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Form Builder – Overview

Overview

In very general terms, Form Builder allows you to acquire data from your audience. The relationship between Form Builder and your existing Omeda database goes both ways: new data is passed directly back to your database while your current data can be used to authenticate users and gate content. The content used to build your sites is the content used across your database so there is no need for complicated mappings. You drag content onto your forms and it maps directly to that element. Though the one to one relationship between our forms and your database helps alleviate unnecessary complications, Form Builder does have a great amount of flexibility so you are able to achieve anything you deem necessary with your forms. This guide will help to provide a reference for any aspect of our forms that you may choose to use.

Navigating within Form Builder

After you have been given access by your Customer Success Manager, you will find Form Builder in the Menu under Acquire, in the far-left column.

After selecting Form Builder, you will be taken to the Form Dashboard. You will see 4 tabs in the upper right hand corner which will allow you to navigate to the different areas of Form Builder.

Forms

Forms will take you to your Form Dashboard. This includes a list of all your forms where you can edit, clone, or archive. You can also create new forms here as well as download the entire list of forms into a spreadsheet for sharing.

Content

This is our Content Management System. Here you can edit existing content and create new content that will be available across your sites.

Expressions

This is our expression builder where you can create conditions that can be used to trigger different actions like requiring fields, displaying content, or directing subscribers to different pages.

Error Log

Error Log is where you can view the raw API errors that were triggered from your forms. This is great for troubleshooting issues that need a bit more investigating.

Content

Content is where all your content is stored. Here, you can create new content or edit existing content that can be used across any of your forms.

  1. Select the Content command then use the left panel to navigate to the type of content you’re looking for.
  2. You can either browse or search using the search bar.
  3. The Create button will allow you to create a new content element from scratch while Edit, found in the action menu, will allow you to edit the existing content and, in saving that content, update across any sites where that content currently exists.

Demographics

This is where all the demographics that exist in your database can be found. We suggest that users consult their Client Success Manager if they believe they need to create a new demographic. This way we can ensure that the field is available for you to access in the database and the responses are mapped correctly. Because of this, you will most often find yourself editing previously existing demographics.

There are seven types of demographics that may exist in your database.

  • Single Response Demographic
  • Multi Response Demographic
  • Text Response Demographic
  • Whole Number Demographic
  • Decimal Demographic
  • Yes/No Demographic
  • Date Demographic

When editing any demographic, there will always be a Question Short Description and a Question Web Label, as well as the Response Web Label and Response Short Description for each available response. The Question Web Label and Response Web Label is how your question and responses will display on the form for your audience. The Question Short Description and Response Short Descriptions will be how your question and responses will be labelled within the Builder.

To edit a Question Web Label, you can click the pencil and paper icon.

To edit a Response Web Label, click the down error next to the response you want to edit and then the pencil and paper icon.

Here you can do any simple text edits, as well as edit the HTML content directly.

If you believe editing a short description or a value is necessary, please reach out to your Customer Success Manager.

In the response section, there are two different options you can choose from to add, response or subheader. A subheader will help you to organize your responses should you need it.

The Other Write in Value response option will display a text box if the Other response is selected by the subscriber. The Max Length will determine the number of characters allowed typed in that text box.  If nothing is specified, this will default to 50 characters. The data from these boxes will be available for you to code in our Open-Ended Coding application.

When editing a Multiple Response, you will be able to edit the web labels and the Other (specify) length, and set your multi-response to ‘Replace existing values’ or ‘Merge with existing values’. If you set this to ‘Replace’, any response we receive for this question will replace all responses existing in the database. Merging will allow new responses to exist with older responses.

When editing a Text Response, you will be able to specify the length of your field.

A Whole Number demographic is like a text response demo, but if but a non-whole number is entered in this field, an error message will display.

Like the Whole Number demographic, Decimal demographics will only allow numeric responses but will allow a decimal.

When editing a Yes/No demographic, you will only be able to edit the question web label or short description. The responses are limited to yes or no.

The Date demographic, will be where you will store any date demographic responses.

Form Elements

The form elements content section will contain the following:

  • Single Response
  • Multiple Response
  • Field
  • Graphics
  • Static
  • Email Confirmation
  • Complex Html

The first three elements will likely look familiar as these are also the first three elements of the Demographics section. You can edit these elements just like Demographic elements, but response received here do not map back to the database.  You would use this type of element for questions that are not necessary on your database but may be necessary within your form. For example, you may create a Single Response Form Element if you wanted to offer your audience a choice between navigating to the new, renew or change of address site.

