Form House

Full Version 1.1

 

Form House 1.1 for Windows 9x/ME/NT/2000/XP

Fully compatible with all Windows XP versions:                   Windows XP

                                                                                                Windows XP SP1

                                                                                                Windows XP SP2

Copyright © Anasoftware 2004.

All rights reserved.

FormDocs Filler - Copyright © Enterprise Technology.

 

A Suite of Applications

 

Form House is a suite of applications that work together:

1. The Prerequisites must be installed in order to enable some of the functionality of the other apps. The user does not interact directly with this module.

2. Form House Manager is a place for your forms similar to what Windows Explorer is for general files. However, Manager shows a preview of highlighted items, and lets you categorize your forms, including manual positioning them in folders. You can drag an item up and down in an expanded folder, to a position according to your own ranking. It also includes specific features that make it easy to organize and work with a collection of documents. Two of them are called Most Used and Most Recent, which are detailed bellow. Also, Manager has a navigation system - including the web-like Back and Forward - that let you move around easily.

3. FormDocs Filler is where you edit forms, meaning, you fill them out. The Manager and the Filler work together: You open documents in Manager like you open email messages in Outlook - the Manager is like the Outlook main window and the Filler is like the message window, where you edit your email. The difference is that you can open more than one document for the same Filler window - then switch from one another within Filler.

 

Installation

 

Run Setup.exe and follow the prompts.

Form House Suite installation routine installs all applications in the package, in sequence. The user must follow the sequence as prompted. One cannot install the applications in a different order.

If any component prompts for a reboot, do so. Setup will automatically pick up from where it left. You may need to press Next to get to the application that is next in line for installation.

Along the way, installer dialogs display the status (installed or not) of each application.

In most cases, a reboot is not required at all.

 

Repair and Uninstall

 

From Control Panel > Add and Remove, press Change and enter the Form House maintenance mode. Here you may repair an application alone, or uninstall and reinstall an application alone. Or uninstall the entire suite in one step.

 

 

THE JUMP START SECTIONS BELLOW GIVE YOU ESSENTIAL INFORMATION THAT LET YOU START RIGHT AWAY.  IF YOU ARE READING THIS DOCUMENT DURING INSTALLATION, YOU MAY NOW SKIP THESE SECTIONS, BUT RETURN TO THIS README FILE AFTER INSTALLATION COMPLETES.

 

 

Jump Start :  FOLDERS

 

Predefined categories?  Yes, Manager comes with 3 predefined categories:

• Regular Forms - these are vector data forms that your business must use.
• Optional Forms - vector data too, but not mandatory ("It is recommended that you use a form with this...")
• Pre-printed Forms - bitmap forms, but still fillable, to comply with "no change" requirements (certain government, law, or other agencies may prohibit any form conversion, except for a Xerox copy.)

You may discard or modify these categories, they only exist for your convenience. And then, of course, you may create your own folders that can hold items exactly the way you want it.

 

A folder called Most Recent is automatically populated. You'll find here the items you most recently opened, in exact order. You can set the number of items this folder may hold.

 

A folder called Most Used is, by default, left for the user to add most used items to. However, if the Automatic MU option is turned on, an internal mechanism based on a very efficient algorithm will populate this folder "on the go". You can rest assured the items you find here are indeed your most used ones.

 

The Archive folder is reserved for updates. With a new version of a form, the older version goes to the Archive folder while its data is exported/saved back to the new one. The archived form file still retains its data. The user cannot change the Archive folder - all operations related to this folder are performed by the system.

 

The All Forms folder permanently holds the entire forms collection. You cannot delete or move items out, albeit sorting and copying are permitted. This is the safety net of the system; you may delete  everything else, but all forms and all data are still retrievable from this folder.

 

Jump Start :  ORGANIZE

 

Press the Sort button to sort items automatically. This works with both folders and forms. Or drag items within a folder to a different position - the repositioning is permanent, until you sort or make another manual change. Like with sorting, manual positioning works with folders too.

 

Item dragging is reserved for manual sorting. To copy/move forms, use copy/cut and paste.

 

Important: An item may appear in more than one folder. However, it is only one physical item (form file) - that is represented within multiple folders.

 

These are features that are specific to knowledge management. You won't find them in Windows Explorer, for instance. The basic principles in organizing your forms would be...

 

• Create your own folders (right click on top/root item).
• Populate folders using cut and paste.
• Sort automatically or manually.
• Define a folder to be automatically opened at startup (in Options).
• Enable Automatic MU.
• Use the Most Recent folder to locate forms you just closed.
• Use the Find feature to locate forms that are rarely used.

 

If you wanted to detect all folders/positions where a certain form appears, run Find for its name (or part of it). You will be taken, in sequence, to all locations. The hierarchy is automatically expanded and the form is highlighted at each location.

 

Jump Start :  PRINTING

 

The user can print a form as a template, or as a filled out form (template and data), or as only the data (only data in fields, no template). The latter is useful when you already have paper empty forms and don't want, for a reason or another, to discard them, but print filling data on top.

Here comes Filler with a nice feature that allows for print offset adjustments. This means that if your printer has a hardware offset, or your existing empty forms are not properly positioned on the page (like a small shift to the right), you still can adjust printing so that filling text falls centered in fields.

 

Jump Start :  RECORDS

 

If there is one important term you need to understand, that is the word "record".

Imagine you have a paper file where you keep forms that have been filled out, all of the same kind. Then, when you add a new piece to the file, you say "I just added a new record to the file".

 

Likewise, Filler stores all filled forms of the same kind (based on the same form template) in a mini-database called a "form file". When you fill a new form of that type and save it, in Filler jargon that means "a new record was added to the file".

 

So what do I do when I need to fill a form? I need to open its file. Its file contains all previously filled forms of this type, but when I open it, it always greets me with an empty form, ready to be filled.

When you double-click a form in Manager, it actually opens the form file for you. You'll see an empty form (i.e., an empty record), but behind it are all forms (i.e., records) of this type you ever filled.

In conclusion, when you fill out a form, you actually create a new record of the form file. When you save the new form (i.e., the new record), you actually add a new record to the file.

 

Jump Start: FILLING A FORM

 

• In Manager, double-click your form.
• Filler comes to the foreground, with a new record ready, and with the first field already selected.
• Start typing into the first field. Then pres TAB.
• Type into the second field. Press TAB, a.s.o.

 

A form can have multiple pages. In Filler, down on the Status bar, you'll find the page navigation control. Click the right arrow, you'll be taken to the next page of this form/record.

When done, press the Save button on the toolbar. Now your record is part of the form file. Then press the Print button, if you need a print.

 

OTHER FEATURES

 

If you simply wanted to fill out a form, the above is all you need to know.

 

As you progress and gain experience, you'll want to simplify some of your tasks, or perform other, more advanced operations. Like for instance finding a record you filled last year. Or using the Mem feature, a.s.o.  If that's the case, the Form House Documentation is what you need (in Manager, under the Help menu item). Also available to the public at large, as a frame-based subweb at http://help.formhouse.biz/

 

Additionally, the FormDocs Filler Documentation is available from the main menu in Filler, under Help.