Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Tools for tools!

In my last blog I talked about the new MakeForm~ function which allows you to make complex interfaces for your Table Runner scripts. The City Block Generator uses a complex form (shown at left). Today I want to tell you about a tool you can use that will aid you in using this function.

Screen shot 1

As you can imagine, MakeForm~ can get pretty complex and could become tricky to code a complex interface by hand. Well, there is good news. I've made a tool that can do all the coding for you - all you have to do is fill in fields. In the screen at left you can see I'm setting options and the tool is building the code for me.

A good analogy is TurboTax. Yes you can do your taxes by hand. Many people do and do it successfully. But the more complicated the household/business the more complicated the taxes. Eventually its just not realistic to do them by hand anymore. And the extra checks and hurestics that come with TurboTax can help you reduce the risk in the process.

Screen shot 2

In this screen I've finished adding all the input elements, and I'm defining the overall size and title for the form.

So that's what I've done. I've built a "TurboTax" for the MakeForm~ function. Like anything that is version 1.0 there are improvements that will be made, but its pretty useful right out of the box. You can get to it from the Table Runner editor, and from the syntax help reference. Here's a direct link.

I've also updated the help for MakeForm~. So if you're the kind of person who needs the details, its all there.

So, good luck and happy script building. I can't wait to see the worlds most [RandomAdjective]-complex user form!

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