Creating and modifying view forms

Use Developer Studio to create and modify view forms.

To create a view form

To set up a remote database, see Setting-up-a-remote-database-for-view-forms.

In Developer Studio, select File > New > View Form.
In the New View Form wizard, select the server on which you want to create the view form, and click Next.
Enter the name of an existing database table to be associated with the view form as shown in the following figure.
The formats for table names are as follows. Where two formats are given, the first is for a table in the local database, and the second for a table in a remote database:
- Oracle—TABLENAME or OWNER.TABLENAME
  Oracle defaults to all capital letters for data in its system tables. If the table name uses lowercase, make sure that the capitalization for the name is entered correctly.
- Microsoft SQL Server—TABLENAME or LINKNAME.DATABASENAME.OWNER.TABLENAME
Click Load.
The Available Columns list box is populated with the database column names and the default AR System server field type mappings for the supported data types.
From the Key Field list, select a character or integer column to designate as the key field.
From the Available Columns list, select the columns to appear on the AR System server form, and move them to the Selected Columns list.
This method maps the default AR System server field type to the database data type. To use a different AR System server field type for a database column, do not select the column from the list as described in this step. Instead, follow the steps in To map an alternate field type to a database column in a view form.
Click Finish.
Use Developer Studio to make any additional changes to the new form, and select File > Save.

To map an alternate field type to a database column in a view form

If necessary, you can map an AR System server field type that is different from the default type to a column in the external database.

Create the view form as described above, but in step 6, do not select the column to which you want to map an alternate field type.
After saving the form, add a field of the appropriate type to the form.
On the Field Properties tab, expand the View Information properties.
Click the Column property and enter the database column name.
Important
Do not create a form with multiple fields referring to a single column. Such forms might produce adverse results and generate SQL errors.

To add a new field to a view form by using the default field type

Select Form > Add Fields From externalDBName from the menu.
From the Add Field dialog box, select the field to add, and click OK.

To delete a field from a view form

Select the field and select Edit > Delete.
Deleted fields return to the Available Columns list box. This action does not remove the column from the database table.