FAQ: The OmniForm fields are not filled in by QuickLaw

Below is an excerpt from an email conversation with a QuickLaw customer on how to track down this problem:

[From Customer]

Hi, we completed the new version upgrade but now our court forms are not working. The forms load in Omniform and everything looks okay but the data is never filled in. We have to input all the data ourselves. There are no errors or any problem reported by QuickLaw.. we just can't get our data filled in. Please help!

[From Med-Legal]

We need to verify that you have the latest version of the QuickLaw local files. If not, do the upgrade on the web site again. To verify you have the new version:

• The "New" QuickLaw only has five buttons on the opening screen and says "Workers Compensation Edition" in yellow just below "QuickLaw". The "old" version had 8 buttons and said "Workers Compensation and Personal Injury Edition".

• The "New" QuickLaw has 126 court forms available and the "old" one only had 47. In the new version the DOR is called "Declaration of Readiness Form 9" and in the old version it is called "Declaration of Readiness to Proceed".

[Customer]

Yes, I have verified that I have the new version

[From Med-Legal]

Okay. Do you get the same results on ALL stations on your network or just one? If you get the problem on just one computer you have a system problem... probably a registry problem with Omniform. Try reinstalling Omniform.

[From Customer]

We get the problem on all the workstations.

[From Med-Legal]

Do you get the error on ALL the forms are just some of them? If only on some of the forms then the forms table was corrupted.

[From Customer]

We get the problem on all of the forms.

[From Med-Legal]

I suspect one of three problems:

1. There is some sort of error happening that is stopping QuickLaw from inserting the data. The problem with this theory is that you would get some type of on-screen error message. You didn't mention any errors, so that bothers me. A question I have that might help me with this is: When you close the form do you get a screen asking to "Save the form and data" or just "Save the form"? If so, which button do you click?
2. The field names on the forms that you received are corrupted. Do you happen to have the full OmniForm product? If so, we can go into design view and check the field names. Maybe it would be worth it to you to purchase the full product (at OmniForm.com's store) to solve this problem.
3. Somewhere along the line maybe you changed the "Book Marker" codes for the case information fields. The fact that Gary had you use Date_Of_Birth instead of DateOfBirth bothers me a little. To check this out go into the QuickLaw Setup program. Click on option number 14, Case Information Codes. To the far right there is a column called Book Marker Codes. Is the code for the date of injury "DateOfInjury"? Is the code for the parts of the body that were injured "PartOfBodyInju"? Is the date of birth "DateofBirth"? Now go back out to the menu and choose option number 13, PhoneBook Categories. Again, the far right column is the book mark names. Is the bookmark name for the category Applicant/Employee called "ApplicantEmploy"? Is the bookmark for the insurance company category "InsuranceCo"?

Maybe it would help you to track down the problem if I explained the way this all works:

• A copy of the OmniForm form document is kept in the database in an OLE (object) field in Access.
• When you create a new form the OLE record is copied into a document record for the case you are on.
• The OLE field is "activated", which cases Omniform to load with the form in it.
• Access obtains a reference to Omniform via an OLE/ActiveX connection (GetObject function), references the currently open form document
• Access loops through all of the Omniform Text Entry fields in that form. It examines each field name and looks in the database for this case to see if there is a matching Case Information code, Case Date code, or Associated name with a matching Book Marker field. It uses the "Book Marker" fields that I had you check earlier to look for matches. For example, if you have a case information record for Date of Injury entered on your case then QuickLaw would have a match for an OmniForm field called "DateofInjury" because the Case Information code's bookmarker value was "DateofInjury". The Omniform field would actually be called "I_DateofInjury" so that Access would not to use the Case Information table, thus the "I_" in the field name.

If I were there (at your office) I would first look for any error messages during the forms process.

Next I would check several different forms to make sure that none of them worked... maybe just one or two of the most commonly used ones were corrupted.

Next I would make sure the Forms Save screen appeared when I closed Omniform, and that it had two buttons: one for saving the form and data, and one for saving the form only. If that screen wasn't there then we were getting some type of error. If the screen was there then we were not getting any errors. That would mean the field names were wrong either in the forms themselves (doubtful) or QuickLaw (probable).

Next I would check the Book Marker field names in QuickLaw to make sure they were correct (as explained above).

If all of that checked out then I would get a copy of the latest Omniform... the full product (not just the Filler), and try that. Maybe you are using an old version of Omniform that Access can't get a reference to.

If that didn't solve it then I would use Omniform to open the form (through the QuickLaw setup program and double-clicking the form field) in design view and check the field names for date of injury. I would make sure it was "I_DateofInjury", and the other field names I mentioned above.

Finally, if that didn't work I would download the Local.EXE files again from the QuickLaw site and re-install the local files on one of the PCs... maybe the local file installation is corrupted or wrong. I know the Login.EXE installation works and fills out forms because I have tried (tested) it on about 7 different PCs already.

If all of that failed I would start working on hardware... I would start with memory... put 512MB of RAM in one of the PCs and see what that does. And so on...

Something on this list is going to solve it.