Using the Form Designer › Options to Populate and Pre-populate Fields Automatically

Options to Populate and Pre-populate Fields Automatically

The Form Designer provides several options for populating and pre-populating fields automatically. Populating fields means that the fields are filled with the results of a database query based on user input. The affected fields are empty when the user opens the form. When the user enters the requested input, the database query is run and the results are used to populate the fields.

Conversely, pre-populating fields means that the fields are filled with the results of a database query without any user input. As soon as the user opens the form, the data source query is run and the results are used to populate the fields. Thus, the affected fields are populated when the user opens the form.

Review the options and choose the one that best suits your needs. Use the pre-populating options when no user input is required for the requested information to be retrieved by the database query. Use the populating options when the user's input is critical for the requested information to be retrieved by the database query.

The options for populating fields follow:

• Use the pre-defined JavaScript function named ca_fdDoFieldLookup with a lookup field to populate fields based on user input to a report data object.
• Use ca_fdDoFieldLookup with a lookup field, and use other pre-defined JavaScript functions like ca_fdSetTextFieldValue to set the values of elements in your form with a custom JavaScript function.

The options for pre-populating fields follow:

• Pre-populate a combo box based on a report data object.
• Use ca_reportQuery and ca_fdSetTextFieldValue to pre-populate fields based on a report data object and JavaScript functions.
• Pre-populate fields based on JavaScript expressions.