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JavaScript framework basics of public web forms

On this page, you will find information about the form’s global variables, properties, methods, and events.

Globals

These variables are available globally and can be used directly from the JavaScript editor.

fd

fd is a Form Manager that provides access to all events, containers, controls, fields, validators, and data of the form.

Whenever you want to manipulate your form, you must call the manager first.

// the form is ready
fd.rendered(function() {
    // and its fields are available to get/set
    fd.field('Title').value = 'New Title';
});

Note

fd is accessible globally on the Preview page, so you can run tests directly from the browser console (F12).

$

$ allows you to access jQuery library. It can be used to apply direct changes to DOM, hide and show fields, and much more.

// hide fields by CSS class
$('.field-to-hide').hide();

// change input background color
$(fd.field('Field1').$el).find('input').css('background-color', 'red');

Vue

Vue is a global Vue object. Allows you to register global components or wait for the next DOM update cycle with Vue.nextTick.

Properties

fd has the following properties:

formId

Gets the ID of the form.

fd.formId; // 'b5257750-2483-4bea-ac1a-79ad7c670756'

submissionId

Gets the ID of the submission.

fd.submissionId; // '2021-12-30T13:40:22-4dcdad7b-6fdc-44ab-9789-cfd9118b6780'

name

Gets the name of the form.

fd.name; // 'My Form'

culture

Gets the current culture name. Can be used outside of all events to set the culture.

fd.culture; // returns 'en-US'

//run outside of all events
fd.culture = 'de-DE';

language

Gets the current language of the form. Can be used outside of all events to set the language.

fd.language; // returns 'en-US'

//run outside of all events
fd.language = 'de-DE';

isValid

Checks if the form is valid or not.

Each time the property is called, it runs validators on all form elements recursively.

Returns true on success. Otherwise, returns false and error messages get displayed.

fd.isValid;

validators

Gets an array of form validators. Can be used to add new ones. These are more complex validators than Field validators and are used to check that multiple fields have appropriate values. If the fields do not match these criteria, the form will not submit.

// return form validators
fd.validators;

// add new form Validator
fd.validators.push({
    name: 'MyCustomValidator',
    error: 'Age must be 18 or over in order to subscribe',
    validate: function(value) {
        if (fd.field('Age').value < 18
            && fd.field('PaymentModel').value === 'Subscription')
            return false;

        return true;
    }
});

account

Gets the logged-in user (for forms that require authenitcation).

fd.account.username; // '[email protected]'

messages

Gets language constants as an object. Can be used to set text for localization.

To change language constant, call the property inside fd.created event:

//how to change a message
fd.created(function() {
    fd.messages.PlumsailForm_Submission_Success = 'Thank you!';
});

//all available messages:
fd.created(function() {
    fd.messages.Captcha_Error = "Captcha is invalid."
    fd.messages.DataTable_ColumnRequired = "This column is required"
    fd.messages.DataTable_Filter_MultipleItemsSelected = "items selected"
    fd.messages.DataTable_Filter_OneItemSelected = "item selected"
    fd.messages.DataTable_Filter_SelectAll = "Select all"
    fd.messages.Failure_AccessDenied = "You do not have permissions to perform this action."
    fd.messages.Failure_General = "An error has occured. Please check the browser console (F12)."
    fd.messages.Failure_ItemNotFound = "An item was not found. It may have been deleted or renamed by another user."
    fd.messages.FileOrFolderNameForbiddenSymbols = "Please enter a name that doesn't start or end with a dot and doesn't include any of these characters: \" * : < > ? / \\ |."
    fd.messages.MaxLengthUrlValidator_Error = "The value of this field may not contain more than {0} characters."
    fd.messages.MultiChoice_SpecifyOwnValue = "Specify your own value:"
    fd.messages.PlumsailForm_Auth_SignIn = "Sign in"
    fd.messages.PlumsailForm_Auth_SignOut = "Sign out"
    fd.messages.PlumsailForm_Auth_SingIn_Message = "Sign in to your Microsoft account to start working with this form"
    fd.messages.PlumsailForm_Authentication_Error = "Authentication error"
    fd.messages.PlumsailForm_CorrectErrors = "Oops! There seem to be some errors below:"
    fd.messages.PlumsailForm_Error_AccessDenied = "You do not have permissions to this form"
    fd.messages.PlumsailForm_Error_AuthenticationLoop = "Error occured when trying to authenticate. Please refresh page or contact with form developer"
    fd.messages.PlumsailForm_Error_FormAlreadySubmitted = "You've already submitted this form."
    fd.messages.PlumsailForm_Error_NotFound = "The form was not found."
    fd.messages.PlumsailForm_Error_Unhandled = "Something went wrong. Try again later..."
    fd.messages.PlumsailForm_Note = "Note"
    fd.messages.PlumsailForm_Submission_Btn = "Return to the form"
    fd.messages.PlumsailForm_Submission_Error = "An error has occured while saving the form. Please check the console (F12)."
    fd.messages.PlumsailForm_Submission_Success = "Thanks for submitting the form!"
    fd.messages.PlumsailForm_Warning_NotiftySubscribersDisabled = "submissions are disabled for this form. Your data has not been saved."
    fd.messages.RequiredValidator_Error = "This field is required."
    fd.messages.Uploading_Error = "An error has occurred while uploading the file."
});

