Variables Settings Editor
The Variables Settings Editor is opened by clicking the Edit button (pencil icon) in the Variables list of the Step 1: Create Variables panel. |
Name
The name of the variable as it appears in the variable list. Variable names should not start with 'ASF_' (e.g. ASF_discount_rate) because the prefix 'ASF_' is reserved for system use. See “Autofill Forms” for the list of ASF_ variables
Display Name
The name of the variable as displayed for the shopper, i.e. the form field label.
Type
Describes the type of information to be entered in the form field. Choose a variable type from the drop-down list: Short Text, Long Text, Formatted Text, Image, Number, Checkbox, Date, List, Divider, Button Bar, etc. See “Type Specific Tab” for more information about these variable types.
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1 Short text variable used as condition for (2) 2 List variable with list items dependent on (1) 3 Check box variables with text condition 4 Check box variable 5 Divider with dashes 6 Divider with ‘=’ characters |
Each type has its own specific settings. See “Type Specific Tab” for more information.
General Tab
These settings are the same for all variable types.
Required
Select if the field must be filled by the shopper. If selected, a warning icon with tooltip is generated if the field is left empty.
Visible
The form field can be hidden from the shopper with only the value entered by the administrator being visible. A complex variable that uses the value of another variable may not need to be visible.
Prefix
The text you enter here is placed before the variable (if filled), e.g. a currency unit.
Suffix
The text you enter here is placed after the variable (if filled), e.g. a measurement unit.
User Info (help)
The text you enter here is displayed as a Help tool tip when the shopper hovers over the form field.
Show in-line
Select this check box to also display the User Info under the form field.
Remove paragraph if var. is empty
Select this check box to remove empty lines and paragraphs if the form field is not filled in.
Type Specific Tab
Each variable type has additional specific settings.
Short Text
The form field can contain one line of text. The style of the text is inherited from the layout and cannot be changed by the shopper. An example of its use is a business card where this variable can be used for entering the first and last name of a person
Max. Characters
The maximum number of characters allowed for the form field.
Show max. length in input form
Select this check box to display the maximum number of allowed characters on the input form.
Text Direction:
Choose a text direction for the text typed in the form field: Inherit, Left to Right, Right to Left
Long Text
The form field can contain several lines of text. The style of the text is inherited from the layout and cannot be changed by the shopper. This variable can be used for entering the address on a business card. The settings are the same as for Short Text, plus the option to set the height of the form field.
Formatted Text
A form field where the shopper can add text and modify fonts and other formatting.
Height
Enter a value to specify the height of the form field in pixels.
Editor Options
Select the options as required to give the shopper more control when entering text in the form field. Some options can only be controlled if they are present in the InDesign document.
•Font: The fonts used in the InDesign source document can be selected.
•Font Size: The font size can be specified in points.
•Font Style: Select this option if different font styles (bold, italic, etc.) were used in the source document.
•Color: The list of colors used in the source document are available for selection.
•Baseline Position: Normal, superscript or subscript
•Alignment: Left, center, right, justification.
•Bullet Lists: provides automatic formatting of bulleted lists.
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Calculated field
A Calculated Field has no input option, and the value for this field can only be set by using an action script in which the return value is calculated. Note that the "Online Editor Actions" license option must be enabled in order to use this field. When this license is available, an additional "Actions" tab will be shown in the variable settings dialog. A Calculated Field variable has an additional "Value" option:
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Make sure that the action script for the "Value" option returns the result at the end of the script. In this example the calculated field returns the value of another "Short Text" variable.
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Image
This variable creates a drop-down list of images on the form that can be clicked to insert an image in the document. Alternatively, users can also click a button to browse for a local file on their computer. See “Add an image variable to a form”.
Number
This form field can only contain a number.
Minimum
The lowest number the shopper can enter in the form field. Example: if the minimum is set to 100 and the shopper enters 59, the value reverts to 100.
Maximum
The highest number the shopper can enter in the form field. Example: if the maximum is set to 1000 and the shopper enters 1500, the value reverts to 1000.
Snap Interval
The interval of the allowed intermediate numbers between the minimum and maximum numbers. If the minimum number is set to 2 and the snap interval to 3, the user is allowed to enter 2,5,8,11,14,etc. Set to “1” if you want to allow all intermediate numbers.
