Create HTML forms designer

[MrDoe]

I've just started to create a new Starlims application called "FormDesigner" for being able to create and edit HTML forms without Starlims Designer.

It's in a very early state and not functional at the moment, but I will keep you up to date when I make some progress.

My vision is to integrate it someday into the VS Code extension for being able to design HTML forms visually like in the Starlims Designer.

[MrDoe]

A first screenshot of the WIP:

Currently you can add new controls and move them with the mouse by holding down the shift key and modify their single valued properties (e. g. Text, Width, Height, etc.). Saving is not implemented yet.

@mariuspopovici: Do you know if we can use the icons in an open source project or are they licensed somehow? If not, I'd replace them with free icons.

[mariuspopovici]

Looks awesome! I'll try and find out about the icons but I believe the icons are open source, just need to confirm but the person who would know for sure is on vacation.

[MrDoe]

I plan to continue this project in September as I will be on vacation starting tomorrow.

[mariuspopovici]

Enjoy and thanks for your work on this project! I'm at a campground in Norway, getting ready for another 5h drive to the next place :)

[MrDoe]

Thanks, I'm happy to do that! It also makes my job easier because it allows me to use Github Copilot for my Starlims customizations. 🙂

Cool, Norway is a country I'd also like to visit someday.

We've rented a beach house in Netherlands. I hope the weather cooperates.

[MrDoe]

Since last week, I've continued to work on the form designer. There are still some bugs and a few things missing, but I hope to finish my first preliminary version next week so that I can include it in my next pull request.

[mariuspopovici]

Looks very cool :) I like the outline too.

[MrDoe]

Okay, the first version is out! 🥳
Use with caution, there may still be bugs that I have not yet discovered!

I provides only basic functionality right now and I still haven't tested all controls.
Functionalities that are still missing:

• RootTable designer for DataGrids
• Edit items in ButtonBar, LinkBar, TreeView, TreeListView, ListBox, ListView
• Select TabPage via mouse click (only from the outline works atm.)
• Color picker for selecting colors
• Font selector dialog
• Select and load data sources for controls

[MrDoe]

I've made some major improvements on this project. I decided to use the outline tree for managing RootTables, BarItems and Groups via the context menu and fixed many bugs.
The most common controls are now supported by FormDesigner, but systematic testing with all controls is still needed.