Lotus Forms Designer 3 What s New
Note Before using this information and the product it supports, read the information in Notices on page 5. This edition applies to version 3 of IBM Lotus Forms Designer (product number 5729-N09) and to all subsequent releases and modifications until otherwise indicated in new editions. Copyright International Business Machines Corporation 2003, 2007. All rights reserved. US Government Users Restricted Rights Use, duplication or disclosure restricted by GSA ADP Schedule Contract with IBM Corp.
Contents What s new in IBM Lotus Forms Designer 3............. 1 XFDL 7.5...............1 File management.............2 Toolbar and menus............3 Compute Editor.............4 Accessibility..............4 Form locale...............4 Preferences...............4 Notices............... 5 Trademarks...............6 Copyright IBM Corp. 2003, 2007 iii
iv Lotus Forms Designer 3: What s New
What s new in IBM Lotus Forms Designer 3 This version of the Designer includes many exciting new features and improvements. These include: v New product branding. IBM Workplace Forms is now called IBM Lotus Forms. v File management improvements. You can now create or save a form to any location on your computer. You are no longer restricted to a project in a workspace. v New toolbar tools and menu improvements. To ease the development of forms we have added a number of format tools to our toolbar. In addition we have updated the align and expand menus. v A new Compute Editor has replaced the Compute Wizard, allowing forms designer to quickly assemble formulas through the use of a number of templates and formula components. This interface displays detailed information about functions and parameters. v A new Webform Server preview is available in the editor, allowing the forms designer to test their form in HTML format on an external server. As a result, the original Preview tab has been renamed Viewer, to differentiate it from the Webform Server preview. v Bidirectional language support. v Accessibility improvements. v Performance improvements have been made when working with large complex forms. New page and binary data filtering options. v New locale options. Now you can specify what locale your form is written in when creating a new form. In addition, new preferences have been added allowing the forms designer to set the default locale for new forms. XFDL 7.5 New features and improvements in XFDL 7.5 include: v Improvements have been made when working with large complex forms. In particular, a new option is available called pageloading. This option determines which pages are loaded into memory when a form is opened. Subsequent pages are loaded into memory as required. For example, when the user moves to the next page in the form. Using on demand page loading can significantly decrease the amount of time it takes to open a form, particularly when dealing with large, complex forms. v Support for bidirectional languages has been added. This includes the following functions: bidiordering Transforms text between logical and visual ordering. shapedigits Transforms numerals between Arabic (European) numbers and national numbers. This function also determines whether the numerals are displayed from Left-to-Right or Right-to-Left. insertunicodecharacter Allows you to insert Unicode control characters inside text strings. format2ltr Ensures that the text before each delimiter is displayed in a Left-to-Right direction. Copyright IBM Corp. 2003, 2007 1
format2rtl Ensures that the text before each delimiter is displayed in a Right-to-Left direction. applysymmetricswapping Ensures that symmetrical characters, such as parentheses or greater than or less than signs, are swapped when displayed in a Right-to-Left direction. direction Defines the direction of plain and rich text in items. orientation Defines the orientation of form items. New justification parameters have also been added to support bidirectional text. You can now choose to justify items so that they lead or trail text. v The checkvalidformats function has been changed. XForms validation is now supported. Furthermore, you can now validate specific pages or items in a form instead of the entire form. To support this functionality, three new parameters have been added to this function. v A new option called publicdata is now available. This option allows you to mark specific instance elements as public, thereby making them available for mapping to workflow tasks in a content management system. v A new ufv_setting parameter called pagedonewithformaterrors performs page level type checking. You can set this parameter to prevent users from moving to a new page if type checking errors exist on the page. v A new format constraint setting has been added. This new parameter, called applyifinvisible allows form designers to set whether invisible or inactive items are included in the format validation check. v A new mimetype has been added. You can use application/vnd.xfdl.design as the mimetype for form templates created for content management systems. v New XForms date and time functions have been added. This includes the following functions: local-datetime Determines the date and time in the user s time zone. seconds-to-datetime Determines how many seconds difference there is between 1970-01-01 and the provided date. local-date Determines the date in the user s time zone. days-to-date Determines the date based on the number of days that have passed since 1970-01-01. v The XForms compare function has been added. This function compares two strings and determines whether they have the same value. v The XForms random function has been added. This function generates a random number between 0.0 and 1.0. For detailed information about these new options and functions, see the XFDL Specification. File management You can now create or save a form to any location on your computer. No longer are you restricted to a project in a workspace. Other file management enhancements include: v New Lotus Form wizard You can now create a new Lotus Form without having to give it a name or choose a project for it. v Save As option The Save As dialog box is displayed when the form is saved for the first time. 2 Lotus Forms Designer 3: What s New
