Submissions & Attachments

   Composer This topic is related to Transact Composer.  |   Form Builder |  v4.3 & Higher   This feature is related to v4.3 and higher.

So far, we have discussed how to use the Form Designer, Navigation, and Layout, all of which are meant to lead to submission. When users fail to complete submission of the form, the form is said to be abandoned. This is a most unwanted result and a waste of time for everyone.
Users are often asked to upload files, called attachments, as supporting documentation. Most attachments are generated outside of the form, and can be scans, Word documents, PDFs, JPEGs, PNGs and so forth.
However, there are form elements capable of generating attachments from within the form, for example: scribble pads for users to make their signature
camera widgets for uses to take pictures with a mobile device's in-built camera barcode-reading widgets for use with a device's camera.
Defining attachments (i.e. files uploaded with the form) used to done exclusively in Transaction Manager. Now these can also be defined in Composer.
The Preview function of Composer does not include user interactions when they upload attachments; for that, you will have to publishtoTransactionManager.

File Uploading

Defining Attachments in Composer

There are two attachment widget types. You add all of these to the one section on the form, here called "Attachments". It makes sense to have these in the last section of the form which usually contains the "Submit" button.

TM Attachment Table

Add one only of these, and its rows will automatically be populated with the details of the attachments.

TM Attachment Rule

Add one of these per attachment at the same structural level as the TM Attachment Table. Use the "Create a New Field" wizard, which pops up on adding the rule to the form, to give it an "Internal Name". You can also further specify each attachment's properties in the rule's "Edit Properties" dialog.

TM Submission Block

You also need submit buttons, so we have added a TM Submssion Block (as "MySubmitBlock") to the section. This block adds several submission buttons to the form, which give users the options to "Submit Now", "Save Online" or "Save to My Computer:"
Here is the resulting structure of adding a "TM Attachment Table" and two "TM Attachment Rule" widgets to a section containing a "TM Submission Block".


You can then preview the rendition of the form, where the Attachment Table gets populated according the the Attachment Rules:

How this structure renders in preview.

The table informs users that they will be requested to supply these attachment after clicking on the "Submit" button. This behaviour cannot be previewed in Composer: to see this, the form must be published to Transaction Manager. In our example, the form was published without further modification in Composer; all that was done in TM was to assign the form to a portal and to turn off its "Test" mode. The resulting screen after the "Submit" is:

Resuling "Submission Attachments" page.

Delivery of Attachments

The "I will deliver this document manually" buttons appear on the "Submission Attachments" by default for each attachment. To remove them, set in Composer the "Edit Properties -> Data -> Submit Method" for each rule to "Electronic".

Email Acknowledgements

If you require an email to be sent to the user as an acknowledgment, receipt or any other business reason, this must be set-up in Transaction Manager.
There is currently no way to specify emails through Composer. Transaction Manager, though, has a great deal of functionality and control of email messages, Please refer to the Transaction Manager Administration Guide.

Signatures

There is a range of signature widgets:
Signature [Wet] and TM Signature [Wet]
Dropping these on to the form has the same effect. Pre-submission, the form presents the user the message, contained in "Edit Properties -> General -> Instruction Set". The default is:

"Signatures are not required at this time. After you have submitted this form, print the receipt, sign it and send it in."

After users have clicked "Submit" they are presented with:

Wet signature form after submission.

DocuSign Signature
Creates a block to handle the DocuSign eSignature process. The users fill in their names and email addresses and DocuSign verifies the users via a two-step process. Note: use of the service incurs a service charge.

Signature Pad Widget [HTML]

The widget's "Edit Properties -> Properties -> General -> General -> Signature Type" can be set to "Draw It", "Type It", and "Choose at Runtime". "Draw It" gives users a signature canvas to sign with their finger or mouse (see below). "Type It" presents users with a text field.

The signature canvas.

Signature Pad Popup [HTML]
Similar to the signature pad above, except that the pad appears in a separate lightbox superimposed over the form. On "Save", the lightbox vanishes and the signature shows as a thumbnail.

Notes

Use a true Digital Signature if users have a certificate or smartcard available.
Allow the end-user to click a "Sign" button, and specify their username (and the date) if they don't have a digital signature.
In HTML, just use their username and the date.
If in Adobe Reader, and the form is not "reader extended", just use their username and date.
The name and date from a true digital signature will also populate the form's username and date, so in HTML even if users re-use the form, we still have a record of the signer.
When either the true Digital Signature or the Signature field is signed, an invisible checkbox is checked. This will allow standard editability rules to be defined so that the form can be locked down after signing.