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Version: 12.x (Current)

Form Service Frontend

The Form Service Frontend is a Mia-Platform plugin that uses formio.js to provide a custom micro-frontend to build and visualize forms. It has two different frontends: the Form Builder and the Form Visualizer.

  • The Form Builder allows users to create custom forms, that can be used for different use cases, by means of a customizable UI usable also by non-technical users.

  • The Form Visualizer allows one to display forms created with the form builder. By using the form visualizer it is possible to fill forms and submit their data to a configurable endpoint.

The Form Service Frontend as a micro-lc plugin can be used with microlc itself, but it can also be integrated with the Mia Platform Headless CMS as an iframe plugin.

The output of the Form Builder is a JSON configuration of the form that later can be rendered with formio.js renderer or with the Form Visualizer.

The Mia-Platform Form Builder currently supports Forms and Wizards. An example of Form Builder can be found in the formio.js demo page. The image below shows a customized Form Builder (the JSON options are the ones found in the example provided here).

Form Builder UI

The right side of the image above also shows the created form that can be displayed in the Form Visualizer and can be filled and submitted by a user. The image below shows the form, rendered in the Form Visualizer.

Form Visualizer UI

How it works​

The Form Service Frontend retrive the configuration needed from the the Form Service Backend. To know more about the backend service check this guide.

The frontend service exposes the following routes:

Form Builder​

  • GET /builder/create-form: it allows the creation of a new form template;
  • GET /builder/{id}: it shows one form template by ID and let you update it.
info

The baseUrl property equal to the URL's origin is injected in the form builder and form visualizer options (from version 1.1.0). This enables the usage of relative URLs in the formio select component using URL as Data Source Type (useful to define the data source according to the deployed environment).

Form Visualizer​

  • GET /visualizer/fill-form/{id}: it allows the end user to submit data on a new form, selected by form template ID;
  • GET /visualizer/{id}: returns the submitted data for the specified form ID;
  • GET /visualizer/print-form/{id}: (from version 1.1.0) returns a printable version of submitted data for a form ID (submit button is removed from Forms and Wizards are displayed as Forms);
  • GET /visualizer/fill-assignment/{assignmentId}: (from version 1.2.0) it allows the end user to submit data on a new form assignment, selected by form assignment ID.
info

The /visualizer/fill-form/ and /visualizer/{id} routes (from version 1.1.0) accept the onSubmitRedirect query parameter which is used to redirect a user to a specific URL after a new form submission or after an update.

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The /visualizer/fill-form/ route (from version 1.4.0) allows to pre-compile the inputs of the considered form. The values for the inputs to be pre-compiled must be passed as query parameters.

Example:

GET /visualizer/fill-form?formSchemaId=1234&key1=value1&key2=value2

In the above examples, the inputs with name key1 and key2 will be pre-compiled with values value1 and value2, respectively.

If an input name present as a query parameter is not present in the form schema, that query parameter will be ignored.

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The frontend service endpoints are as described before when the Form Service Frontend is used in micro-lc. When the frontend is used standalone or integrated with the Mia-Platform Headless CMS the base path is /#/. With a frontend service endpoint equal to /form-service, the path to create a new custom form is /form-service/#/builder/create-form.

Form data versioning support​

From version 1.5.0 the Form-Service Frontend supports the versioning of the form data. When calling the GET /visualizer/{id} and the GET /visualizer/print-form/{id} endpoints is possible to specify the _v parameter. This parameter will be passed to the Form-Service Backend that, if configured properly, will retrieve the right version of the requested form data.

info

When the _v parameter is specified, the form is set to readOnly mode. This means that the form inputs cannot be modified and the submit button is removed.

Form data retrieve drafts support​

From version 1.6.0 the Form-Service Frontend supports the possibility to retrieve form drafts. When calling the GET /visualizer/{id} endpoint is possible to specify the _status parameter. This parameter will be passed to the Form-Service Backend that, if configured properly, will retrieve the draft version of the requested form data.

Form Availability and Expiration date support​

From version 1.10.0 the Form Service enables the configuration of availability and expiration dates for forms via the builder. If either of these dates is defined and the relevant conditions are met, the form's visualizer will trigger an error message, preventing the form from being presented. You can customize the error message displayed for expired forms through the configmap in the Form Service Backend.

Further details​

Follow the pages below to know more about the Form Service Frontend: