Introduction

Form Schema's define the configuration, valid users, data collection objects, stage workflows and print layouts of a form.  In this way they encapsulate digital tasks processes required on a project.

Interaction with forms is through Insight 3D & 2D, Onsite Mobile, and Web Construction pages.

Definitions

The DEFINITION of a form is known as a 'Form Schema' while the INSTANCES of created forms are known as 'Form Instances'. 

Users usually think of Forms in terms of actual 'instances' that have been created and assigned numbers and data.  Super users need to be careful to differentiate between when they are referring to those same Instances and when they are referring to 'Schemas'.

The Construction Page refers to 'Form Schemas' as 'Form Types' and 'Form Instances' as 'Forms'

Form Schemas are defined with the FormBuilder application using the following tools:

Schema List

Superusers, and users with the FormBuilder role, have access to the form designer tool from the System Admin menu.  

The Schema List is the starting page for Managing, Creating and Publishing forms.  Users will see 2 sets of forms in the list:

  • All forms created by anybody with the same User Company as themselves,
  • Any form that's published to a project that they have Project Access to.


New Schema

 Create a new Form Schema with system default values and open it the Schema Designer with the Schema Properties panel open.

Note: Reserved characters that can't be used for schema names are: 

< (less than), 

> (greater than), 

/ (forward slash), 

\ (backslash), 

| (vertical bar or pipe), 

? (question mark),

: (colon),

* (Asterisk),

"(double quote).

Filter List view

On the Schema List, you can apply a filter to limit the number of forms you see at once.  The filter remains until you clear it.

Filter schemas by name, in the left hand search panel, or by category in the right. 

Clear the filter with 


The columns shown in the schema list are:

Schema

Name of the Form Schema, that users also know as the 'Form Type'.  Click on a Schema Name to open the form for editing.

Published Revision

The latest revision of the schema published to projects.  A blank value signifies an unpublished schema.

Created by

The user that created the schema. 

Last Edited by

The user that last edited the schema.  

Last Published

The date and time the schema was last published to a project(s).

Last Edited

The date and time the schema was last edited.

Category

The value entered in the Form Properties to set a type/category for the schema, which can be used in the Category filter.

Simulate

Simulate the form to see it's layout on various devices.

Simulate As

Simulate the execution of the form as one of the User Roles.

Publish

Publish the form to projects.

Archive

Archive the form and remove it from new creation.

Simulate

Simulate the form execution on a phone, tablet, laptop to get an idea of how the layout looks on each type of device and how it responds to orientation changes.

 Return to the main Schema List,

 Rotate device between Vertical and Horizontal.

Simulate As

 Simulate the form execution as one of the five roles of Client, Contractor, Engineer, QA and Superviser.  This enables testing the workflow of the form and permissions and visibility on each of the controls.


The top header bar provides information about running in simulation mode, including relevant warnings about role access.

 

  Return to the main Schema List,

  Open the form in the Schema Designer for editing.

Publish

 Publish the form schema for use on projects.  Publishing a form from the schema list sets the Project Config Forms list to include the schema.  Thus a form can be removed from a project by removing it from the project config list as well.

Any projects that the form has already been published to will already be listed.

Select the Project Access Company whose projects you want to publish to, then select the Projects to publish to.  Use add another row to select further companies and projects.

Therefore a form can only be published to a project that the user has Project Access to.

Once a form has been published that Revision of it will be used immediately for newly created forms on the project.  Existing forms are not modified and will still complete in their already published format.

Validation

The are validation rules that must be passed in order for a form to be valid and published:

  1. You must have one or more Creation roles selected in the schema settings,
  2. Each container must have one or more controls,
  3. Each container, except the last one, must have either a Stage Sign Off or have the Override Signature setting on,
  4. The last container must have a Completion Sign Off ,
  5. The number of Workflow steps must equal the number of Stage Sign Offs plus the number of Completion Sign Offs.

