Setting Compatibility Options

The compatibility options ensure that the forms you design are compatible with your end-user software. If you design forms for applications that use older I-32 components, you can enable Forms Design 5.1 compatibility mode for those forms to ensure that 6.0 features are not used. You may also enable or disable long data IDs, depending on whether or not your end-user software supports them. Both of these options are form specific. You can enable or disable them individually for each of your forms, so you can easily design forms for both environments.

Enabling long data IDs

The Allow Long Data IDs option is available only for I-32 Forms Design 6.0 forms. When 5.1 compatibility is enabled, the option is turned off. If your end-user application supports long data IDs and your company uses them, you can enable them for your forms. Standard (or “short”) data IDs can be any number between ‑32768 and 32767. Long data IDs can be much longer, between ‑2,147,483,648 and 2,147,483,647 to be exact, but you probably won’t even get close to pushing the limits.

If you enable long data IDs for a form, the system creates “long” data ID objects when a long data ID is assigned. Short data ID objects are created when a short data ID is assigned. You can use both short and long IDs in the same form. However, if a form with long data IDs is retrieved in an application that does not support them, you will see an error message and no data values will appear in the data fields with long data IDs. If the form you are designing will be used in applications that only support short data IDs, you should not enable long data IDs for that form. Forms with short data IDs work equally well in both types of applications.

The Expere environment does not differentiate between long and short data IDs. However, if you do not enable long data IDs, you will still be limited to short data IDs in I-32 Forms Design for your XTemplate forms. Therefore, you should always enable long data IDs for XTemplate forms unless you have some reason for wanting to limit your data IDs to short IDs only.

To enable long data IDs for your open form

1. Click on the form name in the Form Tree Pane.

2. In the Property Pane, click the inthe Allow Long Data IDs value field:

3. Select Yes from the drop-down list.

To disable long data IDs for your open form

1. Click on the form name in the Form Tree Pane.

2. In the Property Pane, click the inthe Allow Long Data IDs value field.

3. Select No from the drop-down list.

4. If there are any long data IDs in your form, a message will appear asking if you want to change them to short:

  • Click if you want to change the data IDs and the Changing DataID(s) dialog will appear.

  • Click if you do not want to change data IDs. The message will be cleared and the mode change will be canceled.

Maintaining Design 5.1 compatibility

The Maintain Design 5.1 Compatibility option disables all features that are not supported by I-32 Forms Design 5.1 and older versions of the I-32 components required for displaying forms. If your company’s forms applications are not fully compatible with I-32 Forms Design 6.0, you will want to turn this option on so you do not accidentally use options that are not avail­able in your end-user software. If you design forms for both environments, you can turn it on or off as needed. It should always be turned off for XTemplate forms, as some of the 6.0 features are needed for forms used in the Expere environment and will not be available if 5.1 compatibility is enabled.

When 5.1 compatibility is enabled, the following features are turned off:

  • Rotated text

  • Preserve Aspect Ratio property for placeable bitmaps

  • Long data IDs

  • Character Spacing property for data fields

  • 6.0 dot options for lines

  • End cap selection (flat, round, or square) for lines

  • Line thicknesses for dotted and dashed lines

  • Circle fields

  • Barcode fields

  • System text boxes

  • Floating objects

The Maintain Design 5.1 Compatibility option is located in the Property Pane. When Yes is selected, 6.0 features will be disabled for the form you are currently working on. If you switch to 5.1 compatibility while working on a form with 6.0-only features, you will see an error message:

Objects with 6.0 features will be deleted if you click .

You will not see an error message when you switch from 5.1 to 6.0 compatibility, or if you switch from 6.0 to 5.1 and there are no 6.0-only features in your form.

To enable 5.1 compatibility

1. Click the in the Maintain Design 5.1 Compatibility value field.

2. Select Yes from the drop-down list:

  • If there are any long data IDs, a message will appear asking if you want to change them. Click one of the following:

Button Action
To change the data IDs. The Changing DataID(s) dialog will appear so you can make changes.
To abort the mode change without changing the data IDs.

  • If there are 6.0 objects in your form, a message will appear telling you that 6.0 objects will be deleted if you continue. Click one of the following:

Button Action
To change to 5.1 compatibility mode and delete the objects.
To abort the mode change without deleting the objects.
To disable 5.1 compatibility

1. Click the in the Maintain Design 5.1 Compatibility value field.

2. Choose No from the drop-down list.

Changing incompatible data IDs

If your form has long data IDs and you disable the Allow Long Data IDs option or enable Maintain Design 5.1 Compatibility, the long data IDs must be converted to short data IDs before the mode change can be completed. You will see a message asking if you want to change the IDs:

If you select , the Changing DataID(s) dialog box will appear so you can change the incompatible long data IDs to short data IDs. All long data IDs in your form will be listed in the dialog box. You can assign IDs individually, sequentially renumber fields all at once, or select a group of IDs to renumber.

To change incompatible data IDs

1. Select the data field(s) you want to change in the Changing DataID(s) dialog box:

  • To select more than one field, hold down as you select the fields.

  • To select all the fields in the list, click.

  • To view a data field on the form before you change it, select the data field and click .

2. Click for the next ID in sequence or enter an ID of your own.

3. Click the to display the drop-down list:

  • To give your selected data fields the same ID, select Update using this ID for all.

  • To renumber your selected fields starting with the number in the Generate field, select Renumber starting from this ID.

4. Click to see your results in the dialog box.

5. When you finish changing your IDs, click to change the data IDs in your form and close the dialog box.

Compatibility defaults

You can change the default settings for the compatibility options so that new forms are created with the settings you use most often. You can override this setting for individual forms when the need arises.

To set compatibility defaults

1. Open the Tools menu and select Options to display the Options dialog.

2. Click the New Form Defaults tab. The compatibility options are located at the bottom of the dialog box:

  • To enable an option, check the check box.

  • To disable an option, remove the check.

5.1 compatibility must be disabled in order to enable long data IDs.

3. Click to save your settings.