Question

Using LF Mobile and Forms Externally

Licensing Forms Mobile

Updated October 6, 2015

asked on September 9, 2015

Hi All,

I have a question and I'm not quite sure about the answer.

If you have a Laserfiche Rio system and you have Laserfiche Forms, then you setup the LF mobile with external access, does this mean that external users will be able to submit forms through the mobile app or do you have to have Forms portal in order to submit forms externally? From my own in house testing it seems that you have to have Forms Portal in order for it to work externally?

Cheers!

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Answer

SELECTED ANSWER

replied on September 16, 2015

Whether you need Portal or not that's a feature requirement, not a system requirement, the people in the Forms forum might be able to better answer that. I believe if you need non-authenticated public users to submits forms, you need a Portal server with a portal license.

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Replies

replied on September 10, 2015

Attached is basis network diagram. Note two instances of Forms. External server's instance points to your primary instance inside the firewall.

Also attached some screens from my iPhone looking at a client site this morning across cellular network.

NetworkDiagram_Phase1.jpg (57.41 KB)

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LFMobMenu.jpg (79.37 KB)

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LFMobFormsTasks.jpg (129.43 KB)

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LFMobForms.jpg (117.63 KB)

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replied on September 9, 2015

Currently, for a mobile user to submit a form, you would either have to have Forms Portal or be connected to your internal network through a VPN connection. The other option would be to have the ability to submit a form off line, then synched back to the server once a network connection is obtained. We are hoping to see this in the near future from Laserfiche. This topic has been discussed here... https://answers.laserfiche.com/questions/74085/Offline-Forms

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replied on September 15, 2015

Please can someone from Laserfiche clarify exactly what is the expected functionality.

Cheers!

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replied on September 9, 2015

I thought as much. Cheers Glenn!

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replied on September 9, 2015

Hi Chris. We have Rio customers successfully submitting Forms via the App. Deploying forms and mobile on a external web server. You don't need the forms portal add-on if the app is sufficient.

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replied on September 9, 2015

Thanks Fearghal,

I tested this in house and it seems that you can only submit forms if you have the forms portal or are connected using a VPN. The mobile app works fine, you just can't submit forms? I'm guessing the users you have setup using this are connecting through a VPN perhaps?

Cheers!

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replied on September 10, 2015

Hi Chris

Re the Mobile App. We have a client that access, participate and submit forms via the mobile app out in the field using cellular coverage only. Works perfect.

Only drawback is trying to launch a form from a url in an email which you can't do currently as it defaults to browser.

If going in on browser and they are an authorised user, the portal add-on is not necessary. Set up a web server (SSL) outside firewall with forms instance pointing to internal forms server.

It is my understanding that Forms Portal Add-On is purely for deploying forms function to a portal to allow for anon submissions.

I can remote you in to have a look at one of our sites if it helps?

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replied on September 10, 2015

Cheers Fearghal. Do you have a simple network diagram showing how this is setup?

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replied on September 16, 2015

Both Forms and Mobile have to be available externally in order for the mobile apps to be able to submit forms externally. The litmus test is, if the mobile browsers (Safari, Chrome) can access Forms the apps can too, otherwise they cannot.

The Offline Forms feature is in the works, where forms made available for offline access will have their definitions stored on the device and can be filled and submitted while offline and synced with the Forms server once network access is available. No release date promise here.

As for the Forms server not being available externally – you would have to detail the concerns as depending on those the solutions differ.

You could set up 2 Forms servers, one in the DMZ and one behind the Firewall, both talking to the same database. See https://www.laserfiche.com/support/webhelp/laserficheforms/9.3/en-us/forms/#Administration/ConnectingMultipleFormsServersToTheDatabase.htm?Highlight=dmz

Another alternative would be setting up a reverse proxy (possibly on the same machine as the Mobile server) which would route all http traffic to the Forms server located behind the firewall (with the corresponding firewall rules to let it go through) and configure Mobile to use this reverse proxy server.

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View 1 previous reply

replied on September 16, 2015

Thanks for the reply Barna,

So in the solution you describe using 2 forms servers, one being in the Dmz connected to the same database as the other forms server, would you need a forms portal server or would the standard forms server be sufficient?

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SELECTED ANSWER

replied on September 16, 2015

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replied on September 17, 2015

Thanks Barna!

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replied on October 6, 2015

In the documentation for multiple forms servers it says to set up the Load Balancing Cluster. Is that necessary if we are not going to want to do Load Balancing? (Just using a Intranet server and a DMZ Internet server for forms for internal and external access)

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