By default, the comment edit area for a topic is a word processor based free style editor, where the cursor can be positioned anywhere, and anything can be added, deleted or modified. In contrast, you can also create field entry style forms, where the user can only position the cursor within designated fields in the form.
To create a form, you first create the topic layout with this option cleared so that you can use the main editor to fully design one or more form templates, whose topics will use this topic layout, and freely insert text and checkbox fields. Once the form has been designed and tested, you can enable form mode for those topics by checking this option.
Please note that checkbox fields are not the same as the comment checkboxes used for the default free style editor. Field checkboxes require certain special handling, and therefore must be distinguishable in the editor. Also, all fields can have names so that it will be possible to reference specific field data elsewhere in the report using special field related tags (not yet implemented).
To design a form, you simply edit a topic, as you normally would, to set up all the form headings, labels and general formatting that you might want to present to the user who will be filling out the form. Also you can add the fields you will need by using the right click popup menu described later.
Once you have the topic the way you want it, you can quickly test the form entry mode by first right clicking on the comment and then selecting Field Entry Style Form from the popup menu to toggle between field entry style and free style modes. When you are satisfied that the form is setup up properly, you can then use the Topic Layout Manager to enable the topic to be a Field Entry Style Form at all times.