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Feature Request: Library/Package Manager for Forms

posted on February 24, 2021 Show version history

Just finished a great Empower session about product suggestions and all the great ideas/suggestions really got the gears turning and made me think of something I had never really considered before; custom JavaScript libraries saved directly into Forms.

We do so much customization that it's become pretty rare for us to publish a form without at least a little JavaScript, and when we reuse certain functions over and over eventually we reach the point where packing it up and importing the file makes more sense than copy and paste.

One approach is to write the js file and store it on the Forms server so it can just be pulled into the form, but that requires accessing the server to add or edit the file and adding some code to import it as well, so what about a dedicated section in Forms for building/maintaining custom script libraries?

I'm thinking some section within Forms admin to enter the code like I would within the form builder, save the "package" with a unique name as I would for a data source, then in the JavaScript section of the form I could just choose one or more of those resources to include with the form like a NuGet package for my business processes.

 

EDIT: A possible challenge to consider with a feature like this would be public-facing Forms servers and how these "packages" are delivered to the client. For example, we have both an internal and an external server pointed at the same db, so if the file only existed on the internal server it wouldn't be accessible on our public-facing forms.

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replied on February 25, 2021

Cool idea, something we could look in to with the new designer. 

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replied on February 25, 2021 Show version history

It probably makes sense to also have a choice between entering code or setting a list of URLs for CDN sources or a files hosted somewhere else, which could be beneficial too.

That might make more sense on the form side (i.e., for each item you add you can choose between a custom "package" or entering a URL source), but I'll leave that to the experts lol.

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replied on February 26, 2021

I would second, this would be nice to have similar to how jsfiddle does it. 

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replied on February 25, 2021

You sir, are my hero!  This is an awsome idea!

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