Create a Form

Overview

Creating a Form is a simple process, yet it's applications are beyond versatile thanks to the breadth of Form controls available within the Form Designer. Forms cannot function without a parent Flow. The Show Form step in the Flow Designer inserts a Form into a Flow thus allowing its input and output data to navigate throughout the Flow.

For further information about Flows, visit the About Flows article.

Creating a Form

This example will guide the reader through exploring Form creation in the platform. The extended capabilities of Forms, like hiding or showing a component based on a user selection, are summarized with reference links later in the article.

1. In the Decisions Studio, locate a Designer Folder to house the Form. Select the CREATE FORM button from the bottom action panel.
2. When the Create Form window appears, several frequently used templates appear for selection on the right side. On the left, there are different sections that contain different templates based on the intended function of the Form. The most common selections are the standard Form or a Page.
3. Select the default Form button and provide a name for the Form when the window appears then select CREATE.
   Pages and Dashboards

   Pages and Dashboards are used to display a range of different information for folders in Decisions. To find out more about these Designer Elements, please visit our Creating a Page or Dashboard article.

   

Form Templates

Populating A Form with Controls

The Toolbox contains all available controls. These controls can be searched in its search bar at the top or selected via the hierarchical drop-down menu then dragged into an empty area in the workspace.

When adding a Form control to the workspace, a text box appears requesting a data name for the control. Pressing Shift + Enter places the provided data name as a label above the component. Pressing Ctrl + Shift + Enter places the label to the left if there is another column available.

Changing Form Size and Layout

Forms can be resized, dynamically or otherwise, to the Designer's specifications with a combined use of Layouts and space reclaiming Form controls. 

By default, Forms use the Grid layout which can be configured to add/remove columns and rows. For further information, please refer to the Grid Layout article.

Extended Capabilities

1. Visibility Rules: Allows the Designer to hide or show a Form control based on user selection compared against Rule logic. A Visibility Rule applied to a Checkbox and Text Box component could be configured so that when the checkbox is enabled, a textbox appears. This can be applied to other Form controls as Triggers or as the control hiding/showing visibility. 
2. Validation Rules: Compares a user selection on the Form against Rule logic which can also be sourced by Flows. If a Validation Rule is configured on a Date Picker to not allow future dates to be selected, the end-user would experience a validation warning on the front-end after selecting an incompatible value. 
3. Data Flows: These Flows are created to give function to Form controls live on the Form at run-time, without initiating an outcome action. They are also used for moving data from more advanced Form controls to and from the base Form controls.