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Platform

What is Kianda?

Kianda is the most flexible no-code / low-code platform that you can use to create automated digital business processes. Kianda can be used in two ways:

  • As a Designer or Administrator you can use the platform to design digital applications to drive your business. Prototypes can be built quickly and easily without the need for coding experience using Kianda Designer to create processes and forms to look and work the way you want. Choose from 16 predefined field types and 60 rules to create your forms within your processes. And if you don’t like those and have some coding experience, use the no-code part of the platform Kianda Developer to create customised field, rule and dashboard widgets.
  • As a platform user, use the platform to input data, or gather and use data from external datasources like Salesforce or SAP, and then monitor process execution in a dashboard using seven widget types, from lists to chart, to get an at-a-glance overview of efficiencies or bottlenecks in your organisation. Forms and processes can also be shared with partner organisations or sent as anonymous links for third parties to complete.

How does Kianda work?

The Kianda platform no-code / low-code (NCLC) platform is created with the ultimate flexibility and agility in mind, allowing simple user interactions to build complex processes.

Kianda has been constructed using an Model, View, Controller (MVC) approach (Model, View, Controller). This approach allows designers to build mobile-responsive applications via rapid User Interface (UI) prototyping. The UI provides an easy way to build an application by clicking, scrolling, and drag and drop of fields. The layout both provides a way to both build the application or process schema, and to capture and monitor data at run-time.

What’s under the ‘hood’?

Man peering under the hood or bonnet of a car

The MVC approach enables user or system-supplied data captured through fields within forms, to react or trigger defined rules associated with fields, forms or processes, via the rules engine.

The Kianda rules-engine

The Kianda rules engine consists of:

  1. Rule blocks - these are blocks that unlock specific functionality using a toolkit approach
  2. Flexible and declarative conditional logic

These two components (rule blocks and conditional logic) are used extensively and recursively by designers to build the required orchestration of actions or rules that interact with data to provide the required functionality for your apps or processes.

The rules engine, combined with conditional logic enables designers to build ambitious, progressive web applications or end-to-end digital business processes that offer both a great UI and high performance.

In addition to the rules engine, CSS3, HTML5, EmberJS, WebApi and NodeJS are some of the underlying technologies used within the platform.

Chart of Kianda benefits

In summary the Kianda platform provides an ideal interface for rapid prototyping and delivering outcomes quickly.

What does Kianda look like?

The Kianda user interface or workspace is designed to be responsive and intuitive, allowing you to easily create and control your business processes. Your Kianda workspace gives you to ability to manage all your processes and view real-time data presented in dashboards, to guide your business decisions.

You can find out more about the Kianda workspace below or go straight to Welcome to Kianda to learn how to login, and get started with creating your first process.

User interface

When you login the layout of the user interface is as follows:

  1. Company logo - the top left-hand corner is reserved uploading your company logos. If you click on the Collapse navigation button Collapse navigation button you will see the collapsed version of the company logo and collapsed side menu, giving you more real estate in the central view panel.

  2. Side menu - this left-hand pane contains all the key functions for process management. Features include:

    • Home - home page for the workspace

    • User defined pages - these are defined by you the user depending on what features you want to showcase, for example Dashboard could contain all the process dashboards and Inspection Checklist could be a dashboard of inspection lists.

    • Administration - contains 8 functions related to administration of your Kianda workspace. Click on Details below to see a list of functions and links to find out more.

      • Designer - central point to create and manage processes

      • App Store - pre-defined processes, for HR, Finance and Quality Assurance amongst others, that you can use and modify

      • Subscription - design your own look and feel for your Kianda instance and change settings

      • Data sources - connections to data sources like SharePoint or SQL Server

      • Scheduled tasks - use processes to run as scheduled tasks, and manage timeframes

      • Recycle bin - list of deleted processes

      • Users - user management area to create, delete users and groups

      • Developer - allows you to create new widgets and webhooks

  3. More - includes Help, Support and Feedback links

  4. Main view - this central pane is the main view for any of the functions chosen on the right, for example dashboards, or processes created under Designer.

  5. Quick Action menu - the top right-hand menu bar contains shortcuts to keep you updated. Features include:

    • Online session refresh Refresh button
    • User notifications Notifications button
    • User profile User profile

    Click on Quick Action menu to find out more about each button.

What’s next Idea icon

The links below will guide you through the main features of the platform. Let’s start your Kianda journey!

Kianda documentation journey

1 - Your workspace

When you login to Kianda for the first time, you are presented with an easy-to-use interface, your Kianda workspace, that contains all the functions you need for your role.

The main navigation is driven from the left-hand side menu. Here you will find shared dashboards linked to processes. Depending on your role you may have Administration functions like Designer that allows you to design processes, or Invite partner that allows you to manage B2B shared processes and dashboards for example with third party contractors.

How to get started

Kianda workspace

User interface

The layout of the Kianda workspace is as follows:

  1. Company logo - the top left-hand corner is reserved for uploading company logos. If you click on the Collapse navigation button Collapse navigation button you will see the collapsed version of the company logo and collapsed side menu, giving you more real estate in the central view panel to view processes and dashboards.

  2. Side menu - Beneath the logo is the left-hand pane, the side menu, containing all of the key functions within Administration that you need to create and manage your business processes. Depending on your role, the Administration function and sub-functions may be visible. For example users with an Administrator role will see Administration and functions within this area such as User Management and Subscription. Other roles will only have one function visible within Administration, dependent on the role, for example the role Manage datasources, will see the Data sources function within Administration, allowing users with this role to connect Kianda to data held in organisational data sources like SAP or Salesforce. From this menu for example you can start creating processes using Designer if you have the role Administration or Design business process.

    In this left side menu, under More, there are links to get Help, Support, and give Feedback. Click on each of the links for more details.

  3. Quick Action menu - the top right-hand menu bar contains shortcuts to keep you updated, for example user notifications and the ability to add dashboard pages. Here you can also add a profile picture for your account and manage other details for your account, such as changing password and working offline like in-flight mode, allowing you to peruse the platform without requiring internet access. See Quick action menu for more details.

  4. Main view - the central view panel is the main view for any of the functions chosen from the side menu. For example in the main view you can view and edit processes and dashboards, as well as managing users and groups, depending on your role.

What’s next Idea icon

Go to Personalise your workspace to find out how to change the look and feel of your workspace and to set regional settings.

To read more about how to create processes and forms, go to Application Designer.

To find out about other ways to get help and support, click on the links below:

1.1 - Help

The Help function is available to all users of all roles and is found in the left-hand side pane, under More. Help contains a list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) designed to help you when you are using the Kianda workspace. You can search a topic and filter by keywords. There is also a short Get started video available to introduce the platform and how to create a simple process with forms and fields.

How to get started

  1. Go to the left-hand side menu and click on Help.

  2. In the main view you will see a list of FAQs as well as a search facility and filter to drill down to the information you need.

    Help topics

    FAQs are listed by title and topic, for example a query on ‘How to connect to SharePoint?’ belongs to the ‘Data sources’ topic.

  3. Click on any FAQ and you will find a set of instructions to help you and a short video that shows you what to do, for example steps to create a cascading drop-down list solution as shown below.

    Example of a help topic on cascading lists

  4. Alternatively, click on Select a topic and filter from a selection of topics: Rules, User, Designer, Data Sources, Security, Dashboard, General and Configuration as shown below.

Help topics

​ All the FAQs related to that topic will be listed in the main view, for example Rules as shown below.

Help topics example of Rules

  1. Create a further filter by typing your keywords in the Filter help box.

  2. In addition to the FAQs, at any time you can play the Getting started video by clicking on the Get Started button Get started video in the top right-hand corner.

Feedback

In addition to getting support, we welcome your feedback. Your thoughts and suggestions help us improve our platform and services. The feedback feature is available to users with a defined role, for example those who have the role Design business processes or Developer. This feature can also be used to submit new FAQs. To access feedback:

  1. Go to More > Feedback in the left-hand pane.

  2. Click on Submit new Submit feedback and complete the feedback form, giving your feedback a title of choice and submitting feedback text.

  3. Click on OK to submit your feedback or Close to close the dialog box.

Note: We also welcome feedback on this documentation. Please feel free to indicate if this or other pages are helpful by using the Yes and No buttons at the bottom of the page. Alternatively you can provide feedback/comments via GitHub by clicking on the documentation issue button Documentation issue button in the right-hand pane of this and other documentation pages.

Feedback via github

What’s next Idea icon

To read more about how to create processes and forms go to Application Designer.

To find out about other support, go to Support.

To find out about other platform features, go to Platform.

1.2 - Quick action menu

Introduction

The Quick action menu contains all the shortcuts that you need to manage your pages efficiently. The menu is found in the top right-hand corner of your Kianda workspace.

Quick action menu

If you have an Administrator role you will see five buttons from your workspace home page, other roles will see three buttons listed below:

The buttons include:

  • Create a new page Create new page button Administrators can use this function to create a new dashboard page.
  • Edit current page Edit current page button Administrators can use this function to edit a dashboard page.
  • Online session refresh Refresh button All users can use this function to refresh a session to allow offline use.
  • User notifications Notifications button provides notifications to all users such as being assigned forms to edit or reassign.
  • User profile User profileallows all users to change profile details, such as working offline or changing password.

Click on each link above to find out more about each button.

Create a new page

Administrators can create a new dashboard page that connects to a chosen process. Users can view this dashboard to monitor how processes are performing and gain business insights to improve the business.

  1. Click on the Create new page Create new page button button.

  2. The Create dashboard page dialog box opens.

    Create dashboard page

    In this dialog box fill out the following fields:

    • Title - give the dashboard a title.

    • Name - this field is autofilled from the title field and creates a unique ID for the dashboard page.

    • Visible to - choose from Users and/or Groups of users who will see this dashboard. In this way you are setting the first level of security for the dashboard, see Dashboard security for more details.

    • Icon - choose from hundreds of icons to represent your dashboard in the left-hand pane.

    • Sort order - enter a numeric value to set the order of display in a dashboard group, for example a dashboard called Induction has a sort order value of ‘1’, while a dashboard called Annual leave has a value of ‘2’. The dashboards will display in chronological order according to the values associated with them.

    • Group - choose an existing group or create a new group to add the dashboard to. As soon as two dashboard pages are added to a group, then the group will appear in the left-hand pane, for example see HR dashboards group below with 2 dashboards: Induction and Annual leave. Dashboard group

    • Enable favourites - allows you to set this dashboard as a ‘favourite’. If you check the checkbox, then users will see a Add to favourites button in the Quick actions menu, allowing them to add this dashboard to a ‘favourites’ catalog.

      Favourite dashboard

  3. Click on OK when complete, or Close to exit the dialog box.

  4. From there you are in the main dashboard view where you can add dashboard widgets to display lists or charts or edit the settings for the dashboard page. To find out more about dashboards, go to the Dashboards section of the documentation.

