After logging in, the main menu of the survey editor opens. To add a new survey to the system, go to Create Form panel.

To start working on a new form based on an existing PDF file, click New Project.

Then locate the PDF file on the disk, select it and click Open. After loading the file, the document will be visible in the main application window. To adjust the zoom, you can use the plus and minus buttons available in the lower right corner of the windowo r by holding the CTRL button on the keybord and moving the mouse wheel u por down. To view individual pages of a multi-page document, use the < and > buttons available under the survey preview. For convinience, it is recommended to use the application in full screen mode ((to do this, double-click on the top bar or click the middle icon in the upper right corner of the application). The sizes of individual panels inside the window can be adjusted by moving their borders, as shown in the picture below.

To save the various stages of your work, you can use the standard Save and Save As buttons. IC Pen 2 Survey Editor saves files in its own file format with the extension * .icpdf2. IC Pen 2 Survey Editor is backwards compatible with * .icpdf files created in IC Pen Survey Editor (EOL).

You can replace the PDF file (background) at any time while working on the survey. This is especially useful if the background file is changed slightly or when a new survey is not very different from the existing one. To replace the background, click the Replace PDF file button, select a new PDF file on the disk and confirm by pressing Open in the system window. As a result, the background of the document will be changed. The regions defined earlier will remain unchanged. Remember to adjust their position to fit the new background, because there is often a slight shift, e.g. as a result of adding a line of text or changing the margin (picture below). It is possible to replace a one-page document with a multi-page document and in the opposite direction (in this case it is important to remember that regions placed on pages that do not exist in the new PDF file will be lost). Undoing the background substitution operation is not possible.

Easy transition between the stages of creating a form is possible thanks to the Undo and Redo buttons. The buttons work similarly to those known from applications such as Office Word or similar. Undo removes the last change made to the document, and Redo returns the document to the state it was in before the last use of the Redo button. To work even faster, you can use the standard keyboard shortcuts: CTRL + Z for Undo and CTRL + Y for Retry.

Before entering the survey into the system, you can open a report preview in Excel format to check if the fields will be exported as intended. To do this, press the Preview button in Excel. A temporary file will be created and automatically opened in your Excel (if Excel or other XLS file viewer is not installed, the function will not work).

When the form is finished and coded (with regions added) you can add it to the system. To do this, the project must be previously saved, and if it is not, the program will ask you to do it. If both requirements are met, you can add a survey by clicking Enter to system.

In the new window, add the name of the survey (it will be available under this name in the IC Pen Client client application), select the language in which the handwriting is to be recognized and add tags (not required). They should only contain the characters a-z and 0-9 and “_” (underscore). To add tags, write in the text box and press Add. To delete an existing tag, select it in the list and click Delete. Confirm by pressing Enter into the system. Depending on the size and number of pages of the form, the addition may take a while.

If the operation was successful, the application will confirm that the form has been added to the system. From this moment it will be available in the IC Pen Client application.

ADDING REGIONS

Coding surveys using regions is a simple process of adding active fields to your form. This means that in a given field the system will take a specific action. In the fields with the white logo in the icon (see No. 1 in the graphic below), he will look for specific types of data in the user’s handwritten letter entered with a digital pen (e.g. numbers, letters, markings, signatures). Entries found in these fields can be converted to typewriter or processed taking into account additional parameters (e.g. biometric features). In regions marked with black icons (No. 2), the system will take a specific action when printing the form (e.g., printing an additional logo or leaving the field without interfering with the color scheme).

The most commonly used regions are: Open Text, Checkbox field, Numeric Field, Text Field, Send Inquiries to a paired phone. Available regions are located in the upper right corner of the application window. Regions can be added in two ways:

• Dragging the region icon from the right to the form (Drag & Drop). Then adjust the size of the regions to the form fields.
• Selecting the region with the left mouse button and then double-clicking on the form field. The region will automatically fill the field, matching the nearest edges. Clicking with the right mouse button will cause an unmatched region to appear.

When creating the form, remember that the regions should not be too close to the edge of the page, because in this case they may not be read correctly by a digital pen (try to keep at least a margin of 1 cm).

After adding and selecting a region, its properties will be editable in the lower right panel. The size and position of the region in pixels are shown at the top. These parameters can be changed by entering the appropriate values ​​or dragging the region on the form with the mouse. The region can also be moved precisely using the arrows on the keyboard with the left CTRL (jump by one unit) or CTRL + SHIFT (jump by 15 units) held down.

The most important of the region’s properties is the Field Name / Group Name, which must be unique. The name field will be marked in red until it is filled in correctly. To enter the survey into the system, complete all required fields for all regions. The Dictionary field allows you to add a dictionary to the region by which the letter recognition system (OCR) will decipher the words. If this field is left blank, the full dictionary will be used by default. By checking the Additional dictionary box, the user can create and / or add his own dictionary (see).

Different regions have different properties, for example, only the Field Name / Group Name has an Image region outside of position and size. In contrast, squared boxes have the additional option Number of characters. When adding more regions, be careful that their location does not overlap. A detailed description of the regions can be found at this link.

Regions added on the form may have different colors indicating their status:

• blue – valid region, all required information filled out,
• yellow – the correct region is marked,
• purple – Invalid region selected,
• red – incorrect region, incorrect or missing required information about the region, e.g. no name or overlapping regions.

Incorrect coding of a region may be the result of one or more of the following errors:

• parameter Field name / Group name is empty,
• the given field name / group name parameter already exists,
• various parameters Default value within the same group of checkboxes,
• same Value if checked for more than one checkbox within one group,
• two or more regions overlap

A very useful feature is region selection, so you can perform specific operations on multiple regions at once. This can be, for example, moving, deleting or giving properties. To select regions, hold down the SHIFT key on your keyboard and click the desired regions one by one with the left mouse button. Another option useful when the regions are close to each other is to use the check box. To do this, hold the CTRL button on the keyboard, then click and hold the left mouse button and drag the cursor over the field you want to select (the box will be highlighted in blue). After using the selection box, you can still select a single selection to subtract or add certain regions to the selection (SHIFT + LPM). When a region is selected, you can move to the next region in (geometric) order using the TAB key on the keyboard or SHIFT + TAB to move to the previous one. An unwanted region can be deleted using the Delete key on the keyboard.

ADVANCED TOOLS

In the top right corner of the survey editor, there is the Show tools button, after clicking on it advanced features will appear.

Advanced tools allow you to generate many regions of a certain size, position and offset. You can also convert an existing region to another one or name all unnamed regions by default. Options such as Pen / background color, Border type and other such types will be visible only after adding the form to the system. A detailed description of the advanced options can be found here.

READY FORM

After creating the form, to add it to the system, click the Enter into system button. If the form has no errors and has been saved, you will see information about the correct addition to the system. The user will be notified with appropriate information also in other cases, e.g. if the form is incorrect or has not been saved. The survey can also be saved to disk and added to the system in the IC Pen application.

An interesting and useful option is Replace PDF. The option allows you to replace the PDF at any time when creating a form. This is especially useful if there have been changes to the PDF (e.g. a new field) and the form is ready.