When a user of your application wants to add, edit or just display a record, QuickBase presents her with a form. A form is a display of a single record. (See a sample form.)
Whenever you create a new table, QuickBase automatically creates three built-in forms for the table:
a Display Form appears when a user views a single record. This is also called a View Form.
an Edit Form appears when a user edits an existing record.
an Add Form appears when a user creates a new
record and features blank fields, which a user can fill out.
Those built-in forms are a nice convenience, but they probably won't do everything you want them to do. For example, a form may not include the exact fields you want, in the order you prefer. Rearranging or removing fields from a form is a breeze, but perhaps your customization needs go even beyond that. For instance, maybe Managers need to enter different information than their subordinates do. Form content also might depend upon the choices that a viewer's already made in one field. For example, if an employee chooses "Sales" as their department, you want QuickBase to automatically display the Commission field and automatically populate the Supervisor field with the name of the sales manager. Whatever form your forms should take, QuickBase can help you customize them.
Tip: If users will be accessing the application on mobile devices, such as smartphones or tablets, read tips for making mobile-friendly forms.
You can create as many custom forms as you want for each application that you manage. Create a different form for viewing, adding or editing a record, as well as one for each saved report in your application and/or each role, if you want.
By creating a custom form, you can:
Specify which fields appear in your form and where. Select only the fields you want and set their order.
Associate a form with a role. Create different forms for different roles. For example, users in the role "grand pooh-bah" may need to see a different form than those in the role "peon". Make sure everyone sees and fills out exactly the fields that you want them to.
Make some fields required. There may be times when you want a field to be required on one specific form only. For example, say supervisors approving a reimbursement request must enter their Department number for budgeting purposes, but normally you don't always want this field to be required.
Make it pretty. QuickBase lets you add decorative text to your form. Not only can you make a form pretty, but you can also make it smart by using design elements to help guide your users. Add section headings, horizontal rules and explanatory text. You can even use HTML tags! That means you can do things like incorporate hyperlinks or add special formatting to help underscore your point. (REQUIRED!, for example)
Embed reports from related tables. When you display a project record, wouldn't it be nice to see all the tasks related to that project? Use a custom form to make it happen. You can easily embed a table of related tasks on a form. You can even set parameters for which detail records display. Show only open tasks. Or display only those tasks belonging to the current user.
Set Dynamic Rules. Smarten up and liven up your forms. When you create rules, your form can react to user input. For example, when a user turns on a checkbox called Completed, have QuickBase automatically fill out the Date Completed field with today's date. Or, when a user changes the issue's status to closed have QuickBase require the field called Resolution (see image below).
Show Live Dynamic Formula
and Lookup fields. The value that a formula field displays
is based on the values in other fields in the record. So, only after
a user's entered values in each field that the formula references,
can a formula field calculate its own value. For this reason, including
a formula field on an add or edit form is impossible in many database
programs. However, QuickBase can handle it, so go ahead! Your users
will watch in wonder as the values they enter populate the formula
field before their eyes. For example, say you have a formula field
which calculates a Finish Date based upon what a
user enters in the Start Date and Duration
fields. Once a user enters a value in both fields then tabs away or
clicks in another field, QuickBase displays the resulting value in
the Finish Date field. If you're editing an existing
record, QuickBase lets you know that the formula field is recalculating
by displaying a temporary strikethrough of the value (which looks
like this) before the field shows the updated value.
Dynamic forms sound nifty, but what do they look like? When you fill out a dynamic form, fields you've completed and tabbed out of or clicked away from appear in pink (see the image below). This rosy hue indicates that the field contains a different value than it did when you opened the form (change it back and the color disappears). As a result of an edit—and depending on what rules apply to the form—additional fields may display or be completed automatically by QuickBase. If a rule decrees, messages may also appear, either when you enter certain information, or if you try to save without completing a field that the rule requires.
As a user completes fields, they appear in pink. Fields that QuickBase calculates as a result of user entries, also appear in pink (like Days Overdue). This form has a rule behind it. When Status is Closed, a user must fill out the Resolution field. The red asterisk next to Resolution indicates that it's required. This asterisk appears only AFTER a user selects Closed from the Status dropdown. |
