PsL Monthly 1993 December/PSL Monthly Shareware CD-ROM (December 1993).iso/reviews/wu_02

Text File | 1993-10-04 | 17KB | 384 lines

WU-02:  Forms Creators


Comparative Review:
------------------

We compared four forms management programs: EZ-Forms Executive, FormGen,
Inform-Z, and Form Master. In addition, we tried out FormFill, which is a form
filling companion program for FormGen.

Creating a simple form normally consists of several steps. The first is to move
around the screen typing in the captions, then you can draw lines and boxes for
the data. Next, for on-line form-filling, you create the data-entry fields and
any date or math fields. Finally, you can go back and add special printing
touches to fancy-up the form.

Because creating a form is something that you probably don't do every day, our
testing put a premium on intuitive operation and ease of use. In line with
this thinking, EZF and FormGen have most of their documentation on-line.
Inform-Z has a 130k DOC file which we scanned and used for reference, the way
we believe most people would do with programs intended for occasional use. We
did the same with Form Master's 77k doc file.

Finally, EZF and Inform-Z are "shareware" versions that do not function
exactly the same as the "registered" versions. FormGen/FormFill is a fully
functioning set of programs, but there are more advanced versions also
available. PsL's policy is to only report on features actually in the the
"shareware" versions, since that is all the user will get to try.

Entering Captions
-----------------
In starting EZF, you have to sit through not one, but three "shareware screens"
and watch a counter tick down to zero before going on to the next. When we
finally got to the form-design, we had a little trouble understanding EZF's
modus operandi. We finally backed out to the main menu screen and read the
on-line manual.

It turns out that EZF's strategy is that any blank spaces on a form are places
that you want to enter data, including the spaces between words in a caption. So
you should first type all of your captions, then press F3, which fills the
screen with tilde characters, than move around and blank out the spaces where
you want data input to be done. The tilde characters do not show when you print
the form or fill it in on-line.

FormGen and Form Master have easy and intuitive interfaces. You just move around
the screen with the cursor keys and type at will with full-screen editing. Form
Master is the only one that allows forms wider than 80 columns.

Inform-Z's method of entering captions confused us at first, but turned out to
have some advantages. In short, you can move around the screen at will like any
full-screen editor, but once you start typing, it turns into a "field editor"
stretching from the cursor position to the next non-blank character.

This means that you can, for example, delete characters and only the characters
in the field will be shifted to the left. In the other programs, when you are
entering a caption, if you delete a character, all the text on the same line (to
the right of the cursor) will be shifted left, just like in any text editor or
word processor. This destroys any line drawings or captions you already had in
place.

Drawing Lines
-------------
EZ-Foms and FormGen use "intelligent line drawing". You toggle the line
drawing mode on and use the cursor keys to draw lines. It automatically adds
the line merging ASCII characters when two lines meet/cross. EZF has a
"graphics patch" that can scan a form and tie up any loose ends in your line
drawings.

In Inform-Z, when you begin a line, the starting point blinks and nothing else
happens while you move the cursor. When you get to the ending point and press
Enter, it draws the line, including inserting appropriate line-merging
characters. While this method of line drawing works all right, it is not as
easy (particularly for patching a line in one spot) as the method used by
FormGen and EZF.

Form Master does line drawing in a manner similar to Inform-Z, although in a
less complicated manner. FM surmises from your keystrokes whether the line you
want is supposed to be horizontal, vertical or a box. Inform-Z requires you to
specify each of these things.

Defining Fields
---------------
In EZF, you define fields by clearing spaces in the screen full of tilde
characters, as already explained. In the other three, you simply mark off the
spots you want the fields to be.

EZF and Form Master have auto-fill options: a sequence number, the current date,
and the current time.

FormGen has never had an on-line form-filling function, meaning that it has
never been more than a small text editor optimized for forms creation, which in
our opinion is only marginally better than using something like WordPerfect to
create forms.

However, a companion program, FormFill, can be used for filling in forms
created with FormGen or a text editor. First you have to convert your FormGen
file for use with FormFill by defining the fields. Again, FormGen (FormFill,
actually) is the easiest and most efficient at defining fields. You simply
move to where you want the field to start and press a key. You can specify
your choice of many different numeric formats, including dollar formats and
date format. You can also select automatic entry of the current date, as well
as default text and number entries.

One serious shortcoming in FormFill is the lack of a self-incrementing
sequence number. Many (if not most) forms need such a number - purchase
orders, for example. Keeping track of such numbers is what computers are best
at. Surprisingly, Inform-Z does not offer this feature either.

Inform-Z has an auto-date feature with your choice of three date formats, but
its only other input screening or formatting feature is to force numeric input
instead of text. It will not allow a one-character input field, which is a
surprising and possibly serious limitation.

Formulas
--------
Entering formulas in FormFill is very easy. FormFill displays numbers for each
of the fields on the screen and you simply use the field numbers in your
formula.

Inform-Z is more complicated. We had to exit the program and read a relatively
lengthy section of the documentation to figure it out. You can create formulas
by pointing to the fields, but you have to point to the beginning and the end
of each field and go through some other gyrations. In addition, you can only
add numbers down; you cannot add a column of numbers across the page, which we
consider a significant limitation. It does not allow complex formulas, but
gets around that by letting you assign more than one formula to a cell - each
formula building on the last.

EZF has the least convenient method of entering formulas. You have to write down
the starting line and column numbers and width for each field you want to put in
the formula before you start. However, EZF has range-addition, which simplifies
some formulas.

Form Master allows the number of formulas you can describe with 8 lines of 72
characters. You can place multiple formulas on a line if you separate them
with one or more spaces. In contrast, EZF and Inform-Z each allow 100 formulas
and FormGen/FormFill appears to have no limit.

Printing
--------
The "shareware" version of EZF makes you sit through the same three "shareware
screens" countdown again. When we first tried it, we could not get it to
accept any printer other than "generic", but we later got it to work after
talking to the publisher.

Form Master comes set up for Epson LX printers, but lets you enter control codes
for other printers and easily insert codes into your form for printing in bold,
italics, compressed, elite, super- and subscript, underline, pica and expanded,
and for printing upper-ASCII line-drawing characters.

FormGen/FormFill supports the IBM Graphics, Epson Pica, Epson Elite and HP
LaserJet, but offers no way of dressing up forms with shading, italics, etc.

Inform-Z promises shaded printing and a lot of other fancy touches, but we
could not get it to work on our Epson emulating printer.


The Bottom Line
---------------
FormGen/FormFill is the easiest and mo