Public Member Functions |
void | Dispose () |
| Performs application-defined tasks associated with freeing, releasing, or resetting unmanaged resources.
|
override string | ToString () |
| Returns a string representation of the instance.
|
Properties |
string | Caption [get, set] |
| Gets/Sets the caption of the DataField.
|
string | Comment [get, set] |
| Gets/Sets the comment of the DataField.
|
bool | Criteria [get, set] |
| Gets/Sets a flag indicating whether this DataField should be used as a criteria for a print-job.
|
int | CriteriaColumn [get, set] |
| Gets/Sets the criteria column of the DataField.
|
string | CriteriaFormat [get, set] |
| Gets/Sets the criteria format of the DataField.
|
string | DefaultValue [get, set] |
| Gets/Sets the default value of the DataField.
|
string | Description [get, set] |
| Gets/Sets the description of the DataField.
|
string | DisplayOrder [get, set] |
| Gets/Sets the display order of the DataField.
|
string | Name [get, set] |
| Gets/Sets the name of the DataField.
|
DataField | Next [get] |
| Gets the next DataField defined in the Project.
|
DataFieldType | Type [get, set] |
| Gets/Sets the type of the DataField.
|
string | ValidationMessage [get, set] |
| Gets/Sets the validation message of the DataField.
|
string | ValidationRule [get, set] |
| Gets/Sets the validation rule of the DataField.
|
Provides access to DataField information.
Overview
A
DataField is a place-holder for dynamic content in a
FormLayout. One
FormLayout can use an arbitrary number of DataFields (0..n).
TFORMer Designer requires that a
DataField is defined before it can be used. This definition takes place directly in the
FormLayout (in the case of a stand-alone
FormLayout) or in a user-defined
Project (or the
GlobalProject ) of a
Repository.A
DataField can be printed as text, as bar-code or may be used to provide the filename for image elements in the
FormLayout. Besides this, a
DataField can be used in element expressions and printing conditions.
Data Type
The type of a
DataField influences its use in expressions within a
FormLayout and the conversion method when reading a
DataField from a
JobData. 3 different data types are supported:
- Text
A text (string or character). This is the recommended DataFieldType!
- Long
An integer number. When reading a DataField of this type from a JobData it is converted automatically to an integer. In case of conversion errors the result is 0 (no error or exception will be raised).
- Float
A floating point number. When reading a DataField of this type from a JobData it is converted automatically to a floating point number. In case of conversion errors the result is 0 (no error or exception will be raised).
- Invalid
Invalid, internal use only.
Naming Conventions
The name of a
DataField must comply with JavaScript rules for valid identifiers (see
Naming Rules). In short a name must begin with a letter or an underscore. Within the name letters, underscores and digits are allowed. Special characters (e.g. white spaces, tabs, hyphens, German Umlauts, ...) are invalid.Usually
DataField names are not suitable for representing them to end-users. Refer to additional properties like Caption, Description, Comment and DisplayOrder for such purposes.
Data Field Values
For printing a
FormLayout it is required to provide the
DataField values via
JobData. When a
JobData is used to pass data to
TFORMer SDK and a
DataField is not set by this
JobData the value of the
DataField will be an empty string ("") or 0 (see also
JobData.ReuseValues).
Data Field Default Values
The DefaultValue is the standard value of a
DataField. The DefaultValue is only used by
TFORMer Designer.
Validating DataFields
Use ValidationRules for validating values for
DataField objects.ValidationRules are expressions which are used to check if the value of a
DataField meets a certain criteria. Whenever a
DataField value violates the assigned ValidationRule an error message is displayed (in
TFORMer Designer) or an exception is raised (
TFORMer SDK).
DataField Enumeration
In order to programmatically access the DataFields in a
FormLayout you may either use the method
Project.GetDataField or you may iterate through all available
DataField objects using
Project.FirstDataField and
DataField.Next. If you want to know, whether the returned
DataField is actually used in the
FormLayout use the method
FormLayout.GetDataFieldUsage.To determine if a specific
DataField is used in a
FormLayout iterate all data-fields of the
Project and query the usage:
for (DataField field = project.FirstDataField; field != null; field = field.Next)
{
DataFieldUsage usage = formlayout.GetDataFieldUsage(field.Name);
if (usage == DataFieldUsage.Normal)
{
Console.WriteLine(field.Name);
}
}
- Attention:
- The DataField is only valid as long as it is available in the Project. If it is removed from the Project all instances of the DataField immediately become invalid.
- Note:
- Thread-safety: A single instance of this class must not be used by different threads.