Edit current page

Administrators can edit an existing dashboard page by clicking on the dashboards button when on a selected page.

  1. As an administrator, click on a dashboard page of choice displayed in the left-hand pane.

  2. Click on the Edit current page Edit current page button button. You are then in Edit mode for the page recognisable by the widget menu, along with Settings for the dashboard and any widgets that exist.

    Editing page

  3. In Edit mode you can add new dashboard widgets, edit Settings, or Delete the dashboard page. To read more about Edit mode go to Dashboards.

Online session refresh

You can use Kianda offline for example to view dashboards even without internet access. To synchronise dashboards with system data:

  1. Click on the Online session button Online session refresh button to synchronise data.

  2. A Synchronising message appears, followed by a Ready for offline use notification. Synchronising message

  3. You can view dashboards even without internet access.

Note: You can switch to offline mode by clicking on your profile and slide the work offline toggle to ‘on’ see User profile below.

User notifications

This icon alerts you when actions happen associated with processes, for example if a form has been assigned to you. Any new notifications will be seen as a number beside the user notification icon/bell symbol.

User notification

You will receive a configured message indicating the title of the notification and a short piece of text explaining what has happened, for example if a process design has been published and existing process instances have been updated, or the message could be as a result of a User alert rule as seen below. In this example, the user can click on the alert and they are brought to the form that they have to complete.

User alert example

User profile

The information found under User profile includes your name, email, role for example Administrator, and options to update your information.

My account information

To update your information, you can:

  1. Add your photo by clicking on the Update profile picture button Update profile picture button then in the Update your profile picture dialog box browse for an image to add to the Profile picture URL by clicking on Browse. Note that the recommended size is 300px x 300px and larger images will take time to upload.

    Update your profile picture

  2. Change your password by clicking on Change Password. You need to type in your current password and then your new password twice and click on Change Password or click on Close to exit the dialog box.

    Change password

  3. Update your profile by clicking on Update My Profile. Type in your Job title, Department and Phone number and click on Update Profile or click on Close to exit the dialog box.

  4. Logout of Kianda by clicking on Sign-Out. Then click on Ok to confirm that you want to logout or click on Cancel to exit the dialog box.

  5. Work offline by clicking on the slider button, moving it across. When you do this you will get a message to say Offline mode is enabled.

    Work offline

    If you move the slider back then Offline mode is disabled.

  6. View the system version of Kianda, for example System version 2.11.3 as shown in the image above.

  7. Clicking on the Push notifications slider will enable push notifications to mobile devices and other devices where push notifications are applicable. For example, if you have a process that utilises an Alert rule, when push notifications are turned on, you will receive a notification similar to below.

    Push notifications gif
  8. Collapse account information by clicking on the User profile button User profile again.

What’s next Idea icon

To read more about how to create processes and forms go to Application Designer.

1.3 - Support

The Support function is available to users with a designated role, for example, Manage partners, Designer or Administrator and is found in the left-hand side pane, under More. This function allows you to log support tickets and view application logs.

How to get started

To use the Support function:

  1. Click on More in the left-hand side pane and then click on Support.

  2. You can view any current tickets or logs in the main view pane.

    Support view

    These are two main areas: Support tickets and Application logs. These areas are explained in more detail below.

Support tickets

Support tickets can be raised and viewed through this area of the platform.

Existing support tickets appear within this section, showing the title of the ticket, date it was issued and status.

Existing tickets

  1. Click on the name of a ticket to view ticket details, such as who raised the ticket and a description of the issue. The date and time that the ticket is raised is visible, along with the status of the ticket.

    Support ticket details example

  2. Click on update status to change the title of the field or update the status.

    Update ticket status

    The Create a new thread dialog box showing the title and description. Here the status can be changed to become: Open, Resolved (resolved from the Kianda support side) or Closed (the customer is satisfied with the resolution and has closed the ticket). Click on Close to exit without saving or OK to submit changes.

  3. Click on reply to add a comment to the ticket. The Post a reply dialog box opens.

    Post comment

    Here you can add a comment in the Description box which can be styled in various way, for example to change the font colour, paragraph layout, add tables, links or images. There is also a Help button Help button that gives you Keyboard shortcuts to change the style.

    Click on Close to exit without saving or OK to submit changes.

To create a new ticket

  1. Click on the Add new button.

  2. In the Create a new thread dialog box, enter a Title, Description and set the ticket status, typically Open.

    New support ticket

Application logs

System logs appear in this section when you click on Load errors. Logs are listed by date, url/area, for example a User update, a system generated Message, User and Browser involved in the log entry.

  1. Click in the search box and enter text to search for logs based on key word entry.

  2. If there are several pages of logs, click on the page number to see entries for that page.

  3. Click on Clear errors to clear all existing logs from the system. Any changes after this time will be added to the logs again and visible to users. To clear existing logs click on Confirm in the Remove all errors from log dialog box, or else click on Cancel to cancel the deletion.

    Remove all errors from log dialog box

What’s next Idea icon

To read more about how to create processes and forms go to Application Designer.

To find out about other ways to get help and support, go to Help.

2 - Application designer

Introduction

Creating your first process or application in Kianda starts with designing your first form. Users with the role Administrator or Design business process can create forms that can connect to any number of data sources at the same time. The form might be a simple contact form or something else more complex, and you can add more forms like “Follow-up form” or even a “Closure form”. To the form you can add predefined controls or fields, and business rules to define how the processes can behave.

process-forms-controls-rules

These process elements, processes, forms, controls and rules are explained in the sections below:

Forms, fields and rules are created and edited using Kianda Designer explained in further on this page.

How to get started

Although Kianda aims to be intuitive and easy to get started, it is never difficult to over-engineer. So at Kianda we always recommend doing some simple planning before you design your first form. It could be something as simple as a quick flow chart or a spreadsheet where you can quickly log the key components, fields or rules that are needed in the process.

In general there are three key steps to build a process in an agile manner:

  1. Plan process design, forms, fields, rules, log into design spreadsheet.
  2. Build forms and fields connecting to data where applicable.
  3. Publish to dashboards, launch anonymous forms or publish to data sources for end-user distribution.

Platform getting started video

Creating your first process

To help you plan your process, go to Plan your process to get started. When you have planned what you want to do, it couldn’t be simpler to start creating your new process by following the steps below:

  1. Using your Administrator or Design business process role, go to the left- hand side menu and click on Administration > Designer.

  2. You are now in the main process view. From here, you can click on Import or Export to import or export processes once created. There is also an option to use Kianda’s predefined processes available in the App Store.

    Adding a new process

    Main process view

  3. Click on the Add new button to create a process from scratch.

  4. Fill out the details in the Add new process dialog box:

    Add new process dialog box

    Create a process

    • Title - the title for your process

    • ID - this is a unique Name that is autofilled from the title, however you can manually edit it.

    • Description - a short description for your process

    • Group - you can click on the fields drop-down button drop-down-button to browse for existing groups to add your new process to or alternatively, you can select Create new group to create a new folder group for your process to go in. If Create new group is selected, a field New group name will be displayed where you will enter the name of the new group. See below an example of creating a new group labelled ‘Training’.

      creating a new group

      Process group examples

    • Administrators - these are process administrators or people who will be able to change the process design. Process administrators must have the role administrator or design business process so that they can access Designer to modify the process design. Choose from Users and/or Groups in the drop-down list, or leave blank to allow all those with an administrator role, to have access to this process design.

      Users and groups must be already defined in the system by a user with an administrator role, see User management.

      Note that there is a limit of 10 names in the drop-down list, displayed alphabetically from the list of users and groups, but you can type in a user or group name to see them appear in the list, for example as shown below.

      Administrator user example

  5. Click on OK OK button when complete.

  6. You are now in the Process Design page, that is Kianda Designer. From here, you can add forms, fields and rules, change settings and properties and manage your process design.

Kianda Designer introduction

Kianda Process Designer provides an intuitive interface where you can quickly start building forms for any use case.

The key components of the form designer are:

  1. Left side panel containing both controls and rules that can be added to forms.
  2. The central area is where the current form canvas is displayed.
  3. The right panel is where the currently selected component properties and rules are displayed.

Form designer key components

Form designer components

The following headings highlight the key features of Designer that allow you to build slick, progressive, responsive and customised forms and processes.

Forms

Forms are an important component of any process. They might be used as stages of a process and could be made active individually or at the same time known as parallel forms.

The key rules related to designing forms for user interaction are:

  1. Forms are assignable, this means that only a form assignee can edit a particular form in a process instance. The form assignee can be a combination of users and groups.
  2. When a form is created, as a designer you can configure form owners. Only form owners can edit a given form in a process instance by default. Any other user with access to view the form will see it in read-only mode.
  3. Processes that have several steps use the concept of current form, where only the current form is editable in a process instance. Forms become the current form as the process executes sequentially. Rules like Go to form can be used to make forms the current form. Other forms can be configured to activate with the current form. This means it is also possible to edit these forms at the same point in process execution and togther the forms form a form group.

The rules above work together to determine if the form is in edit mode or display mode. Form designers have at their disposal business rules such as Assign form, Go to form and Submit form to dynamically control the ability for end-users to edit a particular form or a section of a form.

How to add a form

  1. To get started with processes, go to the left-hand side menu > Administration > Designer. There are options to import processes, use the App Store or create a new process from scratch by clicking on the Add new button. To learn more about this, see How to get started with processes.

  2. When you open a process or create a new process you are automatically brought into Kianda Designer. In new processes, by default a new form is automatically added to your process called form 1.

    New process with new form 1

  3. The form is automatically selected, and controls and rules are ready to be added using the options in the left-hand pane. You can edit the form by clicking on the edit/pen button Edit button highlighted above. This will open an Edit form dialog box, see Editing forms for more details.

  4. To add another form, click on the Add form button at the top of the page.

  5. A new form dialog box appears. See Editing forms for more details for example how to add form owners and enable quick actions.

As you create forms, there are some important features to note that will help you get the most out of your form design:

Click on the links above or browse through the following headings to read more.

Form fields

Kianda form usability is brought to life with the help of the various input fields or controls that are specifically adapted to work in mobile, tablet or desktop modes. Fields include textbox, date picker, numeric input, file upload and table, to name a few. Kianda offers a flexible array of controls that can be adjusted to work with a myriad of scenarios.

Example of a form in a process with a text box field Textbox example

Each field comes with its own set of:

a) settings like autofill for textbox and currency format for numeric input

b) properties that determine how the field will display.

