Action buttons are used for form navigation, saving and submitting forms, launching videos, websites and driving directions and much more.
Properties
Type: You can choose the standard button seen below or you can choose an image for your button.
If you choose Image, you will have the option to either:
- Select an icon from the doForms icon library.
- Upload your own image.
If you want to arrange your buttons, use the Button Grid.
Action Button Text/Image Text: If you select the button type you will see a field called action button text. You can enter up to 20 characters. You can use the custom appearance parameter to change the text color and the active text color. Active text color is used when your button is clicked. You can change the background color of your button by using the settings/form appearance option. this will change the background of all the buttons in your form. You can set a default text color with this option as well.
If you select the image type, you will have the option of placing text beneath the image.
If you enter text in the Image text field, and no text appears below your image, you may need to change the button text color .
Justification: Your action button can be centered or justified to the right or the left.
Action: This is a required field that defines what action the button will perform when tapped by the mobile user.
The following are available actions that you can assign to an action button:
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Jump to question: Jumps the mobile user to a specific question or field within the form. After selecting this action, you will need to select a destination question/field.
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Jump to page: Jumps the mobile user to another page within the form. After selecting this action, you will need to select a destination page. This option can only be used after setting up multiple Pages within the form.
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Play video: Plays a video that is located on the Internet (note that an Internet connection is required for a mobile user to play videos). After selecting this action, you will need to enter the URL of the video.
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Open web page: Opens an Internet web page (note that an Internet connection is required for a mobile user to open a web page). After selecting this action, you will need to enter the URL of the web page.
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Launch program: Opens an app on the user's iOS or Android device. After selecting this action, you will need to enter the iOS app URL scheme and/or Android app name. For iOS devices, the app URL scheme for most apps can be found at www.handleopenurl.com. For Android devices the app name must be spelled exactly as listed in the device Settings > Manage Applications page.
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Send status to dispatch: (Requires an advanced doForms license) The doForms dispatch portal has the ability to display the status of a dispatched form. In some cases this is a system generated status sent from the device like received or viewed. You can allow the user to send a status like arrived or parts run. You can also add a text box into your form so that your user can enter their own status text. When they hit the send status button the text will be sent as a custom status message. You can choose text, numeric, choose one, or calculation fields value from the form to define your message or you can hard code a message associated with the button. (note that an Internet connection is required for a mobile user to send a status to dispatch).
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Launch Google maps: If a form contains an address or latitude and longitude you can use those values to launches Google Maps to either see the location on a map or get driving directions from your current location to the specified location. This is particularly useful when a form is dispatched to a user with the address of the job already provided. (note that an Internet connection is required for a mobile user to launch Google Maps). You will need to specify your Input type (Address or Lat/Long) and point to the field or fields in your form that contain the information. For an address you may need to perform a text calculation to combine multiple address fields into a single address field. Select your desired Output type. The option are center on map and get driving directions.
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Launch Garmin directions: Send either an address or a Latitude/Longitude location to Garmin.
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Save and send: Saves the form and submits it to the doForms portal. If the user is not in coverage the form will be placed in queue and will be automatically sent once a network connection is established.
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Check for updates: Checks for updates after the form is submitted. This will check for new forms, form updates and changes in your form data sources.
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Ignore required fields in forward: Allows the form to be submitted even if partially filled out. An example would be where a user requires a supervisors approval before they can complete a form. The form can be forwarded to the supervisor and returned with out the required fields being enforced.
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Save, send and reload form: Saves the form, submits it to the doForms portal, and reloads a blank version of the same form.
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Save, send and load selected form: This option loads a different form after the current form is submitted. This option has the same features of the other send options but requires that you select the new form to be opened.
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Save as incomplete: You can give your user the ability to close a form saving it as incomplete. The form will be saved on the mobile device and the user can reopen the form later to finish working on it. The form is not submitted. You can configure the button with a specific incomplete status. Note that this function can also be accomplished by using the system menu externally from the form. To reopen the form the user can use the system menu to access the review section and select the incomplete form or you can use the open form from review option to allow the user to open an incomplete form from within the current form they are in.
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Save as complete: Saves the form, marks it as "complete," and does not submit it to the doForms portal. Completed forms are forms that are complete but are not yet ready to submit. For example, a mobile user may want to double-check these completed forms later, or review them with a manager, etc., before submitting them.
When using the save as complete option users can also assign a status to the form. Users can then filter by these status's in the Review tab to quickly identify forms they are looking for. Once a status is selected in review only the saved as complete forms with the selected status will be shown.
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Save form: Saves the form, does not mark it as "complete" or "incomplete," and does not submit it to the doForms portal. Allows users to continue to work on the form without closing it. Used to insure that a user will not lose information when they are working on a large form. You can use the auto run option to trigger saves after certain questions are answered.
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Open Form: Use this option to open a form from within your form. This can be used to coordinate the filling out of multiple forms or you can use this to quickly update your data. An example would be if the customer is a new customer you can open a form to add the new customer, check for updates and return to your form. The new customer will now be in your drop down list. You can pass information to the new form and you can collect information from the opened form upon returning to the calling form. Use this to mark a process as complete. The form builder must select the project/form that will open and if the mobile user does not have access rights to view that form they will not be able to use this action button.
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Open form from review: This setting allows users to click an action button and select an incomplete, complete, or sent form to open. Once the form is closed the user will be returned to their initial form.
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Close form without saving or sending: Closes form without saving data, or sending it to the doForms portal. This is useful if your form is informational only, like a user guide.
- Reject job and remove from jobs list: Gives the user the ability to reject a job and remove the job from the jobs list without having to perform that function manually. No changes to the form will be saved or submitted. The Rejected status will be sent to the portal and the job will show as Rejected.
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Print (Web): Print the form to a full page printer from the web app or web portal.
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Print (Mobile): Print the form to a full page printer from the mobile app.
- Print fields: Select the page to print, or select All.
- Hide logo: Select to not include the form logo in the print out.
Supported printers: Brother PocketJet printers -
Print label: Print multi column and multi row barcodes, labels, and receipts.
- Paper width: Choose between 2 inch, 3 inch and 4 inch. Choose the width of the paper actually being used, not the printer maximum width (e.g. choose 2 inch when using a 4 inch printer with 2 inch paper).
- Paper style: Choose the style of paper used to determine the label break.
- Text direction: Print vertically or horizontally.
- Number of copies: Choose the number of copies to print each time the button is pushed.
- Columns: Choose between 1 and 2 column layout.
- Show colon: Print a colon between the caption and the answer value.
- Add row: Select the fields and formats you would like to appear in each column and row.
- Type: Choose from the list of supported field types.
- Field: Choose the field to print.
- Font size: Choose between small, medium and large font.
- Align: Choose L (left) C (center) or R (right) alignment.
- Print caption: Print the caption text from the question.
- Bold result: Print the value in the field in bold text to distinguish from the field caption.
Supported printers: Zebra QLn or ZQ printer. -
Call (Mobile only): This option allows you to auto dial from within your form. This is particularly useful for dispatched jobs where a customers phone number is part of the job information. Simply point to the phone number field or give the user a place to enter a phone number and point to that field. Use a phone image for your button to highlight the option. Note this feature is only available for devices with phone capabilities.
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Open file (attachment): Attach a file to your form that can be opened from within your form by the user. The form user gets a button to open the file. There are two options:
- Choose a file now: Send the same file to every user. Select a file from your computer or point to a URL, to attach to the form. Only choose a file type that you know can be opened on the users device. As an example if the user has Microsoft office on their smart phone then you can attach an Excel document. Set the button text to something meaningful like View Price Book.
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Choose a file in dispatch: Let the dispatcher select a file or enter a URL before sending the job. This allows you to dispatch unique attachments to specific users. An example would be attaching a PDF of the customer's original purchase order. Set the caption seen by the dispatcher (e.g. Attach PO). Also set the text that will appear on the button the user will see (e.g. Open Customer PO). Note that the dispatcher will have the option to attach the file. This will then automatically convert to a button for the user to open the file. You can configure this option to be required by the dispatcher or not.
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Set destination fields: Set destination field values only, and do not perform any other action.
If the file is uploaded using Upload a file, the maximum size is 30MB. If Paste a web URL is used, there is no file size limitation.
The user's device must have the appropriate software to open the file type you attach.
Hint: When using Dropbox, change the dl parameter to 1. This tells Dropbox to send the file. For example:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/o351gamq/MyFile.pdf?dl=1
Auto run: This option allows the form to automatically activate the action button based on a trigger. The trigger can be set to be when another question in the form is completed. Users can do things such as automatically submitting the form, opening a website, or any other action doForms supports.
Destination fields: In addition to performing the primary function of the control, you can set or modify the value of other fields at the same time.