wiki : Technical documentation > Create forms (Forms plugin) > Back office of the Forms application

Back office of the Forms application

The Forms plugin is a toolbox for building simple or more elaborate forms. For example, you can define steps, input aids, conditional questions, multiple choices, etc.

Creating a Form

The process of creating a new form consists of different steps: initializing and defining the form parameters, creating the form steps, and creating the form questions/entries/fields.

General Parameters of a Form

To create a form, go to the Application or Content menu and select the entry "Forms - Step-by-step form management".

The page that appears shows the list of already created forms if any exist. To initiate the creation of a form, click the button " Add a form".

• The form parameters to define are:
  • Title: label to designate the form; It is used for the list of forms in the BO but is also displayed to users in the FO
  • Description: optional descriptive text about the form and the questions it will contain
  • Category: optional, empty by default
  • Logo: optional logo representing the form visible in the FO
  • Availability Dates: optional start and end dates designating respectively the date from which the form will be available to users and the date from which the form will be closed. For the form to be available, at least one of these two dates must be defined.
  • Unavailable Message: optional message displayed if a user tries to access the form outside the availability period
  • Restrictions:
    1. Maximum number of responses: limits the total number of responses to the form. ("0" = no limit).
    2. Authentication required: check if you want the user to be authenticated before filling out the form
    3. One response per user: allows only one response per respondent. This is only useful if authentication is mandatory because an unauthenticated user could respond multiple times.
    4. Access to form response management in FO by role. Allows activating access to form responses on the FO side based on user roles rather than their identifier (GUID)
    5. Enable saving incomplete responses. When the user is authenticated, allows reloading a saved response later.
  • Display:
    1. Breadcrumb type: Displays the step number in FO
    2. Response counting: the response count will be displayed in the front office
  • Summary: Parameters for the final summary phase
    1. Return URL: the URL of the page to redirect the user to after submitting the form. If this field is left empty, the redirection will be to the first step of the form
    2. Form submission button label: By default, the text presented is "Submit the form"
    3. Summary: check if you want a summary page before the final save of the form responses. It allows the user to review all their responses and possibly edit them before submitting the form.
    4. Display end message: check if you want to display a message after submitting the form
    5. End message: editing block to define the end message
  • Workflow:
    1. Workflow: To associate a workflow with the form (optional), select the intended workflow.
  • Captcha:
    1. Initial step: check if you want a captcha inserted in the initial step of the form
    2. Final step: check if you want a captcha inserted in the final step of the form
    3. Summary: check if you want a captcha inserted in the form summary

• Click "Create the form" to validate the creation of this form. It is now possible to configure the steps and various fields of the form.

Steps

Add a Step

A form consists of steps and a list of questions.

To create the different steps of a form:

• Click the button " Edit form steps" in the row of the desired form on the "Forms - Step-by-step form management" page
• Click " Add a step"

• Fill in the necessary fields for creating the step, which can be:
  • Initial, for the first step,
  • Final, for the last step,
  • Initial and final, in the case of a single step.
  • For an intermediate step, no box needs to be checked, but the previous step must be specified in the dropdown list

• Click "OK" to confirm the creation of the step.

Add a Link Between Two Steps

Links between steps define the sequence of step display in the front office. Links are automatically created when each step is created by indicating the previous step to the one being created.

Add a Conditional Link or Transition Control

It is also possible to add transition controls, i.e., verify a condition to move to the target step of the concerned link.

To create a transition control:

• Click on the concerned link in the list of steps

• Click the button " Manage controls" in the row of the concerned link

• Click " Add a control"

• Choose the target step and target question, i.e., the step and question whose answer will determine the next step, click the button " check" to confirm the change of step and target question.

• Choose the type of control, click the button " check" to confirm the change of control type.

• If necessary, define an error message to display if the control fails.
• Select the expected value for the link to occur.

• Click "OK" to confirm the addition of conditional display.

To add a conditional link, you must first have added at least the question that will determine the display of the next step.

Configure the Breadcrumb

To configure the breadcrumb:

• Go to the Application or Content menu and select the entry "Forms - Accordion breadcrumb configuration".

• Click the button "Edit accordion breadcrumb configuration"

• Select the steps to include in the breadcrumb and specify their position

Form display with and without breadcrumb:

It is also possible to create a step accessible only in the BO, by creating a "BO Management" step without links to other form steps, including entries with "BO restricted visibility" and not including it in the breadcrumb configuration:

Entries

Add Entries to a Form

To add questions to the created step:

• Click the icon "Questions" on the row of the step where you want to add the question (in the list of form steps) or on the tab " List of Questions" after clicking on the concerned step
• Add as many types of entries as needed by clicking on the desired entry type in the list on the right side of the page.
• Configure each entry.

