Introduction

Form Grid extends the default functionalities of a typical grid element.

Unlike the generic grid element that only accepts standard text field for its inputs, the Enhanced Grid Form Element captures data by making reference to another form element.

Hence, one can take full advantage of what a typical form element has to offer, e.g., validation and formatting.

The Form Grid is only available on Professional and Enterprise Edition.

Get Started

The easiest way to see how the Form Grid works is to use the existing built-in App Expenses Claims and create a new form to mimic an existing form in the app. Here are the steps:

Steps

Screens (Click to view)

Start the Joget Server and open the App Center.
Log in as admin and click on the pencil icon on the Expenses Claim to open the Design App. (see Figure 1)
Under FORMS column, click on Expense Claim Form (see Figure 2)
Drag and drop the Form Grid element on to the canvas.
Hover the mouse over the Form Grid element on the canvas and click on Edit to open up the Edit Form Grid properties.
Fill up the Edit Form Grid properties as follows and click on OK (see Figure 3):
1. ID: entries
2. Form: Expense Claim Entry
3. Columns :
  Field ID*
  Label
  Format Type
  date Date Date
  category Category
  purpose Purpose
  amount Amount Decimal
Click on Preview to open up the Preview tab, click on the plus sign on the Form Grid and it will open up a popup displaying the Form that it was referred to. (see Figure 4)
Open up Expense Claim Entry and note the Field ID's are the same as written in the Edit Form Grid. This is how the Form Grid displays the data from said target form. (see Figure 5)

^{Figure 1}

^{Figure 2}

^{Figure 3}

^{Figure 4}

^{Figure 5}

Form Grid Properties

Edit Form Grid

Name

Description

ID

Element ID (By declaring as "entries", a corresponding database table column "c_entries" will be created)

Label

Element Label to be displayed to the end-user.

Form

Target form to refer to.

Columns

The columns defined here must be correspondent to the Form chosen above.

Name	Description
Value	Field ID of the form element to refer to the target form. Example: In "HR Expense Claim Entry" form, there are Form Elements with the ID "date", "category", "purpose", and "formattedAmount".
Label	Column Label.
Format Type	If you would like to format the returned value, you may make use of the format type. Default choice: Text. Available Format Types Text - formats the value as text HTML - outputs data as HTML Multiple lines text - maintains the spacing formatting for multiple lines text, such as TextArea. Decimal - formats as a decimal. The number of decimals is expected in the "Format" field. Date - formats as a date. Original Date and New Date formats are expected in the "Format" field. Format: (original format)\|(new format) Example of usage: Original value: 5/23/2012 Expected value: 2012/5/23 Format : M/d/y\|y/M/d Note: Please refer to Java SimpleDateFormat for date format. File - Show the value as a link to the attachment. Form Def ID is expected in the "Format" field. Expected Form Def ID Specify the Form Def ID that contains the actual File Upload form element. Image - Show the value as a thumbnail of the attachment. Form Def ID is expected in the "Format" field. Expected Form Def ID Specify the Form Def ID that contains the actual Image Upload / File Upload form element. Options - Show the label of a multiple-choice element given the value given. Form Def ID is expected in the "Format" field. Expected Form Def ID Specify the Form Def ID that contains the actual Select Box / Radio / CheckBox form element.
Format	Depending on your chosen Format Type, an additional argument may be entered here.
Width	Column width in characters. Sample 200px

UI

Sorting

Name

Description

Screen (Click to view)

Enable Sorting Feature

Determines if the ordering of rows is to be enforced.

The property fields "Enable Sorting Feature" and "Field ID for Sorting" stores the form grid record row sequence, meaning it records which ID sits in row 1, row 2, and so on and rearranges it back in this same ascending sequence on load binder.

If you are using this property, key in a unique field ID in "Field ID for Sorting" property . This field ID must *not* be an existing field in your form which you use for your form data. Typically we use the field ID "sort" and Joget will automatically create this column in your database table (Do not use the field ID "sort" anywhere else in your form).

If you need automatic sorting on loading the form grid/spreadsheet, use Load Grid Data with Custom Sorting and Filtering or JDBC Form Binder with the "... ORDER BY ASC" SQL statement.

Field ID for Sorting

Field to keep the ordering sequence; must correspond with a field id in the target form.

Form

Name	Description	Screen (Click to view)
Form Submit Button Label (Normal Mode)	The label of the Submit button in normal mode.
Form Submit Button Label (Readonly Mode)	The label of the Submit button in read-only mode.
Display field as Label when readonly?	Displays the value of the element as plain text when an element is set to "Readonly".
Popup Dialog Height	Specifies the height, in characters. Sample 200px
Popup Dialog Width	Specifies the width, in characters. Sample 200px

Grid

Name	Description	Screen (Click to view)
Readonly	Determines if the element is editable.
Disable Add Feature	Determines if a new row can be added.
Disable Delete Feature	Determines if a row can be removed.
Delete confirmation message	Confirmation message when deleting a row.
Show Row Numbering?	Shows numbering on the grid.
Paging Size	Items to be displayed per page.

Validation & Data Binder

Validation

Name	Description	Screen (Click to view)
Validator	Attach a Validator plugin to validate the input value. Please see Form Validator. When will validation takes place? Validation will take place whenever a form is submitted except when it is submitted as "Save as Draft".
Unique Column	Column/Field ID to identify record ID.
Min Number of Row Validation (Integer)	Min Number of Row Validation (Integer)
Max Number of Row Validation (Integer)	Max Number of Row Validation (Integer)
Error Message	Error message to be shown when row requirements set above is not met.

Data Binder

Name

Description

Screen (Click to view)

Load & Save Binder

Load Binder allows you to customize the method for data retrieval to populate the multi-row form grid in the form.

Save Binder allows you to customize the method on how the form grid row records are saved to.

This option is empty by default. An empty binder means that the form grid records will be saved/loaded as a JSON format in the parent form & database table. See the list of available Form Binders.

The recommended binder to use is the Multirow Form Binder so that each record is saved into a child database table via a subform definition. The binder will update the foreign key "parent id" into each child record to point to the parent database table.

Child Form Data Deletion Options

Name	Description	Screen (Click to view)
Delete Associated Grid Data?	If the popup form has a grid element(s), this option will delete the inner grid data. Caution These 3 options: (Delete Associated Grid Data, Delete Associated Child Form Data, Delete Files), in combination, does apply to nested grid/child elements. These options traverse the entire form tree. Upon encountering a 'false' condition, it will move on to the next grid/child element. Example: Consider that the popup form has a form grid, form grid has a subform, subform has a file upload element with abc.pdf. If all options are checked, abc.pdf will be deleted. If all except ONE of the options is checked, abc.pdf will NOT be deleted.
Delete Associated Child Form Data?	If the popup form has a child element(s), this option will delete the child data. Caution These 3 options: (Delete Associated Grid Data, Delete Associated Child Form Data, Delete Files), in combination, does apply to nested grid/child elements.
Delete Files?	If the popup form contains a file upload element, this option will delete the actual uploaded file(s). Caution These 3 options: (Delete Associated Grid Data, Delete Associated Child Form Data, Delete Files), in combination, does apply to nested grid/child elements.
Abort Related Running Processes?	If there are process instances related to the deleted row, these options will abort those process instances.

Download Demo App

APP_form_grid_file_image_upload_dx_kb.jwa
APP_form_grid_with_jdbc_binder.jwa Read JDBC Form Binder for more information.

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Introduction

Get Started

Form Grid Properties

Edit Form Grid

UI

Validation & Data Binder

Download Demo App

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