Another question that is commonly created in the Field Elements section is the Personal Identifier question. If a personal identifier question is required for audit, the question will be created here. Because this question functions differently than a typical demographic question, we create the question here and check the box for ‘Personal Id’. This ensures that the question will be associated with the transaction itself and is more easily accessed when sending to the audit bureau.

Because of the nature of this field type, you can use the same Personal ID across multiple brands.  The response will always be associated with the transaction, and therefore, the subscriber, regardless of which product they are subscribing to.

Graphics are where you will upload any images you’d like to use on your forms. The file type of your graphic must be either .jpg or .png. To upload, give your image a description and then browse for your image file. When your description is created and your file is selected, you will click Save in the upper right-hand corner.

Static elements can be created to store commonly used html pieces like a blank space, <br>, or horizontal row, <hr>. You can also use these to store short amounts of text or as an editable placeholder to use on your forms when unique text must be added. We will often create a static element called ‘Blank Static’ or just ‘Static’, and edit the Web Label in the form builder.

The Email Confirmation section is where you can create various emails that can be automatically sent upon completion of a transaction When creating a new email confirmation, there are several fields you must complete to create your confirmation:

  1. Short Description: This is how your email confirmation will appear within Content and the builder.
  2. Deployment Type: This is where you can select which deployment type you want the email confirmation to be sent from. In order for other Deployment Types to display here other than Web Form Communication (WA), you’ll need to enable the Deployment Type in be used in Form Builder via Settings. Reach out to your Customer Success Manager for more information.
  3. Format: There are three options for your email confirmation: Text, Html, or Html File. For text and html, you will type or copy/paste your email content. For Html File you can browse for your .html file and upload.
  4. From Name: This is the friendly name that will display in your email confirmation.
  5. Sending Mailbox: This is the email address that will send your email confirmation. Depending on what Deployment Type is selected will determine the domain name here.
  6. Recipient: This is the email address that will receive the email confirmation. It is defaulted to the merge variable, %%0.2.13%%, which corresponds with the email address the subscriber used to submit the form. You could also use any other valid email address.
  7. Reply To: This is the email address that will populate should the subscriber attempt to reply to your email confirmation.
  8. Subject: This is the subject line of your email address.
  9. Body: Is where you can add the text or html of the email confirmation or view the HTML file that was uploaded in.

You also have the option to either blind carbon copy or carbon copy email addresses of your choice.  Multiple email addresses should be separated by a comma.

If you’d like to include populated fields specific to the user submitting the transaction, use the merge variable of the field you’d like to populate by searching for it in the Merge Variable section. You can insert it into the email bodies of your Html or Text type email content by selecting your field and clicking insert.

Complex Html elements are a way to upload an existing Html file or type in html.

Page Elements

In the Page Elements section of Content, you will be able to upload various file types that will affect your pages on a broader level.

You can upload .css files to the Style Sheets element to create custom styling for your pages and .js files to add additional JavaScript.

Omeda provides several theme templates which will provide an existing structure and style for you. Below is a link to a suite of sample sites that show how our current themes will look on your forms –

https://acmedemo.dragonforms.com/Odelay_demo

Use the navigation bar at the top of the form to see the different theme templates in effect.

Paid

This section of Content is where you will create and edit the paid fields for your sites. We suggest that users consult their Customer Success Manager if they believe they need to create or edit a paid content piece.

Under Paid, you will be able to create your prices as a single response selection or a field. To create a single response paid element, you’ll fill in the question web label with what you’d like to display on the sites. In the short description fields, you’ll fill in what you’d like to show within content/builder to describe your Paid element.

You will then add the responses a subscriber will be allowed to select, often the different amount of available terms. You are also able to add a subheader here.

Make sure you then select the correct product to map the payment and the payment amount.

Payment amount should be in the format 0.00. In the Term field, select the number of issues the subscriber will be able to receive with their payment.

The next selection will allow you to select the customer type. Your options are ‘Primary Customer’, ‘Recipient Only’, or ‘Both Donor and Recipient’. Unless the purpose of your site is to create gift subscriptions, you should not change default selection of Primary Customer. If you would like to allow the user who is completing the form to purchase a product for someone else or someone else and themselves, you would select ‘Recipient Only’, or ‘Both Donor and Recipient’.