The following are some of the common properties of input fields. Field properties appear when the field is selected within a form, as shown in the image above for the text box field. The properties appear on the right:

  • Title - every field comes with a title property that is usually displayed on top of the field and can serve as a prompt to a user

  • Show title - check this property to show the title of a field in a form

  • Required - this Boolean property allows a form designer to make a field mandatory or not

  • Enabled - check this property to make the field appear in a form for a user to use

  • Visible - displays the field in the form or not depending on checking the checkbox

  • Layout - defines both desktop or mobile layout by selecting a size from the blue bar presented, see Responsive form layout for more details.

In addition to the field properties, each field has it’s own settings that you can change simply by selecting the field and clicking on the Edit/Pen button Edit/pen button. This will open an Edit field dialog box where you can change settings.

In total there are 16 predefined field widgets, see Categories of fields below. In case none of these satisfies your specific needs and if you have some level of development skills you can always create your custom field widget.

Categories of fields

Currently the default fields fall into four main categories of fields:

  1. Input - Input fields include the most common data fields such as textbox, user picker, date field, table, checkbox, drop-down and number fields.
  2. Layout - Layout fields are the fields that serve the purpose of perfecting the layout of your form. They include responsive panels, dialog box, field groups and rich text fields.
  3. Action - Action fields are fields that allow user interface actions like buttons, links or even signature components.
  4. Custom - Under custom fields, you will find any custom-developed fields available under your developer section.

The following headings showcase examples of fields and how they can be used to play an important role when building a modern user interface while allowing you to achieve the pixel perfect layout you want. The examples shown are Modal dialogs and Cascading dropdown lists in the following sections.

Model dialogs

Model dialogs are a special form of layout fields. It allows a form designer to define an interface with the key intention of grabbing users’ attention to something important.

Typically dialogs are used to create alerts, for example a user confirmation or to help users make a final decision in a process.

How to use a model dialog

In the example above, we use a modal dialog to display a simple warning to the user. The following are the steps involved to create this:

  1. Choose a process, or create a new process, and select a form in that process to add fields to. In the left-hand pane of Kianda Designer, click on Controls > Layout > Dialog.

  2. Click on the dialog component to edit the dialog, for example give the dialog a Title and then insert other fields within it. You can add any field to your dialog, for example add Richtext by clicking on Controls > Layout > Richtext.

  3. Give your Richtext field a title, and add a message in the Richtext body text and change other settings as needed. Click on OK when complete or click on Close at any time to exit the dialog box.

  4. To preview how your dialog box will be displayed, you can use the Preview button, on the dialog component.

    Preview dialog

Cascading dropdown lists

Using the List field provides the opportunity to define an unlimited level cascading dropdown hierarchy very easily. For example in the form below, if a user chooses Denmark as a country from the drop-down list, then Danish cities are displayed, while if another country is chosen, the other cities for that country are displayed.

Dropdown cascading lists

To achieve this effect, you can connect your list to a data source, for example a SharePoint list or table. Then use the list data source conditions options to filter content based on a parent list.

Cascading dropdown

In the example above, the condition used is that a filter is applied if data from the SharePoint list column called Country is chosen as input for the form list field called Country, then data from the SharePoint list column called Cities is displayed, see video below.

How to create cascading dropdowns

Easy to customise form features

Remember with Kianda Designer you don’t need any coding experience, so anyone with Administrator or Design business process access can use Kianda’s easy to use interface to add fields to forms and customise forms to create the desired effects for an optimum user experience. The Kianda interface makes it easy to create sophisticated forms that follow modern web design principles, all at the click of a button. Examples of ways to customise forms are shown in the following sections, Responsive form layout and Input validation.

Responsive form layout

When designing forms, its easy to change the layout of fields to make the field display the way you want. Form fields are made with a mobile-first approach giving you a ‘design once and deploy everywhere’ opportunity.

When you select a field, you can go to Field properties in the right-hand pane of Kianda Designer and click on the Layout option.

Clicking on Collapse or expand responsive layout button Collapse responsive layout button uncovers the layout mode for desktop and mobile.

Layout mode

Click on the blue bar for both Layout and Mobile Layout to adjust the size of the field. This allows you to specify a layout made of 1 to 12 columns and is based on Bootstrap, a popular CSS framework that allows designing web interfaces with a mobile-first approach.

Input validation

As with editing the layout of fields, it is easy to validate input, making fields mandatory for users to fill in or not. Go to Field properties in the right-hand pane of Kianda Designer and click on the Required option. If already ticked, uncheck this to make the field not required.

Field properties for the field ‘City’

Simply enable the checking the Required property in this way will automatically prevent users from submitting forms with an empty field. The required flag will conveniently be ignored in case the field is not visible, this will allow you to configure conditionally mandatory fields.

Another way of validating input is to use the validate input rule which allows for greater flexibility in terms of when or what to validate. Rules are explained below, but click on Validate input for more information specifically on this rule.

In addition to changing field properties, you can configure settings to make processes perform the way you want.

Settings

In addition to changing field properties like Input validation, you can edit process, form and field settings. Having settings at each level will allow you to tweak your process design in minutes.

At the highest level, process settings are found in the right-hand side pane of Kianda Designer.

Process settings

There are many options within Settings to manage for example process security and set process instance settings. One setting example is Enabling anonymous sharing of forms explained in more detail below.

Process settings

Anonymous forms

Anonymous forms are a great way of allowing people outside of your organisation to interact with your processes. It could be something as simple as a feedback form or a GDPR data request but as we all know a contact form never ends with the contact submission. There is always a process or a series of steps behind each public/anonymous form that might culminate with an actionable result back to the person that started the submission, or person assigned to manage the form.

Anonymous forms can be embedded using iframes or inline frames. Inline frames are HTML elements that allow another HTML page(s) to be loaded within the document, basically allowing one webpage within another. In Kianda there are effectively two types of anonymous forms:

New process instance anonymous form URL

To set up a globally available link to allow external users to create a new process instance, perform the following steps within Kianda designer:

  1. Within a chosen process, in the top right click on Settings.
  2. Then beside Enable anonymous sharing of forms select Yes.
  3. Click the button New Link to generate a new anonymous link.

Anonymous Form Settings

The generated link can be shared to allow sharing of the form to users without the need for a Kianda account.

Existing instance anonymous form URL

To setup an existing instance anonymous form you need to use the Anonymous form link rule to generate a new anonymous link at runtime that will point to an existing process record that can then be shared with external users.

Note that for this to work steps 1 and 2 of New Instance Anonymous form are still required.

The following are some of the key options of the anonymous link rule:

  • Choose a Form to share (any form within an existing process).
  • Link expires settings: choose from an expiry parameter like number of uses, time-based or never expire.
  • Select a Message to display on submission.

Important: There can be only one active link of each type for a given process. Once a new anonymous link is created for a process it will automatically cause an expiry of a previous link of the same type.

Rules

Kianda rules allow for dynamic actions within processes that can be used to change the workflow, send automated emails or notifications, as well as manipulate data in data sources.

There are 60 predefined rules, across 10 categories that allow you to drive your business processes in a myriad of ways. Go to the Rules section to navigate to each of the different field categories.

Rules can be driven by conditions for example based on user input, form fields will dynamically appear or hide according to how the user navigates a form, and all rules are actions which can involve for example retrieving values from a datasource, storing data in a field or automating user addition to Salesforce.

One example of rules already mentioned is the Anonymous form link rule which will dynamically generate and send a link from a form in a process to an external user, without the need for a Kianda account.

If the current suite of predefined rules do not meet your needs, you can use Kianda Developer to create your own rule widget. In a similar fashion you can use this function to create custom controls or fields, see more below.

Custom fields

In case any of the previously mentioned control types don’t suit, you can use Kianda to build your own customised control widgets. The Custom fields section provides access to fields that are built for extensibility of Kianda capabilities. It is particularly useful in those situations where existing fields or rules will not provide the required functionality.

Custom fields have the purpose of providing a user interface for end-users. These custom fields can be built by developers. It allows a developer to build a reusable component that would then be used by process designers in real processes. Check-out the development section for more details on how to build custom widgets in Kianda.

Advanced techniques

Like the cascading drop-down list discussed above, several other advanced scenarios can be easily configured in Kianda. Here is a short-list to give you an idea what is possible:

  • Repeating section - A repeating section can be created by adding a panel to a table field. This table can be configured to include a single column made of the panel that itself will include the repeating fields of your repeating section.

  • The capture of media - Kianda enables mobile users to directly capture pictures, video or audio just like a native application.

  • Background save - By making use of PWA principles (Progressive Web Application), Kianda allows the ability to perform background operations. This is useful when, for example, a mobile user picks-up their phone to perform a quick action and places it back in his pocket. Operations will continue in the background allowing all data to be captured.

  • Image annotation - Kianda allows for image annotation online or offline.

  • Multi-column / row layout - Making multi-column responsive interfaces is quite easy. Simply add two panels into a form that only use half of the screen (6 columns) then add fields inside panels and you have multiple column layouts. Adding a panel using 12 columns gives you a row.

  • Form tab colour and icon - Form tabs can be quickly customised to display their icons or tab colours, it is also possible to define custom colours for selected and completed form tabs.

  • Hide form tab and left nav - This is self-explanatory, yes you can hide the default navigation elements.

Once you have started creating elements in Kianda forms it is easy to replicate elements and make process design happen even faster, see Cloning below.

Cloning

In Kianda Designer, almost any of the components can be cloned. This will increase your productivity considerably and will make creating multi-step processes a breeze.

To clone either a field, a panel or even a form, simply select the component then click the clone button in the properties panel in the right-hand side of the panel.

If cloning a field, the cloning dialog box will prompt for the destination of the new cloned field, once your choice is made, simply click ok.

Cloning a form

What’s next Idea icon

To read more about process and forms, go to the link below:

2.1 - Designer

Kianda Designer provides an intuitive interface where you can quickly start building forms for any business use case. Forms are an important component of any process. They might be used as a stage of a process and can be made active individually or at the same time (parallel forms).

How Designer works

This video introduces Kianda Designer and demonstrates how to start creating a form and add fields.

There are 3 key principles to consider when working with forms:

  1. Form design - what a form looks like, what elements it contains, for example controls and rules
  2. Form interaction - how users can use forms depending on certain sequences happening
  3. Form management - who can edit and access forms

This page presents the information you need related to form design, that is what a form looks like, and what it contains. By default, Administrators and those with the Design business process role can edit forms, but they can also set how other people interact with forms, for example to make forms viewable as read-only. Go to Form owners to find out more about how form ownership works, and Form display modes to find out out more about how forms display.

Designer layout

To access processes, go to the left-hand pane and Administration > Designer and click on a process that you have created or imported, see Create your first process.

From the main process view, click on any process to add forms. Clicking on a process

The Designer window opens and is made up of 3 main parts.

Form Designer

The key components of the designer are:

  1. Left-hand pane contains both controls and rules that can be added to forms. Go to Controls and Rules to find out more. The left-hand pane also houses the Exit button Exit process to go back to the process list, the Save button Save button to save your work, the Preview button Preview to preview what you have created and the Publish button Publish button to publish your work.

