Forming Up Your Genealogy--Part 10

When you find a form you want to reproduce, you need to study it carefully to see how it was put together. Reverse engineering a document is standard practice in producing documents. It's frequently a good learning method. In the case of the family group form I've been talking about, I'm going to walk you through the reverse engineering.

Page Setup
If you displayed the family group form and then displayed the Page Setup dialog, it would look like this sample.

I've sent the margins very close to the edge of the paper: Top 0.25" and Bottom, Left, and Right 0.5" each. When you create a form, you want to use as much of the page area as possible. 

This layout assumes that I'm going to put my contact info in the body of the document. If I were going to put contact info in a header (or footer), the top margin (or bottom) would need to be large enough to accommodate a logo and text. In addition, I would make changes on the Layout tab to handle the header or footer. If you need to know more about these tabs, see this post: Setting up a Book Template Part 1. 

Setting Up Tables

In looking at the sample, the tables (12 of them) are set up as separate tables. The husband table has five columns and seven rows, while the wife table has five columns and six rows. Each child table has five columns and eight rows. Most of the tables are separated by one empty line using a style called spacer (3 point font with 1 point before). You need to create this style. See the Styles Posts for more information. 

If you look at the sample form, you can see where table cells were merged and formatted in an effort to create some interest and make the form attractive. 

If you need help setting up tables, see the table series of posts: Table Posts. 

When you add the 12 tables to your document, I suggest that you create the husband, wife, and child 1 tables first. Add the fields in each of the three tables (see the previous posts for details on adding fields). Double-click each field and edit the properties based on the the type of field. Copy and paste the Child 1 table nine times and update child number in the first column of each table. 

When completing the Child tables, leave the last name blank. We're going to add an automatic cross-reference that will allow your form user to type the husband's last name and then add that last name to each child table in the Last Name field. 

Setting Up the Automatic Surname Fields

In the Husband table, in the Last Name field, when you edit this form field, it should have some special settings. Double-click the form field to display the Text Form Field Options dialog.

To complete properties: 

1. Complete the Type form field group as shown above. 
2. In the Field setting group, edit the Bookmark to give it a logical name. For example, enter FamilyName or Surname or Last_Name. Notice that the text is an unbroken string. Remember that bookmarks can't have spaces. 
3. Confirm that Fill-in enabled is selected. 
4. Click the check box beside Calculate on exit. Selecting this last check box will cause the form to update cross-references (which you will be adding next) when the user of the form presses Tab to move to the next field in the form. 
5. Click the OK button and save your form. 

To add cross-references: 

1. Click in the Last Name field of the Child 1 table. 
2. Insert a cross-reference to the bookmark you set up in the properties dialog.
   --In Word 2007/2010, click the Reference tab, and select Cross-reference in the Captions group.
   --In Word 2003, select, Insert, Reference, and then Cross-reference.
   The Cross-reference dialog appears. 
3. In Reference type, Bookmark should be selected.
4. In Insert reference to, select Bookmark text.
5. In For which bookmark, select the bookmark you set up. 
6. Click Insert. 
7. Repeat these steps in the Last Name field for each Child table. 

Testing Your Form

1. Save your form. 
2. Enforce protection.
3. Save your form as a template.
4. Close everything. 
5. Relaunch Word.
6. Open the template (form) you saved and fill in the form. (You're playing the part of end user of your form.)
7. Use the Tab key to move from field to field. 
8. Notice that when you complete the husband's last name, the name is added as each child's last name. 
9. Congratulations on completing your first form! Be sure to save it. 

Future Posts
I'll start looking at other forms and tell you how I would put them together.

Forming Up Your Genealogy--Part 9

Click the graphic to see a larger version.

Click Esc to return to this post.

When you think about creating a form you have lots of planning to do. It's easiest if you start with a paper version of the form. The family group sheet shown above is a common type of form for a genealogist. You can find lots of examples of similar forms.

If you can't find a sample form to see what somebody else has done, you should take a piece of paper and do a rough sketch of what you think you want. After you have a paper version, you can make a list of the types of information that you want to collect and relate the info type to a fillable form field type. In the case of the family group sheet, I want to collect names, genders, dates, and places.

