Creating the join forms to connect your application to the approval server

To connect your application to the approval server, create these inner join forms:

• A two-way join that connects your approval request form to the approval server form AP:Detail.
• A three-way join that connects your approval request form to the approval server join form AP:Detail-Signature.

In both cases, your approval request form is the primary form for the join.

Before you begin

Create the approval request form.

To create the two-way join

1. Log on to Developer Studio as an AR System server administrator.
2. In AR System Navigator, expand serverName > All Objects.
3. Right-click Forms, and select New Join Form.
4. In the New Join Form wizard, follow the prompts to take the following actions:
   • Primary Form—Select your approval request form as the primary form, and click Next.
   • Secondary Form—Select AP:Detail as the secondary form, and click Next.
   • Join Properties—Select the Inner join type, the appropriate field positioning and inheritance options, and click Next.
   • Primary Form Field Selection—Select Default Administrator View, move all fields to Selected Fields, and click Next.
   • Secondary Form Field Selection—Select Default Administrator View, move all fields to Selected Fields, and click Finish.
      The new join form appears. This join form is used only for internal processing, so the appearance of the form is not critical.
5. On the new join form, you must manually specify a reserved ID for two fields. Use the Outline tab in Developer Studio to locate these fields.

   1. Select the Status-Dtl field, and set the following values in the Properties tab:

      Category	Property	Value
      Display	Field Access	Read / Write
      Database	ID	13191

   2. Select the Request field (not Request ID), and enter 10051 in the ID property.
6. Select the Definitions tab.
7. Expand the Permissions panel and then the Group Permissions panel.
8. Move the Public group to the Permissions field, change the group permission type to Hidden.
9. Save and name the join form.
10. Click Yes or OK in response to the AR System server warning messages.

To create the three-way join form

Create only one three-way join form for your application.

1. Log on to Developer Studio as an AR System server administrator.
2. In AR System Navigator, expand serverName > All Objects.
3. Right-click Forms, and select New Join Form.
4. In the New Join Form wizard, follow the prompts to take the following actions:
   • Primary Form—Select your approval request form as the primary form, and click Next.
   • Secondary Form—Select AP:Detail-Signature as the secondary form, and click Next.
   • Join Properties—Select the Inner join type, the appropriate field positioning and inheritance options, and click Next.
   • Primary Form Field Selection—Select Default Administrator View, move all fields to Selected Fields, and click Next.
   • Secondary Form Field Selection—Select Default Administrator View, move all fields to Selected Fields, and click Finish.
      The new join form appears. Your users use this form when working with the details of an approval, so the layout and appearance of this form are important.

5. Hide or remove from view any fields that users do not need to see, such as most of the fields from the AP:Detail-Signature form.

   Tip

   Use the Outline tab in Developer Studio to locate and select a field. Then select Layout > Bring To Front to see the field if necessary. Use tabs in a panel field to display only those fields that you want users to view or modify.

6. (Optional) Rename the status fields to clarify their purpose:
   • The Approval Status field (ID 13191) is from the AP:Detail-Signature form and represents the status of the current approval signature. Approvers can use this field to approve or reject a request from the detail view if they do not use the buttons in Approval Central.
   • The Status field (ID 7) is from your application request form and represents the status of the overall request.
7. Select the Definitions tab.
8. Expand the Permissions panel and then the Group Permissions panel.
9. Move the Public group to the Permissions field, change the group permission type to Hidden.
10. Save and name the join form.
11. Click Yes or OK in response to the AR System server warning messages.