To access the list of all existing entries, click the following link:

Existing entry types

Entries can be configured with different parameters depending on the entry type:

• Help: allows adding a help text to explain the nature of the field to the user filling out the form. The text is displayed under the field in the FO.
• Comment: allows adding a note or additional comment on the field visible only in the BO.
• Default value: allows pre-filling the field with a default value. Useful to avoid users entering repetitive information.
• Placeholder: allows placing informative text in the field that disappears when the user starts typing a response.
• Mandatory: makes the field mandatory for the user to fill out. An error message is displayed if the user tries to move to the next step or submit the form without filling out the field.
• Error message: allows customizing the error message displayed to the user if incorrect input is detected or if a mandatory field is not filled.
• Input confirmation: creates an additional confirmation field to validate the input of information, such as email validation. If the input in both fields is not identical, an error message is displayed.
• Attachment: allows attaching a document to the comment field for the user to download.
• Reference list: offers a predefined list of choices for a list, checkbox, or radio button field (e.g., a list of country choices for the "country" field).
• Anonymizable: allows masking or anonymizing information entered by a user.
  Anonymization configuration is done with workflows
• CSS class: allows customizing the appearance of the field by adding CSS classes
• BO restricted visibility: restricts the visibility of the field to the BO.
• Indexing: allows indexing responses so they appear in search results via Solr.

Duplicate an Entry

An entry can also be created from an existing question by duplicating it:

• Click the button "Duplicate" on the row of the corresponding entry The duplicate will be created and placed at the end of the group to which the original entry belonged.

Move an Entry

To move an entry in a form:

• Click the button "Move the question" on the row of the corresponding entry
• Choose the step to move the entry to, click the button "check" to confirm the step change if there was a change.
• Choose the parent group (form root or one of the existing groups), click the button "check" to confirm the parent group change if there was a change.
• Choose the desired position in this parent group.
• Click "OK" to confirm the entry move.

Controls or Validation Management

Different types of controls can be added to an entry to allow only certain types of responses. It is possible to perform a control on a response to a question type (email, phone number, etc.): this is validation management.

• To manage the validation of an entry in a form, click the button "Manage validation" on the corresponding row
• Then choose the type of control to apply to the response, click the button "check" to confirm the control type change.
• Choose the desired error message.
• Click "OK" to confirm the addition of validation control.

To access the list of all existing control types, click the following link:

Existing control types

For example, to ask a user for an email address, it is possible to add a validation control to a "Short text" field with "Regular expression" as the control type and "Email" as the expected value. Thus, if the input in the field does not have the format of an email address, an error message will be displayed.

Conditions

It is possible to display a question conditioned by the response to another question: this is conditional display.

• To manage the conditional display of an entry in a form, click the button "Manage conditional display" on the row of the entry to be displayed based on the response to another question.
• Choose the target step, i.e., the step where the question determining the display or not of the entry is located, and click the button "check" to confirm the target step change.
• Choose the target question, i.e., the question whose response will determine the entry display, and click the button "check" to confirm the target question change.
• Choose the control type, "Exact value" or "Maximum number of responses" and click the button "check" to confirm the control type change.
• Click "OK" to confirm the addition of conditional display. Best practice: Don't forget to click the button "check" to the right of the dropdown list to validate the choice modification. Depending on the selected target question, the possible control types differ.

For example, at the end of a registration questionnaire, you want to allow the user to provide additional information in a "Long text" field that will only be displayed if needed.

To do this, we will:

• Create two entries:
  • A "radio button" entry where the user is asked if they want to provide additional information (allergies, constraints, etc.) and to which they can respond with yes or no
  • A "long text" entry, asking them to specify the information they want to provide if they answered "yes" to the previous question
• Add a conditional control to the "Long text" entry with:
  • The "Radio button" entry as the target question
  • A control type "Exact value"
  • The response "Yes" as the expected value

Thus, if the user answers "Yes" to the question asking if they want to provide details, the "Long text" field asking them to specify will appear; if they answer "No," the questionnaire moves to the next step.

Editing a Form

Edit General Parameters

In the list of forms, click the button "Edit form parameters" and change the desired information. It is also possible to edit the parameters:

• Export : choice of fields included in CSV and PDF exports
• Publication : Form responses can be published. For more information, see the chapter "Form Responses" > "Publication"
• Response view : adding columns in the response display
• Workflow : choice of fields that can be modified or corrected

Other possible actions on a form are:

On the "Step-by-step form management" home screen, other features are available:

• Delete the form : deletes the form, all its content, and its responses. Note: Deleting the form results in the deletion of all associated responses.
• Edit form availability dates : Simply choose the start and/or end date of form availability, then click "OK." The validity date allows the form to automatically become unavailable after expiration. The form will then be replaced by its unavailability message. Note: Availability dates can also be modified in the form parameters
• Duplicate the form : recreates a new form from an existing one
• Export the form : allows downloading the form and its content (structure, steps, entries) in JSON format for saving or importing later.

