Form Publication
When your form is designed and recognition tested, it is then ready for publication. The publication process temporarily stores the structure of the form template in FormReturn's database and in the Form ID Barcode, ready for when the forms are returned and processed into captured data.
The Steps of Form Publication
Publish Forms
Choose a Data Table
Set Publication Details
Verify Form ID's
Recognition Settings
Publish & PDF
Publications Panel
Publication Types
Publish Forms
To publish a form template, choose the Publish Form tab in the Form Editor tab bar.
Click the Refresh button in
the Tables panel.
This will update any recently added data tables or records.
Choose a Data Table
In the Publish Forms application window, all data tables that have been
created in FormReturn's database will be shown in the Table Name list.
Click to select the source data Table Name from the list, that contains the records you want to reconcile the captured response data with.
If you are publishing anonymous forms, create a data table empty of records and use it to publish your form.
To add data tables and records go to Add Source Data.
Set Publication Details
The Selected Table name will be shown in the Set Publications Detail panel.
Type a name for your Publication. If a Publication Name isn't typed you will be prompted before the final publication step.
Verify Form Structure
In the Verify Form Structure panel click on the Check button. This will verify a Form ID Barcode has been added to every page of the form.
A Success dialog box will open to confirm Form ID's were found on each page. Click OK
If a Form ID Barcode isn't found on a form page, an Error dialog will open and you will need to go back to the form editor and add the barcode.
Set Recognition Settings
The default Recognition settings shouldn't have to be changed unless there was a problem with detection when you did the recognition test preview.
Make sure Perform Automatic Deskew is selected.
Publish & PDF
In the Publish Panel, choose one of the Publication Types depending on your Form Identification method and Reconciliation of Captured Data
Click the Publish & PDF button to save the publication as a PDF file on your
computer. The advantage of a Publication saved as a PDF file is that any or all of the forms can be printed or re-printed at any time just by opening the PDF file.
If the Publish & Print option is chosen then the forms will be printed but the publication won't be saved on your computer.
In the Proceed with Publication dialog box, click Yes.
In the Save Published PDF File dialog box type the name for the Publication and where you want it saved. Click Save.
A Success dialog box will appear and click OK. The Publication is now saved in the location you chose on your computer.
Print the forms to be distributed from the saved PDF file.
If you used Template Variable Replacement as form identification you would have chosen the Publication Type Form ID Reconciles - Append Only and a unique form will be published for each record in your data table.
The other Publication types will publish only one form which can be printed as many times as needed.
Publications Panel
The Refresh button will update any recent changes made in the Form Editor or Source Data.
The Print Existing button will print a selected publication. Select a Table Name from the list and then select the Publication Name from the Publications list.
The Publications Table at the bottom of the page is a list of existing
Publications that have been performed using the selected Table Name.
The Export Existing button will save the selected publication to a PDF file.
Publication Types
The publication type you most often use can be set as a Publication Preference.
Form ID Reconciles - Append Only
Key Field Reconciles - Append Only
Key Field Reconciles - Append or New Record
There are 3 publication types, one of which will be chosen depending on the method of form identification you are using and how you want the captured response data to reconcile with your data table records.
View a Screencast on Publication Types
1. Form ID Reconciles - Append Only
This is the most straight forward method of form identification, publishing forms and
storing captured data in FormReturn.
The Form ID publication type uses the Form ID Barcode and Template Variable Replacement as form identification and for reconciliation of the captured response data.
Template Variable Replacement, replaces fieldnames from your source data table typed on the form template, with the record names from your data table for identification of forms.
A form will be published for each record in the data table and the
captured response data will append to the record it belongs to.
2. Key Field Reconciles - Append Only
The Key Field type of publication uses the Form ID Barcode and a Key Field as form identification and to reconcile the captured response data with records from your source data table.
A Key Field is either:
- An OMR ID Grid , used for capturing respondent's ID numbers, added to the segment.
- A barcode label of your own choosing affixed to a Barcode Area added to the segment.
A
single form is published from the form template and printed into
multiple copies.
Because it is an Append Only option, the captured responses from each form must append to a data table record that the ID number or barcode corresponds with or the captured data won't be stored anywhere.
3. Key Field Reconciles - Append or New Record
The Key Field type of publication uses the Form ID Barcode and a Key
Field as form identification and to reconcile the captured response
data with records from your source data table.
A Key Field is either:
- An OMR ID Grid added to the segment, which can be filled in by the form respondent with their own ID number which will then append to a corresponding record in the data table. If the ID Grid is blank or doesn't contain a corresponding number, a new record will be automatically generated (which can then be edited later on) in the chosen source data table. Anonymous forms containing an OMR ID Grid can be pre-printed and
distributed to anyone, making this publication type suitable for market research surveys or classroom situations.
- A Barcode Area added to the segment for affixing a barcode label of your own which will then append to a corresponding record in the data table. When there is a corresponding record in the data table, the captured responses will append to that record. If a barcode was used that doesn't have a corresponding record in the data table, a New Record will be automatically created which can be edited later on.
- Print anonymous forms that don't have any means of identification for the respondents. This Publication Type must be chosen even if no records are required to be kept, because of the way FormReturn works. It uses the form ID barcodes for linking the captured data to a source data record. Anonymous records need to be created for storing the captured data, even if the records are not required to be kept by you.