Share form data between forms
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In many form based services it can be highly advantageous to display the same form activity with the same answers. Let’s say it’s necessary for a supervisor or a case manager to review the submitted answers from a colleague/applicant before ending the workflow. In the Properties panel for form activities is a Share form data between forms setting, that allows you to link the input of two form activities connected to the same form.
In this user guide we will share data between two form activities in a simple workflow. Before continuing, make sure you have a versioned form with question elements available. Create a workflow with a Start Point, two or more Form activities and an End point. Important: Make sure the connectors between the form activities are bi-directional, unless the activities will not be able to share data recursively to previous activities.
Select the first of the Form activities to reveal the properties panel. We will not go into default set-up of the Start- and End Point, but you can find introductory help in this user guide Build a simple workflow.
Browse to connect a versioned form from your workspace.
Select the preferred form from the list of available forms and click OK.
When the form has been selected you will see the name and version of the selected form in the properties panel.
Select the second Form activity in the workflow builder canvas and click Browse to select the same form as chosen for the first form activity.
When the form has been selected, click the other Browse button in the Properties panel to pre-populate the form with the answers from the previous form activity.
Then select the previous form activity from the list and click OK.
The form activity pre-populating this activity is displayed in the properties panel. Notice once the pre- population is set, it is possible to select Share form data between forms. When this is checked, the changes to a form answer in one of the forms will automatically update the corresponding answer in the connected form activity.
You may repeat this step with as many form activities you’d like. The logic is the same for sharing between multiple forms.
To complete the workflow, finish all remaining settings, remember to save your draft and create a version of your workflow. If you’d like help with this step, take a look at the Build a simple workflow user guide.
In the launched workflow, you will see the first form activity. Fill it out as you please and click Next to see the second form activity.
As you can see, the answers are pre-populated from the first activity.
In order to check if the data is shared between the two activities, try changing the input in the second form and navigate back to the first form. Navigate with the Previous button or the navigation menu.
Lo and behold! The input is also changed in the first activity, indicating that the activities are sharing and updating data across the forms.
Example workflow attached requires version 5.16.0 or a higher Compose version: Linked forms