Tech Tip: Making Your Laserfiche Forms Smarter
By Sarah Seene
Technical Writer
Laserfiche Forms offers a quick and easy way to collect data on everything from HR benefits to lunch menu preferences. You can enhance a form by configuring it to automatically display relevant information as someone fills it out. Specifically, field rules, lookup rules, and JavaScript will help you create dynamic forms that respond to your users’ needs.
Field Rules
Field rules show or hide fields based on the information entered in other fields. Learn more.
Example: If an employee has children, the HR department needs the employee to fill out a section with the children’s names, genders, and ages. Employees without children can skip this section. To make it clear exactly which sections need to be filled out, the HR department created a radio button field that asks if the employee has children (yes/no). Then they created a field rule that shows the Children’s Information section only if the employee selects Yes.
Lookup Rules
Lookup rules automatically populate fields with information from a database. Learn more.
Example: An employee’s information (e.g., name, email address, and employee ID) is stored in the company’s SQL database. Human Resource forms often need this information, but it’s tedious and error-prone for employees to fill out the same information on multiple forms. Instead, when an employee types his or her name on a form, a lookup rule gathers the matching information from the database and fills in the correct email address and employee ID.
JavaScript
Using JavaScript greatly expands your customization options. JavaScript can update a form as the user fills it out, making automatic field calculations and other kinds of data manipulation possible. Additionally, you can use a combination of JavaScript and CSS to hide or show fields based on various calculations. Learn more.
Example: When filling out an order form, people enter in the item, amount, and price per item. With a little JavaScript, the form can automatically display the tax and total for the order. If the total is over a specific amount, some custom CSS displays a field asking for additional information.
