LibreOffice-Suite-Base/C2/Build-a-complex-form-with-form-controls/English-timed

Time	Narration
00:00	Welcome to the Spoken tutorial on LibreOffice Base.
00:04	In this tutorial on Complex Forms, we will learn about:
00:08	* Building a complex form And modifying the form.
00:13	In the previous tutorial, we learnt how to enter data using forms and how to modify a form using LibreOffice Base.
00:22	In this tutorial, let us learn about building a complex form.
00:28	Let us first invoke the LibreOffice Base program, if it's not already open
00:44	and open our Library database.
00:47	If Base is already open, then we can open the Library database from here by clicking Open under File menu
00:57	or by clicking Recent Documents under File menu
01:03	Let us design a new form that will help us track the books, issued to the Library members.
01:12	Let us see how we can design this form as shown in the screen image.
01:18	Let us go to the LibreOffice Base main window, and click on the Forms icon in the Database list on the left panel
01:29	And then click on 'Use Wizard to create form'.
01:34	This opens the Forms window and the now familiar wizard on top.
01:41	We have already gone through this wizard in detail, so we will proceed quickly with it now.
01:49	In Step 1, Field Selection, let us choose 'Tables:BooksIssued' from the drop down box beneath the label that says Tables or queries.
02:02	Let us move all the fields from the left to the right, by using the double arrow button. <pause>
02:10	Let's click on Next.
02:12	This is Step 2, but we will skip this step for now, and click on the next button at the bottom.
02:20	We are in step 5 now. Let us choose the first arrangement 'Columnar – Labels Left' and click on the Next button.
02:30	Let us skip Step 6 also by clicking on the Next button
02:36	Step 7, let us choose Ice blue, and click on the Next button
02:42	In step 8, let's name the form as 'Books Issued to Members' <pause>
02:53	and click on the 'Modify the form' option.
02:57	Next click on the Finish button.
03:00	Notice that the wizard popup window is gone and we are looking at the form design window.
03:07	Here, we are going to make some modifications before we use the form for data entry.
03:15	Let us first Ungroup all the elements we see on the form.
03:22	We are doing this so that we can edit the properties of individual elements on the form easily.
03:31	To ungroup all the form elements in one shot, we need to first select all the form elements.
03:40	To do this, let us first open up the Form Design toolbar
03:46	by clicking on the View menu at the top, then click on Toolbars and then click on Form Design.
03:56	In this toolbar, let us click once on the mouse pointer icon which is the first and the leftmost icon.
04:05	We will call this as the Select icon from now on.
04:11	This is used for selecting form elements by clicking and dragging.
04:18	Now, let us click on the top left of the form and drag it diagonally to the bottom right.
04:26	You will now see a rectangle with alternating black and white lines.
04:32	Let’s make sure, all the form elements are inside this rectangle.
04:38	We will use this way repeatedly, to select groups of form elements.
04:46	Now we see that all these elements are encased in small green boxes.
04:53	Now whatever action we do here, will affect all the elements inside this area, uniformly.
05:02	Now let us move the mouse pointer on any label here,
05:08	Notice that the mouse pointer looks like a plus sign over labels and text boxes.
05:18	So let us right click over a label and click on Group at the bottom and click on 'Ungroup'.
05:28	Let us now type a heading that will sit above all the form elements.
05:35	For this, let us push down the form elements and then centre them within the form.
05:43	So first let us press the down arrow key about seven times.
05:50	Then press the right arrow key about 14 times.
05:57	Notice that this moves all the selected form elements towards the right and the centre of the form.
06:07	Now let us bring the cursor to where we need to type the heading.
06:14	To do this, let us click on the top left of the form window area,
06:21	And press the enter key twice,
06:26	Then press the tab key four times and then type 'Form to track Books Issued to Members'.
06:38	Now as we click on the individual labels and text boxes, we see that these elements are selected or highlighted individually.
06:52	Okay, next, let us rename the BookId and MemberId labels on the form.
07:00	We can do this, by double clicking on BookId label, which opens up the now familiar Properties window.
07:12	Against label, type in Book Title.
07:18	Now let us click on the MemberId label on the form.
07:25	Notice that the Properties window has refreshed and again here, we will type in 'Member Name' against Label.
07:34	As we press the tab key, we will notice the new label changes on the form.
07:43	Next, let us change the font sizes of these elements now.
07:49	Again let us select all the elements.
07:54	We will use the click, drag and drop method.
07:59	And now, we will double click on any label which in turn will open the Properties window.
08:08	Let us scroll down to find Font and click on the square button on its right.
08:18	In the new popup window, let us click on Bold and click on size 8,
08:26	And let us click on the Ok button.
08:29	Notice that the font has changed to Bold and size 8 across the form now.
08:38	Next, let us move all the form elements to the centre of the window.
08:45	For this, we will select all the elements.
08:49	Now let us click and drag on any label, toward the centre of the form design window.
09:00	Now let us, save the form.
09:03	And close this window. To see how our form looks like now.
09:10	let us go to the Base main window, and double click on the 'Books Issued to Members' form on the right panel.
09:20	This opens the form which is ready for data entry use.
09:26	Now, in this form, we see some sample data.
09:31	And against book title and member name, we see some numbers,
09:37	Which are really primary numbers in the Books and Members table, but not very friendly values.
09:46	Which would you like to see real names and book titles.
09:50	And, how do we do this?
09:53	One way is to add a form control called List box.
09:59	We will see how to add and use a list box and other form controls in the next tutorial.
10:08	This brings us to the end of this tutorial on Complex Forms in LibreOffice Base
10:13	To summarize, we learned about: Building a complex form and Modifying the form
10:20	Spoken Tutorial Project is a part of the Talk to a Teacher project, supported by the National Mission on Education through ICT, MHRD, Government of India. This project is co-ordinated by http://spoken-tutorial.org. More information on the same is available at the following link.
10:40	This Script has been contributed by Priya Suresh, DesiCrew Solutions. And this is Soundharya, DesiCrew Solutions, signing off. Thanks for joining

Contributors and Content Editors

Gaurav, Minal, PoojaMoolya, Sandhya.np14