  This will cause a the selected element to start at the top of a new page.  See here for more information on Working with Page Breaks.

 

19 - Delete the selected element

 Will delete the selected element from the form and will be removed permanently once you save the form. This action cannot be undone.  If you close the form without saving your change the delete action will not be permanent.

 

20 - Delete all the elements in the form

 Will delete all the elements from the form.  This change will be permanently once you save the form. This action cannot be undone.  If you close the  form without saving first, the deleted state will not be saved.