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Most important terms
- Form
- A window provided for easy entry, editing, and presentation of data.
- Form's data source
- The database table or query providing data to be displayed in the form. Forms are only tools for displaying, entering and editing data, while tables and queries are the source of such data. New, empty forms with no data source assigned do not display any data until you assign a data source to them.
- Form field
- The direct equivalent of a column in a table or query. Most frequently used are fields for displaying text and numbers. Entering a new value or changing an existing value of such a field causes a change in the bound table or query column after accepting the change.
- Form design
- Tasks you perform to define the appearance and functions of the form. Typically you need to insert form fields of various types, place them in the appropriate position, and provide a data source.
- Form widget
- A form element. The main widget types are:
- Widgets displaying information, e.g. a text box or an image box. A widget of this type can be bound to a data source field (a table or a query column). Therefore such widgets are generally called fields.
- Widgets able to perform a specified action, e.g. a push button that can close the current form. Within other applications this widget type is sometimes called form control because it can perform previously defined actions controlling the behaviour of your database application.
- Other widgets allow enriching a form's appearance, e.g. a “line widget" can visually separate two form areas, a "label widget" can contain information for the form user.
- Container widget
- A widget that can contain other widgets within its area. For example, frame widgets or tab widgets are containers. The form's surface itself is a container as well. A command button cannot be called a container because it is not possible to insert another widget inside it. In more complex cases, container widgets can be nested inside another container.
