Submission Form Builder V2

The Submission Form Builder lets administrators control the questions submitters answer when posting an idea. Each Initiative has its own form, and the builder shows the form as a single list of questions that you edit in place. This article covers building and managing that form.

Getting Started

Each Initiative has its own Submission Form Builder, located within Site Setup > Ideas > Submission Form. Select Launch Form Builder to open it. The builder lists every question on the form in the order submitters will see it. Select a question to edit it in place, and use Add Field to add new questions.

To move between the builder and the live form, use the navigation buttons (visible to administrators only). While in the builder, select Go to Submission Form to view the live form as submitters see it. While on the submission form, select Edit This Form to jump back into the builder.

Default Fields

Administrators can edit and rearrange (but not delete) the default fields. Depending on your Initiative's configuration, the default fields can include:

• Title (required)
• Image
• Submitter (with team or anonymous options, where enabled)
• Description (required)
• Attachments
• Tags
• Category
• Expertise (where enabled)

Some default fields link out to their own configuration screens from the builder, such as Configure Submission Image, Configure Attachments, Configure Tags, and Configure Categories.

Adding Questions

Administrators can create as many custom questions as needed. Select Add Field, then choose a type from the Field Type dropdown. 

The available field types are:

• Short Answer and Long Answer: free text. You can set a word limit, which prevents submitting or saving edits when the answer exceeds the limit.
• Multiple Choice (single-select) and Checkbox (multi-select).
• Dropdown: a single-select list.
• Number: numeric input only, with an optional Decimal Places setting.
• Date: a calendar date selector.
• Slider: a range selector.
• Linked Submissions: lets admins and submitters link related submissions to the idea. The links can be edited later from the Linked Submissions widget on the idea's page.
• Instruction Text Block: displays instructions or links to outside resources (it is not an answerable question).
• Message Field: displays a message or instructions to submitters within the form (it is not an answerable question). (Must be enabled first. See "Fields and options that must be enabled first" below.)

For each question you can configure a Title, a Tooltip (shown as an information icon next to the question), instruction or help text, and whether the question is required. For Multiple Choice, Checkbox, and Dropdown fields, you also manage the list of answers and their order.

Fields and options that must be enabled first

A few fields and options do not appear in the builder until they are turned on. Some you (or your site administrator) can enable in Setup, and some are enabled for your site by your Brightidea team. If you do not see one of these, this is usually the reason.

Editing Questions

Select a question in the builder to edit it in place, then save your changes. Questions with no associated submissions can be edited freely. If a submission has already been created using the form, editing or removing a field can cause data to be lost from existing submissions, so the builder shows a confirmation message describing the impact before you continue.

Setting the Question Order

Questions appear to submitters in the order shown in the builder. To reorder a question, grab its drag handle (the grip icon on the left of the question) and drag it up or down to the position you want. For a quick jump, you can also open the question's actions menu and choose Move to Top or Move to Bottom. The order you set is reflected on the Post Idea and View Idea pages.

For Multiple Choice, Checkbox, and Dropdown fields, you can reorder the answer options the same way, by dragging each option into the position you want while editing the question.

Duplicating a Question

To reuse a question's setup, open its actions menu and choose Duplicate. This creates a copy of the question that you can then edit, which is useful for building several similar questions without configuring each one from scratch.

Hiding Questions

Administrators can hide questions that are no longer relevant instead of deleting them. Open the question's actions menu and choose Hide (choose Show to bring it back). Hidden questions follow this logic:

• Post Idea page: hidden questions do not appear when posting a new submission.
• View Idea page: hidden questions do not appear when viewing any submission in the Initiative.
• Dependent questions: if a question that others depend on is hidden, the questions that depended on it are no longer dependent and will appear.

Removing Questions

A question can be deleted only when no existing submissions have answers to it. Open its actions menu and choose Delete, then confirm in the prompt. If a field already has answer data, the Delete option is disabled; hide the field instead, or delete or move the associated submissions first. Default fields cannot be deleted.

Development Fields

Questions can be marked as Development Fields for use with the Development tool. When you mark a question as a development field, you set the viewing permissions that control who can see it:

• Administrators only
• Administrators, evaluators
• Administrators, evaluators, submitters
• Administrators, evaluators, all other users

Development fields can also grant view and edit permissions, so evaluators can complete them on development action items.

Administrator Only Fields

When the Administrator Permission option is enabled for your site (see "Fields and options that must be enabled first" above), each question shows an Administrator only checkbox in its settings. Marking a question Administrator only restricts it to Administrators and Pipeline Moderators, and removes it from the submission form for everyone else. Administrators complete these questions later using the inline (pencil) edit on the idea's page.

Additional Submission Options

• Under Site Setup > Ideas > Ideas, you can choose whether to redirect users to the Browse Board, the Initiative Landing Page, or a custom URL after they submit an idea.