Your final option is to have the subscription auto-renew when the term has expired. By checking this box, the credit card information will be tokenized and stored to be charged again when the term expires.

To create a paid field instead of a paid single response, you would select the ‘Field’ tab and fill in the Max Length, Product and Customer Type fields.

Paid Unit elements are used to provide subscribers with the opportunity to purchase multiples of the same product. If you create a single response paid unit, you can select the maximum amount of your product available or create each response manually by clicking ‘Add Response’.

A field paid unit also will let you specify the maximum amount available.

If you want to use paid unit on your sites, you will need to associate the paid unit with the paid element. After you’ve created your paid unit, select the Unit drop-down on the corresponding paid element.

Now, when quantity is selected in the paid unit element, the price will be adjusted accordingly.

Paid Discount elements allow you to subtract either a specific amount or a percentage from the amount due on your form by dragging this element onto your payment page. You would usually conditionally display this element if a promo code of your choice is used.

Gifts

Gift Recipient Content Groups are used to group together which fields you want displayed on a form when collecting gift subscription information of recipient. This will allow you to drag a set of items onto the page instead of dragging each individual item on multiple times.

Products

The Pass-along Content Group is where you will create the grouping for any passalong content you would like to have on your subscription site. When creating your group, always include the Passalong Record Indicator element. You can then add the content you would like included; this is usually name, job title and the Job Function demographic question.

Additional Form Options

Just like Gift Recipient and Pass-along Content Group, Progressive Profiling allows you to create a ‘content group’. This content group will act a little differently on the form though. After the Progressive Profile content group is created and dragged onto the form, based on what is filled in the Limit Results field, that will be the amount of fields randomly displayed on the form at one time. If a visitor has already answered one of the fields from an earlier visit, that field will not display to that know visitor.

Integrations

Integrations allows you to post data to a third party. There are several options to choose from:

  • Http Post: This function will post information from your form to another url. You can enter the http post URL in the ‘Url’ box and add any parameters necessary you would like to pass. To add parameters, you will need to type in the parameters required by the destination site and the corresponding tags found in the content box.

A ‘?’ is used to start the list of parameters after the URL. ‘&’ is used for every parameter following as you can see in the example above.
Posts are usually placed on the confirmation page so all the info collected on previous pages can be passed.

  • Redirect: You can enter any link and redirect the subscriber there using this function. If this is on the page, the subscriber will be immediately redirected. You can also add parameters with merge variables to pass form data onto the redirect destination.
  • Http Post Redirect: This is a combination of the two functions above. The subscriber will be redirected to the url while the information is posted to the same place.
  • HTTP Post with Form Data: Here you can add the URL you want to post to along with Form Data formatted in the way your third party application accepts the data (JSON for example).
  • Backend Posts/UrlEncoded: This option will work very similarly to the above option but posts the data on the backend instead of the front end.
  • Webhooks: This allows you to insert a webhook url and all form data will automatically be sent to that url. If you want to determine exactly what is sent instead of sending everything, you can enter the fields in the Form Data box and only those fields will send.
  • Custom Requests: This option is a bit more flexible on how you want to send data to the third party.

Create a site

As mentioned previously, both the ‘Create a site’ and ‘Manage a site’ commands will direct you to the form builder. To navigate from Dragon Content to these commands, select Home in the top left corner of the screen. 

When you first select the Create a site command, you will be prompted to choose a site category. Each category has its own set of site types that will affect how the transactions from your site are processed back to the database.

Site Categories

Below are all Site Categories and Site Types included within a Site Category. Also included are the most common ways to create these sites. Broadly, the registration category of sites will be used to gate website content while the subscription category will be used to manage magazine subscription sites.

Registration (No Activation) 

This will allow subscribers to register to a website product without having to activate their namespace, or username. By choosing this category, you can select the following Site Types:

  • Registration Login: This site type will typically have two pages. Page 1 will allow the user to enter a combination of lookup keys, which will be used to identify the registrant on the database. There are a variety of lookup keys available but usually these sites will use ‘Email or Namespace AND Password’. Page 2 will usually have an Http Post or redirect link that will pass the now verified registrant, back to your website.
  • Forgot Password: This site type will typically have two pages. Page 1 will allow the user to enter a combination of lookup keys, which will be used to identify the registrant on the database. There are a variety of lookup keys available but usually these sites will use ‘Email or Namespace AND Password’. Page 2 will usually have an Http Post or redirect link that will pass the now verified registrant, back to your website.
  • Change Password: Page 1 of this site will lookup the registrant in our database using the Lookup Keys – Email or Namespace AND Password. The registrant can either enter the temporary password they were given from the forgot password site or their current password. The second page should have the fields ‘New Password’ and ‘New Password (Confirm)’. Page 3 should be a confirmation page.
  • Change Email: Page 1 should include Lookup Keys Email or Namespace AND Password. Page 2 should have the fields ‘Email Address (Confirm) and ‘Email Address (New Confirm). Page 3 should be a confirmation page.
  • Manage Account: This site will allow the registrant to update their information. Page 1 should include Lookup Keys Email or Namespace AND Password. Page 2 should have the fields you would like to allow the registrant to update, i.e. contact information, demographics, etc. Page 3 should be a confirmation page.
  • Registration: This is where a user will create a new registration. Page 1 will include the contact information you would like to store, Email Address, Namespace and Password, and any demographics, etc. Page 2 will have payment or the confirmation page if there is no payment. If there is payment on page 2, then page 3 will be the confirmation page.

Registration (With Activation)

The site types for this category are identical to the above except in order to complete registration, the user must be activated via the Registration Activation site type to login or update their namespace. This is usually done by setting up an email confirmation on the Registration site type with the Activation link included.

  • Registration: The setup for this site is the same as the above but a confirmation email that include a link to the Registration Activation site with the Email/Namespace parameter (www.activationlink.com?em=%%0.2.13%%) should be added to the confirmation page.
  • Registration Activation: This should be one page with the lookup keys Email Address or Namespace. Page 1 will have the Email/Namespace hidden and activation confirmation wording.
  • Registration Login: This site type will have a look up page on page 1 using Lookup Keys (Usually Email or Namespace AND Password). The second page will usually have some sort of Http Post/redirect link (as described above in ‘Dragon Content’ redirecting the subscriber where the registration content lives (website of the product). In most cases, an API will be set up to call the website’s server to check if this registrant exists in the database. If the registrant exists, the API will shoot back and allow the registrant to login to the website.
  • Forgot Password: This should will have Lookup Keys on page 1 with Email or Namespace AND another item if needed. Do not include Password as a lookup. Page 2 should be a confirmation page saying something along the lines of ‘An email with a temporary password will be sent to your email.’ Set up an email confirmation including the tag %%0.2.16%%. This will generate a temporary password for the registrant. You should also include the link to the Change Password site in email confirmation.
  • Change Password: This will have a look up page using the Lookup Keys Email or Namespace AND Password. The subscriber can either enter the temporary password they were given from the forgot password site or if their old password (only if they didn’t go through the forgot password site already). The second page should have the fields ‘New Password’ and ‘New Password (Confirm)’. Page 3 should be a confirmation page.
  • Change Email: Page 1 should include Lookup Keys Email or Namespace AND usually Password. Page 2 should have the fields ‘Email Address (Confirm) and ‘Email Address (New Confirm). Page 3 should be a confirmation page.
  • Manage Account: Page 1 should include Lookup Keys Email or Namespace AND usually Password. Page 2 can have what you want the registrant to manage (address, demos, digital option, etc.). Page 3 should be a confirmation page.

Subscription Site

These site types will allow a subscriber to create, renew and update their magazine subscription.

  • Subscription New: This site will create a new magazine subscription. The layout usually follows as: Page 1 has contact information and demographics, page 2 has payment if applicable, and page 3 is the confirmation page.
  • Subscription Renew: This site will identify current magazine subscribers using Lookup Keys, usually Account Number and Last Name, and renew their subscription. Page 1 should be the lookup page with the Lookup Keys. Page 2 should include contact info and demos. The contact information for the subscription will prepopulate. You are also able to prepopulate the existing demographics if desired. Page 3 should be payment, if applicable, and page 4 should be the confirmation page.
  • Subscription Cancel Thank You: This site will create a cancellation transaction for the subscriber. You will need to include a lookup page with Lookup Keys (usually Account Number and Last Name). This should be on page 1. Page 2 can be a confirmation page.
  • Subscription Change of Address: This site is meant for changing a subscriber’s contact information. You will need a lookup page that include Lookup Keys, usually Account Number and Last Name, on page 1. Page 2 can have the information the subscriber can update. Page 3 should be the confirmation page.

All Others

These site types hold a variety of functions. The most frequently used site type in this category is ‘Preference Page (use Autolookup)’.

  • Preference Page: This site type is used to manage newsletter preferences. The site will need to use a Lookup Key, usually Email Address, and should use the feature ‘Auto Lookup’ which can be found under Tools -> Action. This element should be present on page 1 and will look up the email address of a subscriber and populate their data without leaving the page. Page 1 can also have the newsletters associated with the magazine. The newsletters should prepopulate based on what the subscriber is already subscribed to. If a newsletter is prepopulated and the subscriber unchecks the checkbox, this will unsubscribe the subscriber from that newsletter. Page 2 should be a confirmation page.
  • Change Email: This site type is very infrequently used but it can be used to change the email address for any product.
  • Add Authentication: This site type will allow you to add authentication/activation to an existing user.
  • Existing Subscription Payment: This site type works as an invoice payment page. This works like a renewal site but will not update the subscriber’s verification date.
  • Change Email and Namespace: Like the Change Email site type, this site type is used to update the email address and Namespace concurrently.

After selecting your Site Category, you will need to select what product to create your site over. For subscription sites, most sites will be built over the magazine product. Registration sites are primarily created over the website product but some sites may be over the company level. Preference sites are commonly created over the company level as well.

After you have determined where you’d like to build your site, you will be brought to the Setup Page.

Setup Page

The setup page will be where you determine the basic settings for your site.

After your Category, Product, and Type of Site are selected, you may need to select the Lookup Keys your site should use if your site is updating or verifying an existing member of your database (see the site type descriptions above).

Some commonly used Lookup Keys for subscription site types are:

  • Account Number AND Last Name
  • Email Address AND Last Name
  • Account AND Last Name OR Email Address and Last Name

When your subscription site with lookup is created over the Magazine product, the account number and email address will need to be associated with the product.  You should also be aware that a populated encrypted ID will also lookup a subscriber if present in the url. The inbound parameter for encrypted ID is ‘r’ and is case-sensitive.

Commonly used Lookup Keys for registration site types are:

  • Email Address and Password
  • Authenticated Namespace OR try Email AND Password
  • Namespace and Password

After you have determined the lookup key you’d like to use, you can create a Title for your site.

The URL of your site allows you some customization options. The first field available to customize is the domain. Typically, this field is your company name. At the end of the URL, you are also able to customize your site’s context. This must be unique across all of your sites so be specific to the brand or product and the site type.

There are eight standard Themes you can choose that will style the form builder of your site as well as the structure and style of your published sites. These links will show you how the themes will affect the builder and the sites:

Builder.

Links.

The Required Field Indicator lets you style how you would like your required fields to display (asterisks before or after label, red bullet, red label).

The Language drop-down will allow you to pick what language you want the error messages and standard fields to display in. There are 3 options; English, French, and Spanish.

By selecting ‘Yes’ from the Block Spam Emails drop-down, any subscriber who enters a spam email where the domain is info.com, will see an error message when they try to complete their transaction.

The Expire field will allow you to select a date that you would like the site to expire on. You can leave this field blank if the site should not expire.

If your site should expire on a specific date, you can enter a URL into the Expire Redirect URL file and after the expiration date, the site will redirect to your URL. If the site has expired and there is no Expire Redirect URL, the site will display a generic error message.

The Comments text box is meant for tracking any changes that have been made. It’s not required to add a comment but it may be helpful if multiple people are working on this site.

Once the Setup page is complete, press ‘Save’ in the upper right-hand corner of the screen. You will then be brought to the Builder which is where you start building your web form.

Builder

The Builder is where you will drag the elements necessary for your site.  Here you can organize the items, edit them, make them required, conditionally display individual elements and much more.

When you have entered the builder of your site, there are several sections and menus that will help you to navigate or edit your page.

On the left-hand side of the screen, you will find the available elements for you to add to your page.

In the center of your screen is the Builder Content. Here is where you will drag the elements you would like included on your page. The structure of your builder content will be dictated by the theme you chose for your site.

At the top left of your screen is where you will navigate, edit, and create new pages within your site. Click the title of your site to open the live version of your site in a new tab. Click the copy icon to copy the live site URL to your clipboard.

