Formulator, how to easily create formlets through a graphical user interface
To write the RDF/XML syntax for the formlets on your own can be quite cumbersome, instead the program Formulator (included in the SHAME distribution) can be used. The window will consist of a row of buttons and two fields. The button will look like the picture below:
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Helps you create a new Formlet Set
Open a Formlet Set
Save a simple formlet
Save all the formlets in all the formlet sets
Create a new formlet in a formlet set
Delete a formlet
Creates an example of a certain formlet.
On the left side of the window there is a list of the files that are loaded which is called a formlet store. Each store usually contain one or more formlets.
Creating formlets and formlet stores
Above the list is of formlet stores in the main window (see screenshot 1), there is a set of buttons where you (among other things) can:
- Create a new formlet store
- Create new formlets to a formlet store
The following example will show how this is done
Create a new formlet store
Click on the first button (1) from the left and a filechooser will appear. From here you can either choose an existing rdf-file to be a formlet store or create a new one. After that the file will appear in the main window as a formlet store.
Creating a new formlet
Formlets exist inside a formlet store. To create and add a new formlet to a store, click on the button marked (2) on screenshot 1 above and the dialog in screenshot 2 below will appear.
 Screenshot 2 Creating a new formlet, step 1 |
As can be seen in screenshot 2 there are three different types of formlets:
- Atomic Formlet
- Simple Atomic Formlet
- Compound Formlet
Choose the type of formlet you would like to create and choose the formlet store it should be contained in and click on next. The next step in the process will be different depending on what kind of formlet that is created, but the first two fields are the same. The first field contains the base URI and is usually filled in advance (see (1) in screenshot 3 below). The second field should be filled with the localname for the URI of this formlet (see (2) in screenshot 3 below).
Create a compound formlet
Only the base URI and the localname are needed to create a compound formlet as described earlier. A compund formlet is just a collection of the two different kinds of atomic formlets. Here you can read more about Compound formlets
Create a simple atomic formlet
There are two more things you need to fill in to create this kind of formlet:
- The URI of the property for this simple atomic formlet, the field marked (3) in screenshot 3.
- Check the checkbox if the value for this property is a text string (ie a literal). Uncheck it if it is another resource. See (4) in screenshot 3.
 Screenshot 3 Creating a Simple Atomic Formlet, last step |
Press create and the formlet will appear under the the fomlet store it was created in the main window. Read about how to edit this formlet here. Read more about Simple Atomic Formlets here.
Create an atomic formlet
Since the atomic formlets need a form model and a query model it will need two separete files for that. Fill them in at the fields marked (5) and (6) in screenshot 4 below.
 Screenshot 4 Creating an atomic formlet, last step |
If you already have a file you can get some help by pushing the "Open" button and a file dialog will appear. If you do not have a file, press "create form" or "create query" and a file dialog will appear where you either choose an existing file or you create a new one.
Editing formlets
In the main window the formlets are inside the formlet stores to the left, double.click on one of them and it will unfold showing all the formlets it contains. The field to the right in the main window will now display the information about the formlet and it is also possible to edit the formlet. It will look something like screenshot 5, where the chosen formlet is a simple atomic formlet.
 Screenshot 5 Edit a formlet. |
Depending on what kind of formlet you are gonna edit, the window will look a bit different