Creating a Custom Application Page Using Form Widgets

📚 Part of the series Application Building Phase II: The Slate-hosted Application

What is a form widget in the Slate-hosted Application?

In the Slate-hosted Application, form widgets collect information about schools, jobs, activities, interests, and other repeatable items. A form widget is a form created in the Forms tool with a widget scope and embedded in an application page.

How form widgets work

When an applicant selects the form widget’s Add link, a pop-up opens for them to enter information about the item. Each time the applicant completes and saves the pop-up, Slate creates a new entry, displays it in the form widget on the application page, and saves it to the individual’s record.

School Widget example

The School History page of the application provides a common example:

• The applicant selects Add Institution.

• A pop-up prompts the applicant for details such as school name, CEEB code, address, and level of study.

• The pop-up is a form widget that uses the School Widget scope.

• The Widget Table option in the form palette embeds the widget on the School History page.

Slate stores each institution that the applicant adds as a separate record in the school table associated with the application.

Application pages that use form widgets

A database provisioned from an admissions model can include a Slate-Hosted Application Pages folder in the Forms tool.

The folder can contain forms for entire application pages and widgets embedded in those pages, including:

• Activities/Interests

• Courses

• Employment History

• Recommendations

• Relationships

• School Reports

• School History

• Sports

If these forms aren’t available, import them by using the Suitcase IDs in the application-page articles in this section.

When to use application form widgets

Consider the following when you create or modify form widgets for an application:

• Supported forms: Except for the Entity Widget, form widget scopes are designed for use only on Slate-Hosted Application-scoped forms, such as Application Page or Slate-Hosted Application forms. These widgets aren’t designed for use on forms outside the Slate-hosted Application, including Application Creation forms.

• Field presentation: Label, order, and conditionally display standard and custom fields as needed.

• Response limit: An applicant can add up to 99 responses in an application form widget. Use a form widget when you expect multiple submissions.

• One widget per type: Use only one application form widget of each type per application. A widget displays all records saved in the corresponding data table on the person record. For example, school information entered in a widget for high schools also appears in a separate widget for colleges and universities. Use one widget to collect all school data in the application.

• Required fields: Unlike application-page-scoped forms, fields in a custom widget on a custom application page can be configured as Required, and Slate enforces those requirements in the application.

Create the widget-scoped form

When you create a form, select a scope for the data that the form collects.

The list of scopes includes a Page Construction Widgets group. Each scope in the group corresponds to a type of form widget.

For example, select School Widget to map data that applicants enter to system school fields.

Create one widget-scoped form for each type of widget that the application page needs.

Embed the widgets in an application-page form

Create a Slate-Hosted Application Page-scoped form to embed the widgets. In this example, the form is named Education History.

Add a Widget Table from the form palette. In the Widget Form list, select the widget-scoped form that you created.

Repeat this process for each widget-scoped form from the previous section. Use only one form widget of each type per application.

Collect widget data

Map the fields in each application form widget to the appropriate table on the person record’s Profile tab. In this example, map the fields to Schools.

Display widget data in the application

To display data entered on an application page, configure Custom List Fields. These fields control the data points that applicants see after they save a form widget entry. Add exports and filters as needed. To configure these fields, open the form widget, select Edit Properties, and then select the General tab.

Display form widget data in the Reader

Form widgets do not create form responses. Slate saves the data to system fields, where the data remains available to queries. Auto PDFs, including those in the Reader, do not render this data. Use a Data Container, Custom PDF, or Reader portal to display a form widget’s custom fields in the Reader.