Lasernet Form Editor 9 is an application where you can design and maintain forms using DataSet, CSV, EDI, TXT, XLS or XML as input formats. It can enrich this data by applying rearranges with font types, inserting a text, barcodes, charts, images, shapes or overlays created in the Microsoft Office package. In the following exercises, it is proposed to focus on XML as an input format for Lasernet Form Editor 9 to produce great-looking forms.

Download a configuration attached to each article/exercise and import each configuration to Lasernet Developer 9. This article provides an overview to help you import an existing configuration, as well as an introduction to the graphical interface and various tools. In the following exercises, you can use step-by-step instructions on how to use the Lasernet Form Editor 9. For this purpose, we have already completed the work and created configurations with a simple workflow and layout samples in forms.

Lasernet Developer 9

Lasernet Form Editor runs from the Lasernet Developer application providing an environment for configuring modules and workflow rules in Lasernet Server, as well as maintaining and designing forms.

1. Start the Lasernet Developer by clicking the Developer icon on the Lasernet Launcher 9 window.

2. Specify a Server (the name of the computer where you run the training sessions), enter your Username and Password created on your Lasernet Configuration Server and select the Remember me check box to save your credentials, as well as a server. Once you are done, click Connect.

3. To import a configuration you have previously downloaded, click the Import configuration... link on the Start screen.

4. Specify a directory from which you want to add a configuration. To this end, browse your folders to locate the configuration called ‘01. Introduction.lnconfig.’ Once you are done, click Open.

Lasernet Form Engine 9

At least one Form Engine is required in the configuration to enable the Form Editor. A Form Engine can contain as many forms as needed.

Note: The following steps are already applied in the configuration to show you an example of an existing configuration with a Form Engine and some forms.

Below you can find steps applied for adding a Form Engine.

6. On the Tools panel, click Modules.

7. Click the Diagram button to view objects in the diagram mode.

8. On the Object Box panel, switch to the Engine tab.

9. From the list, drag a module named Form to the main window (a big white area).

10. Afterwards, you can edit the Engine name by typing a new name and adding a description. To this end, double-click the Form Engine object. Otherwise, you can press ALT+Enter or right-click the object, and then click Properties.

11. On the General tab of the Form Engine properties dialog, you can define its name.

For the proposed exercises, the focus is on a configuration with one Form Engine only, but multiple Form Engines are supported as well, where each Engine can contain a unique list of forms. This is often an advantage if you want to group several forms for different countries, companies, business, etc.

12. To view a list of existing forms, on the Tools panel, click Forms.

13. To view a list of existing form(s) in reduced-size versions of pictures, click the Thumbnails button.

14. Click the Thumbnails button once (to change the button mode to not-pressed) again to show existing form(s) as a list.

You can select either to edit an existing form or add a new one. Both tools are available on the top toolbar. You can also edit a form by right-clicking its name and then selecting Edit in the context menu that appears, or by double-clicking the form item.

In addition, it is possible to drag an object available in the list of added Form Engine(s) on the Form tab of the Object Box panel to the list of forms in the main window.

Lasernet 9 has a list of rules to recognize forms. It is highly recommended to create a unique criteria matching all forms added to a configuration. As an alternative, a priority match must be added to the properties of a form.

• Forms without a form recognition are neither recognized nor processed.

• If multiple forms are recognized, it is the form with the lowest priority number to be processed. If no priorityis added to a form, the priority number is considered as 0 (zero).

• If several forms are recognized, the forms with the same priority are alphabetically prioritized.

To add/edit a form priority, follow the steps listed below.

15. Right-click a form for which you want to add/edit a priority, and then click Properties on the context menu that appears.

16. In the Form Properties dialog, first, click the Edit button, and then specify a priority value.

User Interface

Performing exercises, you are to use various tools. This section outlines the main elements of the Lasernet Form Editor user interface and introduces ways to use the environment for designing and maintaining forms and reports.

Menu bar (1)

You can access all the functions and options of the application by clicking the various menu items.

Toolbar (2)

The toolbar provides easy access to useful tools such as Save, Print, Cut, Copy, Paste and Undo/Redo. You can drag the toolbar to another location in Lasernet Developer.

Styles and Format Painter (3)

You can use the Styles and Format Painter tools to style and paint properties for rearranges and shapes.

Output Zoom Bar (4)

The output zoom bar lets you control the zoom level for viewing your design. Zoom in for greater details or zoom out to get an overview of your page. You can drag the output zoom bar to another location in Lasernet Developer.

Property Bar (5)

The property bar contains tools and settings for changing font type, size, color and type face. It also contains tools for changing the justification and positioning text boxes. You can drag the property bar to another location in Lasernet Developer.

Developer Toolbar (6)

The developer toolbar provides an easy access to various tools to define criteria, create jobinfos, rearrange input texts, define conditional areas and patterns and insert static texts, lines, shapes, and images into the form design.

Input View (7)

The window where you design your forms is split in two, with a data input view on the left and the actual form design on the right. The left side contains the original data received from the administrative system. The original data is viewed as the ASCII text in rows and columns or as an XML tree structure.

Output View (8)

The right side contains the actual form design with overlays and provides the possibility of placing texts/data, changing fonts and font size.

Page Thumbnails (9)

This panel can be open from the View menu. It shows a preview of all pages in the open form.

Property Editor (10)

This panel can be open from the View menu. It shows all settings for the selected rearrange. Multiple rearranges can be selected to edit multiple properties at the same time.

Sheet Tabs (11)

The sheet tabs are available it the bottom left-hand corner. The number of sheets depends on the number of copies made. Sheets can have different destinations. As you can see on the picture above, there is one more sheet except for the original one. You can open a sheet by clicking the relevant tab. You can add or copy a sheet, as well as access sheet options by right-clicking the sheet tab. The first ten sheets can also be selected by pressing CTRL+1, CTRL+2, etc.

Page tab (12)

There are four tabs in the bottom right-hand corner: First Page, Middle Page, Last Page and Single Page. Using these tabs, you can create a form with different designs according to the number of pages generated for a specific report. You can open a page by clicking the relevant tab. Right-clicking a page tab allows accessing additional page options. Pages can also be selected by pressing ALT+1, ALT+2, ALT+3 and ALT+4.

Status bar (13)

The status bar is located in the bottom left-hand corner of the application window, and it provides information about rows and columns on the input sheet as well as the X and Y coordinates in the form design.