Modifying Response Grids

Use this dialog to change settings for a response grid on your document. Do one of the following to access the Modify Response Grid dialog box:

NOTE:Response Grids created using the Grid Wizard are group shapes and must be ungrouped before you can modify the individual grid.

What's on the screen?

The Modify Response Grid dialog includes the following tabs:

How do I…

Scantron DesignExpert provides two ways to set up a response grid:

  • Select Tools > Grid Wizard.
  • Use the Response Grid Tool:
    1. Do one of the following
      • Select Tools > Response Grid
      • Click
      • Select Tools > Grid Wizard
    2. Place the mouse pointer where you want the grid to begin, click and drag the mouse pointer to where you want the grid to end, then release the mouse button.
  1. On the Designators tab (described above), click Add Custom Type.
  2. Provide a name for the designators.

    3. CAUTION: If you export this form to ScanTools, each named custom designator type and its designator list must be unique. For example, if two custom designator types have the same name but different designator lists, or if two custom designator types have different names but the same designator list, the ScanTools application generated by Export to ScanTools may contain errors.

  3. Specify the designators, separated by commas. See Adding or Editing Custom Designators for more details.
  1. On the Designators tab, select a custom designator set, then click Edit Custom Type.
  2. Change the characters used as designators for the selected type. See Adding or Editing Custom Designators dialog for details. You may not change the designator set name.
  3. Make any other grid changes, then click OK.

NOTE: Editing designator sets changes the designators only for the selected response grid; all other grids using this designator set are now changed to use the custom type "none," although the old custom designators still appear on the grid. To change the designators for the other grids using the set, modify those response grids to use the redefined custom designator set or create new custom designator sets for them.

Scantron DesignExpert software provides several ways to pre-slug custom response designators or special characters:

  • You can design your own response grid, with custom response designators, to capture an Email Address. The grid will include letters A through Z, numbers 0 through 9, and special characters "@" and "." . It uses the Alpha No-Space data type. Follow these steps:

    1. Create an OMR response grid with a 38 response position height for A-Z plus 0-9 plus the @ and . characters. Make the response grid wide enough for the email addresses you want to capture or pre-slug.
    2. Select Shape > Modify.
    3. Select the Designators tab and click Add Custom Type in the Designator Type area to open the Add Custom Designators dialog.
    4. Enter a Name for the custom designators such as "Email".
    5. Enter the designators you need. Each character must be separated by a comma. For this example, the entry is:

      6. A,B,C,D,E,F,G,H,I,J,K,L,M,N,O,P,Q,R,S,T,U,V,W,X,Y,Z,0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,@,.

    6. Click OK to save your designators.
    7. Select the Scanning tab and enter a Field Name such as Email Address. Select Alpha No-Space in the Grid Attributes Data Type area.
    8. Select the Merge tab and click Pre-Slug Variable Data in the Merge Field Type area. Enter a Merge Field Name such as Email. Select Alpha No-Space for the Data Type.
    9. Click OK.

    You now have a grid that you can pre-slug with a typical email address. Use the Merge Wizard to perform your pre-slugging: Select Database, Link Database and Document Fields, and Print.

    This technique can also be applied via the Grid Wizard.

    TIP: When you use the Alpha No-Space Data Type, A through Z must be included in your custom response designator set as the first 26 characters.

  • You can design your own response grid, with custom response designators, to capture an Email Address. The grid will include Space, letters A through Z, numbers 0 through 9, and special characters "@" and "." . It uses the Alpha-Numeric data type. Follow these steps:

    1. Create an OMR response grid with a 39 response position height for Space plus A-Z plus 0-9 plus the @ and . characters. Make the response grid wide enough for the email addresses you want to capture or pre-slug.
    2. Select Shape > Modify.
    3. Select the Designators tab and click Add Custom Type in the Designator Type area to open the Add Custom Designators dialog.
    4. Enter a Name for the custom designators such as "Email".
    5. Enter the designators you need. Each character must be separated by a comma. For this example, the entry is:

      6.  ,A,B,C,D,E,F,G,H,I,J,K,L,M,N,O,P,Q,R,S,T,U,V,W,X,Y,Z,0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,@,.

      Don’t forget the "Space" before the "A" in the character set.

    6. Click OK to save your designators.
    7. Select the Scanning tab and enter a Field Name such as Email Address. Select Alpha-Numeric in the Grid Attributes Data Type area.
    8. Select the Merge tab and click Pre-Slug Variable Data in the Merge Field Type area. Enter a Merge Field Name such as Email. Select Alpha-Numeric for the Data Type.
    9. Click OK.

    You now have a grid that you can pre-slug with a typical email address. Use the Merge Wizard to perform your pre-slugging: Select Database, Link Database and Document Fields, and Print.

    This technique can also be applied via the Grid Wizard.

    TIP: When you use the Alpha-Numeric Data Type, Space, A through Z, and 0 through 9 must be included in your custom response designator set as the first 37 characters.

  • In addition to the methods described above, you can also pre-slug special characters in any field by modifying the data in your database fields. For example, if you have a "Gender" OMR response grid, you can use custom response designators "F" and "M" for Female and Male, labels that are meaningful to the form user.

    If you want to pre-slug your Gender response grid, there is no way to link to a database Gender field containing just F and M because there is no Gender Merge Data Type. You can however adapt one of the standard Merge Data Types and your database to meet your needs. The steps are as follows:

    1. Create your Gender response grid with custom response designators "F" and "M" and with Merge Data Type set to "One-Digit Response."

      2. Valid data for One-Digit Response Merge Data Type is defined as numbers 1 through 9.

      Since your Gender response grid contains two bubbles, F and M, they are equivalent to 1 and 2 in the One-Digit Response Merge Data Type.

    2. Change the data in the Gender field of your database from F and M to 1 and 2.
    3. Use this dialog to perform your pre-slugging: Select Database, Link Database and Document Fields, and Print.

    TIP: If you are pre-slugging an OMR form and you are working with ScanTools software, you can use a Translate table in your ScanTools application to convert the pre-slug marks from 1 and 2 back to F and M in your data file. If you export your form to ScanTools, the translation for custom response designators is automatically included in the exported ScanTools application.

    You can use other Merge Data Types in similar fashion for other response grids where you have defined custom designators.

You may want to create the illusion that an element of your design, such as a box or response grid, is floating and casting a shadow. This effect is called a "drop shadow."

Without
Drop Shadow

Without Drop Shadow

With
Drop Shadow

With Drop Shadow

Scantron DesignExpert does not have a drop shadow tool but it is relatively easy for you to create your own simple drop shadow if you need one.

  1. Create or select an element.
  2. Draw a box of the same size as the element.
  3. Use Modify Box to create your "shadow" by changing the box Stroke and Fill to a screen percentage such as 15%.
  4. Duplicate this box and use Modify Box to change the second box Stroke and Fill to Solid Style and White Color.

    5. Drop Shadow 4

  5. Drag the "white" box on top of your element (an OMR response grid in this case) then move it to the graphic layer behind the element (right-click the box, then choose Move to Back).
  6. Drag the 15% screened box on top of your element and offset down and to the right by half a response grid space. Then, move it to the graphic layer behind the element.

    7. Drop Shadow 6a Drop Shadow 6b

  7. Select all of the elements in your finished grid and Group them so that they stay together when moved on the workspace.

Your element is complete with drop shadow. We suggest you experiment with other shapes, screen percentages, and colors. And, be sure to add it to your Shape Library if you will use it with other form designs.

Modifying Caption Text

Modifying Hand Print Areas

Modifying Multiple Shapes of the Same Type