SO YOU WANT TO CREATE A FORM

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The NIH Electronic Forms Users' Group will gladly accept forms created by others to place on our web site provided they meet our criteria. For your information, we are providing step by step instructions on how we create forms that meet our criteria. The same steps apply no matter what software package you use.

• Obtain an Official Original of the form you wish to produce. Get this from the originating office or let us know and we can obtain a copy of any Official Numbered form from the NIH Forms Office for you and will FAX it to you.
• Create a new layout.
• Give the form a name as follows and limit this name to 8 characters plus the extension identifying the software.
  2 digit prefix identifying either the ICD or NIH, PHS, SF, etc. (see Form Names)

  Official number of the form. Do not use dashes, slashes, or spaces. If a dash or slash is required, use an underline.

  Extension identifying the software

  .FP3 - FileMaker Pro

  .FRP - FormFlow

• Turn on or off the following:

  FileMaker Pro

  • Turn off AUTOGRID in ARRANGE.
  • Turn on GRAPHIC RULERS in SHOW.
  • Turn on SIZE in SHOW to get a size window.
  • Turn on TEXT BOUNDARIES in SHOW.
  • Remove the built in header and footer. MODE and PART SETUP. A window will appear. Highlight HEADER and DELETE, and DELETE highlight FOOTER and DELETE, and DELETE then DONE. Headers and footers will be accomplished using fields.
  • Resize the body by clicking on the BODY button and sliding the button down until you see the dotted line indicating the bottom of the page.
  • Display your tools by clicking on the icon at the bottom of the screen that looks something like a calendar. Your tools will appear on the left of the form.
• Measure the printed section of your form and draw a boundary block, by clicking on the square in your tools, on the layout with the same measurements then clicking and pulling the square on the form layout. Resize the block to match the measurements of the print on the form by entering the print measurements in the size window. This will give you the boundaries in which you must create your form. It will also help you to line up your text on the left side.
• Measure the top and left side margins and use these measurements to place your boundary block on the page. You now have the margins for your form.
• Create your first text block.
  • Look at your form and find the top left text block of the form.
  • Measure this block and create a smaller boundary block on the layout with the same measurements.
  • Place this smaller boundary block in position to give you the boundary for the text and fields of your first text block.
  • Enter your text. We restrict fonts to the following because all computers convert them well. If you use a different font, you are risking the form's ability to be used on another platform.
    IBM - Arial & Times Roman

    Mac - Helvetica & Times

    If your text contains a question number or letter, the number or letter must be in a separate text block usually sized at .15, .25, or .30 inches wide. This ensures that the question numbers and the question texts line up.

    Every line of text must be in a separate text block which is then moved up against the block above. This may sound like the hard way to do it and you may ask why you can't simply type and use a return. We must insist on this method because the spacing around the letters is different between the IBM and Mac platforms and this locks your text into place so it doesn't shift on the opposite platform.

    Stretch your text block at least 1/4 inch longer than the print requires. This allows space for the text to spread to the right (especially if you are creating a form on the Mac and want to use it on the IBM).

    Create the fields you need and move them into place. We restrict field names to 10 characters because of truncation problems in some computers and software. We have set up a system of abbreviated words to use in our field names which is provided and updated (See Field Names).

• Underline and Boxes

  If your field is in a page of printed text (i.e., an agreement) and needs to be underlined or is a box, use your borders, try not to draw a separate line.

  If your field is in an official form with a grid pattern which has lines drawn horizontally and vertically, do not use your borders for lines unless your field is a box.

  Always set the border width and drawn lines at hairline.

• Check Boxes - Do not use check boxes. If you convert to different software in the future your data may not be importable because check boxes are treated as a graphic rather than data. If you need a check box, create a regular field with text centered and showing all 4 borders. The measurement we use is usually .181 high and wide.
• Once you have created your form's first text block, move the small boundary block you used to outline your boundaries to the place where you wish to create your second text block and resize it. Follow the same steps you used to create your form's first text block.
• Draw lines - This may be a good time to begin drawing lines between your form's text blocks if they are required. Continue to draw these lines as you go.
• Print - You may wish to get a printout periodically as you create your form's text blocks to be certain you are sizing things right.
• Headers and Footers - Once you have finished your form's first page, create fields called Header and Footer and place them at the top and bottom of the form. Do this on each page as you go and name these fields with sucessive numbers Header, Header1, Header2, etc. Make the header and footer non-printing and make the text color red.

  FileMaker Pro

  • MODE and LAYOUT
  • Highlight the HEADER and FOOTER fields
  • Select FORMAT and SLIDING/PRINTING
  • Highlight DO NOT PRINT THE SELECTED OBJECTS.
  • Select FORMAT and TEXT COLOR
  • Highlight the red block which is the 4th down

  Form Flow - You must have the Designer software to do this.