theme

Holds the name or ID of the current form theme. Can be used to set theme dynamically.

//switch to a predefined theme by name
fd.theme = 'Plumsail'

//switching to a custom theme by ID
fd.theme = 'dfd4cfc38dc1735745ef623de3b56441'

_vue

Get VueJS component of the form, so you can examine or modify it.

fd._vue;

Methods

fd has the following methods:

save

Saves the form.

fd.save();

field

Returns a field by its Name.

fd.field('Field1')

fields

Returns all fields available on the form.

fd.fields();

data

Gets data from all fields on the form. Can be also used to set multiple values at the same time.

// get data as an object
fd.data();
// set field values
fd.data({Field1: value1, Field2: value2});

control

Returns a control by its Name.

fd.control('Control1')

controls

Returns all controls available on the form.

fd.controls();

container

Returns a container by its Name.

fd.container('Container1')

containers

Returns all containers available on the form.

fd.containers();

clear

Clears the form.

fd.clear();

exportToPDF

Exports the current form to a PDF file. Accepts the following arguments:

file – a filename of the file.

options – options for the PDF file, such as paper size, margin, orientation, etc.

fd.exportToPDF('contacts-form', {
    paperSize: 'A4',
    landscape: false,
    multiPage: true
});

Find more about PDF options in How to save form as PDF for printing.

Events

fd has the following events:

beforeCreate

Occurs prior to the form creation.

vueConfig passed as an argument to the handler is a configuration of the main vue-component. You can register your own child components. You can read more about it here.

Asynchronous event

Can return a Promise and the corresponding operation will not continue until the promise is resolved.

fd.beforeCreate(function(vueConfig) {
    console.log('beforeCreate');
    console.log(vueConfig);
});

created

Occurs as soon as the form is created.

vue passed as an argument to the handler is a Vue instance of the form.

It is also available from fd variable this way: fd._vue

fd.created(function(vue) {
    console.log('created');
    console.log(vue);
});

beforeRender

Occurs before mounting the vue-component to DOM.

vue passed as an argument to the handler is a Vue instance of the form.

It is also available from fd variable this way: fd._vue

Asynchronous event

Can return a Promise and the corresponding operation will not continue until the promise is resolved.

fd.beforeRender(function(vue) {
    console.log('beforeRender');
    console.log(vue);
});

rendered

Occurs after mounting the vue-component to DOM.

Best place to run your JavaScript since all elements are mounted.

vue passed as an argument to the handler is a Vue instance of the form.

It is also available from fd variable this way: fd._vue

fd.rendered(function(vue) {
    console.log('rendered');
    console.log(vue);
});

beforeSave

Occurs before submitting the form.

data passed as an argument to the handler is an object representing user’s input.

Keys are internal names of form fields, Values – user’s input:

{
    Field1: 'text'
    DateTime1: new Date('2017-01-01')
}

Here, you can modify form’s data with code before sending it to the server.

Asynchronous event

Can return a Promise and the corresponding operation will not continue until the promise is resolved.

fd.beforeSave(function(data) {
    console.log('beforeSave');
    console.log(data);
});

//async check
fd.beforeSave(function(data) {
    return $.getJSON('https://mywebservice.contoso.com')
            .then(function(result) {
                if(result == null){
                    throw new Error('No results');
                }
                data.additionalProperties = result;
            });
});

saved

Occurs after the data is submitted.

Can be used to display confirmation messages after the form is saved or perform some other actions.

fd.saved(function() {
    console.log('saved');
});

You can use this event to do something after the form has been saved. For example, you can get field values and redirect user to another URL with these field values as URL params:

fd.saved(function() {
    var name = fd.field('Name').value;
    var email = fd.field('Email').value;
    var url = 'https://plumsail.com?name=' + name + '&email=' + email;
    window.location.href = url;
});