CRM Text Field

RECOMMENDATION: If you are using a version of The Portal Connector higher than 4.0, we strongly recommend utilizing the MVC based widgets and components to create your site. This documentation is for legacy purposes only and will soon be deprecated.

Widget Type:

Form Widgets

TPC Version:

3.3 +

The CRM Text Field widget is a text field for your users to enter information. This widget has additional functionality in the form of appearance options which allows you to design the text field to fit the intended input and masked properties which allows you to direct the expected user input. Please note that if a read-only data field is selected, the Maximum Length numeric text field will be set to read-only.

Configuration

Basic Setup

From the Portal Connector widget list, click and drag the CRM Text Field widget into the body of your form.

In order for the CRM Text Field widget to properly work, you must configure it. Click on the Edit button to display a prompt that should look like this:

Appearance

After configuring the basic widget settings, click on the Appearance tab. It should look like this:

When you Choose the HTML Text Mode...

When the HTML Text Mode option is selected, a new tab will be added to the CRM Text Field. It should look like this:

After configuring the appearance of the CRM Text Field widget, you may have different options. Choosing a CRM Field that accepts text will enable the Validation Propertiestab while choosing a numeric CRM Field will enable the Numeric Properties tab.

When you Choose a Text Data Field...

When you Choose a Numeric Data Field...

When you are finished configuring the widget, click the save button to save it.

Widget Properties

Basic Properties

Make Hidden

The Make Hidden property will hide the widget from the form.

Select a Template

The Select a Template drop down list will allow you to select a template for your product to use with the option of creating a new template. If a template is selected, you will be given the additional option of editing the selected template.

Regex Validation Expression

The Regex Validation Expression textbox allows you to set a regular expression for the text field widget to be validated against. You can use regular expression to ensure coherent user input, such as validating whether an email is in the right format or not. An example of a regular expression for catching and validating all sorts of emails is:

[a-z0-9._%+-]+@[a-z0-9.-]+\.[a-z]{2,3}$

Tool Bar Mode

The Tool Bar Mode dropdown list allows you to change the toolbar of the HTML Editor in a variety of ways. The applicable options include: Default, Floating, Page Top, Show on Focus, Ribbon Bar, Ribbon Bar Floating, Ribbon Bar Page Top, and Ribbon Bar Show on Focus. For more information on how these options affect the tool bar, please refer to here.

Edit Mode

The Edit Mode drop down list will allow you to alter the sorts of tabs that your HTML Editor will be allowed to use. For example, the HTML option will only accept HTML elements. Another example is the Design mode, which will show you any immediate changes to the style of any entered text without showing the background HTML. The applicable options are: None, Design, HTML, Preview, and All.

Show Toolbar

The Show Toolbar checkbox will show the toolbar for use when set to true. By default it is false. Please note that hot-keys will work regardless if the toolbar is shown or not. For example, Ctrl+B will still make text bold.

Show Modules

The Show Modules checkbox will show all modules when set to true. These include things such as word count or character count. Please note that modules are not visible in design mode.

Display Type - text field

The Display Type drop down list will allow you to alter the appearance of a widget. For example, you can configure a CRM Yes/No widget to appear as a pair of radio buttons, a horizontal slider, or even as a checkbox. Additionally, you can configure a numeric CRM Text Field to display a number as a currency or percentage.

Show Spin Buttons - text field

The Show Spin Buttons checkbox option will add the arrow keys onto the side of a numeric CRM Text Field. This will enable users to increment or decrement these fields by clicking on the arrows.

Minimum Value - text field

The Minimum Value property will set the minimum number allowed in a numeric Text Box.

Maximum Value - text field

The Maximum Value property will define the maximum value that will be accepted in a numeric Text Box.

CRM Attribute

The CRM Attribute drop down list will allow you to change the data field that this widget will save the user’s input to (For example, a CRM Text Field with a CRM Attribute of Account Name will save its input to the Account Name data field).

Title

The Title text box will allow you to set the label of your widget. The title will usually appear above the associated widget.

Maximum Length/Value

The Maximum Length/Value text box will allow you to change the amount of characters allowed in the text box. Anything over this limit will result in invalid input. This will usually be automatically filled when you select a CRM Attribute.

Read Only

The Read Only checkbox will not allow the user to interact with the widget when checked.

Make Required

The Make Required checkbox will not allow a user to successfully submit the form until there is data within it. Upon selecting the checkbox you will be prompted to enter an error message for invalid input.