Edit Steps

To edit one of the form steps, in the list of forms (Form – Step-by-step form management):

• Click the button "Edit form steps" on the row of the concerned form
• Click the button "Edit step xxx," the step parameters page appears.

Editing links between steps:

• From the "Step-by-step form management" page, click the button "Edit form steps"
• Click the button "Edit step xxx"
• Click the button of the link to the concerned target step
• Select the new target step and validate

It is also possible to duplicate , export or delete a step by clicking the corresponding button on the row of the concerned step in the list of form steps (tab " Steps" of the form).

Edit Entries

The possible actions on already created entries of a form are as follows.

Edit an Entry

To edit one of the entries in a form, in the list of forms:

• Click the button "Edit form steps" or go to the tab " Steps" of the concerned form from the parameters
• Click the step where the entry to be modified is located
• Click the button "Edit" on the row of the corresponding entry.
• The modification screen opens to change the entry characteristics.
• Don't forget to click the "Save" button to validate the changes made.

Manage Conditional Display of an Entry

To edit the conditional display of one of the entries in a form:

• Go to the tab " Steps" of the concerned form
• Click the step where the entry to be modified is located
• Click the button "Manage conditional display" on the row of the corresponding entry.
• The modification window for the conditional control of the question opens to configure or edit the control.
• Enter the information and don't forget to click the "Check" after selecting an option in each field
• Click "OK"

Manage Validation of an Entry

To edit the validation of one of the entries in a form:

• Go to the tab " Steps" of the concerned form
• Click the step where the entry to be modified is located
• Click the button "Manage validation" on the row of the corresponding entry.
• The validation control list window opens to configure or edit the control.
• Click " Add a control"
• Enter the information and don't forget to click the "Check" after selecting an option in each field
• Click "OK"

Duplicate a Question or Comment

To duplicate one of the entries in a form:

• Go to the tab " Steps" of the concerned form
• Click the step where the entry to be modified is located
• Click the button "Duplicate the question" on the row of the corresponding entry.
• The question is duplicated at the end of the question list

Move an Entry Within a Form

To move one of the entries in a form:

• Go to the tab " Steps" of the concerned form
• Click the step where the entry to be modified is located
• Click the button "Move the question" on the row of the corresponding entry.
• The element movement window opens where you select the new location of the question. Don't forget to click the "Check" after selecting an option in each field
• The question is moved

Delete an Entry

To delete one of the entries in a form, click the button "Delete" on the row of the corresponding entry.

Form Responses

Form Preview

The preview allows viewing the form's rendering when it is unavailable (outside the availability dates). To do this:

Voici la traduction en anglais de la documentation, tout en conservant le formatage du wiki :

• Click the button "Access form xxx" (orange instead of green when the form is unavailable)
• Fill out the form and proceed through the steps normally
• When submitting at the end of the form, the responses are not saved

BO

It is possible to respond to the form from the Back Office:

• Click "Forms – Step-by-step form management" to access the list of forms
• Click the button "Access form xxx" on the row of the concerned form
• The form is opened

Publication

Form responses can be published.

For example, on the occasion of a city's association weekend, a form can be created to ask the city's associations to provide information about their activities and the dates and locations of their open house days. The responses to this form will be published to allow city residents to learn about the schedule of meetings with associations and their activities

To publish the responses to a form:

• Go to the parameters of the concerned form: in the list of forms, click the button "Edit form parameters"
• Click the tab "Publication"
• Select the entries whose responses should be published
• Validate by clicking the button "Edit the form"

Response Visualization

It is possible to:

• See the list of all form responses by clicking "Content" > "Forms – Form response visualization" and sorting by the desired form, or by clicking the icon "View responses" on the row of the desired form in the list of forms

• View the details of a response by clicking on the row corresponding to that response,
• Sort or filter responses
• Perform filtered searches to find specific responses
• Add columns in the response visualization (Form – Form response visualization) by selecting the corresponding questions in the tab " Response view" of the form

• Export responses to a file in the selected format (CSV or PDF):
  • In the form parameters, click the tab " Export" then "Configuration of exportable questions" and select the questions that should appear in CSV and PDF exports.
  • In the list of form responses (Forms – Form response visualization), filter by the name of the concerned form, select the export type (Export CSV, Export PDF, or Export Complete PDF which includes attachments) and click the export button .
  • In the "System" dropdown menu, select the entry "My file requests" to access the list of exports and download them .