AX1129

Controlling the visibility of the save icon in the task bar

Axiom forms can use a standard save icon that allows users to trigger a save-to-database. By default, the save icon is enabled for all newly created forms. This means:

The save icon only saves data to the database, it does not save the form file. Forms are always open as read-only. It is not possible to edit the file when viewing it as a form.

In some cases, you may want to disable the save icon for a form so that it does not show in the task bar. For example:

  • If the form is for reporting only and never saves data, the save icon is irrelevant and can be hidden.
  • If you have configured a component to Save on Submit as an alternative to using the save icon, you may want to hide the save icon to avoid having two different ways to trigger a save for the form.

To configure the visibility of the save icon:

  1. From the top of the Form Assistant task pane or the Form Designer dialog, click Edit form properties.

  2. In the Form Properties dialog, select or clear the check box for Show Task Bar Save Button.

TIP: You can also configure the visibility of the icon by editing the Show Task Bar Save Button field at the top of the Form Control Sheet. However, if you are editing an older form and the field is not yet present in the control sheet, then you must use the Form Properties dialog to configure the setting (which automatically adds it to the control sheet).

IMPORTANT: For embedded formsBy using an Embedded Form component, a parent form can display one or more child forms within the same form instance. These forms can share values and leverage other special update and save behaviors., the visibility of the save icon is controlled by the parent form. This property is ignored on embedded child forms. However, the save icon for the parent form can be used to trigger a data save in an embedded child form, when using the "manual save from parent" approach. For more information, see Saving data for embedded forms.

Converting older forms to use the save icon

The save icon is disabled by default for any Axiom forms that were created prior to version 2018.4, to preserve backward-compatibility for those forms. We recommend converting these older forms to use the save icon unless there is a functional reason not to.

For example, if it is necessary to perform other commands at the same time as the save-to-database, then that form should continue to use a Save on Submit button because the save icon cannot currently perform commands. In most other cases, the form should be converted to using the save icon, so that users have a consistent way to execute save-to-database processes from Axiom forms.

To determine whether a form can be converted:

  • Find the Save on Submit component(s) for the form. In almost all cases this will be a Button component, but it is also possible to configure certain stand-alone interactive components (such as CheckBox, ComboBox, and so on) to enable Save on Submit. Button tags in Formatted Grid components can also be configured to Save on Submit.

  • If the Save on Submit component is a Button component (or a Button tag), review its configuration. The following configurations cannot be handled using the save icon:

    • The button performs one or more commands that need to be executed along with the save-to-database.

    • The button uses the Dialog Panel Action behavior, and you need the save-to-database to be executed at the same time as the dialog action (such as the OK action).

    • The button has a defined confirmation message that you need to display before executing the save-to-database.

    For all three of these configurations, you should continue to use the button as is, and do not convert the form to enable the save icon on the task bar.

  • If the Save on Submit component is not a button, then review the form to determine if it is necessary to trigger the save when the interactive component is used, or if it would be acceptable to instead trigger it using the save icon. If it is necessary to trigger the save using the interactive component, then you should not convert the form.

To convert an older form to use the save icon:

  1. Remove the old method of triggering the save-to-database using one of the following approaches:

    • If the only purpose of the old Save on Submit component was to trigger the save-to-database, delete the component from the form.

      OR

    • Clear the Save on Submit check box for the component so that it no longer triggers a save-to-database. You would only do this if you want to retain the component in the form, in order to use it for some other purpose.

    You can also leave the old Save on Submit component as is, and enable the save icon in the task bar, but it may be confusing for users to have two different ways to trigger the save-to-database.

  2. From the top of the Form Assistant task pane or the Form Designer dialog, click Edit form properties.

  3. In the Form Properties dialog, select the check box for Show Task Bar Save Button.

    For older forms, you must use the Form Properties dialog to configure this setting, because the setting is not yet present in the Form Control Sheet.

  4. Make any other changes to the form that may be necessary to maintain functionality. Keep in mind the following design considerations:

    • If you were dynamically controlling the ability to save data by using a formula in the Enabled property of the Save on Submit component, this approach is not available for the save icon in the task bar. Instead, you can use a formula to dynamically control whether the save-to-database is enabled or not on the default Control Sheet—for example, by dynamically toggling Save Type 1 Enabled from Off to On.

    • If anything in the form was dependent on the Save on Submit component being the Triggering Component, this should be changed so that formulas now check for Axiom.FormSave as the triggering component. This reserved term indicates that the save icon in the task bar is the triggering component.

See also