Form flow

Form flow allows users to create a sequence of forms, similar to a flow chart or form wizard. A form flow definition contains the configuration for each step, what the subsequent steps are, and the conditions under which they can be reached. A form flow can be linked to a task, which consequently allows for more forms for the same task. Form flow supports forwards and backwards movement between steps without completing the task, reducing complexity in a BPMN model.

Form flow offers a way to configure a flow between different Form IO forms inside the same user task.

Creating a form flow definition

A form flow definition is a JSON document that defines steps and which steps can be reached under what conditions when the current step is completed. Each step can have zero or more actions (e.g. retrieve external data) that trigger when the task is opened or completed. Depending on the type of step, the step can be handled in a different way. The way a form is handled can differ from a payment, for example.

For information on how to link a form flow definition to a task, see here.

Via UI

To be documented

Via IDE

To create a form flow definition, the following steps are necessary:

• Create a form flow .json file under the following path: */resources/config/form-flow/.

• Add each individual step to the form flow definition, e.g.:

{
    "startStep": "personalDetailsStep",
    "steps": [
        {
            "key": "personalDetailsStep"
        },
        {
            "key": "loanApprovedStep"
        },
        {
            "key": "loanDeniedStep"
        },
        {
            "key": "summaryStep"
        }
    ]
}

• Add the next steps for each of the individual steps. This can be done through the nextStep property, which supports a single step, or nextSteps, which supports multiple next steps. Each step should correspond to the key of another step defined in this form flow.

{
    "startStep": "personalDetailsStep",
    "steps": [
        {
            "key": "personalDetailsStep",
            "nextSteps": [
                {
                    "step": "loanApprovedStep"
                },
                {
                    "step": "loanDeniedStep"
                }
           ]
        },
        {
            "key": "loanApprovedStep",
            "nextStep": "summaryStep"
        },
        {
            "key": "loanDeniedStep",
            "nextStep": "summaryStep"
        },
        {
            "key": "summaryStep"
        }
    ]
}

• The personalDetailsStep is now followed by two other steps. This is only allowed when at least one of the two steps is conditional. The order of next step matters. The first nextStep with condition that is evaluated to true will be the next step. When all the conditions are evaluated to false the next step will be the default step; which is the step without condition. If no next step is found, the form flow will end. The expression inside the condition is further explained here.

{
    "startStep": "personalDetailsStep",
    "steps": [
        {
            "key": "personalDetailsStep",
            "nextSteps": [
                {
                    "step": "loanApprovedStep",
                    "condition": "${step.submissionData.personalDetails.age >= 21}"
                },
                {
                    "step": "loanDeniedStep"
                }
           ]
        },
        {
            "key": "loanApprovedStep",
            "nextStep": "summaryStep"
        },
        {
            "key": "loanDeniedStep",
            "nextStep": "summaryStep"
        },
        {
            "key": "summaryStep"
        }
    ]
}

• Configure the step type. Currently, the only step type supported is form, which requires a definition property to be set. This refers to the key of the form. For more information on step types, see here.

  Which properties are required to be set depends on the step type.

{
    "startStep": "personalDetailsStep",
    "steps": [
        {
            "key": "personalDetailsStep",
            "type": {
                "name": "form",
                "properties": {
                    "definition": "personal-details-form"
                }
            },
            "nextSteps": [
                {
                    "step": "loanApprovedStep",
                    "condition": "${step.submissionData.personalDetails.age >= 21}"
                },
                {
                    "step": "loanDeniedStep"
                }
           ]
        },
        {
            "key": "loanApprovedStep",
            "type": {
                "name": "form",
                "properties":  {
                    "definition": "loan-approved-form"
                }
            },
            "nextStep": "summaryStep"
        },
        {
            "key": "loanDeniedStep",
            "type": {
                "name": "form",
                "properties":  {
                    "definition": "loan-denied-form"
                }
            },
            "nextStep": "summaryStep"
        },
        {
            "key": "summaryStep",
            "type": {
                "name": "form",
                "properties":  {
                    "definition": "summary-form"
                }
            }
        }
    ]
}

• Add triggers to steps where necessary (e.g. to store data externally). See below for more information.

Creating a Form.io form

Via UI

Completing a step

To complete a step in the form flow, the button should be configured with:

• Action: Submit

For example:

Going back to the previous form

A button can be configured to go back to the previous form of the form flow. This 'Back' button should be configured with:

• Action: Event

• Button event: back

For example:

Step types

The following step types are supported by form flow:

Form

The form step type is used to associate a step with a specific form. The following properties are supported:

    ...
      "type": {
        "name": "form",
        "properties": {
          "definition": "String" //The ID of the form
        }
      }
    ...

