--- title: Form Designer description: "**Audience:** admin · **Last updated:** 2026-06-07 · [Edit on GitHub](https://github.com/phreesoft/bizuno/edit/main/docs/04-modules-in-depth/02-phreeform/02-form-designer.md) # Form Designer The form designer is where you lay out pixel-positioned documents — invoices, packing slips, statements, checks, labels — by placing fields on a page at exact coordinates.…" url: "https://www.bizuno.com/docs/form-designer/" updated: "2026-06-18" category: PhreeForm --- # Form Designer **Audience:** admin · **Last updated:** 2026-06-07 · [Edit on GitHub](https://github.com/phreesoft/bizuno/edit/main/docs/04-modules-in-depth/02-phreeform/02-form-designer.md) # Form Designer The form designer is where you lay out pixel-positioned documents — invoices, packing slips, statements, checks, labels — by placing fields on a page at exact coordinates. It's a real differentiator: instead of Photoshopping a logo onto a fixed template, you actually design the document. This page covers the field palette, the page model, positioning, and saving/sharing forms. The data side (binding fields to columns, tokens) is in [Data binding and fields](/docs/data-binding-and-fields/). --- ## The field palette Each thing you place on a form is a **field** of a given type: | Type code | Field | What it does | | --- | --- | --- | | `Data` | Data | A single value bound to a SQL column (header/footer data) | | `Text` | Text | Literal text (and [tokens](/docs/data-binding-and-fields/#tokens)) | | `Tbl` | Table | A repeating block — one row per query result (the line items) | | `TDup` | Table (dup) | A second copy of a table at different coordinates | | `TBlk` | Text Block | A multi-field single-row block | | `Ttl` | Total | An aggregate/total value | | `Img` | Image | A static image from the images folder | | `ImgLink` | Image Link | A data-bound image (path comes from the query) | | `CImg` | Company Logo | Your business logo | | `CDta` / `CBlk` | Company Data / Block | Your business name/address fields | | `Line` | Line | A horizontal/vertical/diagonal rule | | `Rect` | Rectangle | A box with optional border and/or fill | | `BarCode` | Barcode | A 1-D barcode (C128, C39, EAN, UPC, I2of5, POSTNET) | | `PgNum` | Page Number | The page number, with multi-form batch aliases | | `LtrTpl` | Letter Template | A letter-body template | --- ## The page model A form definition carries the **page setup** — page size (e.g. Letter), orientation (`P` portrait / `L` landscape), and the four margins (in mm) — plus default fonts and colors for headings, data, totals, and filters. There aren't rigid "header / body / footer" bands you draw into. Instead: - **Single-render fields** (`Data`, `Text`, `Img`, `Line`, `Rect`, company fields, `PgNum`, `Ttl`) are drawn once per page at their coordinates. A field's **`display`** setting controls *which* pages: `0` = every page, `1` = first page only, `2` = last page only. That's how you get a remittance stub on the last page, or a logo only on page one. - **Repeating fields** (`Tbl`) draw one row per query result and paginate automatically, adding pages when the rows overflow. So "header" and "footer" are really "first/every-page single fields above/below the table," expressed through coordinates and the `display` rule. --- ## Positioning fields Every field has a position and size in millimetres: - **`abscissa`** — X (distance from the left) - **`ordinate`** — Y (distance from the top) - **`width`** / **`height`** — the field's box (0 lets images auto-size) Plus per-field appearance in its settings: `font`, `size`, `align` (L/C/R), and `color`. Lines carry a `linetype` (H/V/C) and `length`; rectangles carry border (`bshow`/`bsize`/`bcolor`) and fill (`fshow`/`fcolor`) options. --- ## Logos and images There are three image fields, for three situations: - **`Img`** — a fixed image you uploaded (your letterhead graphic). It references a file under the Bizuno data **`images/`** folder. If the file is missing, the form renders a visible red placeholder rather than failing silently. - **`ImgLink`** — a *data-bound* image whose path comes from the query (e.g. a product photo per line). Accepts JPG/PNG. - **`CImg`** — your company logo specifically. > **Hi-DPI tip.** PDF scales the image into the box you define (in mm), so upload a > logo at 2–3× the printed size for crisp output — a 30 mm-wide logo box looks best > fed by an image a few hundred pixels wide, not a 30-pixel thumbnail. --- ## Page numbering across batched forms `PgNum` prints the page number. For **batch printing** — many invoices in one PDF — PhreeForm supports page-group aliases (`{nb1}`, `{nb2}`, …) so each document can show "Page X of Y" counting *its own* pages, not the whole batch. The aliases are resolved when the PDF is finalized. --- ## Saving, versioning, and sharing - **Save** writes the whole definition (all fields and their settings) back to `common_meta` as JSON, stamping `last_update`. There's no built-in version history — save is a replace — so keep a copy before a big change. - **Copy** a form to iterate safely: duplicate, rename, edit the copy, and leave the original untouched (see [Custom forms](/docs/custom-forms/#start-from-a-built-in)). - **Export / import** moves a form between installs as a JSON file — see [Custom forms → export/import](/docs/custom-forms/#export--import). --- ## Related - [Data binding and fields](/docs/data-binding-and-fields/) — binding fields to data and tokens - [Processors and formatters](/docs/processors-and-formatters/) — shaping values - [Custom forms](/docs/custom-forms/) — copy, groups, import/export, troubleshooting - [Report engine overview](/docs/report-engine-overview/)