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Customizing the RPS Software

Altering the Display of the Proposal Forms

You may edit the mission-specific template file to alter the display of the form to suit your particular needs, but if you choose to do so, you must ensure that you make equivalent changes in the mission_*.pdf and mission.pcf files in order for the entire RPS system to interface properly.

For instance:

  • Let's say you want to change the default country to be Japan.
    1. Edit mission_cover.pdf so that
      |0|0|COI.COUNTRY(1)|Co-Investigator Country(1)|1|10|1| |A10|USA|
      becomes
      |0|0|COI.COUNTRY(1)|Co-Investigator Country(1)|1|10|1| |A10|Japan|

  • You may want to change 'State' to 'Prefecture'

    1. In the mission.pdf file change
      |0|0|POSTAL.STATE|State|1|32|1| |A32| |
      to
      |0|0|PREFECTURE|Prefecture|1|32|1| |A32| |
      
    2. Edit help.html so that it has identical names as in the mission_*.pdf files. (The HTML FORM passes this information to the server along the query string.)
      <a href="$mission_helpfile#State">State/County</a>  <input size=32 maxlength=32 Name="State" Value="">
      becomes
      <a href="$mission_helpfile#Prefecture">Prefecture</a>  <input size=32 maxlength=32 Name="Prefecture" Value="">
      
    3. The mission.phf file must correspond to the mission.pdf
      ** State
      The name of the state or province of the institute.  Up to 32 characters.
      becomes
      ** Prefecture
      The name of the Prefecture of the institute.  Up to 32 characters.
      

  • Changing the size of input widgets

    1. In the mission_target.pdf file edit the field that changes the size of the parameter. For example change
      |0|1|TARGET.NUMBER|Target Number|3|3|1| |I3| |
      to
      |0|1|TARGET.NUMBER|Target Number|3|4|1| |I4| |

    2. In mission.form HTML template change:
      <a href="$mission_helpfile#Target Number">Target Number</a> <input size=3 maxlength=3 name="Target Number" value=">
      to
      <a href="$mission_helpfile#Target Number">Target Number</a> <input size=4 maxlength=4 name="Target Number" value=">


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