Elements
Admin users can populate a form with data elements to be completed by the end user within the system.
To add an element to a form:
1. Click 'Add Element'
2. Complete the following standard details:
Label – the element label that will be displayed to the end user, this is the name that will be shown within the form
Type - Select element type (see Section: 8.6.2)
Allow Filter – (Checkbox) this allows the Meta data chosen to be used for filtering by front end users. i.e. an element labeled countries selected from a drop-down element can then be filtered in the system search section
Allow Clone - Configure fields at both Project and Item level to be copied across. This works with groups/grids too.
Prompt Text – Text to appear inside component before user enters a value
Help Text – Tool-tip for the item
Pre-fix - This is text that will appear to the left of the text input e.g. for currency it may be a dollar symbol
Default Value – The default pre-populated value present can be string, number, date
Mandatory – (Checkbox) This element must be completed in the form by the end user
Globally Unique – This element is unique to this form values entered in this here cannot be entered in any new form created. E.g. A username text field could be made unique. In doing so, no-one else could use the same username when filling in the same form type.
Error Text – Message to show when user does not enter a valid value
Width – The width the form should use i.e. 100%, 50%, 33% or 25%. This defines how many elements can be displayed in a single row.
Specified width - For grid columns, users have the option to specify the width in pixels rather than percentage
Style (for grid columns) - Additional formatting that allows users to set the background colour for a specified grid column
Text Align (for grid columns) - Options are to left, centre or align right
Task Milestone - this allows the element to be mapped to the project milestones dynamically and configured on creation of the project
Milestone Name/Number - Set the name and number of the milestone. If you do not wish to manually add names the system will name them from 1,2,3... by default
Element Type
The table below outlines the element types that can be chosen when adding an element. Depending on the type chosen, additional fields/functions will become available within the dialog.
| Field Type | Description | |
| Text | Provides a text box for data entry | |
| Text Area | Provides a text area for entry of multi-line text | |
| Number | Provides a text input field with validation for numeric values | |
| Calculation | Allows for advanced calculations across multiple form field elements | |
| Date | Provides a calendar picker which allows the user to select a date | |
| The email type is used for input fields that should contain an e-mail address | ||
| URL | The URL type is used for input fields that should contain a URL address | |
| Checkbox | Provides unlimited checkboxes that can be used for multi-select | |
| Radio Button | Provides radio buttons to select different options | |
| Drop Down | Allows the user to choose one value from a list | |
| Instruction | Form titles used to group questions together or guide submitters during the submission process
Note: Certain HTML tags can once agian be added to instructions to aid with formatting <hr> Add a ruler line <br> Add a line break |
|
| File | Allows user to upload a file | |
| User | Provides a dropdown list of users in the application. User can also select from pre-determined groups | |
| Group | Provides a dropdown list of groups created in the User Manager. | |
| Linked Form | Enables linking of a form from another project to the project request form | |
| Linked Item (read from values in other forms) | This is used for linking calculation fields across forms i.e. an expense field in a workflow form. It is possible to pull in standard fields such as Project Title, Description, Start/End Date, Extra Date 1 and Extra Date 2 as well as meta fields. | |
| Form Code | Add an editable project number to a form. A new field type in a form that self generates a number. That number increments by 1 each time and the start number can be set when the site launches. Use the display settings to control who sees and who can edit this number - see note below. | |
| Pattern (Expert use only) | The pattern attribute specifies a regular expression that the <input> element's value is checked against | |
| WYSIWYG Text Area | Like a text area but allows the user to format the text by using basic formatting like bold, italic etc. | |
| Attribute Tree | Links to an attribute tree created in attribute manager. This can be further configured to be used as a drop-down or check-boxes. | |
| Form ID (displayed in view mode only) | Configure the project ID (I_Node) to display either in the General tab or any other form tab | |
| Form Status (displayed in View mode only) | Displays the ‘Form Status’ configured in the workflow builder in view mode only. This is an admin function used for validation purposes. | |
| DB Text Validation | Can be linked to an attribute list that the <input> element's value is compared with. | |
| Colour Picker | To be used when referencing colour from form meta data | |
| Attribute Matrix | Used to link to the appropriate Matrix configured in the Attributes manager | |
| Matrix Input | Define what values will display based on a previous selection | |
| Matrix Output |
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Additional fields occur when certain fields above are chosen:
| Field | Description |
| Columns (Check box. Radio Button) | Number of checkbox columns displayed to the end user (formatting) |
| Option Source (Check box. Radio Button, Drop Down) | The source of the checkbox values to be chosen by the end user (these are set in attribute manager) |
| Options (Check box. Radio Button, Drop Down) | Options that are not defined in an option source can be added here, one option per line. |
| Other Option label (Check box. Radio Button, Drop Down) | Allows the end user to add an additional option that is not available from the attribute manager source. The label is the prompt text that will display to the end user i.e. 'other' |
| Auto Add Other Value (Check box, Radio button, Drop Down) | The 'Other' option in an attribute list is used to prevent users getting held up in a form if the value they are looking for isn’t available. This configuration takes the value added in the 'Other' field and adds to the attribute list automatically so it is available the next time a user fills out the form. |
| Form Element (Calculation) | Allows the user to perform a calculation on two fields |
| Variable Name (Calculation) | Label each variable in a format that suits the user |
| Calculation Text Area (Calculation) | Area where user can input simple or complex equations |
| Add Variables (Calculation) | Allows for advanced calculations across multiple form field elements |
| Form, Search Data View (Linked Form) | Dropdown list of all other projects available to link to. |
| Form Field (Linked Item) | Select a field to link to from another form type |
| Location (Linked Item) | Refine the link to a particular location i.e.across entire system or forms within the same project |
| Behaviour (Linked Item) | Configure how to handle the data i.e. comma separated, total or average |
| Pre-fix (Text, Number) | Text placed before values entered |
| Max File Size (File) | Maximum size for a file in Kilobytes |
| Allowed File Extension (File) | Extension allowed to be uploaded, separated by comma e.g. png, bmp, doc, ppt etc. |
| User Group (User) | Based on groups in User Management |
| Hide Current User (User) | Exclude self from returned options in a look up |
| Regular Expression | JavaScript regular expressions used to control the format of input e.g. [A-Z0-9] would only accept inputs of upper case characters or numeric values. |
| Access (Group) | Allows admin to assign access (view/edit/admin) to the element |
| Group Tags (Group) | Refine what groups appear in the dropdown by assigning keywords to a specific set of groups (Set in the User Manager) |
| My Groups (Group) | This radio switch, if on, only returns groups that the user completing the form is a member of. |
| Pattern Error Message | Error message when content does not match expression |
| Attribute Trees | Offers a selection of attribute trees to choose from in a drop-down menu |
| Attribute Tree Labels | A choice of the way to name and display the tree’s branches |
| Element Height (for Matrix Outputs) | if the element selected is Matrix Output AND the width is set to 100%, an option called ‘Element Height (for Matrix Outputs)’ will open to set the number of lines the output can appear over. By default, this is set to one, but can be up to five. |
It is also possible to auto populate a form field with the values contained in two or more fields in the same form. The solution is based on the same UX used for creating calculations in the form - where you can pick multiple elements and then determine the syntax and include additional characters.
To use this feature, add a calculation field in the form. The calculation needs to be wrapped in double quotes, so the system will not treat as a mathematical equation and will still update the strings. You can reference other fields to read in their text value or add text directly.
Next page: Dependencies, Settings and Permissions