    Note that clicking on Save saves a draft of a process design. Click on Publish to publish the design and update changes to existing process instances.

    If you click on the Exit button Exit process to go back to the process list without clicking on the Save button you will be prompted with a dialog box detecting Unsaved changes prompting you to Abandon changes if desired. Click on Yes to exit Designer without saving, or No to exit and save.

    Unsaved changes detected popup

  2. The central area is where the current form canvas is displayed. The canvas also houses 3 buttons by default: Submit, Save and Close. Go to Adding form elements to find out more about editing these buttons and adding elements to the canvas.

  3. The right-hand pane is where the properties and rules are displayed for the selected item, see Properties for more information. From this pane you can also Import forms, see the Version history for a process and set process Settings. Click on the links to find out more.

Note: The name of the process you are working on is shown in the top menu bar, for example Quarterly Training Request.

Note: Multiple users can view and design a process synchronously, allowing for seamless collaboration on your processess. The below error message is displayed in the bottom right corner when another user(s) is/are viewing/editing the current process.

Another user editing process image

When another user saves a change to the process design that you are currently viewing, the below error message is displayed in the bottom right corner.

Another user save changes notification image

How to get started with forms

  1. How you get started with forms depends on if you:

    • have created a process using the App Store, see Predefined forms

    • have created a process from scratch or want to create a form from scratch, see New forms

    • import forms that have already been created, see Import forms

  2. Once your form is created, you are ready to start adding elements to your form, see Adding form elements.

  3. In addition there are a number of settings you can change, see Properties and Settings.

Predefined forms

  1. If you have created a process using the App Store, then a number of forms will already be part of the process. For example the process Security Incident Management has 5 forms attached: Incident detail, Data breach, Malware outbreak, Root cause remedy and Caller review.

  2. To edit form details, simply click on a form and click on the Pen button Pen icon to edit the form. You can also click on the Add form button to add a new form. Edit options are shown under New forms.

New forms

How to add new form

If you have created a process from scratch, an empty form is added to your process by default, called “form 1”. This is the first form. Click on this form and the Edit/Pen button Pen icon to customise it. You can also click on the Add form button to add a new form.

Add form

Editing forms

When you click on a chosen form, then click on the Edit/Pen button Pen icon to edit the form.

Edit form

The Edit form dialog box opens where you can edit the fields. There are a number of edit options below.

Edit form options

Note: as you change any of the options in the dialog box, the impact will be shown in real-time on the form in the background, for example a title, or colour form theme.

  1. Title - the form title, for example Employee Request Form

  2. Name - this is a unique name for the form

  3. Default owner(s) - by default the form creator is an owner. You can remove this owner by clicking on x and add other owners by clicking on the arrow and choose from Users, Groups or Partners.

    • Users - allows you to choose individual owners
    • Groups - allows you to choose from defined groups for example HR Team or Management Team
    • Partners - allows you to choose predefined partner organisations that you want to share with or provide permissions
  4. Activate with - will decide when the form will be active. If you have several forms attached to a process, then select from a dropdown list the form you want to activate with the current form. If you leave the field blank, the new form will be activated sequentially after the first form is submitted.

  5. Submit mode - options are a) Only this form (the current form) or b) All forms in edit mode.

  6. Form icon - click on the arrow to choose from hundreds of icons to attach to your form.

  7. Form theme - choose from Navy, Green, Blue, Amber, Red or White Colours for your form.

  8. Enable quick actions - if you tick the checkbox, you can select from the options a) Enable re-assign b) Enable edit and c) Enable custom action. Click on Ellipsis button Ellipsis button to further modify the action settings.

    • If you click on Enable re-assign, you can reassign action settings to particular Users, Groups or Partners. Click on Allow form owners if you want form owners to be able to reassign actions.

    • If you click on Enable edit, you can allow certain Users, Groups or Partners to edit the form, along with form owners by clicking on Allow form owners.

      Other options include a checkbox for When editing auto hide form footer buttons and Trigger rules on save.

      • If you check Trigger rules on save then click into the Save action field, you can choose an action trigger from the drop-down list as to when the form is saved, for example on execution of the Submit, Save or Close buttons. These can be other actions depending on what you have defined.

      Edit action settings

    • If you click on Enable custom action, you can allow certain Users, Groups or Partners to edit the form, along with form owners by clicking on Allow form owners.

      Other options include Action label, Target action field and Action display mode, for example Read-only mode, Edit mode or Both.

      Custom action settings

    • As a form designer, you can set up actions dependent on certain conditions, for example an Action label that targets a certain button appearing for example Close button, only when a certain display mode is chosen, for example Read-only mode. If Edit mode is chosen, then the button will only appear when the form is being edited. In this way you can create dynamic forms that suit user interactions.

  9. Click on the OK button when you are finished editing to save your changes or click on Close to exit the dialog box without saving.

  10. To save your changes to the form, click on the Save button Save button.

You are now ready to start adding Controls and Rules to your form. To implement additional settings, see Process Settings.

Import forms

  1. You can import a previously designed form by clicking on the Import button Import button.

  2. Click on the arrow to select from the drop-down list to Select a process design.

  3. Click on a process of interest and then click on the forms to import under Select fields or forms to import. Forms are indicated by a + symbol and can be expanded to show elements within a form for example a panel containing different fields such as lists and text boxes. This means you can import a whole form, or just elements of a form. In this way you can very quickly reuse some or all parts of an existing form.

    Import from another process

  4. Click on the OK button when you are finished editing to save your changes or click on Close to exit the dialog box without saving.

Adding form elements

If you have added a new form during the form creation process, then a blank canvas with three default buttons are available to you: Submit, Save and Close.

Form button edit

Within a form like the one shown above you can:

  1. Add elements to this canvas by clicking on Controls and Rules in the left-hand pane. Click on each link to find out more about the 16 control fields and 60 rule types.
  2. Move elements by clicking on the Drag Handle Drag handle beside the item and dragging it to where you want to place it.
  3. Edit elements by clicking on each item and clicking on the Edit/Pen button Pen icon, for example if you click on the Close button, there are a number of options to choose from when editing, see Button control for more information.

Properties

In addition to adding fields/controls and rules, there are a number of ways to create the form and process design you want. You can set properties at property, form and field level. Properties represent how an element presents itself, for example the title and layout of the element.

Process and form properties

Properties at all levels are visible in the right-hand pane of Kianda designer, along with the:

  • Import button Import button to allow you to import forms and form elements like fields

  • Version history button Version history example to allow you to manage version of the process design

  • Settings button Settings button to allow you to apply process security settings amongst other options

Process level properties

When you click on a process from the main process view, straight away you will see the Process properties in the right-hand pane as shown in the image above. To find out more about process go to the Process properties page.

When you click on a form within a process, then the properties view changes to show Form properties, as shown in the image in Form level properties.

If you want to return to Process properties, click on the process name beside the Designer and chevron symbol, that is:

Process name

Form level properties

When you click on a form in Kianda Designer, the properties for that form appear.

Form properties view

To find out more about form properties go to the Form properties page.

Note that at form level, additional buttons appear above Form properties namely:

  • Edit/Pen button Edit/pen button where clicking on this button opens the Edit dialog box for the chosen item, for example a form.

  • Clone button Clone button that allows you to make a duplicate form. Click on OK to make a copy or Close to close the dialog box and cancel the copy.

  • Bin/trash button Bin button where clicking on this button opens a popup asking you to confirm that you want to delete the selected form. Click on OK to make a copy or Close to close the dialog box and cancel the deletion.

Field level properties

When you add controls to forms Kianda Designer, and select a field/control, the properties for that field appear in the right-hand pane.

Field properties view

The type of field/control is listed in the properties pane, for example ‘Text box’ as shown in the image above. How the field appears is easy to control simply by checking/unchecking a number of boxes. To find out more about field/control properties go to the Control properties page.

Change field button

Note that at field level, in addition to the buttons visible at Form level, a Change field button Change field button is visible. To change field type:

  1. Select a field in a form by clicking on it.

  2. Click on the Change field button.

  3. A pop-up box appears allowing you to choose from the full range of field types, including customised field widgets created in Kianda Developer.

    Change field dialog box

  4. Click on the radio button beside the field type of choice and click on OK to make the change, or Close to close the dialog box and cancel the change.

  5. An Edit field dialog box appears allowing you to change settings for that new field type.

Settings

In addition to Properties, you can use Settings at process, form and field level to give you the type of processes and forms you want.

Process settings

Basic process information, such as deciding who the process administrators are is available at the main process level, by exiting Designer clicking on the Exit button Exit process to go the main process view, and then click on the process name to bring up the Edit process dialog box.

Edit process dialog box

More detailed process settings are available within Kianda Designer in the right-hand pane by clicking on the Settings buttonProcess settings button and from here use the parameters available in the Process settings dialog box to enable process security, anonymous sharing of forms and custom process ID, amongst other options. Go to Process settings to find out more.

Form and field settings

Form and field settings are available when you select an item in the form canvas so that the Edit/Pen icon Edit/pen button is available. An Edit dialog box appears allowing you to make the necessary changes to that item. Edit form dialog box is shown in Editing forms. Field settings will be described within the information page for each field, go to Controls to start navigating to individual control pages.

What’s next Idea icon

Click on the links to find out more about aspects of Kianda Designer, namely Processes and Forms.

To read about managing versions of forms, go to the link below:

2.1.1 - Previewer

Introduction

As an Administrator or someone with the role Design business process, you can preview your process designs at any time using the Run and preview process button previewer button. This is a useful Kianda feature that allows you to trial out your process, and visualise the logical flow of your design without publishing it yet for your organisation to view/use. Within the preview window, you can also troubleshoot your fields, rules and conditions by utilising the Rule debugger feature.

Preview window

Prerequisites

Before getting started, you must open a process design of your choice that you would like to perform a trial run on before publishing it to your organisation.

How to get started

To access the previewer feature:

  1. Navigate to the left-hand pane of the designer screen and click on the Run and preview process button run and preview process button. From here, your process will display in a preview window only to you or to other Process/workspace security users that have access to the design. For more on this, see Security.

    Process preview button in left hand pane

  2. Within the process preview window, you can enter information as expected and the rules will execute on fields/buttons - the window displaying as a process instance, similar to when it will when published.

  3. You can utilise the Rule debugger feature for troubleshooting purposes by clicking on the Enable / Disable Rule debugging button rule debugger button in the top right corner of the window.

    rule debugger in the preview window
  4. You can preview the process design from the perspective of different devices by clicking on the Device preview buttons to the right of the Rule debugger button. This feature will visualise how your process design is dynamic and responsive on a myriad of devices.

    Preview devices buttons

    The buttons are as follows:

    • Desktop preview desktop preview button - displays the process instance as it would look on a desktop device.

    • Tablet preview Tablet preview button - displays the process instance as it would look on a tablet device.

      tablet preview screen
    • Mobile preview Mobile preview button - displays the process instance as it would look on a mobile device.

      Mobile preview screen

    Note: If you select Tablet preview or Mobile preview, a Rotate device button rotate device button will appear in the top right-hand corner. Clicking on this button will rotate the device screen from portrait to landscape and vice versa in the preview window.

    Rotate screen

  5. When you are finished previewing your process design, click on the Exit preview mode button Exit preview mode button in the top right-hand corner of the previewer window.

You can then choose to make further changes to your process, or continue to save and publish your design for your organisation to view/use.

What’s next Idea icon

Now that you’ve learned about the Previewer, find out more about other designer features:

2.1.2 - Version history

How to manage process versions in Kianda.

Introduction

As an Administrator or someone with the role Design business process, you can update process designs as often as you need. The Version number of a process will be updated every time a process design is saved by clicking on Save Save button.

The current or active version of a process is always visible in the right-hand pane, for example V0.34 for the ‘Inspection Process’ as shown below.

Process version history

The first version of a process is 0.1 and will increment to 0.2 and so on, each time a process is saved. Once the process is published the version changes to 1.0 and increments with each publication.

So for example a first click on the Publish button Publish button for the process above will make the version V1.0.

Right-hand pane

If the process is subsequently saved, then the next version will be V1.1 and the next published version will be V2.0.

Using versioning makes it is easy to keep track of changes and to restore the design to an older version if needed.

How to get started with Version history

  1. To view the version history click on the Design version history button which may look like V0.1 or whatever is the current version for your process, for example View design version history or Version 0.8.

  2. A pop-up shows the version history details including when the version was created and who created it.

    In the example below, there are 8 versions of the process, all are drafts indicated by the 0 in front, such as 0.8.

    Version history details

  3. Click on a particular version to see the version information, for example forms, fields and rules that were added, modified or removed.

    Version history details example

  4. Click on OK or Close to exit the dialog box, or click on the arrow button Back arrow to go back to the full list of versions.

  5. Click on the Restore button Restore button beside a particular version and then click on Ok to confirm that you want to restore to that version.

    Note: the new version of the process will increment following a ‘restore’ in this example to V0.9, however the Version history details dialog box will denote that the version is a restored version.

    Restored version

  6. When you are ready to exit the Version history details dialog box, click on OK or Close.

What’s next Idea icon

Click on the links to find out more about aspects of Kianda Designer, namely Processes and Forms.

2.2 - Form basics

Introduction

Processes in Kianda are made up of forms. Forms contain all the buttons, fields, and rule triggers needed to execute your process.

Using your Administrator or Design business process role, you will use Kianda Designer to design forms for end users who will use the platform to submit, save and review information, either as named users in the platform, users who receive a link to an anonymous form, or partners who can access shared processes. These end users will create new process instances or records in the system, or access existing process instances which shows information that has either been saved or submitted in a form.

When discussing forms we’ll talk about form design that is creating and updating forms within a process using Kianda Designer as well form use which refers to end users who will edit or read forms in a process instance/record in the system, built using the Designer.

Form design principles

As you work with Kianda Designer you are designing the ‘user interface’ for users to interact with a particular process. Keeping the end user in mind, there are three design principles:

  1. Reading modes: Form users can either use/access forms in edit mode or read mode. Edit mode means that users can submit information, while read mode means that users can only view forms. The latter may be useful for example for certain staff to review customer feedback in a form, but not be able to change/edit the feedback form.

  2. Current form: Typically there are several forms in a process, and by default the first form in a process is the current form.

    Three form process example

    For example in the Training Attendance Process above, the process flow is as follows:

    • Training Request - an employee initiates a process instance by filling out this form

    • Training Approval - the manager approves the request using this form

    • Training Attendance - when training approval occurs, a trainer invites the employee to attend training and once complete, the trainer completes a this form to evaluate the employee’s participation.

      Therefore when a process instance is initiated upon submission of the Training Request form, then the next form in the process becomes the current form, in this case the Training Approval form.

      Only the form that has the status ‘current form’ is editable by a form owner (see point 3 below). In a complex multi-step process, several forms can be configured to activate with the current form, meaning they are also editable at the same time, creating a form group, see section 2 of New form creation. Rules can also be used to change the workflow and make other forms the ‘current form’.

      Also note that all first forms in a process flow add the current user as a ‘form owner’ therefore allowing all users to edit the first form, as clicking on ‘submit’ or ‘save’ in the first form results in a new process instance.

  3. Form owner: The default owner is the person or group that the form is assigned to, this means they can edit the current form(s) in a process instance. Default owners are typically set when a form is created, see section 1 of New form creation below. By default, only this person or group can edit the current form in a process instance. All other users can only view forms in read mode. The default owner however can reassign forms to other individuals and/or groups. Form ownership can also be assigned dynamically using the Assign form rule.

These three considerations are established when the form is created, as seen in the dialog box below, and these parameters can be updated at any time by editing the form design. These properties can also change dynamically as a result of implementing rules, for example the Go to form rule can change the workflow in a process.

New form creation

As mentioned in the Introduction there are certain considerations to keep in mind when working with forms. The image below shows a New form dialog box that is created when the Add form button is clicked in Kianda Designer. At any time if you click on a form and then the Edit/pen button Edit/pen button an Edit form dialog box appears which has the same parameters as the one shown in the image below.

New form dialog box

img

New form considerations
  1. The Default owner(s) field is where you can set individuals and groups as the default form owners who can edit the form.
  2. Activate with means that the form can be activated with other forms within the process, so they can be edited at the same time. This means several forms become the current form in a form group.
  3. Submit mode means that when a process instance is running you can choose only this form to be submitted, or you can choose all forms in edit mode meaning that several forms could have their details submitted or saved.
  4. Enable quick actions allows you to statically enable a) reassignment, b) edit, and c) custom actions on any form. For a) and b) you can choose individuals and/or groups who can reassign or edit forms. In the case of b) edit there are options to hide form footer buttons when editing, and to trigger rules on save against a set field when saving edits. For c) custom actions, you can set your own custom action and create an action label against a particular form field. This means that the user(s) assigning the custom action will see the labelled action designated for them. As a designer you can choose the action display mode as read-only, edit or both, so you can decide what type of access the user(s) will have.

What’s next Idea icon

We have briefly introduced the principles of working with forms. To read more about working with forms, click on the links below:

2.2.1 - Form owners

Introduction

When creating forms, it is important to consider form access during the design phase, that is who can access and edit forms in a process instance. For example if an employee submits a performance review form, a line manager may wish to access that submitted process instance/record and edit the form, adding in comments and performance grades.

There are two key principles to keep in mind in terms of form access:

  1. Forms are assignable - this means that forms can be assigned to individuals and/or groups, and then only they can edit the form, when it is the current form, in a process instance. The ‘assignee’ can be a combination of users and groups. There are various ways a form can be assigned to a user:

    ​ a) Using Rules, in particular the Workflow rule Assign form, see Assign form for details

    ​ b) Using Quick actions, see Form Quick action for details

    ​ c) Creating form owners when creating or updating a process design, see Creating form owners for details

  2. Only form owners can edit a given form when it is a current form in a process flow by default. Any other user with access to view the form will see it in read-only mode.

So what is form owner? A form owner is assigned when a form is created in Kianda Designer. Form owners can also be added to a form design at a later stage by editing the form. Only the form owner will be able to edit current forms in process instances (records), see below.

Getting started with Form owners

Creating form owners

  1. Click on a process by going to Administration > Designer and click on an existing process or create a new process by clicking on Add new and complete the Add new process dialog box.
  2. Then within Kianda Designer click on a form of interest and then click on the Edit/(Pen) Edit/Pen button button for that form.
  3. In the New form/Edit form dialog box you can add form owners in the Default owner(s) field.

Partner account details attributes

​ Using the dropdown list choose from:

  • Users - Users must already be in the system, see Users & Groups
  • Groups - Groups must be defined in advance, see Users & Groups
  • Partners - Partners must be already in the system and active, see B2B portals
  1. If you make a mistake, or form owners need to be changed in an existing process, click on the x beside the name of the Users, Groups or Partners to remove them and choose from the dropdown list again.
  2. Add to or edit the remaining parameters in the dialog box as desired, see Editing forms and click on OK when complete, or Close to exit the dialog box at any time.

Changing form access

The default owner is the person or group that the form is assigned to using the default owner field in the new form dialog box as shown above. By default, only this person or group can edit the current form in a process instance. All other users can only view forms in read mode. The next section details how to Change default owners.

It is also possible to allow other users to have edit access to forms using the Assign rule and Quick actions.

Changing default owners

  1. Using your Administration or Design business process role, go to Administration > Designer > select a process > select a form in the process.

  2. Click on the form so the Edit/Pen button appears in the form name.

    Select form to edit

  3. Then click on the Edit/Pen button itself to edit the form.

  4. An Edit form dialog box opens which has the same layout as the New form dialog box seen in Creating form owners above.

    Edit form dialog box

  5. Here you can change the default owner choosing from Users, Groups and Partners as before.

What’s next Idea icon

To learn more about rules including Assign rule go to Rules.

To find out how forms work within processes go to Process.

2.2.2 - Form display modes

Introduction

Remember there are three principles to consider when working with forms:

  • Reading modes: Form users can either use forms in edit mode or read mode. Edit mode means that users can submit information, while read mode means that users can only view forms. The latter may be useful for example for certain staff to review feedback in a form, but not be able to edit/update it.
  • Form owner: The default owner is the person or group that the form is assigned to when the the form is created. By default, only this person or group can edit the current form. All other users can only view forms in read mode. The default owner however can reassign forms to other individuals and/or groups.
  • Current form: Typically there are several forms in a process, and only the form that has the status ‘current form’ is editable. However, in a complex multi-step process, other forms can be configured to activate with the current form, meaning they can also become editable at the same time, creating a form group.

These three considerations are established when the form is created, as seen in the dialog box below.

New form dialog box

New form dialog box

These properties can also change dynamically as a result of rules being applied, see Rules.

Setting display modes statically

Remember forms in process instances are either in edit mode meaning they can be edited/changed or read mode where the details are visible to form users but cannot be changed. The actions below refer to making forms editable so if the actions below are not used, then the forms are in read mode. The actions below refer to static or fixed use, set when the form is first created or updated at a later time.

  1. Forms in process instances will be editable for Default owner(s), that is the form owners defined when the form is created, or a form is edited. Form owners are defined in the New form/Edit form dialog box, shown in part 1 of the image above. When a process instance runs, the form owner can then edit the form in that instance.

