OVERVIEW
Target audience: Site Administrators, Site Managers
Webforms in the Web Management System (WMS) include different sets of options for each type of form component (field).
Note: To impose special formatting or rules for the data users can enter into a component, see the Form Validation section of Create a webform in the WMS.
When adding each component to your form, you need to specify general information (e.g., key, label that appears on the form), as well as component-specific options (e.g., layout options). Each field on the component setup page includes embedded help text to guide you.
This article provides supplemental information where needed.
In this article:
Choose a component type for details:
General fields/options that apply to most components
The following are present on many webform components:
- Form Key: This defaults to a name based on the label entered, but you can edit the key as desired.
- Private: check this box if a token is being used as the default value and the value should not be shown to users submitting the form.
- CSS classes, Wrapper CSS classes: Do not use, not configured for Webforms in the WMS.
Date
Allows the user to enter a date, formatted to your specifications.
- Default value: A static default value can be entered, such as first.last@mail.mcgill.ca
- VALIDATION: This field can be made required, or unique (prevents multiple submissions with the same email)
- Note: There is no validation to ensure that email addresses are valid so they are only as accurate as the information entered by the end user.
- DISPLAY
- Width: size refers to the number of characters.
Fieldset
This component is used to designate a group of related components.
Note: The form components in the group under the fieldset must be indented to show properly. Drag the component to the right to indent.
File
Use this component to allow users to upload a file.
Formula
This can be used with Number fields to display the results of computations.
For detailed instructions on how to use the Formula component, see Webform Calculator (Formula) module.
Grid
This component can be used to create a survey in which all the questions are answered by selecting from 1 to 5.
- Options: Enter the names for your grid columns as a "key-value" pair, e.g., 1|Very often
- Questions: Enter the names for your grid rows as a "key-value" pair, e.g., rate_kb|How often do you use the IT Knowledge Base
Note: The pipe character is used between each key and its associated value. Each pair should be entered on a separate line in the field. - DISPLAY:
- Private: Not applicable to this component.
For detailed instructions on how to use advanced Grid features, see Advanced Grid in the WMS
Hidden
Use this component to include information in the submitted form that is not visible to the user. For example, use hidden fields to add token values, such as the authenticated user's name, department, the date, etc.
Layout Box
Allows components to be grouped and displayed horizontally or vertically.
For detailed instructions on how to use the Layout Box component, see Webform Layout Box in the WMS
Limited select options
A limit to the number of times an option can be selected can be set and once that limit is reached, it is no longer available.
- Options: Enter the options that the user will see as "key-value-limit" triplets, where the pipe character is used between each key and its associated value. Each triplet should be entered on a separate line in the box.
Example of options for the question "Choose a workshop"audio|Good audiovisual content workshop|10
video|Create a video workshop|8
info|Create easy infographics workshop|10
Link
This is used to provide a field for the user to enter a URL.
Markup
This component allows you to place formatted HTML code within the body of your form. For example, it could be used to add elements such as static text, images, tables, etc.
Matrix
This component can be used to create a matrix/table of form components that can include textfields, select options, labels, and/or dates.
The matrix component is useful for creating order forms or registration forms, where the user can enter multiple line items, all having the same parameters. A single-row matrix can be used to simply keep related form components all together on one line.
Example of a matrix used within an order form:
- Matrix Rows: Specify the number of rows to appear in your matrix (Note: if the Add Rows option is checked, the user can add more rows).
- Matrix Column: Specify the number of columns (elements) to appear in your matrix.
- Configuration: For each column element, select the Type of component and related details.
- Date
(Note: information submitted in the Date element currently does not display in submission emails, but it does display in the Results tab). - Add row feature: Check this box to provide users with the option to add a new row to the matrix.
- Plan ahead: It is highly recommended to carefully plan and/or sketch out on paper how the Matrix component will be used as it is difficult to modify.
- Once a sub-component has been added, more can be added or edited, but it won't be possible to remove or change their order.
- To remove a sub-component, the matrix must be deleted and restarted.
- Label is not useful when used in combination with the Add a row option as it will repeat the Title text in each new row.
- Alternately, use Textfield instead and allow users to fill in the label information for each new row they add.
- Viewing results: If the webform results are to be downloaded into a spreadsheet, the data from each Matrix column is displayed in ONE CELL so it would be very difficult to parse. Likewise, it is difficult to parse the submitted information from the form submission email.
It's easiest to view the matrix data from the Results tab in the WMS, where it is clearly structured.
- Email: You cannot reference individual sub-component values of a matrix from within the submission email.
Number
This field type is restricted to numerical entries. It should not be used for phone numbers.
Page break
For long forms, or questionnaires and quizzes, it is possible to insert page breaks to allow the user to focus on one or more questions without seeing the entire form on a single page.
Select options
This type of component allows you to provide the user with several options from which to choose. It can be either a single-select or multi-select list.
- Options: Enter the options that the user will see as "key-value" pairs, in the format "key_code|option user sees" where the pipe character is used between each key and its associated value. Each pair should be entered on a separate line in the field.
Example of options for the question "How long have you been in your current job?"short|1 to 3 years
medium|4 to 10 years
long|Over 10 years
Textarea
This type of text box is used for potentially long responses, such as a description of a problem, or a comment. It allows for multiple lines and provides scrolling arrows.
Textfield
A textfield is used to enter short text that can fit on one line.
Time
Allows the user to enter a time, formatted to your specifications.
Webform Submission
This can be used to show the results of one webform in another webform.
For detailed instructions on how to use the Webform submission component, see Adding the results of a webform submission to another webform in WMS.
ADDITIONAL REFERENCES: