Who this article is for: Instance Admins.
Overview
The Form Builder builds three types of form: Report, Investigation and Education. An Education form is the form behind an education interaction. An Investigation form is the form behind an investigation.
Unlike a report form, Education and Investigation forms are assembled from two parts: the form's own pages, plus the components attached to it.
Form type | Components it can have |
Education | Curriculum (0–1), Providers (0–many), Recipients (0–many) |
Investigation | Events (0–many), Outcomes (0–many) |
Components are shared. One component can be attached to many forms, and editing it changes every form that uses it.
For building the form's own pages, the PDF output and version history, the Form Builder works the same way it does for report forms. See Building Forms with the Input Builder and Designing PDF Outputs with the PDF Builder.
Before You Begin
The Form Builder opens from Settings > App Settings > Form Builder (Beta). That link is shown to Instance Admins.
An admin account set to read-only can open Education and Investigation forms but can't save changes to them.
Finding Education and Investigation Forms
Education and Investigation forms are listed with your report forms on the Form Builder homepage.
Use the filter next to the search box to narrow the list: All, Reports, Investigation or Education.
Read the TYPE column to see which kind each form is.
Read the STATUS column: New, Draft or Published followed by the version number, or Global.
📝 A form with the status Global comes from the shared library. Its name isn't a link, and a global Education or Investigation form has no actions.
Creating an Education or Investigation Form
Click Create Form.
Under Form Type, choose Investigation or Education. A line under the field describes the type:
Investigation: "An investigation assembled from event and outcome components."
Education: "An interaction assembled from curriculum, provider, and recipient components."
Enter a Form Name. Field users see this name in their picklists.
Optionally, enter a Form Description.
Under Create From, choose New or Template. Upload is offered only for Report forms. If you choose Template, the Template list shows forms of the type you picked.
Click Create Form. The new form opens in the builder.
The Form Type is set when the form is created. The builder's Settings tab doesn't offer a way to change it.
💡 Clone Form, on a form's Actions menu, copies an Education or Investigation form together with its attached components and its PDF output. It isn't offered on a global Education or Investigation form.
Attaching Components
Open the form and click Components in the left panel. This tab appears only on Education and Investigation forms.
Each kind of component is listed with how many it takes, for example Providers (0–many).
To attach a component that already exists, search for it in the box under that kind and select it. Once a Curriculum is attached, the box is hidden, because a form takes only one.
To detach a component, click the × (Detach) next to its name.
To create a new one, click + New next to the kind. Enter a Name, choose a Type, and click Create. The new component is attached to the form.
⚠️ Attaching and detaching save immediately and apply to the live form. They don't wait for SAVE AND PUBLISH.
Component types
Some components have a Type, chosen when the component is created. It decides how the component behaves.
Component | Type options | What the type changes |
Curriculum | Description | Only one option |
Provider | Individual, Organization | — |
Recipient | Individuals, Group, Groups | How impressions are counted (see below) |
Event | Concerns | A list of concerns is recorded on each event |
Outcome | Enforcement Actions, Follow-up Tasks | Whether the outcome holds enforcement actions or follow-up tasks |
📝 The Type list shows each option by its full system name, for example App\Programs\Education\RecipientTypeDelegate\Individuals. The last part of the name is the type.
After a component is created, its Settings tab shows the Type grayed out. It can't be changed in the builder.
Editing a Component
Click the component's name on the Components tab, or click Edit component on one of its pages in the assembled form.
A message asks: "Components are shared across types. Editing this one changes every form that uses it. Continue?" Click OK to open the component.
Build the component's page the same way as any form page.
Changes to a component save automatically and apply straight away to every form that uses it. Components have no versions and no SAVE AND PUBLISH button.
📝 Only a component's first page is used in the assembled form. Pages added after the first one don't appear to field users.
Components with a second form
Some components have a second form that repeats once per row. A switch above the canvas moves between Fields and the second form.
Component | Second form | What it holds |
Event | Per-Concern Fields | Repeated for each concern recorded on the event |
Outcome (Enforcement Actions) | Per-Enforcement Fields | Repeated for each enforcement action on the outcome |
Outcome (Follow-up Tasks) | Per-Task Fields | Repeated for each follow-up task on the outcome |
Recipient (Individuals) | Individual Fields | Repeated for each attendee |
Recipient (Groups) | Groups Fields | Repeated for each group entered |
Fields is asked once. A Recipient with the Group type has only Fields.