In the top right part of your screen is the Menu bar where you can navigate to the setup page, publish your site, create a preview or test version of your site, and Save.

The Builder Content Menu on the far left, contains the same fields listed in in Dragon Content. It also includes fields that are standard across all clients. Within each content category, a search bar will appear so you can easily navigate to the content you are looking for. Listed below are the categories you will have available to you and the content you may find there.

  • Contact Information: This will contain name, address, and contact fields specific to the person completing your form.
  • Standard Fields: This will contain fields that are specific to the type of site you are creating. For example, if you are creating a magazine subscription site, the magazine opt-in and the subscriber’s requested version field will be here. If you creating a registration site, the password fields will be here.
  • Demographics: This is where you can find the demographics listed in Dragon Content.
  • Subscription Elements: If you will be including multiple products on your page, you can find all the products across your brand here. You can also find namespace fields, newsletters, and behaviors.
  • Form Elements: This is where you can find the Graphics, Static, and HTML you created in Dragon Content. Also available here are the Payment fields required for a subscriber to complete a payment i.e. Hosted PCI, Credit Card Expire Date, etc.
  • Page Elements: This is where you will find the Export URL, Content Groups, and the JavaScript, CSS files you have uploaded.
  • Paid: This is where you will find the paid elements you have created.
  • Tools: The conditional response, date calculator, and multiresponse tier content is located here. Also located here is the Action category, where you can add Autosubmit, or Autolookup elements to your page.
  • Miscellaneous Tools: Here you can create AB test content for your site, custom error messages, and schedule exports to an email or FTP site directly from Dragon.
  • Create Content: This will allow you to create new Dragon Content without exiting the form builder.

Builder Content is where you will drag the elements from the content menu to create your site. The structure of your builder will vary dependent on your theme but most builders will have the following content boxes.

  • Page Title: This field is what will be populated on the site visitor’s window or tab.
  • Head: This is where you can place any stylesheets, JavaScript or http posts/redirects.
  • Navigation: This is where you will place any navigation html content. Each theme has a different style set up for the navigation bar (where it’s placed on the page, color, fonts, etc.).
  • Logo or header: These content boxes any images such as a logo, banner, or promotional ad.
  • Content1, Content2, etc: – These boxes are best used for address information, demographics, or any other content you want displayed on the form.
  • Footer: This content box is best used for copyrights, social media links, privacy policies, or JavaScript.
  • Unsorted: If you change the theme of your site, elements that were in a content box that existed in one theme but not the other will be listed here.

To add an element to the form, you will click on a category on the left side of the Builder. Then you will browse and select the field you’re looking for in the search bar:

You will then click and hold the element (in this example, First Name) and drag it into the appropriate content box in the builder. In the example below, we’ll be dragging First Name into content2. When the strip above First Name turns green, you can let go of the mouse:

You can also drag on multiple fields at once by clicking a field, then holding the ctrl button, then selecting the additional fields.

To remove an element, you will click the element in the Builder that you no longer need and drag it over to the ‘TRASH’ on the bottom left hand side of the Builder. Press ‘Save’ in the upper right-hand corner to save your changes.  This will not delete the content, but just remove it from the page.

Content Operators

After you have added elements onto your page and clicked save, you will notice that many elements will have icons to the right of their description. These items are the Content Operators and if selected you will be able to either edit the element, choose an expression to conditionally display or require your element, or select this field to passalong if a passalong group is present on your page.

The most commonly used content operator, is Edit. To edit an element on your page, click the pencil and paper icon on your element.

You will have three tabs that will allow you to edit various items.

  • Display Options: Here you can edit the web label of your question or responses by clicking the pencil and paper like you would in Dragon Content. When you are done editing be sure to click save.
  • This tab is also where you will make an element required, if applicable, by clicking the ‘Req’ checkbox.

The Control Template drop-down will allow you to choose how you would like to display your question. Finally, you will be able to edit the error message that is displayed should a required question not be completed.

  • Form Options: For address fields, you can edit the minimum length of a response required here. You can also select Lookup Demo, which is used on demographic questions on forms with lookup. If the subscriber is found in the database and this field is checked, their demographic will prepopulate*.

*To use the lookup demo when embedding or linking the Dragon Form elsewhere (e.g. in an email), you must add r=Encrypted Customer ID to the form URL in order for this to populate any demographics and/or non-standard fields. For more information on URL Structure in Dragon Forms, see here.

