We are excited to announce that the Forms extension has now been released onto our Platform! Using both SpringBot and C#Bot you can add forms into your application, and customise them to create whatever question types you may need.
What is a Extension?
Extensions are one of the primary tools which we use to accelerate the software development process. They are patterns of functionality which enable features in an application. Developers and app owners can use them to improve and advance their application, instead of having to write all the code themselves. When a user is building an application, it can be as simple as dragging the attribute or tile onto the page for it to become available.
What can Forms Do?
The Codebots Forms extension enables site administrators to create and manage forms, which can be used to capture information on their application. It has a large variety of use cases, including everything from surveys and questionnaires to newsletter subscriptions or event sign-ups (after customisation).
All forms are versioned, with the ability to create and publish drafts as often as you require. To build them, you add the question tiles onto the page, and then write in what you want the question to be. It’s a fairly simple process to build something so complex.
If you have the skills to customise your code, you could also create a new question type or make an action which triggers on the form’s submission. The form is your oyster!
How do I add Forms into my app?
To add Forms into your app, all you need to do is add an entity onto your build diagram, add in the Forms extension from the palette, and add in an attribute to name your form. In the UI diagram, you can then drop a Form tile onto whichever page you want to show the form on.
Once you have hit the build button, the form will be in the administration section of your running app, ready for you to configure as you like.
Why am I adding it on the Platform, but configuring it on the app?
We have made it this way so that you are able to configure your form without having to release your app every time you want your changes to be live. Imagine you want to fix a spelling mistake, but you have to go through the full release process first. It is for reasons like this that we have put a majority of the configuration into the application itself. You can easily update your content. However, we cannot put all the configuration in your target application because the app’s data structure lives on the Platform. That being said, unless you want to add the form in other places in your app, you shouldn’t be needing to go back to the Platform to make changes very often.
What else will Forms be able to do?
What was described above is just the MVP of Forms, but we have a lot of plans for it in the future. Our current roadmap includes:
- Skip and show logic, so you can hide and show questions based on the user’s other answers;
- Display options, so you can choose whether the questions are all on one page or broken up across different slides;
- A results summary page which compiles your results into a dashboard-esque view for easy comprehension; and
-
a few more things that we’ll keep as a surprise!
Do you feel like we are missing some functionality that would be helpful for you? Please let us know by filling out the feedback form on the Platform. We always appreciate suggestions and comments from our community.
I want to learn more about Forms!
If you have a Codebots account on the Platform, you can complete our Forms extension qualification in the Academy. The qualification covers what the extension is, step-by-step instructions on adding it to your app, configuring it, and the different ways you can use custom code to improve upon the extension.
Written by Tessa Mylonas
Head of Support and Education
If Tessa isn’t busy answering support questions or educating you about the Codebots products, she is typically found putting together flat-pack furniture, playing with her chocolate Labradors or hoarding houseplants.
