Building rules to show and hide forms

When you add custom forms or tabs, you can show (fully expand) or hide (collapse) the forms when users create and edit object instances. Hiding a form that has user controls to collect optional information can streamline the process of creating an instance from the template. Users can expand a hidden form when needed.

About this task

Rules determine whether forms are shown.

  • If you do not create a rule, the form is shown by default.
  • If you do create a rule, you supply conditions for the "if" part of an if-then-else statement. If the conditions are met, then the form is shown; otherwise, the form is hidden.

Procedure

  1. Edit the template then click its Tabs tab.
  2. Select the form on the Tabs tab then click Add Rule ("if" over lines image).
    The Rule Builder dialog opens.
  3. You create the rule conditions (the "if" part of the statement) at the bottom of the dialog. Select a form attribute, an operator, and a resource for each condition.
    For more information, see:Rule Builder dialog
  4. Click Add to include each condition.
  5. Use the AND and OR operators to build compound conditions. Click Add to include each one.
  6. When the condition is complete, click Save Compound Condition to move it up into the Compound Conditions section of the dialog.
  7. To see your rule as a complete if-then-else statement, and to verify that the logic is correct, click Preview. If you want, you can print the rule.
  8. Click Save and Finish to apply the rule.