The Exclude Prepopulation checkbox is used on contact information fields. These fields will automatically prepopulate on a lookup form and checking this field will exclude from prepopulation.

The Default Value field will allow you to select a default response for your question.

This can be used on fields, single responses, and multi-responses. If you want a field defaulted, you can type in the response in the text box. For single and multi-responses, you will have to select the response you want defaulted. To undo the default, select the option in the question:

You can add an inbound parameter to your content if you plan on prepopulating your form. This is not necessary for sites with a lookup page. The lookup page will prepopulate the info on its own. If you want to send out a new subscriber email campaign and prepopulate information you do have, you will need to add an inbound parameter to do so. For the First Name field, add the ‘fn’ inbound parameter to the First Name content in the builder and add that parameter to the end of the new subscription link: www.newsubscriptionlink.com?fn=katie. The fields last name (ln), email address (em) and account number (an) and promo key (pk) are defaulted in the builder.

  • Additional Info: The additional info tab will show you the content ID of your element. This might be helpful to you to identify your element in the page source or when adding the element to an email confirmation or export URL element.

You can also select the Builder Color for your element. This will allow you to organize your content within builder by color, if you should find that helpful.

You can also specify which product your element will map to. This is rarely used because if your site is built over the product level all data will map to that product. Sites over the company level will map the data to each product present on the site. You may use this for certain payment elements like SKUs.

The next available content operator is the Conditional Display icon. By clicking this icon, you will be able to display the content you selected if an expression, or condition, you specify is met. A common use case for this is for the Zip Code field. If you’d like to display this field only if the subscriber’s country is the United States or Canada, you would select an expression with those conditions. Another example would be if you would like the state dropdown to reflect the correct state of the subscriber’s country (e.g. United States vs Mexico).

To add an expression your element, click the icon above. You will then be prompted to select a condition or create a new condition by clicking the link for Expression Builder. When your condition has been created or selected, click save in the upper right-hand corner of your screen.

To the right of the conditional display icon, is the Conditional Requirement icon. The function of this operator is to require your element if a condition you specify is met. You may want your Zipcode element to display for all subscribers, but to only be required if the subscriber’s country is United States or Canada. To conditionally require an element you will select the icon, select or create your element, and click save.

The final content operator is the Passalong operator. If a passalong content group is used on your site, by clicking this icon, you will specify which fields from the primary subscriber should pass to the passalong records. For example, if the passalong operator is selected for the Street Address field and the original subscriber inputs ‘123 Normal Ave’, the passalong record will have ‘123 Normal Ave’ as it’s address.

After you have added the desired content and edited your page as you see fit, you can navigate to another page or add a new one by using the Page Navigation Menu at the top center of your screen. You can also rearrange your existing page flow by dragging the pages to the correct order.

When you hover over any page, you will see the below options listed:

  • Go to page: When navigating between pages, hover over the page you want to edit and select this option.
  • Add a page: This will create a new blank page.
  • Delete this page: If you no longer need a page on your site or accidently created a new one, hover over the page you want removed and select this option.
  • Copy this page: This will create a copy of a page as the last page of your site.
  • Edit conditional page: This will allow you to add a condition that redirects a subscriber to a page that is not the next page in the page order. This is typically used if your site requires payment from only some subscribers. If, for example, only domestic subscribers should be able to receive your product without payment, you would click Edit Conditional Page, select or create an expression where Country EQ United States, and set your target page to the final page of your site.

        You can also use this feature to direct subscribers to a site outside of your page flow by entering the Url in the Target Url field.

  • Manage email notification: This option will allow you to add or delete an email confirmation from your site. Typically, email confirmations are sent from the final page of your site. To add an email notification, click ‘Add Email Notification’ and select the desired email confirmation from the drop-down. Email confirmations must be created in Dragon Content first. You can also add a condition so your email notification is only sent to subscribers who meet a condition you choose.

           To delete an email confirmation, click the box under the ‘Delete’ column and press save.

After you are satisfied with your site, you can preview it by clicking ‘Preview’ in the upper right-hand corner next to ‘Save’.

This will create a test version of your site in a new tab or window. At the end of the test url will be the page number of the site you are on. You can navigate to other pages within your site by changing the number in the url.  https://omeda.dragonforms.com/init.do?omedasite=trainingNew&version=1&page=1

You can also test the functionality of your form from this link without creating a live transaction. If you need to test a site that has payment, you can do so using the dummy credit card number below with any expire date.