Mapping Component Fields in Settings
A component's Settings tab has Form name, Type, Title and Form Description. Below those, Field mappings tell the system which question holds each system value.
Component | Field mappings |
Event | Name Field, Creation Date Field, Creation Time Field |
Outcome (Enforcement Actions) | Name Field, Description Field, Creation Date Field, Creation Time Field, Enforcement Level Field, Related BMP(s) Field, Custom Tag Option Field |
Outcome (Follow-up Tasks) | Name Field, Creation Date Field, Creation Time Field, Due Date Field, Due Time Field, Completed Field, Completed Date Field, Completed Time Field |
Recipient (Individuals) | Individual Email Field Name |
Recipient (Group) | Group Impressions Field |
Recipient (Groups) | Groups Impressions Field |
Each Event and Outcome mapping is labeled (optional). Most mappings are typed as the field's name. The two impressions fields are picked from a list instead.
How impressions are counted
Recipient type | Impressions |
Individuals | One for each attendee entered |
Group | The number in the Group Impressions Field |
Groups | The Groups Impressions Field added up across every group entered |
The Group Impressions Field list comes from the Fields form. The Groups Impressions Field list comes from the Groups Fields form. Each list offers only fields placed directly on the first page of that form, not fields inside a group or repeater.
The list shows Number fields first, then Other fields. A number field is a Text field with a number format (integer or decimal).
Viewing the Assembled Form
When you open an Education or Investigation form, the page list shows the form's own pages, then the first page of each attached component.
A component's page is read-only in the form. A banner names the component it comes from, and has an Edit component link. For a component with a second form, the banner also has a Fields switch to view that form.
Click Preview Form to see the form as it renders.
Saving, Publishing and Reverting
Education and Investigation forms have the same version history as report forms.
Edits to the form's own pages, Title, Form Description and PDF output save automatically to a draft.
Field users get those edits only after you click SAVE AND PUBLISH, then Publish.
Publishing also records which components were attached at that point.
To go back, choose an earlier published version from the version list and click SAVE AND PUBLISH. You're asked to confirm: "Are you sure you want to revert to this version?" Reverting restores the attached components recorded with that version, too.
📝 The first time an existing Education or Investigation form is saved in the builder, its previous content is kept as version 0, so there is always a version to go back to.
For more on drafts, comparing versions and previews, see Using Template Version History.
Deleting an Education or Investigation Form
Open the form's Actions menu and choose Delete Form.
Confirm when asked "Are you sure you want to delete the form?"
If any interactions or investigations were created from the form, the delete is refused. A message says This type cannot be deleted. and gives the count, for example "3 interaction(s) were created from this type; it cannot be deleted." The form stays in the list.
What Happens Next
After you attach or detach a component: the change applies to the live form straight away.
After you edit a component: every form that uses that component changes straight away.
After you publish: field users get the published version of the form's own pages, Title and output, with the components recorded at publish.
FAQ
Q: I edited a component, and another form changed too.
A: Components are shared. Every form the component is attached to uses the same component, so an edit to it shows up in all of them. The builder asks you to confirm before opening one for that reason.
Q: Some pages in my form are grayed out and I can't edit them.
A: Those pages come from attached components and are read-only inside the form. Use Edit component on the page to open the component itself.
Q: I added pages to a component, but they don't show in the form.
A: Only a component's first page is used in the assembled form. Move the questions onto the first page.
Q: The Group Impressions Field list says there are no number fields.
A: The list's number fields are Text fields with a number format. Add one directly on the first page of the Fields form (or the Groups Fields form for a Groups recipient), then pick it in Settings.
Q: Can I change a component's Type?
A: Not in the builder. The Type is shown grayed out in the component's Settings. Create a new component with the other type instead.
Q: Why can't I delete this Education or Investigation form?
A: Interactions or investigations were created from it. The message shows how many.
Q: A form shows Global and has no actions.
A: It comes from the shared library and is read-only in your organization.
Q: Do I need to turn anything on to see Education and Investigation forms?
A: No. The Form Type field and the Education and Investigation filters are part of the Form Builder for every organization.