Testing
There are two "tests" available for forms.
An XML test is available from the Tools menu 
(shown when Form:Name
(data) 
is selected). This builds the XML file.
Form test is available from 
menu when Form:name
(form) 
is selected. The same Build toolbox is used to build the
load file for the entire project. The load file is the "output"
from FTForm8 and the purpose of the program. The other buttons in
the build toolbox control the build process.
Form testing is quite slow in Asian languages as the entire font is loaded. You can circumvent part of this by selecting just the "locale" set for the country in which you are operating. In production, blazingly fast formatting times result as FormTrap downloads only those glyphs (characters) required and operates on a standard US specification laser printer.
The color button 
on selects color printing (unselect 
for Black and White), while the
"fast" 
button on processes substitution images fast (unselect
for best graphic quality). This is required only if you
have poor resolution images (less than 200 dpi) as substitutions.
Build generates the file for the FormTrap Spooler (or Linux system), the one file supports PCLXL, PostScript and direct PDF file output.
The PDF button 
performs an immediate test, is the preferred option for testing and shows
a directly-generated PDF file.
The two printer language buttons ( 
PostScript and 
PCLXL) show an image of the
document as converted from the original language. This is slower.
The test process runs silently through these procedures before showing you the image.
- Build of the form to a temporary file. For Asian fonts this can be around a half minute as fonts are huge.
- Loading of the above file per the Spooler's "New data folder" process, to a temporary folder, again this is impacted by Asian fonts and may be as much as 10 seconds.
- Processing of the input file per the Spooler, generating an XML file for Form Processing, this same file is output.
- Output of a PDF or PostScript or a PCLXL file, depending on user selection.
- Translation of PostScript or PCLXL file to PDF where required
- Viewing with Adobe PDF Viewer.
Build or Test may stop with an error message where the form is incomplete or the form does not recognize the file. Error messages are found here.
Build
Build 
opens this window where the build parameters are selected.
Output path: is where the built file is placed. The default location is shown, project name is the default file name, with extension .ftzip.
We recommend including the date of build in the file name, see example.
Unicode subranges, Type pulls down offering selections of the glyph set to be downloaded (glyph is a character shape).
ASCII is OK for US English only. Special symbols and currency symbols (Euro for example) are available in the ASCII + Punct. and Currency selection.
The full Unicode set is normally HUGE and should only be selected where required.
Display: allows error reporting selection.
Version: applies only to forms developers servicing a wider market where users may have obsolete software. (This allows files to be built for earlier versions of the Spooler).
Build now builds the file. The .ftzip file is the output from this program (and is used to Load/Reload the Data File by the FormTrap Spooler).
Close (update changes) updates the project with any changes to the build folder and build selections, then closes this window.
Close (ignore changes) closes this window with the prior information, ignoring changes made in this window.