Toolbar and menus v Open option When opening a form, the designer is now able to edit the form in its current location. In Designer version 2.6 and 2.7, opening a form in a different location then the current workspace would copy the form to an Imported folder in the workspace. Now the Navigator view can be used to see recently opened files and link to external files. v Upgrade Lotus Form wizard You can now upgrade a Lotus Form found anywhere. You are no longer limited to your project folder. To improve the workflow experience while creating a form, the Align menu, Expand menu, and toolbar all have been updated. The following improvements have made: The toolbar has been updated with easy access to new format tools, such as font and size, font style, foreground and background color, and alignment tools. The updated alignment tools include: v The Align menu Simplified menu, placing the most commonly used items at the top level. The Make Same Width setting has been renamed to Same Width. The Left to Left setting has been renamed to Left. The Center to Center Horizontally setting has been renamed to Center. The Right to Right setting has been renamed to Right. The Top to Top setting has been renamed to Top. The Center to Center Vertically setting has been renamed to Middle. The Bottom to Bottom setting has been renamed to Bottom. A new Lead setting has been added. This setting is displayed when the form is using a bidirectional language, replacing the Left setting. A new Trail setting has been added. This setting is displayed when the form is using a bidirectional language, replacing the Right setting. v The Expand menu Simplified menu, placing the most commonly used items at the top level. The Make Same Width setting has been renamed to Same Width. The Make Same Height setting has been renamed to Same Height. The Make Same Size setting has been renamed to Same Width and Height. The Left to Left setting has been renamed to Left. The Right to Right setting has been renamed to Right. The Top to Top setting has been renamed to Top. The Bottom to Bottom setting has been renamed to Bottom. Top to Center setting has been renamed to Top to Middle. Bottom to Center item has been renamed to Bottom to Middle. A new Lead setting has been added. This setting is displayed when the form is using a bidirectional language, replacing the Left setting. A new Trail setting has been added. This setting is displayed when the form is using a bidirectional language, replacing the Right setting. What s new in IBM Lotus Forms Designer 3 3
Compute Editor A new Compute Editor has replaced the Compute Wizard, allowing form designers to quickly assemble formulas using templates and formula components. This interface displays detailed information about functions and parameters. These enhancements include: v Multiple edits Unlike the Compute Wizard, the Compute Editor allows you to reopen and modify a compute without having to create a new formula. v Dynamic help within the Compute Editor When selecting a function and one of its parameters, help information is presented within the interface to assist the forms designer. v Quick Start Templates The Compute Editor contains a list of common compute templates. The forms designer simply specifies the highlighted variables to complete the compute. v Content Assist When writing a compute, content assist provides the forms designer with a list of choices available at that particular point in your code. Accessibility Designer 3.0 is now fully accessible. It supports keyboard only access, screen readers, high contrast, and large font modes. Form locale You can now specify what locale your form is written in when creating a new form. Other locale enhancements include: v The locale list includes Arabic and Hebrew locales. v Preferences have been added to allow the form designer to set the default locale for all new forms. v Palette items are now filtered based on the locale of the form. For detailed information about form locales, see the XFDL Locale Specification. For more information on how to use the wizard to create a new form and to set preferences, see the Designer User Guide. Preferences You can now access the Preferences from the context menu of an editor or view, as well as through the Window Preferences menu. The Preferences window has been re-organized and preference descriptions have been updated. The Preferences window also contains new preferences, including Compute Editor preferences, default settings for locales and XFDL version, default form extensions, filters, and Webform Server preview configuration. 4 Lotus Forms Designer 3: What s New
Notices This information was developed for products and services offered in the U.S.A. IBM may not offer the products, services, or features discussed in this document in other countries. Consult your local IBM representative for information on the products and services currently available in your area. Any reference to an IBM product, program, or service is not intended to state or imply that only that IBM product, program, or service may be used. Any functionally equivalent product, program, or service that does not infringe any IBM intellectual property right may be used instead. However, it is the user s responsibility to evaluate and verify the operation of any non-ibm product, program, or service. IBM may have patents or pending patent applications covering subject matter described in this document. The furnishing of this document does not grant you any license to these patents. You can send license inquiries, in writing, to: IBM Director of Licensing IBM Corporation North Castle Drive Armonk, NY 10504-1785 U.S.A. For license inquiries regarding double-byte (DBCS) information, contact the IBM Intellectual Property Department in your country or send inquiries, in writing, to: IBM World Trade Asia Corporation Licensing 2-31 Roppongi 3-chome, Minato-ku Tokyo 106-0032, Japan The following paragraph does not apply to the United Kingdom or any other country where such provisions are inconsistent with local law: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION PROVIDES THIS PUBLICATION AS IS WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF NON-INFRINGEMENT, MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. Some states do not allow disclaimer of express or implied warranties in certain transactions, therefore, this statement may not apply to you. This information could include technical inaccuracies or typographical errors. Changes are periodically made to the information herein; these changes will be incorporated in new editions of the publication. IBM may make improvements and/or changes in the product(s) and/or the program(s) described in this publication at any time without notice. Any references in this information to non-ibm Web sites are provided for convenience only and do not in any manner serve as an endorsement of those Web sites. The materials at those Web sites are not part of the materials for this IBM product and use of those Web sites is at your own risk. IBM may use or distribute any of the information you supply in any way it believes appropriate without incurring any obligation to you. Copyright IBM Corp. 2003, 2007 5
Licensees of this program who wish to have information about it for the purpose of enabling: (i) the exchange of information between independently created programs and other programs (including this one) and (ii) the mutual use of the information which has been exchanged, should contact: IBM Corporation Office 4360 One Rogers Street Cambridge, MA 02142 U.S.A. Such information may be available, subject to appropriate terms and conditions, including in some cases, payment of a fee. The licensed program described in this document and all licensed material available for it are provided by IBM under terms of the IBM Customer Agreement, IBM International Program License Agreement or any equivalent agreement between us. Trademarks The following terms are trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation in the United States, other countries, or both: IBM Lotus Workplace Forms Other company, product, or service names may be trademarks or service marks of others. 6 Lotus Forms Designer 3: What s New
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