  2. By default the first form in a process becomes the current form, so only this form will be editable. However if several forms are activated with the current form when the form is created or edited in the New form/Edit form dialog box shown above, then all forms in that group will be editable by the form owner in a process instance.

  3. By default the Submit mode for forms is Only this form meaning that when a process instance is running you can choose only that particular form can have details submitted or saved. Alternatively you can choose all forms in edit mode, meaning that several forms can have their details submitted or saved. For example if several forms are activated together and all are in edit mode then the details of all these forms can be submitted together in the database.

  4. Forms can be statically set to allow Quick actions including allowing editing. When a form is created or edited using the New form/Edit form dialog box, clicking on Enable quick actions allows you to statically enable:

    a) reassignment of forms

    b) editing of forms

    c) custom actions on any form

    For a) and b) you can choose individuals and/or groups who can reassign or edit forms. In the case of b) edit there are options to hide form footer buttons when editing, and to trigger rules on save against a set field when saving edits.

    Enable edit action

    For c) custom actions, you can set your own custom action and create an action label against a particular form field. This means that the user(s) assigning the custom action will see the labelled action designated for them. As a designer you can choose the action display mode as read-only, edit or both, so you can decide what type of access the user(s) will have.

Changing form display dynamically with rules

If you use the Form action rule called Field display mode, you can change how a field or form displays dynamically. For example you have a condition set that the display will change based on the condition being present or not.

When you add this rule, under Action you can choose a field or form and choose from Edit mode or Read mode.

Field display rule

For more information on this rule go to Field Display mode rule.

Other rules can be used in other ways to change process workflow and therefore how forms behave. For example using the Assign form rule you can assign a form to a particular user, making them the form owner, and therefore giving them edit access to the form.

What’s next Idea icon

To read more about form ownership go to Form owner. To read more about quick actions, go to Form quick actions menu.

2.2.3 - Form quick actions menu

Introduction

The Form quick action menu will appear to designated users as a quick action menu option in the top right-hand corner of a form.

Depending on what type of quick actions are enabled and if you are assigned quick actions as a form user,, then you will see options when you click on the quick action button Quick action menu, for example to reassign a form to someone else, or to perform a custom action like signing off on a purchase order.

Quick action menu

How to get started

To enable quick actions, click on a process with Kianda Designer and then a form of choice so that the Edit (Pen) icon is visible.

  1. Click on the Edit pen icon to edit a form.

  2. In the Edit form dialog box, check the checkbox beside Enable quick actions.

  3. When you select Enable quick actions then you have three options to select:

    • Enable re-assign - allows a form in a process instance to be reassigned to a by a designated person/group
    • Enable edit - allows a form in a process instance to be edited by a designated person/group
    • Enable custom action - allows a form in a process instance to have customised actions associated with it, and these actions are assigned to a designated person/group

    Quick action menu

    Check the checkbox beside the desired action as necessary. Each option is further explored below.

Enable reassignment

When you check a checkbox for example Enable re-assign then you can click on the Ellipsis button Ellipsis buttonthen you can select Users, Groups and Partners who can be chosen to reassign the form to. There is also a checkbox to allow form owners to reassign forms to other users.

Re-assign action settings

Enable edit

This opens the Action settings dialog box, such as the Edit action settings box shown in the image below.

Edit action settings

  1. Choose from the options in the action settings dialog box:

    • Edit action users - select the Users, Groups or Partners who will use the action
    • Allow form owners - allows form owners to use the action
    • When editing auto hide form footer buttons - hides form footer buttons when users are editing forms in a process instance
    • Trigger rules on save - allows rules to be triggered when a form is saved/submitted. In this case, select the button name used as the trigger in the Save action field
  2. Click on OK when complete or Close to exit the dialog box.

Trigger rule quick action

Enable custom action

If you check Enable custom action users who have been selected using the Users, Groups and Partners option, will be able to perform a customised action on a form, defined using the dialog box within this section.

What’s next Idea icon

To read more about how to create processes and forms go to Application Designer.

To find out about help and support, go to Help.

2.2.4 - Form responsive layout

Responsive layout refers to the fact that all forms will display equally well on laptop screens, tablets and mobile phone screens. As a form designer you can set the appearance of form fields using the layout function.

How to get started

Within Kianda Designer, click on a process, then a form of choice so that the Edit (Pen) icon is visible.

  1. Click on a field of choice within the form so the Edit (Pen) icon Edit pen icon is visible for the field.
  2. Click on the Edit (Pen) icon button for the field.
  3. Click on Layout under Field properties in the right-hand pane. Layout property
  4. Click on the ExpandLayout expand button within Layout to see desktop layout see Layout bar and Mobile Layout for the field.
  5. Click on the blue bars to extend the size of the field, for example in the image above, the desktop layout is 50% of the maximum width available, so the field ‘Department Manager’ would only take up half the width of the form. The mobile layout however is set to 100% and the field would take up the maximum width available. There are 12 possible width options that can be used within these bars.
  6. Click on the Collapse button to minimise the Layout property.

What’s next Idea icon

To read more about how to create processes and forms go to Application Designer.

To find out about help and support, go to Help.

2.3 - Getting started with Kianda processes

The power of Kianda lies in giving anyone, even those without coding experience, the ability to design a business application or process quickly and efficiently, for example, this process could be a Quality Assurance checklist that installation engineers must follow on site using a mobile app or it could be a HR process to allow employees to submit annual leave requests and approve these online. Processes can connect to your data sources like Sharepoint or SalesForce allowing for the flexibility of your applications to grow as your business grows.

Each process can be linked to dashboards so you can see at a glance, for example, how many leave requests were submitted, purchase orders approved and so on. And you can customise all of these processes the way you want.

Before you begin, we at Kianda recommend doing some simple planning before you design your process. It could be something as simple as a quick flow chart or a spreadsheet where you quickly log the key components, fields or rules that should be needed in the process.

Creating processes

  1. To start creating your first process, go to the side menu on the left of the screen and click on Administration > Designer.

  2. To create processes you can:

  3. When you have created your process(es) go to Editing processes to find out how to start adding forms.

  4. You can also export any processes for backup and reuse, see Exporting processes.

Using the App Store

  1. You can choose from Kianda’s process templates by clicking on the App Store button App Store button.

  2. Choose from General, IT, Customer Services, Finance, Travel, Quality and Accounting apps by clicking on the relevant button in the left-hand pane and then select an app from within that category, for example Customer Support Queries.

    App Store General Apps

  3. You can click on Read More to read about the app and click on Import Process App to import the process.

    Customer Support Queries App

  4. If the process is an existing process, you can choose to override the existing process by clicking Yes or if not, click No. Change the Title and Name of the process as needed, for example Customer Queries, and click on Next.

    Override existing processes

  5. The system will report datasources being imported. Click on Next.

    Import business processes

  6. Select dashboards to be included by checking the checkbox beside dashboards you want to import. In each case you can decide to override the existing dashboards by clicking on Yes or if not No. Click on Next.

    Import dashboards

  7. You will see a summary of what is about to be imported. Click on Import to execute the import.

  8. Imported processes are available to view and edit from the main process view.

  9. When you have created your process go to Designer to find out more on how to add and change forms within your process(es).

Creating your own processes

  1. To create your own process, click on the Add new button Add new process button . Note that if you click on the arrow on the button, you have options to create a Process, a Component or Create from datasource.

    Add new process options

    • A Process is a complete set of forms that encapsulates a business process for example, Purchase Order Approval.

    • A Component is a part of a business process, and you can decide your approach and how you want to order and present forms.

    • Create from datasource refers to using a particular data source and elements within that datasource tree, for example if you choose Kianda pre-defined processes then when you select Kianda you can see all the processes that are already imported into your system as shown on the right in the image below.

      Kianda data source

      Click on the OK button when you are finished to save your work, or click on Close to exit the dialog box.

  2. The following edit options are available:

    • Title - of the process, for example Annual Leave Approval

    • ID - this is a unique name for the field

    • Description - a description of the process

    • Group - a defined group of users for example HR Managers. If you choose ‘Create new group’, a further field New group name will be displayed, where you will enter the new group’s name.

    • Administrators - choose from a) Users or b) Groups

      These are the users or groups who will act as administrators for the process, for example to edit or delete the process. For example if you click on Users and click in the Administrators field you will see a list of all the users who are approved to administrate this process.

      Admin users

  3. Click on the OK button when you are finished to save your work, or click on Close to exit the dialog box.

  4. When you have created your process go to Designer to find out more on how to add forms to your process(es).

Importing processes

  1. If you already have Kianda processes, you can also import these by clicking on the Import button Import process button.

  2. Click on the Browse Process App button browse brocess app button to browse for Kianda files.

  3. Select the files you want, for example quarterly-training-request.kianda and click on Open.

    Importing processes
  4. If the process name is an already existing process in your environment, then this new process will override it. However, if the process name does not match any current process, a new process will be created. Change the Title and Name of the process as needed and click on Next.

    Override existing processes
  5. The system will report any datasources being imported. Click on Next.

    Import business processes

  6. Under Dashboards to be included, you can view the Title and Name of the dashboards that are present in the Kianda file. If this dashboard already exists in your environment, then including this dashboard in your upload will overwrite it. If this dashboard does not currently exist, then it will create a new dashboard. When finished, click on Next.

    Import dashboards

  7. Under Included custom widgets, you can view the title of the custom widgets that are included within the Kianda file being imported. In this example, a Custom dashboard widget is included for use within the User Training Dashboard. Click on Next to continue.

    User Training Dashboard Widget

  8. You will see a summary of what is about to be imported. Click on Import to execute the import.

    Import summary

  9. Imported processes are available to view and edit from the main process view.

  10. When you have imported your process(es) go to Designer to find out more on how to edit or add forms to your process(es).

Editing processes

  1. When processes are created they are available to view and to edit from the central view panel found within Administration > Designer.

    Process created

    Information related to your processes, is found in this panel, for example who created the process, and when, the version of the process and a description if it exists.

  2. The first version of a process is 0.1 and will increment to 0.2 and so on, each time a process is updated. Once the process is published the version changes to 1.0 and increments with each publication. This makes it is easy to keep track of who made changes and when, and to restore an older version if needed. You can also search for processes by typing your keywords into the search bar.

  3. At any time you can edit the Title, Description, Group and Administrators of the process by clicking on the Pen button Pen icon beside your process of choice.

  4. At any time you can delete a process by clicking on the Bin/Trash button Bin icon and then click on Ok after you have reviewed the process title and you are sure that this is what you want to delete. Click on Cancel if you wish to cancel the deletion.

  5. Once you have created your process, you are ready to add forms. Go to Designer to find out more on how to add and change forms within your process(es).

Exporting processes

  1. You can export any processes, by clicking on the Export button Export Process and select a process to export from the dropdown list. Click on Next when you have selected your desired process.

