Rules - Create dynamic Forms

Template developers can influence elements or characteristics of forms by defining rules within the (form-)template and by this means he can create a “Dynamic Form”. Rules can be used wherever FirstSpirit forms are used, and in fact in SiteArchitect as in ContentCreator, for example in:

• forms for the Page and Content Store
• metadata forms
• forms for workflows
• forms for scripts
• forms for link templates

Dynamic forms enable:

• the recognition of states with invalid content. For example, not only will it be possible to check whether a date has been entered with the correct format, but also whether, depending on the requirement of the respective input component, it has to be in the future (e.g. future deadlines) or in the past (e.g. press releases).
• hiding individual input fields under certain conditions. In this way, for example, display or editing by specific user groups can be prevented or the editing of individual fields is only allowed in specific stores and regardless of the permissions of a user.
• establishing logical relationships between individual fields, which lead to automatic changing of a dependent field. In this way, for example, it is possible to use a checkbox to choose between two suppliers to affect a dependent combobox which, depending on the choice, displays specific products only.

The check is performed immediately on the respective form element during the editorial work. Violations of a rule is visualized uniformly for all elements. The display clearly differs from the other layout of the workspace, in order to clearly highlight the incorrect inputs. The visualization includes a textual, language-dependent statement why the state is invalid, in addition to a color code, depending on the underlying level of restriction. The creator of the dynamic form (thus the template developer) can decide how to handle elements with this state during the further editorial process. For example, if such invalid elements are to be taken into account in a generation.

Additions to this documentation

• Example Project Dynamic Forms (Version 5.1.1)
• Example ValueService (Module) (Version 0.1)