Form Designer

Intercue Designer is the Integrated Development Environment (IDE) that creates electronic forms and applications for use with Intercue Presenter. Designer is a programming free environment that eliminates the need to lay out controls for each target device.

XML Support

Intercue Designer is based upon the industry standard XML format for data exchange. Through the XML standard, the Intercue platform maintains full compatibility with XSLT, ODBC, and desktop application suites including Microsoft Office XP.

Multiple Document Workspace

Intercue Designer allows users to maintain a workspace with multiple documents open at one time. All documents are organized on the Designer tree which simplifies copying and pasting between documents.

Quick Device Deployment

Intercue Designer supports direct publishing of your forms to your target device, allowing you to preview your form quickly without the need to leave the IDE.

Document Management

When building forms in Designer, users can set document properties to assist them in organizing their documents. Document management properties include: author, comments, company, department, description, legal, subject, title, subtitle, and version. Intercue designer manages creation and modification dates internally.

Document Keys

Intercue Designer enforces an internal document key system. Using this key system, Designer is able to distinguish original forms from copies and revisions made within the IDE. This feature helps to maintain statistical accuracy by protecting data collected from being analyzed against the wrong parent document. By using a key based system, two departments within the same company can have forms with the same name and structure without running the risk of having their data mishandled on the server. This system is self-managed through all Intercue applications and can be disabled if needed.

Question Wizard

The question wizard allows you to create a wide variety of form elements by simply selecting a desired layout for questions and responses within the document. Response types include: text, multi-line text, numeric, multi-select list, single-select list, true/false, drop-down list, drop-down list with text (combo box), buttons, and custom response combinations.

Spelling and Grammar Checking

Spell checking is built into the IDE to complete full-text spell checking of documents. Designer currently includes an English dictionary which supports user customization.

Multiple Response Pasting

In addition to standard cut and paste operations, Intercue Designer supports multiple response pasting. This feature allows for copying text from a table in a word processor or spreadsheet which can then be pasted into a question as a series of responses, saving time in creating forms based upon existing text.

Templates

Intercue Designer supports the use of pre-defined and custom templates. A template can be made from any document or portion of a document, allowing users to create a custom library of commonly used responses, questions, or entire forms. The template tool allows you to add multiple copies of a template into the document so that you can create several questions or groups at one time.

Scales

Scales are special types of templates that contain lists of possible responses. Response lists can be used for measurable data collection such as scoring an opinion from 1 to 10. By using a pre-defined scale, consistency can be maintained for similarly measured questions. Like the template tool, the scale tools allows you to add multiple copies of a scale at one time.

Jumping

The jump feature enables designers to create custom navigation by selecting an event trigger such as a button click and a destination within the document to navigate to. Jumping can be used to create menus or to skip sections within a document.

Jump Manager

The jump manager assists in the creation of jumps by tracking start and end locations as well as ensuring that the proper control styles have been used. The jump manager can be used to create and edit jumps throughout the form from one management screen.

Custom Navigation Support

Intercue Designer supports the ability to disable the default page and group navigation that is normally visible when the document is displayed in Intercue Presenter. This feature allows designers to replace the default "next" and "previous" button functionality at the document level. After disabling default navigation for a document, the form's designer is free to add buttons or other functionality to control the flow of the document, when it is displayed in Presenter.

Response Piping

Response piping gives designers the ability to copy answers from one question and place them with text later in the form. This allows you to dynamically customize your form when it is displayed. As an example, you can display a list of colors to the user and later ask them why they chose that color by presenting a question that uses the correct color name based upon their previous selection. (eg Why did you choose red?)

Response Pipe Viewer

The response pipe viewer enables you to view all of the response pipes used within your document. The viewer displays the text of the pipe, the source question, and the destination for each pipe within the document. Pipe references cannot currently be edited within the viewer, but you can quickly troubleshoot pipe references that can be edited within the designer tree.

Repeating Groups

The repeating group feature provides designers the ability to collect multiple responses from one set of questions. Repeating groups enable the creation of inventory, statistical sampling, and nested data collection applications.

Rules

Rules establish conditions for data entry. Rules can be used to limit valid responses to a question or to examine a response before initiating custom navigation such as branching. Rules include: value limits, branching, and response format. Intercue Designer enables you to establish rules using a wizard, rather than requiring designers to learn a scripting language.

Hiding

Document elements can be hidden when displayed on the device. This can facilitate filtering of non-relevant questions, disabling old sections of a document that are currently not is use, and for collection of system data.

Page Break

The page break feature enables designers to control which elements of the form are displayed on each page. This is useful when planning to deploy a form to devices with different screen sizes. Pages can be broken after any question or response in the document.

Row Continuation

The continue row feature allows designers to specify how many controls are placed on each line of the display. By setting the continue row property, the next question or response will be displayed on the same line as the previous label or control, if space permits on the device. This feature allows for the maximum use of screen space when presenting lists of responses, or collecting multiple text items of limited length such as address information.

Default Selection

Default selection enables the designer to specify which item or items should be selected within a list, or what text should appear within a field when it is displayed for the first time.

Field Length

The field length feature allows you to specify how wide a field or control should be when displayed on the device. While the field length is usually determined dynamically on the device, specifying a field length gives designers the ability to explicitly determine how an object will appear when it is displayed.

Control Types

Intercue Designer allows the designer to specify the type of control to use when displaying a response. Currently supported controls include: radio button, check box, numeric field, text field, list box, combo box, and button.

Design Reports

Intercue Designer provides support for printing reports of the document layout and properties in two formats: summary and detailed. These reports are useful for review and documentation of form design. By using reports, designers can ensure that their applications meet their design requirements

Context Sensitive Tips

Throughout the IDE, Intercue Designer provides detailed comments and tips to help you create and modify forms and their properties.

Getting Started Guide

Intercue Designer includes a "Getting Started" guide, which walks new users through creating their first form. This detailed, step-by-step guide teaches the fundamentals of electronic form creation and deployment.