The Add Form Field dialog is displayed when a form field object is selected from the Object Gallery and placed within the window in the Presentation Area. Label form fields are not included because they are not addressable by Field Name from within the Zim language. Graphic form fields are not included because although they are addressable by Field Name from within the Zim language, they very rarely are. Hence the name automatically generated for Field Name is generally acceptable.
This dialog consists of one section: Identification. The Screen Painter automatically populates the fields in this section with default values appropriate to the type of form field object being created. You can accept the default values as shown, edit them within this dialog, or invoke the edit dialog for the specific type of form field being created in which all attributes of the form field are available for editing.
This section displays naming and other identifying information for the form field object.
| Field Name | This field contains the name of the form field. The Screen Painter automatically generates a unique name for it. This name can be maintained or changed, as long as the new name conforms to the Zim Object Naming Rules. |
| Form Name | This field contains the name of the form in which the form field was created. The field can be viewed by selecting it and scrolling left and right, but its value cannot be changed. |
| Directory | This field contains the name of the Zim directory that owns the form in which the form field was created. The field can be viewed by selecting it and scrolling left and right, but its value cannot be changed. |
| Field Number | This field contains an automatically generated identifying number for the form field. The value in this field can be used to identify the form field which triggered a callback event. Refer to Form Fields and Callback Events for more detailed information about associating form fields with callback events. The value in this field can be changed and need not be unique. |
| Field Tag | This field contains an identifying text string for the form field. The value in this field can be used to identify the form field which triggered a callback event. Refer to Form Fields and Callback Events for more detailed information about associating form fields with callback events. The value in this field can be changed and need not be unique. If this field is left blank (the default), the value contained in Field Name is used. The value in this field can be changed and need not be unique. |
| Label | This field is present depending on the type of form field object being created. It contains the label text to be associated with the form field and thus is only applicable to those form field object types which have associated label text. These are option boxes, frames, labels, push buttons, check boxes and radio buttons. If this field is present, it contains the default label text automatically assigned by the painter. An ampersand character (&) within the text is interpreted by the painter as an instruction to underline the following character in the text. |
| OK | This push button performs any required data validation, commits any changes which were made in this dialog, and returns to the Screen Painter's layout mode. |
| Cancel | This push button discards any changes that were made in this dialog and returns to the Screen Painter's layout mode. |
| Help | This push button invokes the Zim Help facility, initially displaying the section entitled Add Form Field dialog (this section). |
| Attributes | This push button invokes the edit dialog for the specific type of form field being created. All the default attributes of the newly created form field can be viewed and modified. |