The Type control located in the properties panel of a selected control allows us to change the way that control displays and sorts the values it produces or contains.
- String
- Value can contain either numbers or letters. There will not be any rounding to the whole numbers or decimal places and the numbers may not sort correctly within the Forms Manager. This is because it looks at matching values instead of numeric value.
Example of Actual Acres set as a "String" type and sorted using the Forms Manager.
- Date
- When clicked on, the field will expand into a micro calendar selector. Setting this option for date fields also helps the sorting accuracy in the Forms Manager.
- Lat/Long
- Latitude and longitude's format can be altered with the lat/long formatting option under Tools>Options>Options Page
- Number
- Only should be used for pure numbers that do not need to be rounded. The main purpose for selecting this instead of the string format is to tell the Forms Manager how to sort the values.
- When a Number control column is sorted using the Forms Manager, it will correctly sort from lowest numeric value to highest numeric value or vice versa.
Example of ActualAcres set as a "Number" Type and sorted using the Forms Manager
- Decimal - Allows you to format a number to be a certain decimal place or length
- Once decimal is selected, another entry field appears called Format.
you can use 0's (zeros), #'s, (.)'s, and (,)'s in the Format field.
Here is an example of how to format your number.
If you wanted to require the text box to contain a number that rounds to the 2nd number behind the decimal (hundredth) and has at least 2 numbers in front of the decimal, then you would want to format the text like this
00.00
That way is some one enters something like this when filling out the form,
1.119
it will appear this way
01.12
If you want larger numbers to show up with commas in them then you would have to define where they go.
So if we just enter
12311 into a text box it will not apply a comma between the 2 and the 3.
In order to format it this way you need to use number (#) signs in the format box.
The number sign is going to be a place holder for a potential number.
Enter the following into the format text box
##,##0
Now when
12311 is entered into the field, it will be formatted like so
12,311
Remember! When using 0's in front of the decimal it will place a zero in that spot if the number doesn't reach reach that number place, when using #'s it acts as just a placeholder for a potential number and wont force a zero to be there if the number is not that big.
See Also: