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Creating a Table That May Be Manipulated in Form Mode

When building a table, such as the assets on the Balance Sheet, care can be taken to minimize the amount of manual work to be done by both the designer and user of the document. As an example, a table row may be built to link directly to information in the Working Trial Balance, so that if an account is renamed, the same change will be reflected in CaseView. But the link is still based on an account number which could be completely different in another client file and in Form mode, and end user would not have the ability to correct these linkage calculations.

As a general rule when creating a dynamic document, all linkages of this sort should be based on map number. That way when a new client file is built, the accounts simply need to be mapped for all information to flow correctly through to CaseView. Using mapping, it is possible to create a somewhat dynamic table where Cash will always be the first line of the Assets, regardless of Cash's account number. But what can be done to compensate for the number of asset accounts, which will also vary from file to file? Blank rows could be created at the bottom of the table, to be filled in by the end user, but this approach is also cumbersome.

Instead, it is possible to build a completely dynamic table, with the linked content controlled by an end user in Form mode, with the creation of just a single row in Design mode. As an example, consider an assets table which will show an account description, current, and prior year balances. In addition, the row will need at least two more skipped, but not hidden, columns. The first column will contain a pulldown cell (C15) linked to a browse. The browse can list all asset map numbers in the client file and allow the end user to select which mapped account should be the focus of the row. All other cells in the row would then draw from that pulldown cell with an equation such as MAP("AY",C15), rather than have a hard-coded link to a map number, MAP("AY","110").

The other skipped column would include two button cells labelled with a + and a -. These cells would be linked to the Insert and Delete row action events. When a new row is inserted, the contents can be copied from the first row.

The end result of this is a table where an end user could simply click + to create a new row and select the appropriate map number from the pulldown. All relevant information will be linked automatically. Repeat as necessary until all Assets are listed in the table. The table is adaptable to a properly mapped chart of accounts of any size.

Other considerations for a scenario such as this include:

Assigning all relevant cells to a Cell Group to allow for easy totalling (again, regardless of the number of accounts involved).
Creating a Carry Forward Header to show the running total should the table span more than one page.
Formatting the table with borders and shading, which will also carry over to newly created rows.