Fields Editor
The Fields screen is where you will compose your eForm. It is a visual representation of the form as it will appear to your users. There are two main concepts to understand on this page: FORM GROUPS and FORM FIELDS. They both have an effect on what different users will see when they work on the eForm. On this page, you will see several icons on the form group rows and on the form fields.
The PLUS (+) will add a new field to a group
The Trash symbol will delete a field or a group
The pencil symbol will edit a field or a group
The eye symbol will let you know whether the form group label is visible or hidden. (for instance, the “Total” group in the image above is not visible so the Grand Total will visually appear inside of the Expenses group, even though it is its own group.
Form Fields
The form fields are white boxes within the groups. To add a new field to an existing group, simply click the Plus (+) icon within the group header. Field can be dragged around the form and dropped on the “Empty Row” landing zones or onto other fields to rearrange the fields on the screen.
Learn more about the various settings for each fields in the Field Configurator page
Form Groups
Form Groups determine both visual and security aspects of the eForm. They are single-row with a dark blue background on the screen and blue text where the group title appears. You can edit attributes of the group header by clicking the pencil icoon.
Visual Aspects of eForm groups
Group Header Visibility
In the eForm shown above, several differnt types of groups are represented. Starting with the first group under the eForm name, you will see an invisible group. This means that there will not be a visually rendered group header. The following image shows what this eForm looks like when a new instance is being created by clicking on “New eForm” on the myForms tab and choosing the Employee Expense Report eForm:
As you can see, the first Group with the red eyeball icon does not visually render in the live instance of the eForm. It simply shows the Employee and Week fields. The same goes for the Total group. As you can see it does not render like the Expenses group row does, making the group visually flow with the Expenses group.
Learn more about setting Group visibility on the Group Configurator Help Page
Field Layout Defined by the Group
The group also controls the field layout. On this eForm you see three different group layouts: 1 Column, 2 Column, an Row.
1 Column
1 Column groups allow you to place a single field in each row of the group. The group with the “New Expense” button is a 1-Column group. Fields can be dropped onto eachother to re-order the fields within the group. Finally, Fields can be dragged from one group to another if you accidentally place a field in the wrong group.
2 Column
2 Column groups allow you to place fields two-wide on the form. When the eForm is viewed on a smaller device like an iPhone or an Android phone, the columns will automatically collapse to a single row format. Fields can be dragged from one column to another to arrange them in the column you like. Fields can also be dropped on eachother to re-order the fields within the group. Finally, Fields can be dragged from one group to another if you accidentally place a field in the wrong group.
Row
The row layout for a group allows you to place fields side-by-side. You can see this layout in the Expenses group on the form above. Within the field editor, you define the percent of the group’s width each field occupies. For instance, the Line takes up 5% of the row and the Date takes up 15% of the row. If all of the fields in a row add up to more than 100% of the row, the fields will drop down to the next line. Also, each group with a Row layout has three rows you can populate within that row if you choose to have stacked rows.
Custom
The custom setting is an advanced feature for creating higher-precision layouts and is generally not needed.
Security aspects of eForm groups
You can control the editability and visibility of field groups through both the Group configurator as well as the Field configurator. During the lifecycle of an eForm it goes through four main statuses:
- New — The eForm has been created but not yet saved
- Submitted – The eForm was created and initially saved
- In Process — The eForm has been saved subsequent to the initial save
- Archived — The eForm has been Archived, approval declined, or all approval levels have been approved.
For each of these statuses, security can be set for Company users (i.e. people within your company’s user list) and Extenal Users (i.e. people outside of your company that the form is shared with such as customers and vendors). The image below shows how these settings can be applied. In this instance, the form group is set to be able to edit the fields when the form is initially being created, and then makes them permanently read-only after that to memorialize the values initially submitted. External users will not even see the group and won’t be aware that it is a part of the form.