Empty Message

The Empty Message text box will ‘fill’ the textbox with whatever you enter here. This can be used to help guide user input or to give an example of proper input.

Field Width

The Field Width option will allow you to change the width of the widget. A default of zero means that the widget will take up as much space as it is provided.

Text Mode

The Text Mode drop down list will allow you to change the size and functionality of a text box. Single Line can be used for things like name entries, Multi Line can be used for descriptions and comments, and HTML can be used to submit HTML or to edit text with greater control.

Mask Type

The Mask Type drop down list will give you an assortment of common data types to choose from. For example, if you have a form that requires the user to enter their postal code, the Mask Type for the text box associated with the postal code should be of the postal code type. This will ensure that the textbox will only allow valid postal codes to be entered. The Mask Type drop down list also allows you to create your own custom masks; though this option is reserved for advanced users.

Display Prompt Char

The Display Prompt Char checkbox will populate the textbox with the expected input as per the Mask Type. For example, if you were to choose the phone number Mask Type with the Display Prompt Char checkbox active, the text field would contain _-(___)-____
The underscores represent the expected user input.

Save Formatted Value

The Save Formatted Value checkbox will format the data entered to fit the Mask Type. For example, a text box is configured with the Mask Type of telephone number; a user who enters their phone number as 17058885555 will have their entry saved as 1-(705)-888-5555 instead.

Advanced Properties

Advanced properties provide additional functionality. They can be accessed by clicking on the "Advanced" Button in the bottom right corner of the widget designer.

Regex Validation Error Message

The Regex Validation Error Message advanced property will allow you to set an error message to display when the text field does not pass the set regular expression validation. By default, this is set to "This expression does not validate.".

Read Only URL Text

The Read Only URL Text advanced property will allow you to replace the text of a hyperlink within a text field. For example, if someone were to set the Read Only URL Text property of an Email text field to 'Send Email', the email would be replaced with a 'Send Email' hyperlink.

Read Only Is Mail

The Read Only Is Mail advanced property will search for an email in a text-field and append the 'mailto:' protocol to the beginning of it. This means that you will be able to click on the Email address to automatically send an email to it. By default this is set to 'false'.

Read Only Is URL

The Read Only Is URL advanced property will search for a URL in a text field and append the 'http:' protocol to the beginning of it. This means that if a website is linked to in a text field, you will be able to click on it to open that website in another tab. By default this is set to 'false'.

Intercept Arrow Keys

The Intercept Arrow Keys advanced property will allow users to increment or decrement a numeric Text Box with the up and down arrow keys. The amount that the Text Box will increment or decrement by is determined by the widget's Step.

Intercept Mouse Wheel

The Intercept Mouse Wheel advanced property will allow the user to increment or decrement a numeric Text Box by scrolling up or down on their mouse wheel. The amount incremented or decremented is determined by the Step property.

Step (Numeric Field)

The Step advanced property will determine how much a widget 'counts by'. For example, a numeric Text Box with a step of two will increment or decrement in counts of two.

Precision

The Precision advanced property will determine how many decimal places a numeric field will display and store.

Prompt Char - text box

The Prompt Char is the character that is used to specify user input in a Mask Type. By default, the Prompt Char is '_'. For example, a mask type of telephone would appear as _-(___)-___-____ by default. If you were to switch the '_' with '#', this would become #-(###)-###-####. Please note that this will be visible when the Display Prompt Char option is selected.

HTML Editor Excluded Groups

The HTML Editor Excluded Groups advanced control is used to exclude categories of functionality from the HTML Editor. By default, the following groups are excluded: Media, Proofing, and Help.

HTML Editor Excluded Modules

The HTML Editor Excluded Modules advanced property is a list of modules that are excluded from the HTML Editor. By default, the following modules are excluded: Dom Inspector, Node Inspector, and Html Inspector.

HTML Editor Excluded Tools

The HTML Editor Excluded Tools advanced property is a list of tools that are excluded from the HTML Editor. By default, the excluded tools are: Apply Class. Image Manager, Document Manager, Flash Manager, Media Manager, Template Manager, Insert Symbol, Insert Form Element, Insert Snippet, Insert Custom Link, and About Dialog.

HTML Editor Allow Resizing

The HTML Editor Allow Resizing advanced property will allow you to resize the entire editor similar to resizing a multiline text field. By default, this is set to false.