FormStamp

The FormStamp component in FormFusion is where you design the graphical layout of your form. It is a "what-you-see-is-what-you-get" editor, where you create areas of text, draw lines and shapes, insert pictures (logos, signatures, watermarks, etc.), and add data field objects from either the input file or from a database. A template can have any number of FormStamps. You can designate certain FormStamps to print only on the front or back side of a page, or to be added on top of another FormStamp based on certain conditions (conditional printing at the FormStamp level). By default, all FormStamps are applied to each page of the input file as it is processed. You also have the option of designating a FormStamp to print on a new page, which allows you to have multiple pages of output for each page in the input file.

Image of the plain text input file + the template in FormFusion = the final output with the template applied to the data.

Adding a FormStamp to the Template

To add a FormStamp, right click on the print parameter and go to New -> FormStamp.

Adding a new FormStamp. The right-click menu is shown for a print parameter selected in the process tree. New and form stamp is selected.

Give the FormStamp a descriptive name (Front Side, Back Side, File Copy, etc.).

Renaming the FormStamp. The form stamp name is highlighted so that it may be edited.

Note: if you will be printing FormStamps on top of each other or using them to insert new pages, the FormStamp order does matter, since FormStamps are processed sequentially from top to bottom, alphabetically according to their names. To reorder the FormStamps, change the names so that they are alphabetical in the order that you want them.

Double click on the FormStamp to open the editor in the main window.

Toolbars

When a FormStamp is open, you will see five FormStamp-specific toolbars at the top of the screen:

Alignment Tools

The alignment tools allow you to position objects relative to one another. Select the first object, hold down the Shift key, and then select one or more additional objects. When you use the alignment tool, the additional objects will be adjusted relative to the first object you selected.

The alignment toolbar. The buttons on this toolbar are explained in the table below.

Icon	Description
	Toggle the alignment guidelines. Alignment guides display blue lines when moving an object to help you position it relative to the other objects on the form.
	Align selected objects by their bottom edge.
	Align selected objects by their left edge.
	Align selected objects by their right edge.
	Align selected objects by their top edge.
	Align selected objects with each other horizontally.
	Align selected objects with each other vertically.
	Force selected objects to intersect. This is a fast way to join two line segments precisely.
	Force selected objects to meet at a point. This is a fast way to join two line segments precisely.
	Lock selected object in place to prevent it from being moved accidentally. Locked objects will not move when dragged or aligned using the alignment tools.

Note: Many of the alignment tools are only available when you have more than one object selected.

You can also use the mouse to select multiple objects at once. Click on the FormStamp in an area that has no objects, then drag the cursor around some objects to "rubber-band" them together. Objects selected in this manner will align to the most extreme object-- for instance, when aligning left, all objects will be aligned to the object that was furthest to the left.

Drawing Tools

The drawing tools let you add objects to the FormStamp, and adjust some common object properties.

Drawing toolbar. The tools on this toolbar are described in the table below.

Icon	Description
	Change draw mode to select objects
	Deselect all selected objects
	Change draw mode to draw lines
	Change draw mode to rectangle objects
	Change draw mode to draw line grids
	Change draw mode to text objects
	Change draw mode to RTF objects
	Change draw mode to HTML objects
	Draw a pre-defined data field object
	Change draw mode to image objects
	Fill Color
	Text Color
	Line Color
	Change the width of a line, rectangle, or grid object.

To edit the properties of an object, double-click on the object.

Formatting Tools

These options are only available to objects that do not allow you to apply different formatting within the object. To change formatting for text in an RTF or HTML object, double-click on the object to open it and use the formatting tools in the Object Properties dialog.

Text style toolbar. The tools on this toolbar are described in the table below.

Icon	Description
	Turn on or off bolding of text
	Turn on or off italicizing of text
	Turn on or off underlining of text
	Align text to the left
	Center text
	Align text to the right

Applying formatting to an object formats all text within that object.

View Tools

Preview tools toolbar. The tools on this toolbar are described in the table below.

Icon	Description
	Turn on or off the display of grid lines to help you lay out the form.
	Turn on or off snapping of objects to grid. If snapping is on, when you move an object it will naturally align to the gridlines.
	Zoom. Select a percentage you would like to zoom to for scaling the FormStamp work environment.
	Toggle data preview. With preview off, you will only see the names of the FormStamp objects. With preview on, FormFusion pulls sample data from the sample input file in MapForm to show how the data will appear on the form. If some of the data comes from CaptureForm queries, the preview shows you whatever data you entered in the "Sample" field for that variable.
	Refresh the preview, if you loaded a new input file in MapForm.
	Enter the page number from the sample input file that you would like to use in the preview.
	Preview previous page
	Preview next page

FormStamp Topics

Working with FormStamp Objects

Related Topics