Forms (known as LDP forms in Omni CMS)
A commonly used asset is the form. The Omni CMS form is not recommended for collecting sensitive information such as credit card numbers or social security numbers. This is a simple form for collecting basic information. Form submissions may be emailed to you or they may be stored in a database accessible through the Omni CMS system.
Building a simple Omni CMS form
Step-by-Step Guide
Creating a form asset
- From the top menu, select Assets from the Content drop-down menu.
- Click on + NEW
- From Create new Asset, click on Form:
- You will be prompted to add an asset name. You may also add a description and tags. Tags make the asset easier to find when you are searching for it. For example – you may wish to tag it by your department / college name.
Configuring your form settings
In the left column, you will see links to:
- Elements – this is the area where form elements may be added to the form.
- Email Messages – this is the email sent to you when a form is submitted. The “To” field should contain where you wish the email to be sent. This could be your email address or your unit/departmental address. The “From” field may contain noreply@MissouriState.edu. It may also contain the variable {{email}} which will pull the email address of the submitter into that field. The "To" and “From” fields must both be properly formatted email addresses, or the form won't send emails.
You may configure one or more optional email messages to be sent to one or more people when a form is submitted. More than one addressee can be added to an email by separating each address with a semicolon.
At this time, WSD is discouraging the practice of sending a confirmation email back to the email address provided by the submitter of the form.
- Form Settings – this is what the submitter will see once their form is submitted. You will need to provide a success and a failure message.
Specifying your form type: Email or database
There are two options for collecting form submissions: email or database.
Collecting form submissions and viewing through email
- When a form is submitted, you receive an email with the form field values provided in the body of the email. Note: This option does not save the submissions in a database and is not available as a downloadable CSV file.
- How to specify an email form:
- Click on Form Settings link in the left column.
- Under Email Messages make sure the checkbox Include All Submitted Values is checked.
- Under Form Settings make sure the checkbox Save Results in Database is not checked.
- Complete your form settings by checking Include CAPTCHA. Change the Submission Button Text if desired.
Collecting form submissions and accessing through a database
- When a form is submitted, you receive an email notification you have a form submission. Your form submissions are stored within a database accessible through the Omni CMS system.
- How to specify a database form:
- Click on Form Settings link in the left column.
- Under Email Messages make sure the checkbox Include All Submitted Values is not checked.
- Under Form Settings make sure the checkbox Save Results in Database is checked.
- Complete your form settings by checking Include CAPTCHA. Change the Submission Button Text if desired.
- How to view and/or download your form submissions:
- Navigate to Content > Assets.
- Find your form asset.
- Click to open the More Actions menu.
- Click Review > Form Submissions.
While viewing a form asset, click Form Submissions in the page actions toolbar.
The form submission list will show:
- Each form with an assigned id number.
- A column for each form element with the submitted answer if provided.
- IP address of the submitter.
- Date submitted.
- Note: Any files uploaded via the form display as a link; click the link to download the file. The file is accessible to anyone who has that download URL. The download link will expire after seven days from CSV export.
To download your form submission list:
- Click "Export CSV" in the top-right corner. This will provide a downloaded CSV file with the form submission data.
- Note: Do not click “DELETE ALL” unless you wish to permanently clear the submissions. This cannot be undone.
Adding form elements
- Build your form by clicking or dragging elements from the Form Elements toolbar (on the left) to Elements:
The form elements include:
- Single-Line Text Field
- Multi-Line Text Field
- Radio Buttons
- Checkboxes
- Drop-Down
- Multi-Select
- Date/Time Picker
- Instructional Text
Using +Single-Line Text Field as an example:
- Each element needs a label (this is the question in which you are seeking). Each element needs a name. This is automatically populated based on the label value.
- No spaces or special characters are allowed.
- Element names can only be edited before you save the form, and are limited to thirty-two characters.
- Elements cannot have identical names.
- All elements can have helper text, which gives users more information about what you are seeking (information/answer to a question).
- All elements can be marked as required. The user will not be able to submit the form until the question/information is provided.
Adding a drop-down menu for states
- Within your form asset, add the +Drop-Down form element to your page.
- Add the State label.
- Within the Advanced field enter: dataset=state;
- Identify where you would like your fieldset to start.
Within the advanced field, type:
fieldset_start=true;
- In addition, you will want to label your fieldset.
Within this same advanced field, type:
fieldset_label=About;
In this example, the fieldset label name would be About. This name can be entered without quotes and may include spaces.
Following these instructions, will display a fieldset around the starting element (as indicated) and the ending element (as indicated) and includes elements in between.
Placing the form asset on your page
- Navigate to the page on which your form will appear.
- Click on Main Region.
- Click on assets
(rotating arrows) to bring up your asset folder.
- Navigate to and click on your named asset and click on Insert.
Your asset will appear on the page like this:
SAVE. Once saved it will appear as a form in preview:
See the example below. This is how it will appear on the published page.
Other form options
If you need a more sophisticated solution, there are more options available to content editors:
Dynamic Forms by NextGen Web Solutions
- MSU has an institutional license to use.
- An end user may save their form and go back to complete it at a later time.
- Uploads are permitted.
- May route the form to numerous approvers.
- Can digitally sign.
- These forms are intelligent.
MachForms (Dosaforms)
- Requires an initial set-up fee of $150 and a server. Must submit a Sensitive University Data Export Request System (SUDERS) request through Information Services for server set-up.
- Provides a downloadable spreadsheet of form submissions.
- These forms are intelligent.
- An end user may save their form and go back to complete at a later time.
- Can digitally sign.