How to Add Groups, Labels, Separators and Splitters to a Form
Besides fields, a call's Details page and a customer's Overview can hold a few layout pieces: groups (a captioned box around fields), labels (free text or a heading), empty space, separators and splitters. While customizing, you add them from the Layout heading at the top of the Hidden items list, or from the right-click menu of an item already on the form.
How do I put fields together in a group?
Select the fields you want together, then right-click one of them and choose Group (or press Ctrl and G together, Ctrl+G). The fields go into a new framed box called "Group", and its caption is ready for you to type a name.
- Start customizing with Customize this layout… beside Details or Overview in the sections rail.
- Click the first field, then hold Ctrl (or Shift) and click the others. With the keyboard, move to each and press the Space bar to add it to the selection.
- Right-click one of the selected fields and choose Group 3 items (the number is how many you selected), or select Group in the properties panel.
- Type a name for the group and press Enter.
Grouping only works on items that sit together in one row, or that make up whole rows of the same group. Otherwise the form's message line says "To be grouped, items must sit together in one row, or make up whole rows of one group." With nothing selected it says "Select something to group."
You can also start with an empty group: drag Group ("A captioned box to put items in") from the Layout heading of Hidden items, then drag fields onto its caption bar or inside it. An empty group says "Drop fields here".
To take the box away but keep the fields, right-click the group and choose Ungroup, or select Ungroup in the properties panel.
How do I change how a group looks?
Select the group by its caption bar and use the right-click menu or the properties panel: Hide caption or Show caption turns its title on and off, and Hide frame or Show frame turns the box around it on and off. Rename… changes its title.
In the properties panel the same settings are Caption, Show caption and Show frame, and the panel tells you how many rows the group holds, or "Empty — drop fields onto its caption or inside it." for an empty one.
While customizing, a group whose caption is hidden still shows its caption bar, marked "caption hidden", so you have something to take hold of. When you press Done the caption disappears.
Moving a group moves everything in it. Hiding a group hides everything in it, unless it holds a field that must stay on the form; then nothing is hidden and the message line names that field.
Note: There are no tabbed groups on the web form. Every group is a box on the page.
How do I add a heading or a note to the form?
To put a heading between the fields on the call screen's Details page or a customer's Overview, start customizing with Customize this layout… beside Details or Overview in the sections rail. Then drag Label ("Free text, a heading") from the Layout heading of the Hidden items list onto the form, or double-click it to add it at the end, type your text, and press Done at the top of the screen when you have finished. A label is just words on the form; it is not a field and holds no value.
The new label starts with the text "Label" ready to be typed over. To change it later, double-click it, press F2, or change Text in the properties panel. Tick Heading in the properties panel to show it as a heading rather than ordinary text.
Labels are useful for a short instruction to yourself or a heading over a set of fields that are not in a group. To draw a dividing line instead, add a Separator from the same Layout heading. Like everything else on your layout, a label is seen only by you. You move a label like a field, and hide it with Delete or Hide item on its right-click menu; a hidden label is gone rather than kept in the Hidden items list, so add a new one from Label if you want it back.
How do I leave a gap or draw a dividing line between fields?
To leave a gap or draw a dividing line between the fields on the call screen's Details page or a customer's Overview, start customizing with Customize this layout… beside Details or Overview in the sections rail. Then add Empty space ("Takes room and shows nothing") or a Separator ("A line between items") from the Layout heading of Hidden items, or right-click an item on the form and choose Add empty space below or Add separator below, and press Done at the top of the screen when you have finished. For a heading between fields, add a Label from the same Layout heading and tick Heading in the properties panel.
- Empty space alone in its row soaks up any room left over, unless you give it a height: drag its bottom edge, or type a Height in the properties panel (from 4 to 800 pixels). The panel explains: "With no height it soaks up the leftover room; drag its bottom edge or type a height to pin it." Beside other items it takes a share of the row like any item.
- A Separator is a line. Alone in a row it is horizontal; placed beside items it is a vertical line between them. While customizing, dragging a separator that sits between two items moves the boundary between them; to move the separator itself, use Alt with an arrow key, or hide it and add it again.
What is a splitter and how do I use one?
A splitter is a handle you place between two parts of the form so that you can drag it to resize them at any time, even when you are not customizing. The call screen already has one between the fields and the documents.
Add one by dragging Splitter ("Drag it to resize the two items either side") from the Layout heading of Hidden items:
- Between two items in a row, it is an upright handle that moves the boundary left and right.
- Alone in a row of its own, it is a flat handle that moves the boundary between the row above and the row below. The row above must hold something that can change height, such as a multi-line box, a panel that can grow taller (for example Documents or Map) or an empty space.
While you are customizing, a splitter that cannot do anything tells you why when you point at it: "A splitter needs an item on each side" or "Put it under a row with a multi-line field or an empty space". Its properties panel says "Placed between two items, it can be dragged to resize them — even when not customizing."
When you drag a splitter while not customizing, ABM Service remembers the position on this computer, for this layout only. It does not change the saved layout, it does not mark the layout as changed, and other people are not affected. With the keyboard, select the splitter and use the arrow keys.
When you drag it while customizing, you change the layout itself, and any position you had dragged it to before is forgotten.