Forms

Each kind of form is a form template (a task template in QBO menus). Besides the settings every template shares (see Templates), a form template has:

Setting	Purpose
Applies To	The kind of record the form attaches to, such as a process or a contact.
Label	The default name for new forms. If it’s empty, the template name is used.
Method	Optional data source for rendering, used in place of the parent record’s summary.
Worklist	A worklist template. Every new form becomes a work item (see Worklists).

From the template’s summary page you can Copy it, Choose Layout, Create a Worklist, Create Schema (an XML schema of its questions, for imports), Clear Cache, and open the GUI Designer. The Workflow Steps panel shows which workflow steps create this form.

Questions

Each question is one field. Answers to questions are stored with the form, so you can add fields without changing the database.

Property	Purpose
Name	The field name. Use letters and numbers only. Use an underscore only to reach a related record: {Parent}_{Field} saves to the record the form is on.
Label, Tooltip	What the user sees.
Form element	The input type (see Field types).
CSS class	Validation: required plus a format such as qbo-date. Separate classes with spaces.
Behaviors	Dropdown sources, dependencies, and date limits (see below). One per line.
Select options	A fixed list of choices, one per line.
Default value, Value XPath	Prefill the field. Value XPath reads from the parent record’s data, for example //OrganizationItem/Address.

Format class	Accepts
qbo-date, qbo-date-nocal	A date (with or without a calendar picker)
qbo-int, qbo-numeric, qbo-money, qbo-percent	Whole numbers, decimals, currency, percentages
qbo-phone, qbo-phoneext, qbo-ssn, qbo-zip	US phone (with or without extension), SSN, ZIP code

Behaviors look like this:

Dropdown|{'type': 'ObjectStatus', 'data': {'Object': 'Process'}}
Depend|{'depends': 'FieldA', 'condition': 'or', 'disabledClass': 'disabled'}
Validator|{'maxDays': '0'}

• Dropdown fills choices from QBO data: statuses, types, people, labels (teams), templates, matrices, schedules, and more.
• Depend enables a field only when another field has a value. A dependent required field is required only when it’s enabled.
• Validator limits a date relative to today using maxDays and minDays. The example rejects dates after today.

Questions can be bulk loaded from a spreadsheet like any other QBO data, using one row per question.

The GUI designer

The designer has four tabs:

• Form: select the form, its action buttons, a row, or a field to edit it. Rows have one or two columns and can be marked Advanced so they stay hidden until the user expands them. Drag rows to reorder them. Click Save on each element before selecting the next one.
• JavaScript: custom script for the form. Field Watch on the form runs one of your functions when chosen fields change.
• XSLT: the generated views (edit, read-only, and others). You rarely need to change them.
• Preview: renders the form against a real parent record by ID.

Field types

Input, Checkbox, Dropdown, Hidden, HTML, Radio Buttons, Read Only, Section Header, Text Area, Upload, and Upload Matrix. Fields can be marked Require, Justify (the user may give a reason instead of meeting the requirement), and Clean (strip invalid characters). A field’s Mapped Value can prefill it with an XPath expression over the record’s data.

Button layouts

Layout	Buttons
Default	Save and Cancel. Save is enabled once validation passes.
Full Page	Like Default, but Save returns to the parent record’s page.
Pause / Submit	Adds Pause, which saves without completing.
Status	One button per allowed status move, plus Pause. Only moves to a final status enforce validation.
Status Validate	Like Status, but every move enforces validation.
Task	Like Default, with the standard task save script.

State diagram

The State Diagram panel lists the moves a form may make: from status, to status, whether it’s an initial or final state, the role or permission required, and an optional worklist template. When a template has a diagram, QBO enforces it on every save, including imports and the API. Each move completes the old work item and queues the form on the move’s worklist. See Worklists.

Validation beyond the screen

Screen validation only helps people using the screen. For forms created by imports or the API:

• Validate checks saved forms against their questions (required fields with dependencies, dropdown and list values, and date limits) and records a message on each form that fails.
• Validation rules enforce conditions on every save, and the Rules matrix can make fields required or hidden without editing the form.

Start from a spreadsheet

Drag a spreadsheet onto the Worklists dashboard to create a form template with one question per column. Columns with a few repeating values become dropdowns, and data types are inferred. QBO also creates a form for each row and a worklist to work them.