Step Size
The amount that the number increases when using the up and down buttons in the form.
Decimal Separator
Choose a decimal separator for your locale: full stop, comma or leave blank.
Thousands Separator
Choose a thousands separator for your locale: full stop, comma or leave blank.
Precision
Select the number of decimal digits for the number from the drop-down list.
Rounding
Choose an option from the drop-down list (None, Nearest, Up, Down) for rounding off numbers that the shopper enters and which are not allowed.
Checkbox
This variable adds a check box to the input form. If the shopper selects the check box, the line of text is replaced by an alternative line.
For example on a business card, the check box variable could be used to add a check box labeled 'Display country website'. If the shopper selects this option, the URL of the company website is inserted on the business card.
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Checked Value
The value shown on the input form if the check box is selected.
Unchecked Value
The value shown on the input form if the check box is not selected.
NOTE: You cannot leave the Unchecked Value field blank. Type a space if you do not want anything to be displayed if the check box is not selected.
With the Checkbox variable you can also use the Insert Text Condition. See “Insert Text Condition”.
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Date
The shopper will be able to choose a date on a pop-up calendar and insert it in the document.
Display format
You can specify your own format using D (day), M (month) and Y (year) and the separator of choice. The date is always expressed with numerals. For example, 5 October 2016:
/MM/DD/YYYY generates 10/05/2016
D-M-YY generates 5-10-16
/MM/DD/YYYY generates 10/05/2016
D-M-YY generates 5-10-16
Start week on Monday
Select to start a week on Mondays in the calendar; otherwise the weeks start on Sunday.
Selectable days in the past
Enter the number of days that the calendar must show in the past; set to “0” if you don’t want to allow days in the past.
Selectable days in the future
Enter the number of days that the calendar must show in the future.
Between
Select a start date and an end date for the calendar.
Disable days
Choose the days that you want to disable in the calendar, e.g. Saturday and Sunday.
List
This variable generates a list. Click the + button to add list items. List items can be deleted (x) or rearranged in the list with the Up and Down buttons.
For example, suppose a company has subsidiaries and when creating a business card, a shopper has to insert the address of one of these subsidiaries. You can define a list that contains the names of all of the subsidiaries and their addresses. When a user selects a subsidiary in the form, the corresponding address is inserted on the business card. Each address is a list item and the address is entered in the Value box as shown in the following example. You can also define a condition to only show certain addresses depending on the country the shopper has entered:
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Name
The label of the list item in the form.
Value (optional)
An optional value that’s resolved when the list item is selected by the shopper.
Only show when
You can choose an existing variable in this drop-down list and use it as a condition to display specified list items.
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Include Empty Item
Select this check box if the user is allowed not to choose from the available list items. The list will then contain a blank line which the shopper can select to indicate none of the available choices is appropriate and avoid empty lines.
Allow multiple items to be selected
Displays all the list items (that fulfill the optional condition) in a list with check boxes. The shopper can select one or more list items on the form. If this option is not selected, the list items are displayed in a drop-down list.
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Concatenation Prefix/Suffix
Enter a prefix or suffix to join list items. For example 2 hard returns as a suffix to separate resolved variables.
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Color/Paragraph Style/Character Style/Font
Allow for selection (and in some cases modification) of resource items. Note that these input types are mostly used by actions and do not offer a lot of control over use throughout the document.
Coordinate
Coordinate variables are presented to the user as an input of a measurement unit. The unit (mm, in, inch, pt, etc.) can be added to the input and will be converted to the unit that was selected for your storefront or for your account in StoreCenter (Imperial, Metric or US Customary). Basic calculations can also be executed with this variable, typing in e.g. 50+30 will result in 80 mm. This type of variable is mostly used in action scripts.
Divider
Places a blank space on the form — not in the document — and can be used to group form fields or enhance the layout. You must leave the Display Name field blank or type a series of dashes or ‘=’ characters to create a line. Use the arrow buttons to position the divider or dividers in the list of variables.
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Button Bar
A Button Bar variable consists of one or more variable items and each variable item represents a button on a Button Bar on the form, not in the document; a different action can then be defined for each button. The buttons can be used to enhance the usability of the form: for example, a Clear All button to empty all the input fields, or a Page button to jump to a specific page in a document. See “Add a button bar to a form”.
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