You are viewing limited content. For full access, please sign in.

Discussion

Discussion

Feature Request: Step/Task Based Field Rules

posted on May 25, 2018 Show version history

Hello,

In going through some recent posts about Forms I began thinking about how often I need to build out multiple forms in a business process simply because some information should only be seen or edited by certain users.

As a result, I think it could be beneficial to add some functionality in the field rules that would allow us to show/hide not just based on values, but also based on which task is using the form.

To provide a use case,

Let's say I have an HR form that an employee completes and I include a section to be completed by HR. The only difference between step 1 and step 2 is the presence of this "HR Use Only" section.

Currently, unless I build out some custom JavaScript to populate a hidden field on submission or something along those lines, I need two separate forms: One without the "HR Only" section, and one that displays the additional fields/section.

Instead, it would be nice if I could set a Field Rule along the lines of

"Hide ____ WHEN Task IS Starting Form"

or

"Show ____ WHEN Task IS User Task 1"

I envision the new field rule condition pulling a list of any activities that use a form (Starting Form, User Task, Save To Repository, etc.) from the business process so we could reuse the same form in multiple steps but still control who sees what fields based on the task/step; this would really help simplify maintenance on some simpler processes because field changes wouldn't require updating multiple forms and we could build a more dynamic form that works across multiple steps.

 

As a secondary request, it would also be nice to have some kind of conditional read-only or required setting.

As an example, if a user selects Option A in Field 1, then Field 2 is populated with a lookup or default value and I don't want them to change it, but if they select Option B, I want them to be able to manually enter information into Field 2.

Along those same lines, if a user selects Option A, then I must have a value in Field 2, but if they select Option B, then Field 2 is optional so it still needs to be presented to the user, but it is not required.

This could possibly be tied into to the previous request so I could make a specific field/section read-only in step 2 but still allow data entry in step one without separate forms or making everything on the form read-only for the second step.

 

Currently, the only way I can accomplish either of these is to use separate forms and/or use multiple fields for the same values, utilize JavaScript or Functions to put the values into a "consolidated" field, or use custom JavaScript to "manually" change the required or read-only attributes based on user selections.

12 0
replied on January 6, 2023 Show version history

Show/hide fields using field rules based on process step is supported using new form designer with Forms 11 Update 3.

You can see other changes of Forms 11 Update 3 from  https://support.laserfiche.com/kb/1014413/list-of-changes-for-laserfiche-forms-11-update-3 and get Forms 11 Update 3 from Laserfiche 11 package  https://support.laserfiche.com/kb/1014263/software-versions-and-fixes-included-in-the-laserfiche-11-download-package

1 0
replied on July 16, 2021

I've been hearing that this is "something that's being discussed" or "worked on" for years now when I bring it up at Empower. 

 

I guess I'm confused how this isn't a bigger issue for people. Every single business process I create ends up having many different versions of the same form, and it is entirely due to the fact that "make read only" and "make required", and rules based on step names, stage names, teams, roles, etc. are not possible. Every single time something needs to be changed, it's an excruciating process of changing it on 5-10 different versions of the same form. Especially if it is something that involves field rules, which then need to be re-created multiple times too. Are most people not creating processes that require multiple forms to work around this?


It feels like I spend a significant percentage of my time building and maintaining business process just compensating for the lack of this feature.

4 0
replied on July 19, 2021

Yes, this functionality was prototyped but delayed while we worked on the new form designer. Now that we have released the new designer, we can enhance field rule options. 

0 0
replied on July 19, 2021

Sounds promising. I have resigned to making a single form for any future projects, however, to make things work like Kaimana and the poster have asked for I have a mess of Field Rules and Javascript to do those things. Having even just the ability to add "AND" groups (like Workflow's condition groups) alongside an "OR" would be greatly beneficial and reduce my Javascript significantly. I look forward to hearing more about the "enhanced field rules".

2 0
replied on August 25, 2021

You are not alone Kaimana!

0 0
replied on February 4, 2022

February 2022 - any update on this functionality?

0 0
replied on May 25, 2022

This feature has been added to the new form designer, it is now available in Laserfiche Cloud, for self-hosted Forms, it will come out with the next Update which is targeted at end of this year.  

2 0
replied on November 8, 2019

I haven't noticed this in the most current version hopefully it happens soon. I have a few different use-cases that could benefit from this option in the process diagram.

0 0
replied on September 17, 2018

I strongly agree that both step-based visibility and conditional requirements need to be built into the interface.

0 0
replied on June 8, 2018

I was just thinking the same thing!  I hope this is added!

0 0
replied on May 29, 2018

Thanks Jason for the detailed feature request. We've heard both of these before and I've added your cases to the requests. We are looking to expand field rules from simply showing/hiding to allow for more rule types and a little more complexity from the inputs. 

0 0
replied on August 5, 2020

Jared, 

I am new to Laserfiche and have been told two forms are needed; one for the end user and one for my tracking.  I am reviewing the above post about field rule features and this is an area where expansion has been requested. 

I have found this to be very time consuming in creating multiple forms, variables, more complex workflows and training.  Since this thread was in 2018 and it is now 2020, I don't see any changes.  Am I missing some enhancements to improved this part of Laserfiche? 

Thank you!

Traci Faught

0 0
replied on August 5, 2020

We built out the proof of concept for these field rule enhancements, but halted work on that to focus on the re-built drag and drop form designer. Once we get the new form designer in, we'll resume the field rule enhancements. 

3 0
replied on August 5, 2020

Thank you for the reply. Do you have a time estimate for the completion of this? 

Traci

0 0
replied on August 5, 2020

Not until after 2020. 

0 0
You are not allowed to follow up in this post.

Sign in to reply to this post.