Renaming a form

[Paul Kelly]

I would like to rename a form which already contains data. I am using v5.0.10 on a Mac, with data also on iOS devices.

I clicked twice on the form name in the all forms list at the left of the window, and this allowed me to edit the name. Fine, but then all the content vanished – now showing zero records. I tried changing the name back to the original name, but this did not resurrect the lost records.

Three questions:

1 This is clearly not the way to do it. What should I have done?

2 The renamed empty forms are not affecting the originally named forms on my iOS devices, so can I get one of the iOS copies of the form/data back onto the Mac?

3 I clearly have a conceptual misunderstanding of what a form is. From the way it operates I assumed it was equivalent to a table in a database, in which case I would not have expected this renaming to have any adverse consequences. Is a Tap Forms form more like a form in Microsoft Access? In which case how do I get at the real underlying table of data?

[Brendan]

Hi Paul,

1. Hmm… There’s nothing that should have done that just by renaming a form. I just checked that myself and it worked without losing any records. There is another way to rename a form too. You can click on the Form button in the toolbar and then you’ll see the Form Name field at the top-right of the Form Inspector panel. You can just type a new name there and press the Return key to accept it.

2. You can certainly re-copy the database document back from your iOS device to your Mac. Use the Send Document function on the main Documents view to send it back to your Mac.

3. A Document in Tap Forms is a file that contains the database file and all file attachments. A Form is the thing that contains the Fields that define the structure of the Form. It is analogous to a table, but it’s not stored like a table in the database. It’s stored like a JSON document (basically a dictionary of keys and values). You might not be able to make heads or tales of the data if you see it in its raw format though.

Thanks,

Brendan

[Paul Kelly]

Thanks for the very prompt response.

Unfortunately the Send Document function does not seem to be working. On the iOS device I select Send Document, and select the required database. The iOS device sees the Mac, and I select it. On the Mac I get a message about the incoming database, and I click Accept. The iOS device then shows a Connecting message for about ten seconds. After that nothing more happens and the chosen database never shows up on the Mac.

The online manual suggests that I should be seeing more progress messages, so perhaps the Connecting step is failing. Strange, as the two devices can obviously see each other to get to that stage.

Any ideas welcome.

[Brendan]

Hi Paul,

It should work if you have the latest iOS and macOS versions. But if you have mixed old and new, then it probably won’t work. You must have done it before though to send the document from Mac to iOS originally I would think. Alternatively you can use iTunes File Sharing to send the file across to your Mac from your device.

https://support.apple.com/en-ca/HT201301

Just copy the file to your Desktop from your device, then drag it into the main Tap Forms Database Documents window where the list of files is.

[Paul Kelly]

I have now got around to trying this, but unfortunately it does not work.

I got the undamaged database file off the iPhone through iTunes, giving me a ‘.tapforms’ package file on the laptop. When I drag this over the Tapforms window listing the database documents I just get the Apple OS animation for ‘no, I’m not going to do that’ – when I let go of the file it springs back to where it was.

I think I will have to give up on this database, and just be more careful in future about always backing up a database before I rename it or change its structure in any way.

[Author]

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