Gather structured information using Proxeus forms

This week we take a closer look at Proxeus forms which collect data from human users or from Blockchain events and make this information available to create any type of document.

What are Proxeus forms?

Proxeus forms enable workflows to collect information from users (humans and machines). Each form allows to structure one segment of the data acquisition. Let’s say for example that you would like to create a company incorporation workflow: the first step will be to ask users for a series of details (domicile, company name, number of shares, members of the board, etc.). This information will then be exported in a machine-readable format and applied to a series of smart templates in order to produce a human-readable output that can eventually be reviewed and signed by the various parties at stake.

How are forms created?

The Forms workspace is accessible via the backend view of the Proxeus platform. There, the form generator offers an interface to create, duplicate and update forms, as well as to manage the access rights for the forms you own. A large set of components is available by default, including items such as text fields, radio buttons, check boxes and drop-downs.

Those standard components can be dragged from right to left and arranged freely on the form. A click on a component opens a section on the right where attributes can be selected. On top of the mandatory specifications, users can add a number of optional elements, such as help texts or conditions for validating the data that is inputted.

Form generator: standard and custom form components available to the user are listed on the right side and can be dragged from the list to the workspace on the left.

Custom components

While the broad range of standard components can be used by anyone without specific programming skills, Creators with knowledge of JavaScript, HTML, and JSON have the flexibility to customize existing components or create new ones from scratch. This feature enables advanced users to create custom fields tailored to their needs, such as adding a special phone number field that validates inputs against the Canadian phone number format, or checking if the input is a valid Ethereum address or an existing Twitter handle.

Example of a custom form component created using the “Builder” functionality.

Once created, forms can be accessed and assembled from the workflow manager. They can be shared with multiple workflows and therefore be used in different contexts. This means that the time you spend setting up advanced data collection tools (for example creating a custom drop-down list to reflect your company inventory) is an investment that you can benefit from in different contexts because the components will be updated across all of your workflows every time they are modified.

Conditional formatting

An important feature allowing you to streamline the data acquisition flow is the possibility to add elements that will be displayed to the user only if certain conditions are met. If you create a collectible car certificate, you will for example want to ask for different information depending on the brand or model selected in the first place. This can be done easily via the “Action” tab, where those dependencies can be programmed visually.

Example of conditional form elements in a medical workflow: the fields linked are shown only if the corresponding radio buttons are selected.

One last check

Select the “Test” tab and you will see the form as it will be presented to the endusers on the platform. This comes quite handy to briefly test your logic without requiring to actually publish and test the workflow.

What interesting application did you implement using Proxeus forms? Share your experience and let us know how we can support you!