Learn how to assign data bindings to the question in your Smart Form so that you can use the data in mappings and outputs.
Data bindings are an essential part of your form ― they’re used to label and store the data you collect. Every field on your form needs a data binding.
For example, consider the following E-mail field. The data binding for this field is client.email.
If the respondent answers this question with john.smith@abc.com, this data will be stored as client.email = john.smith@abc.com.
Tip You must use a unique data binding for each field in your form.
What do I call my data bindings?
It’s important to use meaningful names so it’s easy to organize and understand the data you’ve collected. Data bindings typically have two levels: (1) the first level organizes data into categories, and (2) the second level identifies the data collected in the field.
For example, suppose you have fields for the respondent’s name and contact information.
You could use the data bindings client.firstName, client.lastName, client.email, and client.phonefor these fields. The first level groups the fields in a category called client. The second level identifies the data being collected (firstName, lastName, email, phone).
Tip Data binding names can’t contain spaces.
Tip Use “camelCase” for your data binding names, where only words in the middle of the name are capitalized. For example, use client.firstName not client.FirstName or Client.firstName.
You can add more levels to further organize your data. For example, suppose you have multiple fields for the respondent’s address.
You could use data bindings such as client.address.streetNumber, client.address.suite, client.address.street and so on. As before, the first level groups the fields in the client category. The second level groups the fields in an address subcategory, and the third level identifies the data being collected (streetNumber, suite, street, and so on).
Tip You can’t use a data binding name within another data binding. For example, suppose you’ve used client.name for the respondent’s first name. You can’t use client.name.last for the respondent’s last name, because you’ve already used client.name in another data binding. A better approach would be to use client.name.first and client.name.last.
Tip Make sure your data binding are consistent throughout the form. For example, don’t use client.firstName, customer.lastName, and owner.Phone. This will make it difficult to organize and make sense of your data later.
These examples show the recommended naming conventions. If you want to use more complex names, just make sure they comply with standard nesting objects in object-oriented programming (OOP).
Assign a data binding to a field
For each field in your form, be sure to enter a unique data binding in the Data Binding area. For details on assigning a data binding to a specific type of field, see Add fields.
View your data bindings
All of the data bindings in your form are shown in the Data Bindings area. Click the print icon to print the data bindings list.
If a panel contains a single data binding, the data binding is shown on the panel. Otherwise a Multiple Bindings message is shown.
If a panel contains fields without data bindings, a Data Bindings Not Defined message is shown on the panel. An error is also shown in the Form Status area.
