> #### 5.4.8 Define forms

> Forms are defined and generated using Interstage BPM. They are structured, field-based HTML files whose layout may be modified using any HTML Authoring Tool or by modifying the HTML code directly.

> These forms serve as an interface for data exchange between Interstage BPM and structured data repositories. Forms are created and associated with activities during process definition creation. This makes them available to process participants.

> ###### To create or update a form:

> 1. Display the process definition.

> 2. Define the user-defined process attributes for the process definition, if you haven't done so already. Interstage BPM will not allow you to create a form without user-defined process attributes.

> 3. Right-click the Activity Node of the Activity with which you want to associate a form and select Forms from the drop-down menu.

> 4. To create a new form, click the Create New button. To update a form already associated with the Activity node, select the form by clicking it and click Update. The Form Properties dialog appears.

> 1. Select the stylesheet (CSS file) that you want to use by selecting it from the Style Sheet combo box. Any standard stylesheet can be used. If no selection is made, the default stylesheet is used. For more information on using style sheets to give your generated forms a particular look and feel, see the section following this one, Using Form Templates and Style Sheets.
> 2. Specify any or all of the following components for use in your forms: the Work Item Header, Process Panel, and Attachment Panel by selecting or deselecting the check box corresponding to the component. If no changes are made, all of these components are used by default.
> 3. If you want to use a form template, copy it to a Document Management Systems (DMS) directory, click the Browse button next to the Form Template field and select the template. For more information on using form templates to give your generated forms a particular look and feel, see the section following this one, Using Form Templates and Style Sheets.
> 4. For each user defined process attribute (UDA) that you want to appear on the form, do the following:
> 1. Make sure that its checkbox in the User Defined Attributes frame is checked. All of the UDAs defined in the process definition appear on this list, and their checkboxes are checked by default.
> 2. Select a form control type* for this UDA from the drop-down list in the Form Control column.
> 3. Edit initial values for the UDAs that will be displayed as a Combo Box or List Box. This column is populated from the default UDA values that were specified when the UDAs were created. In case of the Combo Box and List Box controls, you can edit values and add comma-separated values. These values will be used to generate the display values for these controls in the form.

> *Descriptions of the fields used in the Form Control Properties frame:

> Character Width specifies the width of a form control field.

> Max Characters specifies the maximum number of characters that can be entered in a form control field.

> Columns specifies the width of a Text Area form control.

> Rows specifies the length of a Text Area form control.

> Note: You must click the Save button in the Form Control Properties frame after making changes to the form control's properties, or they will not take effect. If you want to keep the default settings as they appear, click Use Default after opening the frame. If you want to set a particular form control's settings as the default for that form control type, click Set Default.

> UDA form control types are as follows:

> Text Field: Displays a single-line text entry field.
> Text Area: Displays a multiple-line text entry field.
> Read Only: This value is displayed but cannot be changed on the form.
> Password: Displays a single-line text entry field with "*" replacing the actual data entered by the user.
> Hidden Field: This value is not displayed on the form.
> Combo Box: This displays a drop-down (single-line display that expands to show more values)
> List Box: This displays a multiple-line display (with a vertical scroll bar if required)
> Calendar: This displays a text field with a calendar icon. Clicking the icon displays a pop-up calendar from which you can pick a date that will display in the text field.

> 5. Add a file name (with an html file extension) to the path displayed in the Destination Path field.

> or

> Click Browse to browse the tree structure under the FormsRepository directory (you must specify a location within the FormsRepository directory). Click the desired sub-directory to highlight it. The path to the directory displays in the Destination Path field. Then, add a file name (with an html file extension) to the path displayed in the Destination Path field

> 6. If you wish to give the form a more meaningful name than the iflow Form <#>, then replace this default text with the more meaningful name in the Form Title field.

> Note: This name cannot be longer than 30 characters.

> 7. Append the path listed in the Destination Path field with a file name that has an .html extension.

> The text displayed in the Destination Path field should look similar to the following:
> C:\fujitsu\InterstageBPM\taskmanager\iflowjsp\FormsRepository\iflowForm<#>.html
> Note: The file name and path cannot be longer than 256 characters.

> 8. Click OK.

> The form path and title you have specified appear in the appropriate fields of the Form Properties dialog.

> 9. Click Generate Form if you are creating a new form or Update Form if you have made changes to an existing form. A form is created with the fields in a single column. You can customize the appearance of the form using any HTML Editor. In doing this, however, you must ensure that the field names remain the same.

> 10. Click OK to accept the new association and close the Properties dialog.

> The form generated by this procedure is given the name that you specify when you generate the form. It is called a QuickForm and is placed in the QuickForms directory (typically C:\fujitsu\InterstageBPM\taskmanager\iflowjsp\QuickForms) for the BPM Console.
> Generating a QuickForm in the BPM Console is the easiest way to obtain a basic working QuickForm that contains all of the necessary elements. First, generating a QuickForm and then customizing it to meet your needs is the recommended development path.
> This form is generated with attributes that make it work with Java Server Pages (JSPs). Once you have generated the form, you can customize it to your own particular needs as long as you do not edit the HTML components needed by Interstage BPM for data and process information display..

> ###### To associate a form with an activity:

> 1. Display the process definition.

> 2. Right-click the Activity Node and select Forms from the popup menu.

> 3. Click Browse to browse the Document Management System for the form. Select a form. Alternatively, type the location of the form into the Path field.

> Be sure to select the correct form for this process definition. Otherwise, the fields in the form may not be recognized when the form is opened.

> 4. If you wish to give the form a more meaningful name than the iflow Form <#>, then type that name in the Title field. The process participant uses the form Title to open the form from the Detail View. If you do not fill in the Title field, iflow Form <#> is used for the form's name.

> 5. Click OK to accept the entries and close the Browse dialog.

> 6. Click OK to accept the new association and close the Properties dialog.

> Note: To dissociate a form from an activity, click Remove. This removes the association, but does not delete the form itself.

> This procedure also associates the form of the same name that is located in the QuickForms directory with the node. However to do this, the form of the same name that is located in the QuickForms directory must already exist, so you must have previously generated it by following the instructions in the previous section.

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