Introduction:
Making adjustments to a live form can be tricky if you aren’t prepared.
Laserfiche is a platform that allows for real-time form adjustments. This means that as soon as you save any changes to a form, those changes are instantly applied. This can be very powerful, but it also means that any ongoing processes using that form will be affected by the new changes. For example, if you modify a field or add a new section to the form, all current processes that haven’t been completed yet will reflect these updates.
Use Cases:
Preventing submission on a minimal number of forms during maintenance windows.
Preventing submission on a large number of forms during maintenance windows.
Scenario 1: Implementing a Maintenance Form via Message Start Event
Pros:
Easy switch of Form in the Forms Business Process on the Message Start Event.
Changes take effect upon saving the form.
Specific to individual forms, ensuring other active processes remain unaffected.
Cons:
It can only be activated on individual forms, one at a time.
Tedious to turn on and off if multiple forms need to be blocked from submission.
Instructions:
Open the Form Business Process.
Select ‘Create New Form’.
Choose the appropriate Form Designer and create a Name.
Use the Theme option to remove any default form options that should be removed.
Add a Custom HTML field and enter custom verbiage for the end user to see, including:
The date(s) the form will be down.
Any major changes the end user should be prepared for.
Go to the Process Diagram and select the Message Start Event.
Under Starting Form, select the maintenance form.
Finishing Tips: Add a creative maintenance image as the background.
Scenario 2: Using Show/Hide Rules Based on a Lookup Rule Value to Hide Form Fields
Pros:
Use a form field to hide all form fields and display a Custom HTML message in the interim.
Easily change the form status by updating a SQL table (Self-Hosted) or Lookup Table (Cloud) and utilize a lookup rule within the form to pull the status in multiple forms at once.
Cons:
Status field and lookup rules must be built into each form.
Hiding form fields on lengthy forms with several field rules may be difficult.
Requires additional setup to focus the maintenance status on only certain forms at a time.
Instructions:
Open the Form used in the Message Start Event of your Process Diagram.
Add a single line field as a hidden field on the form, name this ‘Maintenance Status’.
Add a Custom HTML field to the top of the form and enter custom verbiage for the end user to see, including:
The date(s) the form will be down.
Any major changes the end user should be prepared for.
Add all form fields and containers under one Section Container.
Uncheck the box under Section Label Options ‘Show section label, border, and text above field’.
Add a field rule to the newly created section to HIDE when ‘Maintenance Status’ is the value “Maintenance”.
Add a field rule to the Custom HTML field at the top of the form to SHOW when ‘Maintenance Status’ is the value “Maintenance”.
Create SQL Database Table:
Self-Hosted:
In a SQL Database accessible to Laserfiche, create a table.
Create a column named ‘Status’ to maintain a status field.
Fiching Tip: Add additional columns as desired to control the status being used in specific forms by BP ID, Form Name, or other variables. (This may require additional fields in the form to control which forms pull back a "Maintenance" value.
Provide the value “Maintenance” in the first row of the Status column. NULL should be the default when maintenance is not being performed.
Set a Lookup Rule in the form to pull the status into the form from Step 8.
Change the Status as needed to control the show/hide rules within each form that contains a ‘Maintenance Status’ field.
Conclusion:
Each option enables you to manage public access to specific forms without affecting access for internal users, administrators, approvers, or other public forms.