About Form Controls

A control is a form item that can be individually selected and configured. Few of the form controls are text boxes, drop-down lists, buttons, labels, and image.

Controls are divided into the following categories:

•Field controls:  Includes all fields defined for a business object. A field control consists of a physical control such as a date box, DateTime box, label, Boolean check box, number box, radio button, text box, or time box with a label. The field type determines the kinds of controls that can be used for each field.

For example, the Urgency field has been added to an incident form called Incident.DataEntry. The application stores a value entered in the Urgency field on the Incident.DataEntry form in the Incident business object.

•Relationship controls: Display link fields data. A link field is a special application field that stores the RecID and category for a record to identify and link records in a business object relationship. When you create a parent-child object, you must create any associated link field such as ParentLink, manually. A link field control consists of a physical control (either a link control or a label menu) with a label.

For example, the IncidentDetails form includes a Customer Name field allowing you to search through the display names returned from the Employee business object. When you select a name, the application automatically populates the rest of the customer information.

•Other controls: Enhance the functionality or aesthetics of a form. These controls include controls and graphical elements such as buttons, free-floating labels and images.

For example, the Incident.Brief form includes a pair of lists displaying recently updated tasks and recent activities.

See About the "Other" Form Controls for more details.