Difference between revisions of "FormTool"

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

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-[[Category:Techniques]]
+<hide>
-[[Techniques]]: Software: '''FormTool'''
+[[page type::article]]
-FormTool (by [http://www.imsisoft.com/ IMSI]) is a Windows application
+[[thing type::software]]
-for creating database-linked smart computer forms and reports, with a
+[[category:software]]
-focus on live forms filled out on the computer. These forms can be
+</hide>
-automated to some degree, and indeed one person developed a complete
+==About==
-reservation system for hotels (BookEm) using only FormTool 5.0. In that
+[[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
-development platforms such as [[Microsoft Access]].
+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
+==As a platform==
-be any obvious support for automated installation of the form-filler
+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
-form-filler executable are available) so that the end-user can
+''see [[/deployment]] for more''
-automatically install both (a) any developed applications requiring
-FormTool and (b) the FormTool form-filler required to run them.
-==Automated Deployment==
-(Documentation of this technique is still in progress, as I have not
-yet achieved a working deployment this way. --[[User:Woozle|Woozle]]
-:03, 14 May 2005 (CDT))
-FormTool does have a form-filler-only application (Filler) which either
-may be licensed for unlimited redistribution or else comes that way
-(not sure). However, there does not seem to be any support for
-automated deployment of Filler along with the form data/application --
-that is, one has to install Filler separately from one's FormTool-based
-application.
-However, it appears to be relatively simple to make a working,
-single-application deployment of Filler by simply copying the right
-files to a common folder.
-===The Install CD===
-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
--digit code plus a hyphen; I don't know what the code means.
-===Files Needed to Run===
-By attempting to run FormTool.exe and Filler.exe (after removing the
-filename prefix for each), I was able to determine that copying and
-renaming the following files (also shown after renaming) to a separate
-folder will allow each .exe to load:
-{| border="0" cellspacing="2" style="font-size:12pt;"
-|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
-| '''Designer'''
-| '''Filler'''
-|- bgcolor="#eeeeee" valign=top \
-| ''FormTool.exe'' CodeBar.dll CTOCRC32.DLL FTFrm.dll GrPropts.dll
-IMSIctrl.dll Inspector.dll Password.dll Rotr.dll Utils.dll
-XControls.dll zlib.dll
-| ''Filler.exe'' CodeBar.dll FTFrm.dll GrPropts.dll Password.dll
-Rotr.dll Utils.dll XControls.dll zlib.dll
-|}
-===Frontline===
-The FrontLine.exe executable appears to be one of those ever-popular
-Flash-like front-ends for people who don't know where the Start menu
-is. It uses MSIE through ActiveX to load the HTML files in the
-Program\Pages folder, which execute VBScript to load the various other
-programs. I haven't gotten as far as getting it to work without a
-proper install; the VBScript function calls at least one procedure not
-found anywhere in any of the HTML files; it may be in a DLL which has
-to be registered in order for VBScript to find it.
-Fortunately, FrontLine's functionality is minimal.

Difference between revisions of "FormTool"

Latest revision as of 22:05, 31 January 2015

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