The Form screen type is the primary way that you can build data capture screens on the platform. One can rapidly replace paper forms with digital versions, or extend existing data capture screens from desktop or web systems to a mobile app. Your users will be able to collect data in the field using the mobile app and avoid the expense and time spent moving information from paper, into systems.
Whenever you want to make changes to a Form, our publishing process automatically takes care of distributing the changes to app users in the field. Your workers can always have the latest Form Screens at their fingertips, no matter where they are.
Forms are built from the platform using our drag-and-drop style Designer. Dynamic Forms can leverage mobile device capabilities such as photo and video capture and upload, barcode scanning, and capturing written signatures. All these advanced functions are easily added with a simple drag and drop.
Designing Forms
To access the Designer, follow these steps:
1. In the left pane, click **Design Tools**.
2. Select **Forms/Screens**.
3. Click on the Screen Title you want to design.
The Form Designer screen provides a visual view of your Form questions and gives you a "drag-and-drop" method to design your forms.
In the leftmost pane of Designer, each available type of field is described by clicking its red question mark icon.
To create your Form, double-click the field type you want, or drag-and-drop onto the center white pane, the work area. If you double-click on a field type it is automatically put at the bottom of your page.
You can move fields around to change the order, and drag fields in and out of Page Groups.
When you click on a row in the work area, you will notice that a Properties bar appears on the right-hand pane of the screen. The Properties bar is where you specify the details and function of each field you add to your form.
- Every field must have a unique Data Name which is the column heading you will see in the Data Tab, as well in data exports you may perform. Data Names cannot have spaces or special characters.
- Display Text is the text that will display on the Form to the app user.
- The Hint property lets you specify additional text to explain the field to the app user.
- Most fields have Read Only and Required options, the former prevents data entry and the latter forces the user to populate the field. The Read Only option is generally useful when you want to show a message or fixed answer to the app user.
- Most field types also have an Advanced section which lets you specify a default value, control field visibility, validate answers and redirect answers to another field. Advanced properties require you to define a special formula that is similar to an Excel formula in nature. See our Creating a Formula topic for details.
Once you have created your Form design, make sure you click "SAVE” in the type right corner.
After saving your changes, you can then go on to Test or Publish the form. See this article for details on deploying in Test mode, the recommended way launch new or updated forms.