Contents

# Form Controls

The Form Controls toolbar or sub-menu contains tools that you need to create an interactive form. You can use the toolbar or sub-menu to add controls to a form in a text, drawing, spreadsheet, presentation, or HTML document, for example a button that runs a macro.

To access this command...

Choose View - Toolbars - Form Controls.

Icon on the Insert toolbar (you may need to enable this initially invisible icon):

Form Controls

XML Form documents (XForms) use the same controls.

To create a form, open a document and use the Form Controls toolbar to add and define the form controls. If you want, you can also link the form to a database, so that you can use the controls to manipulate a database.

When you create a form in an HTML document, you can use the form to send data over the Internet.

## To add a control to a document

1. On the Form Controls toolbar, click the icon of the control that you want to add.

2. Then click in the document, and drag to create the control.

   To create a square control, hold down the Shift key while you drag.

To add a field from the field list of a table or query to a form, drag a cell into the form. In a text document, you can also drag a column header to add a field to a form. To include a label for the field, hold down Command Ctrl+Shift when you drag a column head.

## Modifying a Control

1. Right-click the control and choose Control Properties. A dialog opens where you can define the properties of the control.

2. To specify a accelerator key for a control, add a tilde (~) in front of the character in the label for the control.

3. You can drag and drop controls from one document to another document. You can also copy and paste controls between documents. When you insert a control from another document, LibreOfficeDev analyzes the data source, content type, and content properties of the control so that the control fits the logical structure in the target document. For example, a control that displays contents from an address book continues to display the same contents after you copy the control to a different document. You can view these properties on the Data tab page of the Form properties dialog.

## Select

This icon switches the mouse pointer to the select mode, or deactivates this mode. The select mode is used to select the controls of the current form.

## Design Mode

Toggles the Design mode on or off. This function is used to switch quickly between Design and User mode. Activate to edit the form controls, deactivate to use the form controls.

Design Mode On/Off

## Wizards On/Off

Turns on and turns off the automatic form controls wizards.

These wizards help you to enter the properties of list boxes, table controls, and other controls.

## Form Design

Opens the Form Design toolbar.

## Label Field

Creates a field for displaying text. These labels are only for displaying predefined text. Entries cannot be made in these fields.

## Text Box

Creates a text box. Text boxes are fields in which the user can enter text. In a form, text boxes display data or allow for new data input.

## Check Box

Creates a check box. Check boxes allow you to activate or deactivate a function in a form.

## Option Button

Creates an option button. Option buttons enable the user to choose one of several options. Option buttons with the same functionality are given the same name (Name property). Normally, they are given a group box.

## List Box

Creates a list box. A list box lets users select an entry from a list. If the form is linked to a database and the database connection is active, the List Box Wizard will automatically appear after the list box is inserted in the document. This wizard helps you create the list box.

## Combo Box

Creates a combo box. A combo box is a single-line list box with a drop-down list from which users choose an option. You can assign the "read-only" property to the combo box so that users cannot enter other entries than those found in the list. If the form is bound to a database and the database connection is active, the Combo Box Wizard will automatically appear after you insert the combo box in the document.

## Push Button

Creates a push button. This function can be used to execute a command for a defined event, such as a mouse click.

You can apply text and graphics to these buttons.

## Image Button

Creates a button displayed as an image. Aside from the graphic representation, an image button has the same properties as a "normal" button.

## Formatted Field

Creates a formatted field. A formatted field is a text box in which you can define how the inputs and outputs are formatted, and which limiting values apply.

A formatted field has special control properties (choose Format - Control).

## Date Field

Creates a date field. If the form is linked to a database, the date values can be adopted from the database.

If you assign the "Dropdown" property to the date field, the user can open a calendar to select a date under the date field. This also applies to a date field within a Table Control field.

Date fields can be easily edited by the user with the up arrow and down arrow keys. Depending on the cursor position, the day, month, or the year is can be increased or decreased using the arrow keys.

Specific Remarks on Date Fields.

## Numerical Field

Creates a numerical field. If the form is linked to a database, the numerical values in the form can be adopted from the database.

## Group Box

Creates a frame to visually group several controls. Group boxes allow you to group option buttons in a frame.

If you insert a group frame into the document, the Group Element Wizard starts, which allows you to easily create an option group.

