Grid Forms Take The Guesswork Out of Conditioning

Grids to the rescue! This is one of the easiest tips, but will save tons of time if you're adding spool objects (text, barcodes, images) to documents with lots of conditioning.

When designing forms, it is helpful to know the exact coordinates of the spool objects so you can visualize the many data variations on a printed spool file. These coordinates assist in the consistent conditioning of the form.

The best way to accomplish this is to merge your sample spooled file onto one of the grid forms that is included with Formtastic. Basically, these grid forms provide an exact map of your printed spool file and make sure that your form definition looks at the correct spool file positions when you're conditioning a form.

There are four grids available within Formtastic:

FOGSGHP - Spool Grid - HP Portrait
FOGSGHL - Spool Grid - HP Landscape
FOGSGAP - Spool Grid - AFP Portrait
FOGSGAL - Spool Grid - AFP Landscape

Here's an example of a spool file merged with a grid form:

See how easy it is to locate exact coordinates? You can perform the merge on either the iSeries 400 or on Formtastic's GUI. Using either interface you can print the resulting form and see exactly where all of your conditioning is positioned, but in the GUI you can also view the merged document on your monitor without making an extra trip to the printer.

Either way, using grids when determining exact spool page positions really eliminates a lot of guesswork and potential for human error.

Mike Laiter
Manager of Professional Services