Add section breaks and logic to a custom form

Transcript

Custom forms can be short or long depending on what you need for your organization. However, the longer they are, the harder it can be for your users to get to and fill in what is pertinent to them.

That’s where section breaks and logics come into play, and help your users find what they need to fill in faster.

When you initially create a custom form with fields, they’re simply listed on the page. Those fields can be moved around so they’re side by side and organized, whether by like topics or type. And although you may see the connections easily as a user, the form can still be hard to read and go through visually.

Section breaks not only organize fields by category or topic, but visually break up the form so users can jump to an area that pertains to their need. For example, this form has quite a few fields that have already been arranged and grouped together. But if a user was filling this form out, they would need to do quite a bit of scrolling and really looking at all the fields to find what they’re looking for. Of course, users should be looking at the fields they’re filling in, but it shouldn’t take half of their day to do it. Adding a section break makes it easier visually to jump to a section that they need to fill out.

To add a section break, go to the panel on the left and find Section Break. From here, either click on it to add it to the bottom of the form, or drag and drop the section right where you’d like it. Then give the section break a name and if needed, a description. At this point, the section break has been added to your custom form. However, you may want to look at the Grant Access area. Here you can determine who can view and edit the fields listed under this section break based on the access a user is given to an object. For instance, you may only want those with the ability to edit a project to view and/or make changes to fields in the form.

That means from the dropdown field titled “Users with this access to the object can view field values”, you’ll select Edit. And only “users with this ability can view the section and its fields. The second option “Users with this access to the object can edit field values”, determines who can make changes to the fields in this section. You may notice that edit is already selected in this field, and when you click the dropdown, only a couple of options are available. That’s because the selection we made in the first field determines the options available in this field. It had to match the previous field or be more restrictive-- in this case for admins only. This way you’re regulating who can view and edit the fields within the form. Whatever option you select with sections, you can regulate who can view and edit fields within the form.

Once there, any field listed underneath is grouped under the section.

Sections make it easier to visually see the breakdown of fields and how the form is organized.

Even with sections, a form can still be lengthy to scroll through, and the user may not need to enter information for all the fields listed. This is where using a logic on a field can help. There are two types of logics you can use on a custom form Skip and Display. The skip logic can be applied to a multiple choice field like dropdown checkbox and radio button.

When a skip logic is applied to a field, it means when a specific option is selected, the system then bypasses or skips to the next applicable field, widget or section. This makes it easier for users to get directly to what they need.

The other logic is display, which can be applied to a field, a widget, or a section. With the display logic, only the field, widget or section is shown once a selection has been made. Display logic is the one most commonly used because it initially makes the form cleaner and only shows fields related to what the user needs making it more hassle free. However, you can use either logic even in the same form if that’s what works best for you and your users.

To add a logic, go to the field, widget or section. Scroll down the panel until you see the Add Logic button.

Let’s first apply skip logic from the dialog box, if it isn’t already, Select Skip logic. Then click Add Skip Rule.

From here, tell the system where the form should skip to when a specific option is selected. For example, in the “Asset or Event?” field, if Event is selected, then the form should skip to the Event section.

You’ll notice the list lets you choose a specific field or widget as well if you aren’t using sections. In addition, go to where it says “Otherwise skip to” and tell the system where to skip to on the form if another option is selected.

Once done, click Save.

Now let’s add a display logic. Display logics are applied to the field that is to be displayed once a previous option is selected. For example, in the Asset Type field, there are several options to select. And when Flyer or Poster is selected, an example should appear for users to look at. So, go to the Flyer/Poster Example field.

Scroll down to Add Logic.

Select Display logic, if it’s not already selected. Click Add Display Rule. And tell the system to display the Flyer/Poster Example field. When in the Asset Type field, the option of Flyer is selected. We also want the example to display when Poster is selected. To make that happen, click the last Add Rule button. And do the same thing you did for Flyer, but select Poster.

Once done, click Save.

By adding either section breaks or the skip and display logics to your custom forms, you allow users to quickly and easily find the fields they need.