Veslink - Designing Forms

With the Veslink Form Designer, you can design your own custom forms, so you can gather and share the data that is most meaningful for you and your vessels and present it as you prefer. The data is collected and distributed in the same way as the standard forms. The Veslink Form Designer is available with Veslink Optimum.

• The Data Dictionary includes all the elements you can use.

  • For elements that map to IMOS, the mapping appears.

  • You can also define custom elements.

• You can:

  • Create a new form of Report Type Arrival, Departure, Noon, Voyage Instructions, or Other, defining each form's workflow and where it applies. For example:

    • Create a custom Noon Report for In Port or At Sea.

    • Create a template for sending Voyage Instructions from IMOS.

    • Create a custom Statement of Facts.

  • Design a form:

    • Create a header to appear at the top of a form.

    • Add elements and controls: Select the elements and controls that are appropriate for your needs, create custom elements, and enter custom expressions.

    • Arrange elements on a form: Group elements into sections and define the form layout.

Creating a New Form

1. On the Forms tab, do either of the following:

   • To create a new form from scratch, click .

   • To copy an existing custom or standard form, hover over its row, click , and then click Copy.
     

     Note: To copy a standard form, make sure it is updated to version 2.21.619 or higher.

     Open

     

2. Configure the form:

   • Report Type and Form is applicable: Some Report Types are applicable only in certain places. Fields that are required for the validation of a Report Type are automatically added to forms of that type and cannot be removed.

     • Fields that are required based on another field that was added are also added automatically, but they can be removed.

       • When you add the field Slip %, Observed Distance and Engine Distance fields also appear because Slip % is calculated as 1 − (Observed Distance ÷ Engine Distance). However, if you remove Observed Distance and Engine Distance, Slip % cannot be calculated.

     • To view forms of Report Type Other with Applicable type Other (Non-Voyage), click All Forms on the Reports tab.

   • Layout:

     • Maintain Form Field Positions When Hidden: Select to have all fields maintain their position on the form whether or not they are hidden, preventing other fields from shifting.
       
       

   • Workflow:

     • Require Approval

     • Allow Submission Prior to Voyage Commencement

     • Display Chief Engineer's Name

     • For Voyage Instructions only:

       • Enable Revision History

       • Take P&L Snapshot Upon Submission (with configuration flag CFGEnableVIFormPnlSnapshots enabled in IMOS v7.11.3468 or later)

3. Click Save. Your form appears in the Form Designer, with Form Elements (sections and elements) in use on the left and a live preview on the right.
   

4. In the Form Designer, do any of the following:

   • Edit form configuration: Click .

   • Create a header

   • Add sections

   • Add elements

   • Rearrange elements

5. Click . When the form is saved, the button changes to  to show you that there are no changes left to save.

   • To return to the list, click . To open the form from the list, click its name.

Creating a Header

When you create a new form, in the Form Designer, a Header section appears at the top of the left panel. To create a custom form Header, add any elements available in the Data Dictionary to the Header section.

1. In the Data Dictionary, make sure all the elements you need are available. Create custom elements as required.

   • To create a company logo, create a new Image element.

   • To create contact details or a form title, create a new Paragraph element.

2. In the Form Designer, edit the Header section or add elements to it.

The Header section cannot be deleted. However, if you remove all elements from the Header section, the form title will appear as usual at the top of the form.

Adding a Section

1. Next to Form Elements, click .
   
   

   Open

   

2. Complete the fields:

   • Name

   • Heading

   • Columns: single, double, or triple

3. Click Save.

To edit a section, under Form Elements, hover over it and then click .

To delete a section, under Form Elements, hover over it and then click .

Adding an Element or Control

1. Make sure the element is in the Data Dictionary. You can add a custom element there.

2. Under Form Elements, hover over a section or element and then click .

3. Type a letter into the field. A list appears with all available elements and controls that contain that letter.

   • Controls are grids with a number of rows and columns of fields. Each control is followed by this icon in the list: .

4. Select the element or control.

5. Edit the element:

   1. Under Form Elements, hover over it and then click . Different options appear, depending on the type of element.
      Examples:
      
      

       

   2. Change any of the following:

      • Label: Element label to appear on the form.

      • Display Type (for custom fields only)

      • Complex Type (for Complex Controls only)

      • Data Source (for String Display Types Autocomplete and Drop Down only): Select a data source, or select Custom to create a comma separated list of allowed values.

      • Expression (for Read-Only String, Decimal, Integer, and Date fields only): Enter a custom expression, which can include numbers, Field IDs, addition (+), subtraction (-), multiplication (*), division (/), and parentheses.
        Note: When using dates in an expression, Type must be String.

