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ChemOffice.Com - CambridgeSoft

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Chapter 18: Creating and Editing<br />

Forms<br />

Overview<br />

You use forms to interact with information in a<br />

database. A ChemFinder form is composed of data<br />

boxes for viewing or modifying data items, such as<br />

structures, numbers, text, or pictures. A form can<br />

also contain subforms for relational access to<br />

different data tables and different databases.<br />

You can create a form in the following ways:<br />

• Automatically, using the Form Generator<br />

dialog box.<br />

• Manually, using the Form tools.<br />

• With the Database Tree.<br />

The example below shows a form displaying a<br />

single record of information from a database.<br />

Creating a form consists of creating a layout (see<br />

“Creating Forms Manually” on page 256), and<br />

setting box properties (see “Creating and Editing<br />

Tabs” on page 260), tabs (see “Editing Forms” on<br />

page 267), and security (see “Securing Forms” on<br />

page 271).<br />

You can edit your form at any time (see “Editing<br />

Forms” on page 267 and “Changing the Layout of<br />

an Existing Form” on page 270).<br />

The first step in designing a form is selecting the<br />

database and deciding which fields to include.<br />

Selecting a Database<br />

A ChemFinder form does not store data directly,<br />

but is simply the window through which you look<br />

at data. When creating a form, you need to specify<br />

the source of the data to display. A form displays<br />

data from a single table in a database. To specify the<br />

data source for a form, you must open or create a<br />

database, and then select a table.<br />

If you want to view data from more than one table,<br />

you must create a form for each table. Typically,<br />

you create a main form for one main table and a<br />

subform for each other table. For more<br />

information, see Chapter 19, “Relational Data and<br />

Subforms” on page 277.<br />

You can connect a database to the form before<br />

creating boxes, or any time after. If the form is<br />

already connected to a database, you can change the<br />

database or the data source. If the form has boxes<br />

with fields connected to them, then the boxes<br />

automatically connect to fields of the same name in<br />

the newly-opened database.<br />

Opening an Existing<br />

Chemical Database<br />

To open a database to associate with a form:<br />

1. Right-click on the form and select Data<br />

Source.<br />

The Form Properties dialog box appears.<br />

2. Click Open Database.<br />

ChemFinder<br />

<strong>ChemOffice</strong> 2005/ChemFinder Creating and Editing Forms • 251<br />

Selecting a Database

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