Creating List Forms in RecordsManager

Use list forms to control how data is presented to users in tabular form when they use your app. You can define various different list forms to give the user maximum customizability in how they want to view the data.

Flexible options give you granular control to create useful views for the data in your app.

How does it work?

For each list form you can define exactly which columns of data to display, how the data is sorted, what filters to apply, and how the data should be grouped, if a hierarchical display of the data would be useful to the end user.

The following sequences demonstrate how easy it is to create various views using list forms in RecordsManager. Each animation shows the steps of designing the list form and is shown next to the resulting list form as viewed by end users using a sample app for managing legal contracts.

Creating a new list form by specifying fields and layout:

To create a new list form, you start out with picking the data fields you want to display. The layout of each list form is defined within a table, which you can structure according to how you want to display the records. Simply select the fields to show in the columns of the table (or add alternative content). You can easily add a second row for each record and display optional content, like a description in that second row. Then, adjust the width and styling of each column as desired.

In this example a list form is created to display each department in the database along with its company and description in a table with columns sized automatically based on the content. As a last step, give the new form a name and save it.

Embedded forms for child elements

In many applications you will find the need to structure data in a parent-child relationship. List forms in Altova RecordsManager give you the ability to use child list forms directly within parent list forms to show child elements embedded within the parent list view.

This example shows how to create a list form for child records for persons working in a particular department, and then how to embed that in a parent list form to build a view of Departments with their respective Persons nested underneath.

Grouping

As you're designing a list form, you can group records on the basis of fields to make ready-made, convenient views for users, and you can group by multiple levels (max. 3).

This example shows the creation of a new list form to display Persons grouped by Company and Department. You'll notice the form was started by copying an existing list form as a jumpstart and then adding an additional column to display the email address, followed by adding grouping by two levels: Company and Department.

Jump to

When a data container contains many records, it can be useful to provide users with a jump to field, which allows them to enter a few characters to quickly scroll to the desired record in the respective list view that they are using. When configuring the jump to feature you can choose the kind of look-up (begins with or contains the characters) and whether to search all fields or only those that you specify.

List forms automatically come with built-in flexible search capabilities. It's easy to narrow the display of your list using a simple search that searches all fields for a string of text or a detailed search in a specific field. The fields being offered for a detailed search are, of course, the same ones that your picked to build the list form in the first place.

What's Next

Learn about other types of forms supported by RecordsManager:

  • Data entry forms: allow efficient management of user access and data entry
  • Report forms: help you design attractive reports of records in a specific data container
  • Export forms: allow you to define data fields available for users to export app data to XML and/or CSV
  • Reminder forms: let you define email reminders that will be sent to users from your app

Get Started with RecordsManager

RecordsManager is a free, pre-built MobileTogether solution that is available for you to start using when you install MobileTogether Designer. Use the link below to download and install the free Altova MobileTogether Designer to get started on your first RecordsManager app.