    Export processes

  2. The system will report what datasources are included. Click on Next.

    Exporting business processes with datasources

  3. Select dashboards to be included by checking the checkbox beside dashboards you want to export. Click on Next.

    Export business processes

  4. Under Include custom widgets?, you check the checkbox beside the displayed custom widget(s) to include this custom widget within the exported Kianda file. In this example, a Custom dashboard widget is included for use within the User Training Dashboard. Click on Next to continue.

    Custom widget include

  5. The final screen displays a confirmation message communicating that the process is now ready for export. Click on the Export button Export button to export the Kianda file.

  6. The result is a downloadable file of type .kianda. This can be kept as a backup on a separate system and imported into other Kianda instances as needed.

    Exported files

What’s next Idea icon

We have briefly introduced how to create, edit and export processes. To read more about process instances and settings go to the links below:

2.3.1 - Process instance

Introduction

Kianda processes are made up of forms, which in turn contain fields or controls and rules. Fields are used to take in user input, make calculations, display values and so on, and rules are used to execute actions to drive the process.

Kianda Designer is used to create these forms and form elements within a process. Each process in Kianda Designer will have it’s own unique link or URL and this can be shared with other form designers for co-creation, for example, for a process named ‘Training process’ the link is:

https://green-itr.kianda.com/admin/designer/training-process

Process instances

When your process is created in Kianda Designer, you can save the process, and then submit data to that process. When you save or submit data, then an instance of the process is created. Another name for a process instance is a record. This instance is tied to user data or calculated values, or to whatever the process is designed to do.

The instance has a unique ID which can be seen in a list widget in a dashboard. For example, this List widget displays the individual records of various training requests submitted by employees. The unique ID for each record is shown in the first column. Form owners or those with security access can click on ID ‘training-request-and-feedback-process-26’ to view the training request form completed and submitted by employee Mark Donnelli.

List widget in a dashboard showing process instances

Process instance example

This means that each new record generated by a process will have its own unique URL that can be shared with those who have the required security access and need to be involved in that particular process instance. For example, in this case, the training request submitted by Mark (an employee) may be viewed and approved by his line manager:

https://green-itr.kianda.com/forms/training-request-and-feedback-process-26

You can create a link on your dashboard – in the example shown above, the Start new process button at the top right of the Training Requests list widget – that enables you to create a new record by bringing you into the relevant form. For information on creating list widgets go to List widget.

If you commit to the process by submitting or saving information, then the result is a new process instance – that is, a new unique record – which will be seen in a list widget in the dashboard, as seen in the image above.

Keeping in mind that Designer is used to create processes, and that each ‘run’ of the process design results in a unique process instance or record, will help you later on when designing forms and dashboards. See Process settings for more details on process settings and parameters and Dashboards for more information on dashboards.

2.3.2 - Process settings

Introduction

There are a number of properties and settings that you can implement to your process and forms.

Settings and properties

Process and form properties

Settings are available from the right-hand pane and give you the ability to:

  • Import processes

  • View Version history

  • Change Process settings Settings button.

  • Edit form information by selecting a form and clicking on the Pen button Pen icon.

  • Change a field to another field by clicking on Change field

  • Create a duplicate form by selecting a form, clicking on the Clone button Clone button and then click on Ok. A version called ‘Form Name Copy’ is created and available to edit on the canvas. The Clone button can also be used to clone form elements like controls or buttons.

  • Delete a form by selecting a form, clicking on the Bin/Trash button Bin icon and then click on Ok after you have reviewed the form title and you are sure this is what you want to delete. Click on Cancel if you wish to cancel the deletion.

  • View and edit Form properties and rules.

Process settings

You can edit process settings by clicking on the Settings button Settings button in the right-hand pane. Process settings

Within process settings, there are four tabs to navigate to:

1. General:

Process settings general tab

  • Process ID Settings - choose from a) Default or b) Custom and use a combination of [ProcessName]-[UniqueNumber]-[FieldName]

  • On load rules execution mode - options are a) Always b) When in edit mode or c) When open new. The default setting is Always.

  • Enable form assignment notification? - options are a) Yes or b) No

  • Prevent closing instance with unsaved data? - options are a) Yes or b) No

  • Enable process navigator? - options are a) Yes or b) No. If you select Yes, the Process navigator tab will appear in the right hand panel, allowing you to quickly snap to and view desired form controls and rules.

    Process navigator panel

    Process navigator selection

2. Security:

Process settings security tab

  • Enable process security - if you tick the checkbox, can allow certain Users, Groups or Partners to have certain privileges related to the radio button options to create, assign and view as shown below. The default setting is Security users can create, assign to can update, everyone else can view.

  • Instance delete settings - options are a) Any user can delete b) Creator can delete c) “Current form owner” can delete d) “Security users” can delete e) “Admins only” can delete. The default setting is Creator can delete.

3. Tabs:

Process settings tabs tab

  • Hide form tabs - gives you the ability to hide form tabs, options are a) Yes or b) No

  • Hide left nav - gives you the ability to hide navigation elements, options are a) Yes or b) No

  • Enable mobile navigation? - options are a) Yes or b) No

  • Selected tab theme - choose from Navy, Green, Blue, Amber, Red or White as a colour when a form is selected.

  • Completed tab theme - choose from Navy, Green, Blue, Amber, Red or White as a colour when a form is completed.

4. Anonymous Form:

Link for external users

  • Enable anonymous sharing of forms - gives you the ability to share forms with people outside your organisation for example a feedback form or GDPR subject access request. Options are a) Yes or b) No. If you click on Yes there are various options that you can add:

    • Click on New link to generate a new anonymous form link to share with users and click on Edit to change the link.
    • Message to display after anonymous submission - to add a display message.
    • Hide form topbar - checkbox to hide the form topbar.
    • Force authenticated user to log out - options are a) Yes or b) No to force the authenticated user to log out once the form is submitted. If No is selected, you can choose to Redirect authenticated user to:
      • Process URL
      • Workspace Home
      • The result is a globally available link to allow external users to create a new instance. You can use the Anonymous form link Rule to generate a new anonymous link at runtime that will point to an existing process instance that can be shared with external users.

When you are finished editing the process settings:

  1. Click on the OK button OK button to save your changes or click on Close to exit the dialog box without saving.
  2. Click on the Exit button Exit process to go back to the process list, the Save button Save button to save your work, the Preview button Preview to preview what you have created and the Publish button Publish button to publish your work.

What’s next Idea icon

  • To learn more about rules and controls that can be applied to forms go to Controls and Rules.
  • To learn more about properties, go to Properties.

2.3.3 - Process properties

Every process, form and control, such as text boxes and lists, will have properties visible in the right-hand pane of the Designer view.

Process properties

When you go to Administration > Designer > click on a process > Process properties in the right-hand pane, you will see the properties for the chosen process.

The following properties are visible:

  • Title - the title of process for example Quarterly Training Request
  • Page layout - you can click on Wide Wide button or Narrow Narrow button to change the layout. Process and form properties

In the image above, the process ‘Quarterly Training Request’ has 2 forms ‘Training Request’ and ‘Training Approval’. Clicking on one of these forms will show the Form properties.

Form properties

When you click on a form, the Form properties appear in the right-hand pane.

Form properties

The following properties are visible:

  • Title - the form title, for example Training Request

  • Visible - click on this checkbox if you want the form to be visible to users

  • Show info - click on this checkbox if you want to show information, for example who are the form owners, the design version and when the form was started and completed. This information will pop up at the bottom of the form.

    Form information

Underneath form properties you will see Form submit rules, go to Rules to find out more about Form rules.

Click on a control field, for example a text box, in the form to see Field properties.

Field properties

When you click on any field, such as User picker, list or text box, the field properties appear in the right-hand pane. Field properties

The Field type, in the example above, Text box, is shown along with the Title of the field, in the example above, this is Employee Name.

The options within properties are:

  • Show Title - show the title of the field
  • Required - tick this checkbox to make this field mandatory for users to fill out
  • Enabled - tick this checkbox to make the field enabled for users to fill out
  • Visible - tick this checkbox to make the field visible to users
  • Layout - change the width of the field by clicking on the bar in the Layout box until you see the desired size. Click on the arrow beside Layout to see the Mobile Layout and click on the bar to change the width of the text box for mobile use.

Changing text box width

Underneath field properties you will see Rules, go to Rules to find out more about Field rules.

2.3.4 - Process common fields

Introduction

Within every process, there are forms and forms contain fields. The fields you add in, such as a text box, list or button are called Design fields. For example as seen in Field properties you can change properties for a textbox field, like making the field Required and Visible for form users as shown in the image below for the Training Request form field called ‘Employee Name’

.

These design fields are also apparent when creating dashboards, for example list widgets. In the example below we can see the Design fields highlighted that are found in the Training Request form. These highlighted fields like Employee Name will appear in the list widget in the dashboard.

Example of design fields in a list widget

Clicking on List fields in list widget shown above will show all the fields that will appear in the widget.

List field example

Note that non Design fields are also included in the fields to display, namely ID, Process Name and Modified fields. These fields are part of the set of Common fields associated with all Kianda processes.

Common fields

The non-design fields associated with all Kianda processes are listed below. It is useful to keep these fields in mind when designing forms, as they can be used to retrieve, store or display values from process instances for example Status which is the status of a process instance. Using these ‘internal values’ could be useful where the status of one process could be used as a condition to trigger the start of another process, for example using the Start a process rule.

The common fields associated with process instances are:

Field nameExplanation
IDThis is the process instance ID, labelled as ‘process-name-number’, for example ‘safety-inspection-8’. This ID is part of the URL that brings you to the process instance/record held on the system when information is either submitted or saved. For example clicking on the process instance ID ‘safety-inspection-8’ in a dashboard brings you to the form for example ‘https://green-itr.kianda.com/forms/safety-inspection-8'.
Unique IDThis is a system generated ID for each process instance, a 32 letter and number generated value.
StatusThis is the status for the process instance, that is either a ‘form name’ or ‘Completed’. Completed indicates that all forms in a process have been submitted, while ‘form name’ indicates what the active form is in the process, that is, where the process is ‘at’. For example in a process of two forms, a Request form and an Approval form. Once the Request form has been submitted then the status for a process is ‘Approval form’ indicating that this form needs to be completed.
VersionThis is the process instance version number that starts as 1.0. If a process instance is updated, for example if a process design is updated and published and process instances are updated with the change, then the next version of the instance will be 2.0.
Process VersionThis is the process design version, that is the version of the process design that has been used as a template for the process instance.
Process NameThis is the Unique ID name that comes from the process design that is the template for the process instance. The ID is created when the process is created. The ID field autofills from the title of the process as shown in Create your first process.
Process TitleThis is the Process title that comes from the process design title, created when the process is created or updated, for example see Create your first process.
CreatedThis is a date and time stamp when the process instance is created.
Created byThis is the user name of the user who created the process instance.
ModifiedThis is the date and time stamp when the process instance is modified, for example after a process design is published and existing process instances are updated.
Modified byThis is the user name of the user who modified the process instance.
Assign toThis is the user name of the user who a process is assigned to. Process designs may have a static option for reassignment in their design so that process instances can be reassigned using Quick actions. Alternatively the Assign form rule can be used to dynamically assign form ownership to another user. That user is named in the Assign to field.
Security usersThese are the named security users, defined using Process settings by selecting Enable process security and naming Process security users which can be Users, Groups and/or Partners.

