Welcome to the Spoken tutorial on LibreOffice Base.
In this tutorial on Complex Forms, we will learn about
* Building a complex form And modifying the form
In the previous tutorial, we learnt how to enter data using forms and how to modify a form using LibreOffice Base.
In this tutorial, let us learn about building a complex form.
Let us first invoke the LibreOffice Base program, if it's not already open
And open our Library database.
If Base is already open, then we can open the Library database from here by clicking Open under File menu
or by clicking Recent Documents under File menu
Let us design a new form that will help us track the books, issued to the Library members.
Let us see how we can design this form as shown in the screen image.
Let us go to the LibreOffice Base main window, and click on the Forms icon in the Database list on the left panel
And then click on 'Use Wizard to create form'.
This opens the Forms window and the now familiar wizard on top.
We have already gone through this wizard in detail, so we will proceed quickly with it now.
In Step 1, Field Selection, let us choose 'Tables:BooksIssued' from the drop down box beneath the label that says Tables or queries.
Let us move all the fields from the left to the right, by using the double arrow button. <pause>
Let's click on Next.
This is Step 2, but we will skip this step for now, and click on the next button at the bottom.
We are in step 5 now. Let us choose the first arrangement 'Columnar – Labels Left' and click on the Next button.
Let us skip Step 6 also by clicking on the Next button
Step 7, let us choose Ice blue, and click on the Next button
In step 8, let's name the form as 'Books Issued to Members' <pause>
and click on the 'Modify the form' option.
Next click on the Finish button.
Notice that the wizard popup window is gone and we are looking at the form design window.
Here, we are going to make some modifications before we use the form for data entry.
Let us first Ungroup all the elements we see on the form.
We are doing this so that we can edit the properties of individual elements on the form easily.
To ungroup all the form elements in one shot, we need to first select all the form elements.
To do this, let us first open up the Form Design toolbar
by clicking on the View menu at the top, then click on Toolbars and then click on Form Design.
In this toolbar, let us click once on the mouse pointer icon which is the first and the leftmost icon.
We will call this as the Select icon from now on.
This is used for selecting form elements by clicking and dragging.
Now, let us click on the top left of the form and drag it diagonally to the bottom right.
You will now see a rectangle with alternating black and white lines.
Let’s make sure, all the form elements are inside this rectangle.
We will use this way repeatedly, to select groups of form elements.
Now we see that all these elements are encased in small green boxes.
Now whatever action we do here, will affect all the elements inside this area, uniformly.
Now let us move the mouse pointer on any label here,
Notice that the mouse pointer looks like a plus sign over labels and text boxes.
So let us right click over a label and click on Group at the bottom and click on 'Ungroup'.
Let us now type a heading that will sit above all the form elements.
For this, let us push down the form elements and then centre them within the form.
So first let us press the down arrow key about seven times.
Then press the right arrow key about 14 times.
Notice that this moves all the selected form elements towards the right and the centre of the form.
Now let us bring the cursor to where we need to type the heading.
To do this, let us click on the top left of the form window area,
And press the enter key twice,
Then press the tab key four times and then type 'Form to track Books Issued to Members'.
Now as we click on the individual labels and text boxes, we see that these elements are selected or highlighted individually.
Okay, next, let us rename the BookId and MemberId labels on the form.
We can do this, by double clicking on BookId label, which opens up the now familiar Properties window.
Against label, type in Book Title.
Now let us click on the MemberId label on the form.
Notice that the Properties window has refreshed and again here, we will type in 'Member Name' against Label.
As we press the tab key, we will notice the new label changes on the form.
Next, let us change the font sizes of these elements now.
Again let us select all the elements.
We will use the click, drag and drop method.
And now, we will double click on any label which in turn will open the Properties window.
Let us scroll down to find Font and click on the square button on its right.
In the new popup window, let us click on Bold and click on size 8,
And let us click on the Ok button.
Notice that the font has changed to Bold and size 8 across the form now.
Next, let us move all the form elements to the centre of the window.
For this, we will select all the elements.
Now let us click and drag on any label, toward the centre of the form design window.
Now let us, save the form.
And close this window. To see how our form looks like now.
let us go to the Base main window, and double click on the 'Books Issued to Members' form on the right panel.
This opens the form which is ready for data entry use.
Now, in this form, we see some sample data.
And against book title and member name, we see some numbers,
Which are really primary numbers in the Books and Members table, but not very friendly values.
Which would you like to see real names and book titles.
And, how do we do this?
One way is to add a form control called List box.
We will see how to add and use a list box and other form controls in the next tutorial.
This brings us to the end of this tutorial on Complex Forms in LibreOffice Base
To summarize, we learned about: Building a complex form and Modifying the form
Spoken Tutorial Project is a part of the Talk to a Teacher project, supported by the National Mission on Education through ICT, MHRD, Government of India. This project is co-ordinated by http://spoken-tutorial.org. More information on the same is available at the following link.
This Script has been contributed by Priya Suresh, DesiCrew Solutions. And this is Soundharya, DesiCrew Solutions, signing off. Thanks for joining