OpenOffice.org Training, Tips, and Ideas

Make your OpenOffice forms open with the focus in the first field

If you're using these tools to make your forms

then be sure to click this Automatic Control Focus icon

so that when users open the form, the cursor (the focus), is in the first field in the tab order.

How to go to the next field in an input field form in OpenOffice Writer

Let's say you've made this form, or opened one from Word.  If you created it in Writer you choose Insert > Fields > Other, Functions tab, and in the Type list you used Input Field. So far, so good.

You're done, and you start filling in the fields. You click on the first field, you get the window, you enter data...then you have to click OK, and click on the next field, and fill that in....that's not very fast, is it?
 



Close the window. Press Ctrl Shift F9.  That gives you this window with Next functionality built in.

 

Then to go from one field to another easily:

• Either press Ctrl Enter
• Or click Next

 

Annoyed by the complexity of pressing Ctrl Shift F9? Make it a different shortcut. Use this blog and this window; note where the function is in the following screen shot.
http://openoffice.blogs.com/openoffice/2007/04/creating_keyboa.html

How to create data entry forms from scratch, and make them into PDFs, in OpenOffice.org

Would you like to create:

• A travel request form that your users fill out, then print or save and submit?
• A public records form that residents of your city or county need to fill out, that you can just post on your government web site?
• Any other form that people use that could contain check boxes, radio buttons, dropdown list, date entry fields, regular data entry fields, etc.?

Then use this PDF to learn how. It's a step-by-step guide to creating various types of fields using the Writer form tools. The PDF is for use by anyone for personal or professional use, but not for republication or other reuse in another form; if you'd like to reference it, please link back here.

Turning data into information with functions in OpenOffice Base

I've written an article for TechTarget on how to use the functions such as Sum and Max in OpenOffice.org Base queries and views.

It took me a while to grok how to use these -- the difficulty is not in applying the functions, but in the kind of data you can use the functions with, and the Group function that needs to be applied along with Sum, Max, or whatever you're using.

 

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Creating XML Forms From Scratch in OpenOffice -- They're a Lot More Helpful Than Input Field Forms

I've written a TechTarget article about how to create forms from scratch.

The point is that, whilst training some folks in Kentucky (the Dr. Hobo gang ;> ), I realized that the commonly used input field forms (see example in the article) are OK in their way but not as helpful as they could be to the people using them. Certainly not as helpful as the XML forms that can contain dropdown lists, formatted date and time fields, checkboxes, etc. Thus, I think folks who use a lot of input field forms should seriously consider ditching those in favor of XML forms. The switch can result in increased speed when entering data, reduced errors, and reduced training time for people starting to use the forms.

This isn't about forms that are hooked up to database forms. This is specifically addressed at all those forms that you or someone else fills in on the computer, then prints or saves with the information in the form. You can of course use this info for forms hooked up to databases; that's just not the focus.

Tweaking Your OpenOffice Forms Created From the Wizard

A reader wrote to me about how to automatate a 50-page document that had a mix of canned and uncanned text, data entry fields, etc. I didn't have a perfect solution but the email did remind me about forms.

I wrote an article for TechTarget about how to create forms based on a database; that post is here. The salient portion is actually here on TechTarget.  The main point is that the simplest and easiest approach to creating a nice data entry form is through the wizard.

Another approach is to choose File > New > XML Form Document. I haven't even begun to get into the guts of forms like that--here are some of the windows/palettes you get when creating XML forms. Click to see it larger.

As a nonprogrammer, I'd just like to say that Submissions and Bindings sounds a little kinkier than a basic data entry form, and also that I need to do a lot more work before I can blog intelligently on either topic.

And now I'll move on to my main point in this blog, which is....

How to tweak your forms created in the wizard if they're not what you want.

OK. So you've created this form in the wizard.

You want to make a few changes--one, obviously, that the Review field isn't big enough.

Open the database that it was based on, choose Forms, then right-click on the form name and choose Edit.

The form will open up looking like this.

To change the size of a field or make other changes, first ungroup it from its prompt. Right-click on the field, choose Group > Ungroup.

Then  just click on the field  and resize it the way you would a text box or a graphic.

You can check the form to see if it's what you want now. Click the Design Mode On/Off icon in the Form Controls toolbar. (If you don't see that toolbar, choose View > Toolbars > Form Controls.)

However, the field still doesn't look right--it doesn't wrap and the text is centered vertically in the middle.

So click the Form Design On/Off icon again to go back to edit mode and fix this.

At this point, you always just right-click on the field and choose Control, pretty much regardless of what you need to do. You'll see the form control window. Scroll through the first tab and see if there's anything that jumps out at you. In this case, there is--I changed the text option from single line to Multi Line.  (DO NOT CHOOSE MULTILINE WITH FORMATTING. This will delete the connection to the database.)

   

Now the field looks the way you want.

Now, let's say you need to change one of the fields from a regular entry field to a list box or combo box, which would present a list of choices. A List Box requires the user to select one of the items you set up; a Combo Box lets the user select from the list or enter their own.

To demo this, I'll use the Genre field in this form. I ungroup the field as before, plus I had to  rearrange fields below it to give it some room. Then I resize it to make it bigger, so that there'll be room to display the options.

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Now I right-click on the field and choose Replace With. Here are all the options. List box, radio buttons, all sorts of fields, etc.

I'm going to choose Combo Box. Here's what it looks like.

Now I'll create the items that will show up in the list. I right-click and choose Control.

In the window that appears, click on the List Entries  field, and type the items you want to appear in the list. After each one, type Shift + Enter to go to the next line. When you're done, close the window.

That's all there is to it. The field will look like this.

And when you create a new record, you get the same options to choose from. The selection is saved in the database the form is connected to.

There's a lot more you can do to tweak forms, of course, but those are two pretty representative types. Just use the Replace option, and right-click and choose Control to manipulate the changed field.

TechTarget.com Article: Creating Forms in Base 2.0

I'm cleaning up my blog's sidebar areas, and categorizing posts. This post is one of the results--linking directly to an article on TechTarget.com.

This is an article on creating forms in the new OpenOffice.org 2.0 database tool: part 1 and part 2.

See also part 1 and part 2 of an article about creating databases in the new database tool in OpenOffice.org 2.0, and the article on  views in OpenOffice.org 2.0.

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