• Name is going to be a text form field. I can add formatting that causes the system to capitalize the first letter of any name enter automatically. I'm also going to want to have the field length be about 40 characters for the first and middle name and 40 characters for the last name. 
• Gender is going to be a check box form field with three selections: male, female, unknown. I could have users select gender from a drop-down list; however, for space considerations, I might want to have all options visible on one line. 
• Date is going to be a text form field with date formatting applied. Date formatting means that the user of the form will need to enter a real date. In the case of my form, they need to enter d MMM yyyy as in 1 January 2012. 
• Place is going to be a text form field with conditions that are similar to what I would apply for a name.

Since this is a family group sheet, the children are all going to have their father's last name. When I add the name text form field for the husband's last name, I can set it up so that it is used as a bookmarked cross reference and complete the last name for each of the children automatically.

I'm also going to want to add contact information and page numbering. I can put that at the top of the form or the bottom...inside or outside of a header or footer. I've used all of these configurations depending on the form and what I was trying to achieve. If you're a professional, you might want to create electronic letterhead that you can use for forms as well as other documents.

In subsequent posts, we're going to look at the selections I made to create the sample family group sheet, including layout, tables, and forms. In addition, I'll tell you how to set up the naming bookmarked cross reference.

I found that constructing the family group sheet sample was tedious. However, once I had it perfected, I saved it as a template and used it again and again. So while the initial construction is painful, the time and trouble it saves me on the back end is considerable.

So start thinking about the types of information you want to collect and how that information relates to fillable form fields and how you might want to present that information to a user in a form...and remember that user might be you!

P.S. If you'd like a copy of the family group sheet form, please email me at info@technology-tamers.com. If you have the Word version, you can display the properties, etc. to reverse engineer the form.

Forming Up Your Genealogy--Part 5 Text Form Field

You can add three different types of form fields. Each type has a specific use, which is reflected in choices you make in its associated properties. You need to understand the use for each type to plan your form effectively. 

A text box form field is used to collect information like a name, place, or date. Your form user clicks in the field and types an answer in the field.

A check box form field is added beside an entry in a list. For example, you might add a check box beside a place name list (Sparta, Blair, Chester, Houston, Steeleville). Your user clicks the check box beside one or more of the correct entries. 

A drop-down list form field is added with a list of acceptable answers. For example, you might add a gender list  (Male, Female, Unknown). Your user clicks to display a drop-down list and selects one option from the list of available answers. 

We are going to look at the properties for each type of field, starting with the text form field. 

Insert Text Form Field

1. Click in the place in the document, where you want your reader to answer a question. For example, you might have text in the document that says:
   What is your name?
   Click after the question mark and press the space bar to add one space.
2. Insert the text form field
   --Click the Developer tab.
   --In the Controls group, click the Legacy Tools button.
   --Click the Text Form button. A small gray square appears in your document.

Adjust Properties

1. Right-click in the gray square and a pop-up menu appears. 
2. Select Properties. The Text Form Fields Options dialog appears. 
3. In the Type field, select a type: Regular Text, Number, Date, Current date, Current time, Calculation. Since you're adding a name field, select Regular Text. If you were asking for a date, you would pick Date. 
4. In Default text, enter instructions. For example, enter: Enter Name. A user will be able to replace this text. 
5. In Maximum length, enter a number. For example, enter 40 to allow a 40 character name. If you leave the control set at Unlimited, your user will be able to enter paragraphs...which you may want if you are collecting another sort of info. 
6. In Text format, select an option: uppercase, lowercase, first capital, or title case. For a name, select first capital. 
7. Skip Run macro on fields. A macro is off topic for these posts.
8. Skip Bookmarks fields. We'll talk further about bookmarks later. They have an interesting use.
9. Click OK. 

That's it for this first field. You can't do much with the fields until we start enforcing protection. So just hang in with me while I explain how to set up each field. Next, we'll look at the check box form field.