Define Standard Forms

Follow the steps below to define standard forms.

Procedure

  1. On the Maintain menu, click Form Structure/Define. The Form Structure - Define window opens. The Define tab is displayed. Select the form you want to work with, or create a new form. (See the Define tab). Go to the Row Definition tab.
  2. On the Row Definition tab, click the New button to define a new Row Definition template.
  3. In the Code text box, enter a code of maximum four alphanumeric characters (a-z, 0-9, -, _) for the row definition template.
  4. In the Name - Group and Name - Local text boxes, enter a description of the row definition in the group language and local language, maximum 50 alphanumeric characters.
  5. The row definition tab displays several columns, all depending on which dimensions you defined on the Axes tab in the Row Definition list box. For each dimension and additional settings column, enter the code, formula or name you want to appear in the form.
  6. For more information, about available columns and how they are defined, see IBM Cognos Controller Dimensions.
  7. In the columns Name - Group and Name - Local, enter the names you want to use in the form unless you want to use the default names.
  8. Save the row definition. You can use it later to define other forms. Updating a row definition will update all the forms based on that row definition. To activate the row definition in the forms, you have to update the forms manually when defining the layout.
  9. Open the Column Definition tab.
    • The combination of codes, extended information and code locking that you define here are saved as a row definition. If you want to change the row definition later, you need to open the one you want to change or create a copy that you can work on. A single row definition can be used to develop a number of different forms.
    • The dimension's default name is retrieved from the database. You can also enter a new name for the code. This name only appears in the form, it doesn't overwrite the name in the code definition, for example, account code definition. For more information, about available columns and how they are defined, see IBM Cognos Controller Dimensions.

Results

  • If a row definition is changed, all the forms based on that definition will change and need to be updated.
  • Use the Row Information button to learn in which form or forms a specific row definition is used.