Note: When you drag a group box over already existing controls and then want to select a control, you have to first open the context menu of the group box and choose Arrange - Send to Back. Then select the control while pressing Command Ctrl.

Group boxes are used only for a visual effect. A functional grouping of option fields can be made through the name definition: under the Name properties of all option fields, enter the same name in order to group them.

## Time Field

Creates a time field. If the form is linked to a database, the time values for the form can be adopted from the database.

Time fields can be easily edited by the user with the up and down arrow keys. Depending on the cursor position, the hours, minutes, or the seconds are increased or decreased using the arrow keys.

## Currency Field

Creates a currency field. If the form is linked to a database, the currency field contents for in the form can be adopted from the database.

## Pattern Field

Creates a pattern field. Pattern fields consist of an edit mask and a literal mask. The edit mask determines which data can be entered. The literal mask determines the contents of the pattern field when loading the form.

Please note that pattern fields are not exported into HTML format.

You can enter the following characters to define the edit mask:

Character | Meaning
--- | ---
L | A text constant. This position cannot be edited. The character is displayed at the corresponding position of the Literal Mask.
a | The characters a-z and A-Z can be entered. Capital characters are not converted to lowercase characters.
A | The characters A-Z can be entered. If a lowercase letter is entered, it is automatically converted to a capital letter.
c | The characters a-z, A-Z, and 0-9 can be entered. Capital characters are not converted to lowercase characters.
C | The characters A-Z and 0-9 can be entered. If a lowercase letter is entered, it is automatically converted to a capital letter.
N | Only the characters 0-9 can be entered.
x | All printable characters can be entered.
X | All printable characters can be entered. If a lowercase letter is entered, it is automatically converted to a capital letter.

For the literal mask "__.__.2000", for example, define the "NNLNNLLLLL" edit mask so that the user can only enter four digits when entering a date.

## Table Control

Creates a table control to display a database table. If you create a new table control, the Table Element Wizard appears.

Special information about Table Controls.

## Navigation bar

Creates a Navigation bar.

The Navigation bar allows you to move through the records of a database or a database form. The controls on this Navigation bar work the same way as the controls on the default Navigation bar in LibreOfficeDev.

## Image Control

Creates an image control. It can only be used to add images from a database. In the form document, double-click one of these controls to open the Insert Graphic dialog to insert the image. There is also a context menu (not in design mode) with commands for inserting and deleting the image.

Images from a database can be displayed in a form, and new images can be inserted in the database as long as the image control is not write-protected. The control must refer to a database field of the image type. Therefore, enter the data field into the properties window on the Data tab page.

## File Selection

Creates a button that enables file selection.

## Spin Button

Creates a spin button.

If you add a spin button to a Calc spreadsheet, you can use the Data tab page to create a two-way link between the spin button and a cell. As a result, when you change the contents of a cell, the contents of the spin button are updated. Conversely, if you change the value of the spin button, the contents of the cell are updated.

## Scrollbar

Creates a scrollbar.

You can specify the following properties for a scrollbar:

UI name | Semantics
--- | ---
Scroll value min | Specifies the minimum height or the minimum width of a scrollbar.
Scroll value max | Specifies the maximum height or the maximum width of a scrollbar.
Default scroll value | Specifies the default value of a scrollbar, used when the form is reset.
Orientation | Specifies the orientation of a scrollbar, that is, horizontal or vertical.
Small change | Specifies the minimum amount by which you can scroll a scrollbar, for example, by clicking an arrow.
Large change | Specifies the amount that a large step scrolls a scrollbar, for example, when you click between the scrollbar thumb and a scrollbar arrow.
Delay | Specifies the delay in milliseconds between scrollbar trigger events. For example, the delay that occurs when you click an arrow button on the scrollbar and hold down the mouse button.
Symbol color | Specifies the color of the arrows on the scrollbar.
Visible Size | Specifies the size of the scrollbar thumb in "value units". For example, a value of ("Scroll value max." minus "Scroll value min.") / 2 results in a scrollbar thumb that occupies half of the scrollbar. To make the width of the scrollbar equal to the height of the scrollbar, set the Visible Size to zero.

In a Calc spreadsheet, you can use the Data tab page to create a two-way link between a scrollbar and a cell.

Related Topics

Context Menu Commands

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