Using Custom Entry Forms

For most Prompt messages - that is, messages that require a response from the recipients - you can gather recipients' responses using the Question and Choices fields. In some cases, you might need to gather more specific or detailed responses. You might want to collect recipients' responses by means of a custom form.

To use a custom entry form with a Prompt message:

Create the custom entry form.

We recommend that you create the form from scratch.

Include buttons or other devices to allow the recipient to indicate the desired choice.

Use form event handlers to define how these buttons behave. To return the recipient's choice, each of your form's buttons should generate an event, for example, "Accept", with two handlers. The first handler, of type "set values," should set the variable StdVote to the positional number of the voting result, for example 1, or 2, or 3. The second handler should generate the event StdFormExitOk. You should also include a button to allow the recpient to exit without voting. This button should generate an event, for example, "Cancel", with a single handler that generates the event StdFormExitCancel.
Include any display fields that you might need to display relevant information.
To display an event variable in a component, bind it to a form variable named for that event variable. For example, to display the event variable "Row.CoNum", create an component of type Edit and set its Data Source Binding attribute to "variables.Row.CoNum". At runtime, the component will be automatically displayed, enabled, and/or decorated according to that event variable's Variable Access setting (Hidden, Read-Only, Writable, or Mandatory).

To display other information contained in the Prompt message, you can similarly bind components to the following form variables:
- StdFrom
- StdTo
- StdSubject
- StdMessage
- StdSent
- StdCC
- StdQuestion
- StdResponseDate
- StdExpiresAfter
- StdExpired
- StdRead
- StdVote (set to the SelectedChoice property for the current message, or -1 if the message is expired)
You can also use this custom form to collect data values, perform calculations, or do anything else you want it to do. You can perform initialization actions that depend on the above form variables by adding handlers on the StdInboxPayloadInitCompleted event.
Create an event action for a Prompt action type.
Click the Edit Parameters on the Event Actions form to open the Event Action Prompt form.
In the Entry Form field, specify the name of the custom entry form you created.
Set up the rest of the Prompt action as desired.

For a more detailed and working scenario similar to this one, see "Appendix A: Sample Scenarios" in the Guide to the Application Event System.

Note: The Send External Prompts check box might be selected for some users on the Users form. In this case, you must include a note in the body of the prompt email, instructing users to log in to this application to enter the requested data or perform the actions needed on the custom form.