Defining a Field

In this topic

• Define a field.

Terms

NOTE: The following terms are found in the Output Field Entry dialog box.

Display Field: When checked, the fields are displayed on the screen whenever a document is scanned or edited. More than one field can be defined as a display field; however, a total of 20 characters can be displayed during scanning operations. Any fields defined after the 20-character limit will not appear. Field: A portion of a data record (e.g. name, birth date, ID number, etc). Every grid must correspond to a field. However, not every field has a corresponding grid. Some fields, such as score and totals fields, contain data from other sources.

Fixed Length: When checked, you must enter the fixed length of the field, in characters. If you are defining grids using the OMR Tool, the length you enter must be as long as or longer than the field length. When unchecked, the length of the field is dynamically sized by ScanTools to contain the data generated by the grid(s) associated with the field.

Fixed length is required for the following fields:

• date fields
• evaluate fields
• any fields that will store total and/or subtest scores when scoring.

Grid: A set of response positions on a form that denote data collection areas.

Concept

When you define a field, you are setting aside space in the output record for data. A field can be alphanumeric, numeric, 1-digit, 2-digit, date, or evaluate. Most fields have grids associated with them for data collection. However, some fields do not have grids associated with them. These fields can be used to store other data. A later topic will show you how to use a field to store the Score of a test. In this topic, you will define the Name field that collects the last name of the respondents. The field is alphanumeric. In subsequent topics, you will learn how to associate multiple grids with the field using the Append command.

Procedure

1. Find the Output Palette. If it is not displayed, select View > Toolbars & Palettes and check Output Palette.
2. In the Output Palette, click New. The Output Field Entry dialog box appears.
3. In the Output Field Entry dialog box, use the following settings:
• Name = Name
• Type = Alphanumeric
• Fixed Length = Unchecked
• In the Attributes group box, verify that Display Field is selected.
4. Click OK. This defines the field. Notice that Name* appears in the Fields list in the Output Palette. The asterisk indicates that Name is a field which has no grids associated with it. The next task is to define a grid which will define the response positions from which data will be collected.

You have now successfully defined a field. In the next topic, we will define a grid and then associate it with the Name field.