Placing Subforms

Description

A subform is a form placed inside another form. By using a subform, you can fit more objects into a smaller area, without making the form illegible. For example, you have an invoice form in which you want to place information about the customer in the upper right corner. When you view an invoice-record, you want to see, at a glance, the invoice's billing information. In addition, you want to ability to see other data, such as the invoice's shipping information, but you do not want to overcrowd the Form. One solution is to use subforms.

When you place a subform, you can decide how much of the form you want to see, before having to use the scroll bars. This lets you display the most critical fields, while providing access to the others. Another advantage to using a subform is that it is linked to a separate form which can be opened by itself. If you use the same subform in multiple Forms, any changes you make to the subform affect every form in which the subform is placed. If you want to add a field for customers' email addresses, you only need to make the change in one place.

When you place a subform on a form in the Alpha Anywhere Form Editor, you are limited to selecting the subform from other forms that are based on the same table or set as the form you are editing.

To create subform, click the Subform tool on the Tool Palette, and then click and drag the cursor over the area on which you want to place it.
If you are designing a form for a set, the Select Table dialog box appears.
- 1. Optionally, click View Form at the Set Level and click OK.
- 2. Optionally, click View a Child Table to use only the data from matching records in one of the set's one-to-many child tables and click OK.
The Sub-Form Object dialog box appears. In this dialog box, you can choose:
- Default Form
- Saved Form Layout
If you selected "Saved Form Layout" in step 3, select a form from the list.
Click OK.