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Forms Item: Drop-down

Important

Information and features vary according to the roles to which you belong and the permissions associated with those roles. For more information, contact your module manager or your campus support team.

The Drop-down item type lets form completers select an answer from several choices. This item type is ideal for presenting a long list of options without cluttering the form.

Tip

You can use rules to control if anything happens when the form completer selects a particular date. For example, the form completer selects their high school graduation date. If they pick a date in the next six months, you could show them additional form questions related to their test scores and intended field of study. If they pick a date a year from now, you could show them additional questions about when they'd like to attend a campus open house.

This topic explains how to add and configure drop-down options in J1 Web Forms, including how functionality differs from Campus Portal Forms.

Settings

How To

Add a Drop-down to a Form

  1. Access the Connect hub, Forms module, Manage Forms page.

  2. Find the form you're updating and from the Actions menu, select Edit form.

  3. From the Build step, select the tab where you want to add the drop-down.

  4. Click Add Item. The New Item pop-up window appears.

  5. In the Unique ID field, enter an identifier for the drop-down.

  6. From the Type drop-down list, select Drop-down.

  7. Select the appropriate label display option:

    • Display on the form appears visually on the form. If you do not show the item on the form, you must select Screen reader only to ensure screen readers can provide needed information.

    • Screen reader only is hidden visually but available to assistive technologies for accessibility.

  8. In the Text field, enter and format the label you want to use to describe the drop-down.

    Tip

    This is typically brief (e.g., Nickname), but can include leverage basic HTML formatting such as <bold>, <center>, <italics>, and hyperlinks <ahref>; when additional context is needed

  9. If you are grouping fields, enter the group name in the Group field.

    Items/fields with the same group name can be acted on simultaneously through other configurations. For example, multiple questions grouped under 'Faculty' can be shown, hidden, or validated together.

    Note

    Each item being included in the group must have the same group name in this field.

  10. Click on the Settings tab.

    1. The item is automatically aligned to the left of the form page. Use the Alignment options to move the question to the center or right.

    2. Enter the Width and Height you want the item to be.

      Note

      You can use percentages (e.g., 50%) or pixel/point values (e.g., 50px) to control how large or small the field appears.

    3. Set up the attributes:

      1. Select the Required checkbox to make the item mandatory.

      2. Select the Read Only checkbox to make the item visible to form completers but not available to select. This could be explanatory information or examples.

      3. Select the Show Only in Report checkbox to make the field and its responses appear only in the submitted form to the reviewer. Responses are hidden from form completers during form entry.

        For example, this can be used to collect the submitter's ID number in order to auto-populate other fields or include with the submission.

    4. Select Mobile, Tablet and/or Desktop to determine what platforms the item/field is visible on.

      If an item is required, all display on options are selected and cannot be updated.

    5. Enter a Default Value if you want specific information or a data shown to form completers when they first access the item/field. Form completers can update the value as needed.

      Tip

      This field can be used as hint text. Instructions such as "Select your intended major." can be entered and shown in a drop-down item.

  11. To configure options the form completer can select, click the Options tab and select Static Options or Dynamic Options.

    • Static options let you manually enter fixed values. These values do not change unless the you edit the form and change them.

    • Dynamic options are based on data set queries set up to select information from your database. They can vary according to the form completer, information, etc.

    1. If you selected Static Options:

      1. Click Add and enter the values you want available to form completers in the Numeric, Value, and Text fields provided. If you want a particular option to be automatically selected, select the Selected checkbox.

      2. Repeat step i for as many options as needed.

      3. To remove an option, click the Delete icon.

    2. If you selected Dynamic Options:

      Note

      The options sources drop-down lists Data Dictionaries data sets that have been classified as Form Options.

      1. From the Options Source drop-down, select the Form Options data set you want to use to populate the item.

      2. If the source includes one or more arguments, each argument can be matched to the corresponding form item using the drop-down list that appears below it.

  12. To associate actions with the item/field, click the Rules tab.

    1. Click Add.

    2. In the first drop-down, select the If answer value is condition.

      Note

      Rules must always have an If answer value is condition in the first statement of the sequence. This tells J1 Web Forms to execute the action if the user's answer matches the answer value you specify.

    3. In the field to the right of the drop-down, enter the answer value that will trigger the rule to execute. To execute the action when any answer is entered, or when a button is selected, enter * in the answer value field.

    4. In the second drop-down, select the action you want to occur when the condition is met.

    5. If needed, click Add to add another rule.

      • Else if answer value is tells J1 Web Forms to execute the action if the answer value matches the new answer value you specify when the "If" condition fails.

      • Else tells J1 Web Forms to execute the action if no previous conditions were met.

      • And tells J1 Web Forms to execute the action in addition to any other action that is set to execute in the previous rule condition.

  13. To use this form item as a to automatically complete other fields on the form, click the Look Up tab.

    1. From the Look Up Data Source drop-down, select the data set to use. The table columns associated with the data set appear with corresponding drop-downs.

      Note

      The Look Up data source options are Data Dictionaries data sets classified as Form LookUp.

    2. Configure the attributes:

      • Execute on Load means fields are immediately populated when the form is accessed.

      • Trigger Next Set means populated fields trigger their own events.

      • Preserve User Input means text manually entered by the form completer is retained.

  14. Click Update.

  15. If you want to move the item, use the drag and drop icons drag and drop icon The drag and drop icon. to move and i_drag_drop_block.png, and move it to the preferred location.