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Public Forms

Owned by Rob Cruse
Last updated: Jul 30, 2024 by Richie Rowe
5 min read

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PUBLIC FORMS

Within InForm administrators can designate any form template as being public, allowing people who are not logged in to complete the form via a provided link. This is useful for surveys and site entry / visitor registration forms, plant inductions and employment or supplier enquiries. The person completing the form does need a user account.

Video: Introduction to Public Forms
Scroll down for additional videos and webinars.

Introduction

Any Form template within InForm can be marked as available for completion by people who are not logged in. These are referred to as public forms. By setting a form as a public form, it does not prevent users who are logged in from completing the form as normal.

To allow people to complete the form as a public person (not logged in), they need to be provided with a link or QR code for the form. This is the only way for them to find the form. The steps below detail how to obtain the link so that it can be shared.

The same form can be both a normal form and a public form. Normal users (logged in) will still have the form available on the Lucidity App and in the browser, while at the same time public people can be completing the form using the public link or QR code.

All of the records are stored in Lucidity InForm as normal. There are a few important differences when completing a form record as a public person, which are covered in the FAQ at the bottom of this page.

When enabling forms to be viewable by members of the public, it is important to consider the use of data sources and company security. If a data source list is used in the form which displays all employee names for example, this is now accessible by any member of the public provided with the form link.

Enabling a Form to be Public

To set a form as public, from the Form Admin page:

  1. Create a new form or click ‘Actions' on an existing form to be set to public

  2. Open the ‘Admin’ screen

     

  3. Tick the ‘Public Enabled’ checkbox

     

  4. Tick the ‘Public attachment enabled’ checkbox if attachments are required to be uploaded

     

  5. Click save to allow Lucidity to create the QR code and the public link

  6. Re-open the Form to the Admin page, and the QR code and link will be available

     

  7. This link can be shared in 2 ways:

    1. Copy the URL by right clicking the link and selecting Save Link As. The link is useful to share via emails or other documentation.

    2. Copy the QR code by right clicking and selecting Save Image As. This image can be printed and displayed as required.

Cancelling the Public Link

Once a form has been set to public, it can be set back to being for logged in users only if required.

To cancel a public link, from the Form Admin page:

  1. Open the Admin page of the form to be set back to private

  2. Uncheck the ‘Public enabled’ checkbox

     

  3. Save the form

The public link is no longer active. The link can be enabled again if required by reversing these steps.

Specifying a Project in the Form Link

By adding the following to the link that is generated for the public form, it is possible to automatically set the project for the saved record. The user completing the form does not see the project selection however each time a record is saved, the project will be set as part of the Admin section for the record. This will allow reporting based on the Project once the record is saved.

To create a URL for a form which specifies the project, follow these steps:

  1. Obtain the Public form URL from the form admin page as per the directions above. It will have a format similar to:

    https://demo.luciditysoftware.com.au/inform/public/fill/_/a054f5401f8b419a98bc7bf3ecc05031

  2. From the Access module, obtain the ID of the desired project.

     

  3. Add ?project_id=ID to the end of the Public form URL. The Project ID in the example example is 5:

    https://demo.luciditysoftware.com.au/inform/public/fill/_/a054f5401f8b419a98bc7bf3ecc05031 ?project_id=5

  4. Share this link or convert to a QR code for printing. All public forms created using this link will be saved with the specified project.

FAQs

Does the public version of the form have ‘Organisation Structure’ at the top of the form?
No the Organisation Structure is not displayed and is saved blank, but it can be edited after saving.

Can people save the form without completing all the fields?
All fields marked as ‘required’ must be completed in order to save the form.

Can the public form be re-opened by the person who completed it?
No the person entering the form cannot re-open it as they don’t have system access. However normal users with the correct permissions can via InForm.

Does the person completing the public form get a receipt?
Yes, a simple on-screen receipt is provided which includes a receipt number.

Do public forms have actions?
Forms do not have actions when completed via the public link.

Do public forms have the ability to upload attachments?
Yes, attachments can be enabled for public forms via the admin page for the form, thereby allowing users to upload images (including taking a photo and uploading) and PDF documents.

Who is the respondent for records saved using a public link?
The respondent is blank for record created using a public link. It is recommended a ‘name’ field is built into the form itself.

If I’m a logged in user and I follow the public link, what happens?
You will fill in the form as a public user and your user details will not be recognised.

Can I have a public link and a normal or ‘user’ link for the same form?
Yes. There is more information on how to generate the user link here.