Custom component

The custom-component step type is used to associate a step with a custom-made front-end component. The following properties are supported:

    ...
      "type": {
        "name": "custom-component",
        "properties": {
          "componentId": "String" //The key of the component in the front-end
        }
      }
    ...

More information on custom form flow components can be found here.

Expressions

Form flow supports Spring Expression Language (SpEL) expressions to allow for more complex actions when a step is opened or completed. Expressions can be recognized by the surrounding ${ } characters. The following additional properties are supported for steps:

• onBack. Triggers the expressions when navigating to the previous step, e.g. to remove data from a document.

• onOpen. Triggers the expressions when the step is opened, e.g. to retrieve external data.

• onComplete. Triggers the expressions when the step is complete, e.g. to store the results in a document.

Each of these properties supports more than one expression, e.g. when a step is opened, external data from more than one source is retrieved. These expressions are evaluated in order.

Valtimo provides access to certain variables in the SpEL context, e.g. what the current step is. Which properties are available can be found here.

Examples

The step condition below will only go to the step loanApprovedStep when a user has entered an age that is above 21:

{
    "step": "loanApprovedStep",
    "condition": "${step.submissionData.personalDetails.age >= 21}"
}

The onOpen expression below will call an external @FormFlowBean called someService to retrieve some data. The additionalProperties is a form flow parameter:

{
  "onOpen": [
    "${someService.retrieveData(additionalProperties)}"
  ]
}

The onComplete expressions below will change the data submitted by the user. It adds a fullName and removes the firstName and lastName:

{
  "onComplete": [
    "${step.submissionData.person.fullName = step.submissionData.firstName + ' ' + step.submissionData.lastName}",
    "${step.submissionData.firstName = null}",
    "${step.submissionData.lastName = null}"
  ]
}

The onOpen expressions delete any existing submission data of the step, before opening the form flow:

{
  "onOpen": [
    "${step.submissionData = null}"
  ]
}

An example of a complete form flow:

{
    "startStep": "personalDetailsStep",
    "steps": [
        {
            "key": "personalDetailsStep",
            "type": {
                "name": "form",
                "properties": {
                    "definition": "personal-details-form"
                }
            },
            "onOpen": ["${someService.retrieveData(additionalProperties)}"],
            "nextSteps": [
                {
                    "step": "loanApprovedStep",
                    "condition": "${step.submissionData.personalDetails.age >= 21}"
                },
                {
                    "step": "loanDeniedStep"
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "key": "loanApprovedStep",
            "type": {
                "name": "form",
                "properties": {
                    "definition": "loan-approved-form"
                }
            },
            "onBack": ["${someService.removeData(additionalProperties)}"],
            "nextStep": "summaryStep"
        },
        {
            "key": "loanDeniedStep",
            "type": {
                "name": "form",
                "properties": {
                    "definition": "loan-denied-form"
                }
            },
            "nextStep": "summaryStep"
        },
        {
            "key": "summaryStep",
            "onComplete": ["${valtimoFormFlow.completeTask(additionalProperties, step.submissionData)}"],
            "type": {
                "name": "form",
                "properties": {
                    "definition": "summary-form"
                }
            }
        }
    ]
}

By default, SpEL allows access to every Spring bean from inside expressions. For security reasons, this has been changed to a whitelist instead. More information on how to whitelist Spring beans is available here and more information on SpEL can be found here.

Bread crumbs

If the feature toggle enableFormFlowBreadCrumbs is enabled, users will see a new breadcrumb trail on top of every form flow. This allows a user to quickly navigate between the different steps of the form flow.

Every form flow step has an optional field called title which is shown in the example below. This field is used to display the title of the step inside the breadcrumb trail. If the title field is left empty, the breadcrumb trail will try to fill the title field by looking for existing translations inside the en.json or the nl.json files, that can be found in the frontend code.

The breadcrumb trail uses a simple way to predict which breadcrumbs to display in all future steps. The breadcrumb trail takes the first step inside the nextSteps field to determine all future steps. In the example below, the breadcrumb trail would be: 1. Personal details -> 2. Loan approved because the loanApprovedStep is the first step in the nextSteps field.

{
  "startStep": "personalDetailsStep",
  "steps": [
    {
      "key": "personalDetailsStep",
      "title": "1. Personal details",
      "type": {
        "name": "form",
        "properties": {
          "definition": "personal-details-form"
        }
      },
      "nextSteps": [
        {
          "step": "loanApprovedStep",
          "condition": "${step.submissionData.personalDetails.age >= 21}"
        },
        {
          "step": "loanDeniedStep"
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}