Fields govern how data is collected and reported on in Apricot. A diverse selection of fields is available in Form Designer, some tailored to correctly collect very specific kinds of data. Here we will go over text fields such as text, append only, and multi-line.

Open the form you want to edit in Form Designer.

In the Field Choices palette on the right hand side, find the field you want to add to your form.

Click and hold on the name of the field, then drag it into the main body of your form.

This field can be used for any short amount of text. If your organization has its own way of calculating client IDs that have a combination of letters and numbers, a text field can be a good way to collect that information. The maximum number of characters (letters, numbers, or punctuation) allowed in this field is 200. This field may also be used for a signature line because the box provided is large enough to sign on a printed record.

Special properties are allowed for this field, including setting the field width (in pixels) or a smaller character limit than what is automatically allowed. A default value may be set or you can add a hint. Like a default value, a hint will appear in the text box when users fill out a record, but unlike a default value, it will not save any data unless something is typed in.

This field can be made Required, Searchable, Hidden, and Locked. It can be used in Quick View and as Duplicate Check.

Like a text field, a multi-line field allows for collection of text. This field displays as a larger textbox on the field and collect more characters and words than a regular text field. Examples for using this field would include comments, notes, descriptions, and summaries. This field may also be used for a signature line because the box provided is large enough to sign on a printed record. The number of characters allowed in this field is over 5,000.

Special properties are allowed for this field, including setting the field width (in pixels) or a smaller word or character limit than what is automatically allowed. A hint may be set for this field; it will show the text of your hint in the text box when users fill out a record, but will not save any data unless something is typed in.

This field can be made Required, Searchable, Hidden, and Locked. It can be used in Quick View.

Much like a text field, the append only field allows for text to be collected on a record, but in this case the notes are saved as-is when the record is saved and cannot be edited.

Special properties are allowed for this field, including setting the field width (in pixels) or a smaller word or character limit than what is automatically allowed. A hint may be set for this field; it will show the text of your hint in the text box when users fill out a record, but will not save any data unless something is typed in.
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Information from this field will not be copied when a record is copied; this field will be blank in a copied record.

This field can be made Required, Searchable, Hidden, and Locked. It can be used in Quick View.
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This is what an append only field looks like for your users.

1. This section holds any old notes that have been previously entered. They cannot be edited. The date, time, and user who created each note were recorded when the record was saved.

2. This section is where a user can add a new note. This can be edited until the record is saved, at which point anything entered in this area will be saved and will no longer be available for editing.

The dynamic text field uses a pre-configured query to pull data from Apricot record to another. It works like a traditional text field that has a default value in that it contains a text value when a record is opened or created. A traditional text field can hold a default value that will always be the same for every record that is created; a dynamic text field, on the other hand, can be configured so that the field is automatically populated with data that is uniquely suited to other conditions on the record.

The dynamic text field requires you to select an appropriate query before you can use it. Queries are created and saved in a different section of the Administrator tab side of Apricot. You must have a query already saved before you can add a dynamic text field to a form or publish the form for general use. You must also choose when the query will be re-run: manually (there will be a box to click), when a record is opened, or when a record is created.

Like other text fields, you can set a field width for the data collected in this field.

It can be made Required, Hidden, Searchable and Locked. It can also be used in Quick View and as a Duplicate Check.