When FormFlow was introduced in Version 5.0 of The Portal Connector, it included several node types that can be configured. These original set of nodes are:
- Form - Presents a form to the user to fill out.
- Rule - Uses submitted form values to change the path followed in the Flow.
- Page - Redirects user to a page at the end of a Flow.
With the release of The Portal Connector 5.1, two additional node types were introduced:
- Email - Sends an email to the configured
- Workflow - Executes a CRM workflow using the current record id.
In addition to these new node types, the following features were also added:
- Ability to insert nodes between existing nodes.
- Submit and Back button text configurable on each form node.
New Nodes
Email
The first new node we will talk about is the Email Node. This node allows you to create emails that use the data submitted in the previous form to populate the email.
After dragging the email node onto the design surface and connecting it to other nodes, the configuration options appear on the right hand side.
- Name - Like other node types, this is used to label nodes on in the designer.
- Sender Profile - This dropdown contains a list of Email Sender Profiles. You can select any profile to send the email from. These profiles are configured on the settings page "Administration > Settings > Advanced > Notifications > Profiles". Each email node can be configured for different providers.
- Edit Email - This button opens the email for editing:
Editing Emails
Editing the emails sent by FormFlow is as simple as creating an email in Outlook or any other Email client. FormFlow will look up the flow looking for the first form before the email node. The fields in this form will be used to populate the To, CC and BCC field dataSource. With this, you can select any field to send the email to. If you choose a text field that contains an email address, it will send to that address. If you choose a contact, lead, account or user lookup field, the email will be sent to the email address on that record.
If you want to send the email to another email address, simply type it in and you will be prompted to add it to the list.
You can see the selected recipients by clicking the down arrow:
For adding items to the email body, there is a "Select a field..." dropdown that contains the same fields as the recipient fields. Selecting an item will insert a merge code where the cursor is. You can use the same merge codes in the subject field, but they are not inserted automatically. You will need to insert them into the body and cut (or copy) them, then paste them into the subject field.
Workflow
The second new node introduced in The Portal Connector 5.1 is the Workflow Node. This node allows you to execute workflows on the CRM server as part of a flow. The record ID of the form submitted before this node is the one sent to CRM with the request to run the workflow.
When the workflow node is hit, it will either run the workflow and make the user wait for it to finish. This is useful if the workflow changes data that is needed for the next step. If the "Execute Workflow Async" box is checked, the workflow is scheduled for 5 seconds, then moves the user onto the next step in the flow without waiting for the workflow to execute. This is useful for longer running workflows that the user doesn't need to wait for.
New Features
Inserting Nodes
Nodes are added to the flow by dragging them from the toolbox to the design surface. Now, when dropped on a node with no available out-bound connectors, the new node is inserted before the node being dropped on. This allows you to add steps in the middle of a flow without having to disconnect and reconnect manually.
Configurable Button Text
In The Portal Connector 5.0 release of FormFlow, you could set the submit button text for all forms at once but not on each form. This still works but now you can set the text and classes for the submit button on each form. Additionally, the ability to set the class on the back button has also been added to allow better customization of the form buttons.
Conclusion
FormFlow is a powerful tool for creating multi-step forms that is constantly being improved with new features and enhancements. The addition of these new features continues to add value by making it more flexible in the kinds of flows that can be created. More feedback based enhancements on feedback are being added for the next release.
If you have any comments, questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out to The Portal Connector team at support@portalconnector.com