Input Form Masks

Instant Database: Input Form Masks

What is an Input Form Mask?

An Instant Database “Input Form Mask” is Pathagoras' basic data entry form.

•	A data entry form is the device by which an operator tells the program how to replace document variables with personal information.

•	Every document assembly program requires a data entry form of one kind or another.

What distinguishes Pathagoras' data entry form from those of its competitors is the ease by which Pathagoras can generate them and by which you can use them.

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With almost every other program, the data entry form must be pre-constructed by the system administrator and 'locked down' before it can be used. Without the intake form, the document simply cannot be personalized. In some cases, the document cannot even be created without first completing the intake form. Not so with Pathagoras.

•	Pathagoras data entry form is fluid and flexible and easy to create. It is done from within Word. It is based on the (by this time in your learning) already familiar Instant Database screen.

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It is an optional as opposed to a mandatory feature. If you have not created a mask, the system (including personalizing the assembled document) still works. (You know that because you have probably already personalized dozens of documents without a mask, using the basic features of Instant Database.)

•	See Compare for more details.

Why create an Input Form Mask?

•	Primarily, you need a mask to tell Pathagoras what personal information is to replace the document variables.

Without a tool for the end user to tell the program what values should be substituted for each document variable, it would be quite difficult to 'personalize' the document for the ultimate client or customer. (The computer operator could perform a manual 'search and replace' operation for each variable, but this is not a satisfactory solution.)

This 'need' explanation is only partly satisfactory because Pathagoras is unique among all programs in that a data collection form can be easily created simply by pressing the Scan or AutoScan button. So you don't 'need' a mask to tell Pathagoras what personal information is to replace the document variables. But you should have one nevertheless. Read on.

•	Masks allow you better data input control.

With a 'standard' scan, Pathagoras displays the variables it finds in the order they appear in the document. Often, that order is not the most logical order for inputting personal data into a worksheet.

With a mask, you can organize the entries to mimic your client or customer intake sheets, standard purchase orders, etc. It is easy to insure that data entry will occur in an organized, logical fashion.

See Organizing Mask Entries

•	Masks allow you to provide completion tips and examples to the operator.

Masks can also help make the IDB process more user-friendly for the end-user by providing completion tips and examples.

See Making the Mask More Meaningful

•	Masks allow data input independent of document assembly.

Masks are useful when the office protocol is to complete the personal data before building the document.

•	Masks make it easy to Pathagorize existing or new documents.

Call up a mask while you are 'Pathagorizing.' Then you can either

o	'drag and drop' a variable directly from the mask into the document you are editing, or

o	create a drop down list of the mask's variables and point and click any variable into the document you are editing.

•	If you call data in from external data sources (Excel, TimeMatters, etc), Masks allow you to control the order and scope of the values called in.

o	Most external databases contain values that are far in excess of the variables needed for daily document assembly.

o	Masks allow you to call in and work with just the values your wish.

o	Using the concatenate functions you can build document variables (e.g., [Client Name] from bits and pieces of the values found in the external database.

You likely will need several masks for a complete document assembly system. The variables that are needed to complete, let's say, a 'Will' are significantly different from the variables needed to draft a ‘Contract’ or a 'Purchase Order.’ It is perfectly fine (indeed, it is a 'best practice’) to have a variety of masks, one for each genre of document or office practice (estate planning, contracts, litigation, bids and RFPs, etc).