#4111 1111 1111 1111

If the look and function of your test link is correct, you can publish your link by clicking ‘Publish’ in the upper right-hand corner next to ‘Preview’. This will create the ‘Live’ link that will write transactions to our live database.

Manage a site

After your first site has been created, to make further edits you will need to select the ‘Manage a site’ command from the Home or Menu screen. From the ‘Manage a site’ command, you can then select from the following:

  • Edit a site: Here you will be able to edit an existing site. After you’ve selected this option, all available sites will appear. You can identify the sites you’ve already created by the title or context. The initial creator of the site will be listed as Owner.

Under the Edit or Copy columns, you may see a clickable link labeled ‘Test’ or ‘Live’.  If you have created a site but not yet published, you will only see a test link listed.

If your site has already been published, you may see only a live link or a both a live and test link. By clicking the live link, you will recreate a test version of the current live site to edit. If you click the test link, you will be able to edit the current test version of your link.

By selecting a link, you will be able to edit the Setup and Builder of that existing link. If you do not need to make any changes to the setup, click the Builder icon to navigate directly there.

Make sure to save and preview your site before you publish your changes.

  • Copy an existing site: This command will allow you to copy a live or test version of any site and create a new site. After selecting the site you’d like to copy, you will be directed to the Setup page where you will need to create a new Context and Title for your site as well as edit the URL wildcard boxes. After doing so, you will be able to make any changes to your new site in the builder.
  • Archive an existing site: This will allow you to move your site to the archive. Any visitors to the link will no longer be able to access it and you will no longer see the site available for editing.
  • Restore an archived site: If a site has been previously archived, you will be able to restore the test and live versions of the site. You will now be able to edit and visitors will be able to access it.
  • Move site to production: This will move any test links you select to production. This can also be done in Builder by pressing the ‘Publish’ button in the upper right-hand corner.
  • Restore a backup production site: This will allow you to restore a backup version of a production site.
  • Remove site from production: This will move a site from production so it is no longer available for visitors. You will still be able to make edits to the test version of your site.

Expression Builder

This command will allow you to create expressions. Expressions can be used for conditional displays, conditional requirements, conditional pages, conditional emails and more. For example, if you want the Zip Code field to only be required for subscribers from the United States or Canada, you would create an expression for this. You can create an expression from the Commands menu or you can create them from builder.

Create

Follow the steps listed below to create a new expression. The goal of the expression in the example is to direct domestic subscribers who requested a print version of a magazine or any subscriber who selected digital, past the payment page so these subscribers are not required to pay.

  • Create a title for your expression in the ‘Query Description’ text box.
  • Select the category for your first element. This will correspond with how the content is listed in the form builder.
  • Either search for your element in the Search bar or browse in the content box.
  • If your expression should only be looking at elements of a particular product, select that product from the Product box. For this example, if the requested version on the site is digital the subscriber should be directed past the payment page regardless of what the product is so we will select ‘All Products’.
  • Select the Operator for your expression.
  • Select the value and click save.
  • Your first condition will display to the left in a green box. You can now add an additional group or item by hovering over the green box. For our example, I will click ‘+ Add Group’.

Because our query is looking for subscribers who selected digital OR are domestic and selected print, the Starting Operator should be changed from AND to OR.

This means that all conditions within the parent query will be OR conditions, all conditions at the next level will be AND, and so on.

  • After changing our starting operator, we can now complete the rest of the query. We will select the Content Information category and find Country, set it to Equal United States, and Save Item.

That item should then appear to the left in a blue box. I can add my final item by hovering over the Country Item and selecting +Add Item. I will then select Request Version EQUALS Print and Save Item

  • Review your final expression, and if it looks correct, click Save in the right-hand corner.

Edit

To edit an existing expression, click the ‘Edit’ button on any expression listed in the Active Expression section at the bottom of the screen.

This will open your expression above in the builder. If you need to delete an item, hover over the box and click the ‘Delete’ button:

To add an item or group, hover over the last item and select the ‘+ Add Item’ or ‘+ Add Group’:

Copy

This will copy the expression. You can rename and add or delete any items.

Archive

If you want an expression removed from the Active list, select this option:

Add

If you want to add an existing query to another query, select ‘Edit’ on the query you are working on, then select the ‘Add’ button on the query you want added to the query you are editing:

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