Archive

Mark a schema as deleted, meaning it's no longer available in the schema list and can no longer be created in projects it's been published to. 

Note: Marking a schema as archived stops further processing of any created instances of that form, no matter what state they are in on a project.


Schema Designer

When you have selected a schema from the schema list, it opens the schema designer.  This is where the schema's content, actions, workflows and print layouts are defined.

Edit Schema Properties

The Schema properties can be edited from:

The pencil Icon next to the schema name at the top of the page,

The propeties Icon in the top right hand corner of the page. 

Sidebar

Show or hide the control settings shown in the left hand panel, effectively switching between a 'Edit' mode and a basic 'Preview' mode.  A more complete preview of the form is available via the Simulate and Simulate As tools.

Edit Print Layout

Open the Print Designer to configure form prints and set the print used by default.

Edit Workflows

Open the Workflow Designer to configure the form workflows. 

Back to Schema List

Return to the Schema List.

Save Schema As

Save the currently editing schema as a new one, with a new name.

Note: The Schema Designer remains in the existing file, and does not open the newly created file.  Return to schema list to select and edit the new file.

Save Schema

Save changes to the currently edited schema.  The Save confirmation panel also contains tools:

Return to the Schema List page.

View the definition of the Schema

Download the definition of the Schema

 Open the Simulate tool

Open the Publish window 

Close the save confirmation panel

If you have unsaved changes in a schema you will also be prompted before leaving the Schema Designer:

Delete Schema

Archive the schema from the schema list. 

Note:  Once a project has been published to a project in can't be deleted, as it is then required in the project configuration.

Print Designer

FormBuilder v2 forms have 2 types of print:

  • Layout Print - A PDF print of the form, in the layout of the form as it appears to the user during execution.  Note:  All containers will be printed as if they were Open, including those which are configured to be Closed By Default.
  • Custom Print - A PDF print of the form as defined in the Print Designer.  This type of print can have image backgrounds, can select which values to print and generally be formatted as required.  Any control that has it's Must Print setting on, must be included in the custom print definition.

Print Designer is used to configure Custom Prints.  There can be several prints defined but 1 of them must be set as Default, and this is the one that will be printed by the Construction page.

 Opens the print layout for editing,

  Deletes the print layout.

  Sets the default print layout that will be used print Custom Prints.

 Add a new Custom print layout.


Edit Custom Print Layout

The Schema Output panel enables a custom print layout to be defined.  

There are 3 main elements to setup:


  Save the print layout, where you also see the same options as the Form Schema Save panel.


 Return to the schema list,

 Return to the Schema Designer for the current schema


Print Pages

 Toggle between the pages of the print layout.  Add a new page with 

Page Backgrounds

 Select the image to position as the page background.  Currently only A4 size paper is supported.

Position Controls

 There are 3 types of controls that can be placed in the print: 

  • Form - The controls that you placed in the form schema.
  • Object - Data fields from any objects linked to the form during execution,
  • System - Data fields made available by the system.

Select the control value in the schema definition to place on the page. 

Shows the control has been placed on the print layout.

Once a control is placed, drag the boundary position and size it to suit.  Dummy text is shown at this stage to aid layout, but during execution, the actual values of the control will be printed within the boundary you are positioning.

 Delete the control from the print layout.

Conditional Printing

  Select a placed control in order to define the conditions under which it must print.  This is the same function as that to display the control in the form definition, 



Workflow Designer 

Workflow Designer is used to define the stages of the workflow for a form, which containers to include in each stage and their editable/visible state.  

 Set the number of stages for the workflow.  There should be the same number of stages as the total number of Stage and Completion sign offs.  The After Completion stage is a default stage that shows the state of containers after the form has been completed.

Set the state of each Container at each stage of the workflow.  At any stage, there can be many containers but only 1 should have a sign off that completes the workflow stage.  This setting works in conjunction with the Container Roles, ensuring only valid users have access to containers through the workflow.


The preview at the bottom of the page, shows a representation of the workflow with each container status.