      • Text (for paragraphs only): To help you format text, the rich text editor appears.
        

      • External Field (for Voyage Instructions only): To embed other Data Dictionary elements in a Boolean field Label or paragraph Text box, do either of the following:
        
        

        • In External Field, search for a field and then click . The Field ID appears inside curly brackets.

        • Type a Field ID inside curly brackets. For example, to embed Aft Draft, type {AFTDraft}.

        When you send Voyage Instructions from IMOS, the latest field values populate.

      • Width (Pixels) (for String, Integer, Decimal, and Time Span fields and paragraphs only)

      • Decimal Places (for Decimal fields only): Rounds to two decimal places, unless otherwise specified.

      • Yes/No (Boolean): In Data Source, select Custom, then in Custom Data Source enter the values "Yes, No"

      • Read-Only Field

      • Required Field

      • Enable Number Formatting (for Integer and Decimal fields only): When this check box is selected and Use Browser's Locale Setting for Number Formatting is selected in System Configuration, number formatting respects browser locale settings.

      • Visible When: Specify that the field is visible when a condition based on the value of another field is true; for each field, select an operator and enter a value. You can use this to add a date validation field.

        • For a field within a Row Details section of a table, other fields in its row are available as operators.

      • Valid When: Specify that the field is valid when a condition based on the value of another field is true; for each field, select an operator and enter a value. You can use this to add a date validation field.
        The form cannot be submitted with a validation error. A field with an error is marked with a red line, and a message describes the required value.

      • Warn When: Specify that the field is valid when a condition based on the value of another field is true; for each field, select an operator and enter a value. You can use this to add a date validation field.

      • Tooltip: Enter text to appear when the mouse pointer is held over the field name, overriding any value from the Data Dictionary. On the form, a dotted line under the field name indicates that it has a tooltip.

      • Use Default GMT Offset (for Date Time fields only): Select to use the value of the GMT Offset field, which must be added to the form.

      • Use External Data Source (for Voyage Instructions only): To link this element to an IMOS field or table, select the check box, search for a field or table name, and then select it.

        • Show Distinct Values Only (for fields in one-to-many joins only): Outputs a comma-separated list of distinct values.

      • Enable Row Details (for tables only): Show additional fields that relate to each table row. Under the table in the Form Elements column, drag and drop additional fields under the Row Details heading.

      • Static Table (for tables only): When selected, a drop-down menu appears of all fields in the table. To determine the number of rows that automatically appear, click a Field ID.
        Example: In the drop-down menu, if you click Engine_Type and there are four possible values for that field, four tables rows automatically appear with the Engine Type column completed.

      • Display association with another field (for fields in a table only): To highlight the current field and another field in the same table, select the check box and then search for a field name.

      • Column Calculation (for Integer and Decimal fields only): Select Total or Average to add or average the values in the column.
        
        

   3. Click Save.

To delete an element or control, under Form Elements, hover over it and then click .

• You cannot delete a required field.

• For copies of standard forms, not all fields are available in the Data Dictionary. To recover a deleted field, you must start over by making a new copy of the standard form.

Arranging Elements on a Form

The sequence of elements in the left panel determines their sequence on the form.

• Sections and elements appear on the form in the same sequence as in the left panel.

• Elements appear in sections based on the number of columns in the section:

  • Single Column: The list of elements in the left panel goes down the form.
    You might want to use Single Column for controls.

  • Double Column: Two elements go across, and the next elements wrap to the next line.

  • Triple Column: Three elements go across, and the next elements wrap to the next line.
    
    

Moving an Element

To move a section or an element to a different location on the form, drag it in the Form Elements panel to where you want it. You might find it easiest to collapse a section before moving it.

Expanding and Collapsing a Section

To collapse the list of elements in a section, click v to the left of its name.

To expand it again, click > to the left of its name.

Configuring the Form Definition

Clicking the Configure button next to the name of a Custom Form then clicking the "Advanced" hyperlink will bring users to the Form Definition page where various settings can be modified.

• Sequence number: affects the display of forms in Onboard form lists. Purely a UI component so that Arrival is the beginning of the list and Departure is at the end. It has no functional purpose.

• Requires approval: the form will not be accepted into IMOS without an operator clicking Approve.

• Allow multiple submissions: this allows you to submit a form more than once per voyage leg.

• Is required: makes it so you are unable to depart from the port until the form has been submitted.

• Hide: acts as a soft delete, because form templates cannot be deleted where a form submission exists. This will hide the form template as an option for future submissions, but should not hide any existing submissions.