Create form questions

A form is composed of questions (or fields) arranged within the form’s layout.

A form layout is created using sections and containers. Sections hold containers, and containers hold questions. By default, new forms contain a section with a container. You can drag additional sections and containers onto the form layout using the Layout menu on the left.

A container can be single- or multi-column. To make a container multi-column, hover over the container and select the pencil icon in the upper-right corner to edit it. Click + to add additional columns.

You’ll now see the additional columns outlined in gray inside the container.

Adding questions to a form

It’s possible to add questions at any time by dragging and dropping them inside a container or a column within a container.

The Questions menu displays a list of all questions that can be used on your form. Questions can be added, removed, and edited.

Once questions are added to a form, modify them by hovering over a question and selecting the pencil icon.

In edit mode, under the Basics menu option, the Label for the question can be modified by first placing the cursor on the Label field and then adding the desired label.

In the bottom-left corner, there are three checkboxes that can be configured to allow the question to be Disabled, Read Only, or Hidden.

In edit mode, under the Help menu option, it’s possible to add text that will be displayed to the user via a clickable question mark icon next to a question on a form.

Form question types

In the example above, a Short Text question is selected. This will add a single-line short text input box on the form. The currently supported question types are:

• Short Text — A single-line text entry field.

• Long Text — A multi-line text entry field. Typically used for long descriptions.

• Select List — Produces a dropdown list of values. The list values may be a static list or bound to a database query.

• Checkboxes — A series of checkboxes. Checkbox values may be a static list or bound to a database query.

• Radio Buttons — A series of radio buttons. Radio button values may be a static list or bound to a database query.

• Calendar — Pop-up calendar control to enter dates.

• File Attachment — This field enables the end user to browse their local desktop and upload one or more files to the form being submitted.

• Contact Search — A specialized lookup that allows the end user to search for and select one or more contacts in Nutrient Workflow. Additionally, the administrator can configure the question to only return users by a searched group.

• Search Box — Creates a pop-up search window that enables a search against secondary data sources.

• Email — A single-line short text entry field. Nutrient validates the data entered to ensure it conforms to an email address format such as [email protected].

• Number — A single-line text entry field. Nutrient validates the data entered to ensure it contains only numeric values. This includes the ability to add a currency format to the field.

• Grid — Allows the user to create a table of questions within the form. You can add static text and predefine the number of columns and rows.

• Rich Text — Creates a rich text entry field. Embedding large/multiple attachments or images can impact application performance and possibly result in timeouts.

• Link — A single-line short text entry field. Nutrient validates the data entered to see that it conforms to a common pattern such as http://www.nutrient.io or c:\\\temp\myfile.txt or \\\NetworkShare\myfile.txt.

• Time Zone — Presents a list of time zones. This is generally used to update the profile information for a Nutrient user.

• Password — Creates a masked password entry text field with a secondary confirmation password entry text field. Nutrient validates that the passwords match. This is most commonly used on a custom user profile update process.

The following items are layout-related objects that can be dragged and dropped onto the form for formatting purposes:

• Section — Allows the end user to divide a form into specific sections.

• Container — Used to group questions together in a specified area within a form. A container is first added to a form, and then questions can be added to the container to maintain the grouping.

• Image — This is used to upload images directly to a form. Supported file types include: .tiff, .pjp, .bmp, .gif, .svg, .png, .xbm, .dib, .jxl, .jpeg, .webp, .ico, .tif, .pjpeg, and .avif.

• Horizontal Line — Used to format a form by providing a visual border separating one area from another.

• Form Text — Allows you to define a read-only label field in your form. Once this is added, select Edit for the question type and Default Text to add your content.

• Blank Space — Used to add spacing between questions.

• Button — Used to add a blank button to the form. Use JavaScript to provide actions for the button.

• Custom — Allows the end user to add additional functionality, such as field calculations via code.

After a question is added, it’ll appear on the form within the Form Builder. Select the Preview tab to see how questions render on the form during runtime.

If multiple questions are added to the form, reorder them by dragging and dropping them to the desired location.

An indicator will appear stating that you have successfully grabbed a question to reorder. Move your cursor to the new location in the grid and release.

Once the questions are added to the form, they can be either edited or deleted. To edit a question, select the Pencil icon.

This will display the configuration window where edits such as the question label, help notes, maximum field size, database query and connections, etc. can be made.

To delete a question, select the X icon and the question will be deleted.

Adding additional fields or modifying the client IDs

When additional fields are added to an existing form, or client IDs are modified on an existing form within an existing process, the new or modified fields need to be imported to the form via the process task configuration.

To do this, first add an additional field to the existing form or modify a client ID.

Then, view the existing process and on the Form task, and open Configuration > Configure Task.

Select the Advanced Settings menu option.

Open the Fields To Capture section and select the Import Fields option to update the form fields.

Confirm the additional field has been added.

Open the Question Prefills section and select Import Questions to update the form fields.

Confirm the additional field has been added.

The process is now complete. Note that this process must be done every time an additional field is added to an existing form.

Using the Search Box question

Add a Search Box to a form and label it. Then select Save Changes.

Next, select the DB menu option and enter a query with a parameter reference. Then press Save Changes.

Select Query Parameters to add the query parameters.

Choose the Add Parameter submenu option and add a parameter name using the @ symbol and Question Mapping. Then press Save Changes.

Adding a short text question

To add a short text question to the form that’s used as a mapped question within the query parameter, follow the steps outlined below.

Enter a Client ID that will be configured in the query parameter’s question mapping.

Configure the Search Box question and Parameters, and the search box question will be ready to use.

This process must be done every time a Search Box question with Parameters is added to a form.