In a form design
that has a fixed layout, you typically use only one subform (the default
subform on the page), which Designer sets to position content by
default. When Designer positions the content in a subform, none
of the objects within the subform move from their anchored positions,
regardless of the characteristics and quantity of data.
However, if you want sections of the form to expand to accommodate
data, you generally use multiple subforms: the default subform on
the page, which you set to flow content, along with additional subforms
that you can set to repeat for each data item, expand to fit, or
both. When you reset a subform to flow content, the objects within
the subform, including other subforms, move to accommodate the data
merged into the repeating and expanding subforms.
With Designer, you can bind the objects in the form to the data
elements in a data file, and you can configure the text field and
subform objects in the form to appear, repeat, or expand, depending
on the characteristics and quantity of data merged with the object.
Because the objects in the form are bound to the source data, the
layout of the form is data-driven.
When authoring a form design that contains sections that expand
and shrink to accommodate data, it is important to understand which
subforms appear once in the form, such as an address block, and
the subforms that repeat according to the amount of data, such as
a detail line. For those subforms that repeat, include only one
instance of the subform and its components in the form design. Consequently,
what you see at design time is not what users see when the form
is rendered.
For example, the following illustrations of the non-interactive
Purchase Order sample show the form design before it is merged with
data and the resulting form that is presented to a user after the
form design is merged with data. Notice how the detail line (detail
subform) repeats four times to accommodate the list of parts (available
data).