  • FILE and DESIGN FORM
  • Highlight the HEADER and FOOTER
  • OBJECT and OPTIONS
  • Highlight Non-Printable
  • FILE and FILL FORM
  • SAVE

  Header - The header is used by us to place a release date which helps the users to determine whether they have the latest version of a form. Every time a form is revised, we change the release date. The header also contains information on approval status.

  Footer - The footer contains special printing instructions (i.e., print back to back, print on color paper, print 3 copies, etc.).

• Non-Printing Text - Anything which does not print is always in red. You may also wish to place non-printing instructions on the form (i.e., to alert the user to calculations, etc.)
• Color paper - If your form is to be printed on color paper, create another non-printing block covering the entire form and move it to the back of your layout. Make this block the same color as the paper you must use. This will help users to instantly know they must put the proper color of paper in their printer. This information is also typed in the footer field so users with black & white monitors will have the same information.
• Remove Boundary Blocks - Now highlight the block you created to serve as your boundary to stay within when creating your form and make its borders None. This block will always be there for you to display in the future if you need it when revising your form but you do not wish it to show once the page has been completed. Also highlight and delete the smaller block you were using to form the boundaries for your text blocks.
• Create the order in which your fields are filled in. Make the Header and Footer the last 2 fields toe filled in.
• Create the next page of your form on a separate layout.

  FileMaker Pro

  • MODE and NEW LAYOUT. You will probably find that all the fields you have created appear in this new layout. Simply remove them by selecting EDIT and SELECT ALL and DELETE. Name the layout Page?of? telling the users which page they are on and how many pages there are. (i.e., FileMaker Pro places the layout name in the button in the upper left hand corner.
  • MODE and LAYOUT SETUP
  • Type Page?of? and OK

  FormFlow does not allow you to name the layout but lists only numbers for pages.

  Do not scroll down to the next page. Different computers and printers will move the pages up and down in the printouts. The only way to ensure the pages do not move is to place them on separate layouts.

• Create Buttons

  FileMaker Pro

  • First you must create a script which tells your button what to do. You may also choose one of the built in scripts such as Print.
    • Choose SCRIPT and SCRIPTMAKER.
    • Type the name of your script under SCRIPT NAME and select CREATE.
    • The form comes with several choices automatically built in. The most frequently used choices are GO TO LAYOUT, PAGE SETUP, AND PRINT. Highlight the others and select CLEAR.
    • If you wish to add others in the window on the left, double click on them to move them to the window on the right. You will have to place them in a logical order by moving them up or down with your cursor by placing it on the arrows to the left.
  • Highlight MODE and LAYOUT
  • In the lower left hand corner of your form you will see 100, 2 windows that look like graphs, and a third window that looks somewhat like a calendar. Select the little calendar until a window appears down the left side of the form that has a flip file that lists the number of layouts and has several windows for drawing, text, color, etc.
  • To create a button, select the window that has the hand pushing what looks like a button. Go to your form and click your mouse button and drag the cursor to draw your button. Now type the label you wish on your button. We prefer that the label be in green print so highlight the text and select FORMAT and TEXT COLOR and the 5th green up from the bottom, then FORMAT, STYLE, and BOLD.
  • Now highlight the button, select FORMAT and BUTTON, then select the script you wish to assign to that button.
• Create Print Button

  FileMaker Pro

  • Copy the green printer icon from any other form on this web site.
    • Open that Form
      • Highlight SELECT and LAYOUT
      • Select the printer icon and copy it.
    • Open the form you are creating.
      • Click the cursor near the spot where you want the icon to be. We prefer the upper right hand corner.
      • Paste the printer icon and move it into position.
  • Create the print script (program).
    • Select SCRIPTS and SCRIPT MAKER.
    • Enter the Script Name and CREATE. We prefer to call this script Print.
    • Select CLEAR ALL and double click on PRINT [ ] under Additions.
    • Select PERFORM WITHOUT DIALOG.
  • Define the Button.
    • Select the printer icon and highlight SCRIPTS and DEFINE BUTTON.
    • Select PERFORM SCRIPT and PRINT under SPECIFY.
• Create the Warning message

  FileMaker Pro

  • If this is an officially recognized form, make sure this message appears in the right hand side of each form under the print icon. Simply copy it as you did the printer icon. We use this because people may not be aware that they can not make changes in official forms without authorization.
• Turn on or off the following:

  FileMaker Pro

  • Turn off SHOW and GRAPHIC RULERS.
  • Turn off SHOW and SIZE to get rid of the size window.
  • Resize the body by clicking on the BODY button and sliding the button up until it meets the last item at the bottom of the form. The dotted line should not be showing. If it is, you will get a blank page with each printout.
  • Leave the tools showing. This can be used to move between the records when filling out forms.
• Once you have finished your form, send us a copy for evaluation. We will spell check it and have it manually proofed.