Difference between revisions of "FormTool"

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[[Category:Techniques]]
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<hide>
[[Techniques]]: Software: '''FormTool'''
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[[page type::article]]
FormTool (by [http://www.imsisoft.com/ IMSI]) is a Windows application
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[[thing type::software]]
for creating database-linked smart computer forms and reports, with a
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[[category:software]]
focus on live forms filled out on the computer. These forms can be
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</hide>
automated to some degree, and indeed one person developed a complete
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==About==
reservation system for hotels (BookEm) using only FormTool 5.0. In that
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[[FormTool]], by [[IMSI]] ([http://www.imsisoft.com/ web]), is a [[Microsoft Windows|Windows]] application for creating database-linked smart computer forms and reports, with a focus on live forms filled out on the computer. These forms can be automated to some degree, and indeed at least one niche-commercial-grade application ([[BookEm]]) has been developed with it. In that respect, FormTool may be usable as a replacement for more expensive development platforms such as [[Microsoft Access]].
respect, FormTool may be usable as a replacement for more expensive
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development platforms such as Microsoft Access.
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As of 2015-01-31, it does not appear to be available from IMSI anymore.
Deployment appears to be an issue, however, as there does not appear to
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==As a platform==
be any obvious support for automated installation of the form-filler
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Deployment appears to be an issue, however, as there does not appear to be any obvious support for automated installation of the form-filler executable (despite the fact that licenses for unlimited copying of the form-filler executable are available) so that the end-user can automatically install both (a) any developed applications requiring FormTool and (b) the FormTool form-filler required to run them.
executable (despite the fact that licenses for unlimited copying of the
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form-filler executable are available) so that the end-user can
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''see [[/deployment]] for more''
automatically install both (a) any developed applications requiring
 
FormTool and (b) the FormTool form-filler required to run them.
 
=Notes=
 
==[[User:Woozle|Woozle]] 15:37, 1 May 2005 (CDT)==
 
We are in the process of contacting IMSI to see if they can provide any
 
support for deployment. In the meantime, I'm making some progress
 
replicating the install process by hand; the main application seems
 
only to need a set of DLLs in order to run, though it may turn out that
 
proper setup of the registry is needed for things to work right.
 
Looking at the FormTool 5.0 install CD, you see some setup-related
 
executables (autorun.exe, instmsia.exe, instmsiw.exe, setup.exe,
 
setup.ini), what may be an encoded install script of some kind
 
(FormTool v5.msi), and an archive file (Data.Cab) which is readable by
 
WinZip 9.0 SR-1. This last file appears to contain the actual files
 
needed to make FormTool run.
 
Each file in Data.Cab is prefixed by a 5-digit code plus a hyphen; I
 
don't know what the code means. By attempting to run
 
F3063-FormTool.exe, I was able to determine that copying the following
 
files (shown as renamed) to a separate folder and removing the first 6
 
characters from their names will allow FormTool.exe to load:
 
FormTool.exe CodeBar.dll CTOCRC32.DLL FTFrm.dll GrPropts.dll
 
IMSIctrl.dll Inspector.dll Password.dll Rotr.dll Utils.dll
 
XControls.dll zlib.dll
 
The next steps are: (1) Find the "form-filler" executable and run the
 
same test, to see what files are needed to make it load; (2) Attempt to
 
actually load the application which uses the form-filler, to see if
 
anything further is needed.
 

Latest revision as of 22:05, 31 January 2015

About

FormTool, by IMSI (web), is a Windows application for creating database-linked smart computer forms and reports, with a focus on live forms filled out on the computer. These forms can be automated to some degree, and indeed at least one niche-commercial-grade application (BookEm) has been developed with it. In that respect, FormTool may be usable as a replacement for more expensive development platforms such as Microsoft Access.

As of 2015-01-31, it does not appear to be available from IMSI anymore.

As a platform

Deployment appears to be an issue, however, as there does not appear to be any obvious support for automated installation of the form-filler executable (despite the fact that licenses for unlimited copying of the form-filler executable are available) so that the end-user can automatically install both (a) any developed applications requiring FormTool and (b) the FormTool form-filler required to run them.

see /deployment for more