Tap Forms has a variety of properties available for each different field type. Some field types share common properties while other fields have their own unique set of properties. Field properties are the settings that allow you to customize how Tap Forms looks and behaves for each field type.
Here are a list of the properties and what they do for each field type
| Property Name | Field Types | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Type | All | This is where you specify what field type you would like to use for the selected field. If you change a field type, you will be asked to confirm the switch. Not all field types are compatible, so switching from one field type to another may cause the data in that field to be erased. |
| Title | All | The Title is used to identify each field in your form. They don’t have to be unique names, but it’s better if they are, especially when exporting and importing records. |
| Description | All | You can enter a description for your field to better help you remember what the field is all about. The description will also appear as a tooltip on the field title on the Default Layout and on the field itself on your custom layouts. |
| Title Color | All | Allows you to set a colour for the label. This affects only the Default Layout. |
| Value Color | All | Allows you to set a colour for the field value. This affects only the Default Layout and the multi-column list view. |
| Hide Field | All | Hides a field from being displayed on the Default Layout. This can be useful if you have a Script field that performs an operation, such as setting values on other fields, but does not need to display any results itself. |
| Required Field | Text, Number, Date, Note | Takes effect only when you have the Show Edit/Save Button setting enabled in the General Preferences panel. When you click the Save button at the bottom of the record details view, Tap Forms will highlight in red all the fields that are missing a value on the Default Layout. |
| Use Auto-Complete | Text | A popup menu will be automatically generated that contains a list of previously entered values from all the records in the form for the specific field. |
| Mask Field Value | Text, Number, Web | This simply hides the content of the field until you click a checkbox button next to the field to reveal its contents. Masked fields will show as •••• characters on the records list view. |
| Show Title on List View | Most, but not all | On the Single Column List View, the field title will be displayed next to the value. |
| Display as Barcode | Text, Number, Script, Web | Tells Tap Forms to display the value of the field as a barcode on a custom layout. Has no effect on the Default Layout. |
| Capitalization | Text | Can be set to None, Words, or All Characters. Affects whether or not Tap Forms automatically capitalizes the characters as you type without having to hold down the shift key or caps-lock key. |
| Default Value | Most, but not all | Allows you to set a default value to be inserted at the time you create a new record. Does not affect existing records. For Date and Time type fields, the Default Value is the current date and time. For Checkmark fields, the Default Value is either On or Off. |
| Pick List | Text, Number | Associates the field with the selected Pick List. |
| Checkbox/Radio Columns | Text | When the associated Pick List’s Display As property is set to Radio Buttons or Checkbox Buttons, this property tells Tap Forms how many columns to use to display the Pick List values. This affects both the Default Layout and custom layouts. |
| Label Position | Text | This tells the Radio Buttons or Checkbox Buttons Pick List to display the value label either to the left, right, above, or below the radio or checkbox button. |
| Auto-Increment | Number | When a new record is created, Tap Forms uses the Next Default Value property to store it in the record for that field. It then adds the Increment Amount value and stores that in the Next Default Value property ready to be used for the next record. |
| Increment Amount | Number | This contains the value that will be used to increment the Next Default Value after a new record is created. |
| Next Default Value | Number | This stores the next value that will be used when creating new records. It’s essentially the same as the Default Value field, but is set when Auto-Increment is enabled. |
| Number Format | Number, Currency, Script, Calculation | This controls how Tap Forms displays numeric values. The choices are None, Currency, Decimal, Percent, Scientific, Spell Out, and 5 different Time styles. The Time styles are useful for representing duration values, such as 3:30 to represent 3 hours and 30 minutes. For Time styles, Tap Forms converts the values stored as seconds in the field into the specified format. Tap Forms also converts the other way around. For example, 0:10 (ten minutes) will be converted to 600 seconds when stored in the database. |
| Decimal Places | Number, Calculation, Script | Sets how many digits to display after the decimal point of the numeric value. Tap Forms will round the value up the fewer decimal places specified. |
| Highlight Negative Numbers | Number, Calculation, Script | Negative numbers will be displayed in red. |
| Summary Calculation | Number, Calculation, Script | Can be set to one of Total, Average, Minimum, Maximum, or Count. Displays the result of the selected function at the bottom of the records list view and at the bottom of each group when the Show Group Summaries option is enabled on the records list view. |
| Date Format | Date, Time, Date & Time, Calculation, Script | There are a number of different date formats to choose from so you can customize how dates are displayed in Tap Forms. If you choose the Short, Medium, Long, or Full options, Tap Forms uses the format specified in System Preferences > Language & Region > Advanced > Date. You can customize the format there. |
| Custom Date Format | Date, Time, Date & Time, Calculation, Script | Use your own date format pattern to fully customize how dates appear. See Date_Format_Patterns for more information on date patterns you can use. |
| Link to Form | Link to Form | This is the form you would like to link your Link to Form field to. |
| Show Inverse Relationship | Link to Form | Enabling this automatically creates a Link From Form field within the Link to Form which links back to this field. It allows you to see the relationship in both directions. For a One to Many Link Type, the inverse relationship displays a single parent record. For a Many to Many or a Join Link Type, the inverse relationship displays a table of parent records. |
| Link Type | Link to Form | There are 3 different relationship options for the Link Type property. One to Many, Many to Many, and Join. Please see the chapter on Relationships for more information on how these work. |
| Show File Name | Photo | Enabling this will cause the Photo filename to appear beneath the photo on the Default Layout. |
| Thumbnail Size | Photo | You can choose between small, medium, and large photo thumbnail sizes to display on the Single Column List View. This will take effect when the Photo field is the very first field in your form. So if you don’t see the thumbnail, drag your Photo field up to the first position in your form. |
| Photo Size | Photo | This controls how large a photo Tap Forms will store in the database when you attach a photo. You can choose between Original, Mini (512×512), Small (1024×1024), Medium (1536×1536), or Large (2048×248). Tap Forms will scale the images proportionally to fit within the specified size. |
| Resize All Photos | Photo | If you would like to scale the photos within your form for the specified field, click this button. Tap Forms will use the Photo Size option to scale the photos. Once you’ve done this, go to the Database Maintenance screen and click Compact Database to shrink the size of your database. Depending on how many records you have in your form, this operation may take quite a while to complete. |
| Multi-File Enabled | File Attachment | This tells Tap Forms to display a table of files that you can attach to the field. If this is turned off, you will only be able to attach a single file to the field. |
| Maximum Value | Rating | Set how many stars you want to display. You can display up to 10 stars. |
Last modified:
Jan 24, 2020
Need more help with this?
Don’t hesitate to contact us here.