MANUAL
Forms Management System: www.formdesk.com
 
 
 

Publish your result entries
 
You can create a report to publish all result entries that are stored in your form’s database. The report will then be available on the web for anyone to view. The URL to the report will be the same as he URL of your form added with ‘?results’, for example https://www.formdesk.com/myfolder/myform?results.
 
This document discusses the following:

Getting started
Header
Body
Footer
Publish a selection
Publish individual completed forms
Notes
 

Getting started
To publish your results, edit your form and go to the Settings tab, section 'Publishing'. Enable the option for 'Publish result entries' as illustrated below.
 

Header
The header appears at the top of (every page of) the report.
You can enter any plain text or html code in the header. If you enter html code in the header select the HTML code check box.
You can include System Codes in the header. The header contains the System Code [_fd_Title] by default which shows your form’s title.

Some interesting System Codes for the header of your report are:
[%%]
System Code Explanation
[_fd_Title]Shows your form’s title.
[_fd_Print]Adds a Print button.
[_fd_Sortbar]Adds a pull-down list box containing the identifiers to sort on an entry that belongs to a certain question in your form
[_fd_ResultsNavigation]Adds a Page Navigation Bar. If this System Code is included the report will be divided into pages!!!
[_fd_Line]Adds a horizontal line.
 

Body
This section contains the body of the report’s data: the result entries. This section is repeated for each submitted form (= record in the database).
You can choose between two different types of layout for the body:
  • Grid

  • Use defined


    • Grid:
    This will display the result entries as a table containing rows and columns. Each row contains the entries of a submitted form. Each column contains the entries of / answers to a certain question in your form.
    Insert Merge Codes using the [abc]-button to define the columns of the grid. Enter each Merge Code on a separate line.
    View simple example of a published report in a grid.

    Custom:
    This will display the result entries in a non-tabulated structure. It enables you to display different entries/answers of a single submitted form in multiple rows.
    Enter any plain text or html code and Merge Codes using the [abc]-button to define the report’s body. If you enter html code in the header select the HTML code check box.

    View advanced example of a published report using a self defined layout.

    Some interesting System Codes for the body are:
    [%%]
    System Code Explanation
    [_fd_Detailbutton]Adds a small button that shows the completed form in a new window.
    Note: Publish single form entry must be enabled.
    [_fd_Add]Date and time the form entries were sent ([_fd_AddDate] shows only the date).
    [_fd_Id]A unique number generated by Formdesk for the form submission.
    [_fd_Line]Adds a horizontal line.
     

    Footer
    The footer appears at the bottom of (each page of) the report.
    You can enter any plain text or html code in the header. If you enter html code in the header select the HTML code check box.
    You can include System Codes in the footer. The footer contains the System Code [_fd_ResultsNavigation] by default which shows a Page Navigation Bar.

    Some interesting System Codes for the footer of your report are:
    [%%]
    System Code Explanation
    [_fd_Print]Adds a Print button.
    [_fd_Sortbar]Adds a list box containing the identifiers to sort on an entry that belongs to a certain questioning your form
    [_fd_ResultsNavigation]Adds a Page Navigation Bar. If this System Code is included the report will be divided into pages!!!
    [_fd_Line]Adds a horizontal line.
     
     

    Publish a selection
    You may want to publish only part of the results. Therefore Formdesk offers several solutions:

    1. By using a filter as parameter
    You can filtered published results by passing the name of the myfilter in the URL. The URL might look like this: www.formdesk.com/myaccount/myform?results&filter=pre-set filter. The disadvantage is that a visitor can remove the filter from the URL and therefore can view the complete results. This method is therefore clearly unfit for omitting sensitive information. Benefit of this method is that you can apply several filters on the same overview.
    An example: you use Formdesk for the registration of an event, in which the user can also indicate to not attend the event (rsvp). You want to give insight who will attend and who won’t. These are 2 separate published result overviews. Therefore you create 2 separate pre-set filters and 2 separate URL’s.

    2. By using a pre-set filter
    You can publish filtered results by setting the pre-set filter at the bottom of the Settings overview of the Publish results option. Benefit of this method is data that is filtered out, can never be viewed by unauthorized persons. Disadvantage of this method is that you can only setup 1 pre-set filter.
    An example: you use Formdesk for gathering comments which you would like to publish. However you would first like the comment to be approved for publication by using the Workflow feature. You setup a filter whereby only approved comments are shown.

    3. By setting up a keyword in the URL
    You can also publish filtered results by using a search string in the URL: www.formdesk.com/myaccount/myform?results&keyword=searchterm

    *) You can create a pre-set filter from within the Results overview. View the manual on filters for more information. The filtered columns will be ignored.
     

    Publish individual completed forms
    Beside the possibility to publish an overview of results you can also publish individual completed forms. If enabled, each submitted form has its own link containing the form id or a secret code to be used within Formdesk messages or in a published results overview.
    An example: https://www.formdesk.nl/demo/features_publishresults1b/?detail=1100575.

    This option is located in the 'Settings' tab, under section 'Publish'.
     

    Notes
  • Each (page) view will be counted as a request for your subscription.

  • Use the Preview button to view your report, if you don’t have any result entries insert some for testing.

  • If you cleanup the result entries these results will not show in the report.

  • The report inherits the layout (colors & fonts) defined for your form.

  • Maximize the report definition window for better overview.

  • Provide a general password to protect your results from strangers.
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