Question/Field Rules

Rules let you set up what happens when someone selects a particular option or clicks a button. For example, you can set up a submit button that sends the submitter a confirmation email and sends the form request through a workflow approval process. You can add as many rules as needed.

Rules consist of conditions, answers values, and actions. Example. To set up a rule, you must add it to a question or field. Rules must ALWAYS have an If answer value is condition in the first statement of the sequence.

Condition Types

Action Types

How to

1. Log in to the campus portal as an administrator and access EX FormFlow - Forms.

2. Click Manage Forms. The Manage Forms page appears.

3. Click on the form you are working with.

4. Right-click on your form question and select Properties. The Edit Item window appears.

5. Click Rules. The Rules tab appears.

6. Click Add Step. A new row appears.

7. In the first drop-down, select the If answer value is condition. This tells FormFlow to execute the action if the user's answer matches the answer value you specify.

Rules MUST ALWAYS have an If answer value is condition in the first statement of the sequence.

8. In the answer value field to the right of the drop-down, enter the answer value that will trigger the action to execute. If you want the action to execute if any answer is entered, or if you are setting the action to trigger when a button is selected, enter * in the answer value field. Example

9. In the third drop-down, select the action you want to happen. Examples

10. To add another action, click Add Step. A new row appears.

11. Select one of the following conditions from the drop-down list:

Else if answer value is tells FormFlow to execute the action if the answer value matches the new answer value you specify when the "If" condition fails.
Else will tell FormFlow to execute the action if no previous conditions were met.
And will tell FormFlow to execute the action in addition to any other action that is set to execute in the previous rule condition.

12. Use the drop-down and answer value field to define what actions you want to occur when the form user is working with a particular question.

13. Repeat steps 10-12 to add as many actions as needed.

14. Click Save.

1. Log in to the campus portal as an administrator and access EX FormFlow - Forms.

2. Click the Manage Forms. The Manage Forms page appears.

3. Click on the form you are working with.

4. Right-click on the appropriate button (e.g. a submit button) and select Properties. The Edit Item window appears.

5. Click the Rules tab.

6. Click Add Step. Fields to set up a new rule appear.

7. From the drop-down, select the condition If answer value is. In the field to the right of the condition, enter the value *.

8. From the action drop-down, select Email: Send. Example

9. If you already have an email template created for sending an email when a user submits a form, select the email template from a drop-down and proceed to step 17.

10. If you do not already have an email template made for this purpose, click the Add icon to create a new email template. Email options appear. Example

11. The Send Event drop-down shows the action that triggers the email being sent. You can update this as needed.

TIP: Save occurs when the form is saved and when it is submitted.

12. In the Email From field, enter the email address to be used as the sender's email. The email address must be in the same domain as your JICS server. If you do not enter an email address, the JICS Default SMTP address is used (configured in Site Manager > Framework Settings > Email).

13. To choose which email address the email will send to, you can either:

a. In the Email To Address field, enter an email address to send an email to a specific email address OR enter a Literal String Replacer to use the form submitter's email address.

OR

b. In the Email To Answer drop-down, select a form question that collects the user's email address. This will serve as a recipient address when someone replies to the email sent.

14. In the Subject field, enter the email subject. You can use literal string replacers such as @@FirstName or unique IDs of questions such as {ZipCode} to add information to the email based on information they entered in the form.

15. To attach a PDF copy of the submitted form to the email:

a. Select the Include Submission checkbox. This will ensure the PDF for the form submission is included in the email as an attachment. An Attachment Name Format field appears.

b. In the Attachment Name Format field, enter in the format you would like the PDF name to be saved in. You can use string replacers in your attachment name format such as @@FirstName or the unique IDs of questions such as {LastName}. For example, if you enter @@FirstName-{LastName} into the Attachment Name Format field, and Nancy Wheeler submits the form, FormFlow will pull the user's first name and the value the user enters in the LastName field to name the attachment "Nancy-Wheeler.pdf".

If no Attachment Name Format is provided, the default attachment will be named "SubmissionYYYY-MM-DD.pdf".

16. In the Message field, enter the content of your email. You can use literal string replacers such as @@FirstName, unique IDs of questions such as {ZipCode}, update the format, create bullet and numbered lists, add a link, include an image or file, and work directly with the HTML.

17. Click Save. The template is available to be selected from the email template drop-down list.

Action	Description
Alert: Show Message	Shows a popup window with text you enter when the condition is met. For example, when the user clicks a submit button and a notification message appears letting them know their vote for the homecoming court has been submitted.
Email: Send	Sends an email based on an email template you can set up. This action can be triggered when the form has been saved or submitted.
Email: Cancel	Clears the flag indicating an email should be sent if the condition is met, effectively cancelling the previously queued email.
Form: Submit	Submits the form putting it in a “Submitted” status. *Save functions automatically execute before Submit functions when using the Submit event. There is no need to include both Save and Submit actions within the same conditional block.
Form: Save	Saves the forms putting it in an “Active” status.
Form: Print	Sends the current page to the printer.
Form: Quit	Closes the current form and signs out the currently logged in temporary user if applicable. This does not log out a user authenticated into the campus portal.
Grid: Add	Adds the input values from all source questions to their respective grid. Requires the same question have the “Add Button” Grid Function.
Group: Show	Shows all questions on the form with the specified Group Name.
Group: Hide	Hides all questions on the form with the specified Group Name.
Group: Toggle	If the questions with the specified group name are visible, this action will hide them. If they are hidden, this action will show them.
Group: Make Required	Applies the required asterisk to the specified question group and prevents the form from being submitted until the answers are provided.
Group: Make Not Required	Removes the required asterisk and makes the question optional.
Group: Clear	Clears values from all questions with the specified Group Name.
Payment: Use Profile	Indicates which profile should be used to process the payment submitted with this form. This is required to accept form payments.
Payment: Clear Profile	Clears the flag indicating a profile should be used if the condition is met, effectively cancelling the previously queued payment.
Payment: Override Balance	Sets a static value for the final balance and ignores any other calculated balances for the form payment.
Tab: Change	Causes the specified tab to be displayed if the tab is in a visible state. For example, this action can be applied to a "Next" button to display the next tab.
Tab: Show	Makes the specified tab visible, but not necessarily active.
Tab: Hide	Hides the specified tab.
Tab: Update Progress	Evaluates requirements on the specified tab. If all the required questions have valid responses, a checkmark appears on the tab. If not, the checkmark is removed. NOTE: This action has been deprecated as of EX 7.0. Tab progress is now automatically updated any time the Form: Save action is use.
Workflow: Use Track	Indicates the Workflow track the form should be submitted to for review.

Condition	Description
If answer value is	Tells FormFlow to execute the action if the answer value matches the value you specify. Rules must ALWAYS have an If answer value is condition in the first statement of the sequence. To execute the action if any answer is entered, or if you are setting the action to trigger when a button is selected, enter * in the answer value field.
Else if answer value is	Tells FormFlow to execute the action if the answer value matches the answer value you specify when the "If" condition fails.
Else	Tells FormFlow to execute if no previous conditions were met.
And	Tells FormFlow to execute the action in addition to any other action that is set to execute in the previous rule condition.