What’s next Idea icon

  • To learn more about design controls that can be applied to forms go to Controls.
  • To learn more about how common fields are displayed in dashboards in a list widget go to List widget.

2.3.5 - Process navigator

Process navigator can be found in each process design in the right-hand pane. The navigator is used to help you navigate to fields and rules that are present within you process. By clicking on a field for example, you will be navigated specifically to where the field is within your process while also highlighting the field with a border for a short period of time. You can also do the same for rules, once you click on a rule in the navigator, you will be brought to the form where the rule is located and it will highlight the specific field that the rule is attached to.

The very useful feature of the process navigator is its search bar. With big processes that contain many forms, fields and rules can be overwhelming and time consuming to look for a particular filed or rule. You can simply type in the name of the filed/rule and options will appear under the Process Navigator

How to turn on the process navigator

By default the process navigator is turned off within each process design. To turn the process navigator on:

  1. First, navigate to the desired process by going to Administrator > Designer > click on desired process.

  2. Go to Settings of the process found on the right-hand pane.

    Process settings

  3. In the General tab of the Process Settings dialog box, select Yes on the Enable process navigator.

  4. Click OK on the dialog box.

  5. Click process save Process and form properties button.

How to use the process navigator

When you have your process navigator turned on, you will be able to see it on the right-hand pane underneath the rules tab.

Process and form properties

How to navigate to a field/rule

  1. Click on the Process navigator tab to expand it. This will allow you to see all forms that are present within your process.

  2. Expand a form in which the desired field is located by clicking on the plus, or simply type in the name of the field into the process navigator search bar.

    expand form in process navigator

  3. Click on the field you wish to navigate to. The navigator will jump straight into the form that the field is in and the field itself will be highlighted for a brief period of time. See the image below for an example when navigating to a Comments field within a process design:

    Filed highlight from a process navigator

How to search for a filed/rule

The very useful feature of the process navigator is its search bar. With big processes that contain many forms, fields and rules can be overwhelming and time consuming to look for a particular filed or rule. You can simply type in the name of the filed/rule and options will appear under the Process navigator.

  1. In the provided search textbox of the process navigator, type in the Name of the filed or rule your trying to navigate to.

  2. Once you start typing, fields and rules will start to show that contain the text within the search textbox.

    Search function of the process navigator

    In the above image you can see that when the word date is entered, all fields and rules that contain the word date will show in the process navigator. You can then click on the desired field/rule for the navigator to navigate you to the location.

What’s next Idea icon

  • To learn more about design controls that can be applied to forms go to Controls.

2.4 - Component

Introduction

A Kianda component acts like a smaller version of a process made up of various control fields and rules. You can reuse the component in your process designs to save you time and effort when creating each field and rule combination from the beginning. Within the component you can add all preconfigured control types and rules to match your needs, as well as customised field and rules found under Custom. Creating a component will significantly speed up your process creation time if some of your processes demand the same fields and logic. For example if a lot of your processes have sections in common, for example a Personal Details section where a user needs to fill in their first and last name, email, job role, and phone number. To save process creation time, you can create a component with those exact fields and rules you need and then use the component in various process designs.

The component you create can be updated at any time. Once you publish your component it can be used in any process of your choice and any processes that already use your component will be automatically updated.

How to get started

How to create a new component

  1. From the home page, navigate to Administrator > Designer.

  2. When you are in the Process designer screen navigate your mouse to the Idea icon button and click the down arrow.

    Idea icon

  3. In the dropdown menu click on Component.

    Idea icon

  4. In the Add new component dialog box, fill in the following detail:

    Idea icon

    • Title - represents the title of your component.
    • ID - represents the unique id of the component. Ensure that the ID entered here is unique across all components and processes.
    • Description - enter a valid description of the component you are creating.
    • Group - using this drop-down list, you can add your component to a existing group or create a new one.
    • Administrators - select the appropriate component administrators from , to read more about process and component administrators visit Process security.
  5. Click on OK when you are finished filling out the detail. You will be automatically moved to the component designer screen.

Editing an existing component

  1. From the home page, navigate to Administrator > Designer.

  2. In the Process designer screen, navigate to the folder (if used) where your component is click the Edit button Idea icon. Note that the type will state Component within the list of all processes and components.

    Edit component

  3. The Edit component dialog will appear allowing you to change some of the detail which include:

    • Title
    • Description
    • Group
    • Administrators
  4. When you are happy with the changes made to the details, click on OK.

Accessing an existing component

  1. From the home page, navigate to Administrator > Designer.

  2. In the Process designer screen, in the list of processes, components and folders, navigate to the until you see your component and click on the title.

    Edit component

  3. You will be navigated to the component designer screen.

What’s next Idea icon

  • To read more about field control visit Controls.
  • To read more about rules visit Rules.

2.5 - Create from Datasource

Introduction

The Create from Datasource feature allows you to create a process using a Datasource of your choice where the datasource elements will populate your Kianda form. Note that the datasource is already created within your platform within the Administration > Data sources section.

Using this feature serves as a way of swiftly populating your process with the relevant fields from your datasource lists so that you can increase design productivity from the beginning.

See below for an example of SharePoint columns being populated into the Kianda process as fields:

SharePoint list as datasource

How to get started

Creating a process from a datasource

  1. From the home page, navigate to Administrator > Designer.

  2. When you are in the Process designer screen navigate your mouse to the Idea icon button and click the small down arrow.

    Idea icon

  3. In the dropdown menu click on Create from datasource.

    Idea icon

  4. In the Select datasource dialog box, fill in the following details, note that these data sources must be precreated using the Datasource function under Administration:

    Idea icon

    • Replace list form with Kianda forms? - select between Yes or No, where the default option is Yes.

    • Datasources - select your datasource of choice that you would like to create the process with. The window displays data sources that are already created and connected within your Kianda platform. For more information, see Datasources. In this example we will choose a SharePoint datasource.

    • Datasource tree - once a datasource has been selected, select which elements in that datasource that you want to use in your process, for example a list or a folder. You can drill down into the tree by clicking on the main datasource node at the top and select the relevant element, and you can search the tree by using the search bar in the top right. In this example we will choose Accounts as shown in the image above.

  5. Click on OK when you are finished filling out the details. Alternatively you can click Close to exit the creation dialog.

    Note: When creating a new process from a datasource, ensure that there is not already a process with the name of the datasource list as this may cause conflicts in the unique names of the processes.

Your process will then be opened and it will detect all the fields of your selected datasource node and populate them into a form of the same name.

Idea icon

Note: If you create new list columns within your chosen datasource, these options will not be reflected within the design unless you repeat the creation process.

What’s next Idea icon

  • To read more about field control visit Controls.
  • To read more about rules visit Rules.
  • To read more about datasources visit Datasources.

3 - Controls

Controls (commonly called fields) are predefined field widgets that allow you to add specific elements to your forms and processes, such as lists, text boxes, buttons and tables. There are 16 types of controls (fields) you can add to a form - see Controls list for details.

If you have developer skills, you can create your own custom field widget - see Development for more information.

Getting started with Controls

If you go to Administration > Designer and click on an existing process or create a new process and then select a form within that process so that the Edit Form button (Pen icon Pen button) is visible, the predefined fields you can add to forms are found in the left-hand pane.

Controls

Note: By default, three buttons are automatically added to any new form created - Submit, Save and Close (as shown in this form canvas image).

There are three categories of controls (fields):

  1. Input - There are eight types of Input fields. These include the most commonly used data fields such as text box, user picker, date field, table, checkbox, drop-down and number field. See Input for more information.
  2. Layout - There are four Layout fields that serve the purpose of perfecting the layout of your form. They include responsive panels, dialog box, field groups and rich text fields - see Layout for more information.
  3. Action - There are four Action fields that allow user interface actions like buttons, links or even signature components - see Actions for more information.

If you develop custom fields, they will be available to form designers under a fourth category of controls called Custom.

Adding, moving and removing controls

To start adding controls or fields to a form:

  1. Select the form you want to work on so that the Edit Form button (Pen icon Pen button) appears.

  2. Click on a Controls category (Input, Layout or Action) and control type in the left-hand pane. For example, you could choose the Input category and select Text box to insert a text box into your form.

  3. To move a control, click on the Drag handle button Drag handle button.

  4. To remove a control from your form, select the field you want to remove, then click on the Bin/Trash button Bin icon and click on OK to confirm removal.

Editing controls

All controls/fields will have edit options when you start creating the field, as well as Field properties that you can edit to tailor the field (control) to make it work the way you want. Each field can also have rules applied to it to make your processes dynamic.

To edit a control:

  1. Click on the added control, so that the Edit button (Pen icon Pen button) appears.

  2. Then click on the Edit button itself so that the edit control dialog box appears, for example as shown with the textbox control below.

    Edit textbox example

  3. Fill out the fields within the dialog box as necessary. All controls need a Title from which a Unique Name is auto-created. This Unique ID is used in expressions to create automated emails for example.

    Edit textbox name

    Additional syntax can be added to the Unique name to attribute customised styling, see User tips.

  4. The remaining fields within the dialog box will depend on the type of control implemented, where different fields and values can be selected, see Controls list for a full set of controls. Links available at the end of this page will also bring you to each control category and from there you can find out what each parameter means for each control type.

Controls list

This table lists out the full range of available field types.

Form controls

User tip Target icon

If customised styling has been applied in a Global CSS file, available to administrators under Administration > Subscription, then these attributes can be applied to controls by entering the desired class name into the Custom CSS class name field, as shown below.

Textbox with attributes

In the example above, redField is defined in the Global CSS file as follows:

.redField{
    background-color: red;
  	color: white;
  	border-radius: 15px;
    padding-bottom: 18px;
    padding-top: 18px;
    padding-right: 15px;
}

When applied to a textbox in forms, a particular colour border with padding is applied to the field, as well as white font colour, as seen below:

Applied styling example

Go to Global CSS file for more details.

What’s next Idea icon

Now that you know what Controls are, the different types of Controls (fields) and how to add them to a form, find out more about the properties associated with Controls and more about each of the three categories of Controls, as well as Custom controls:

3.1 - Control properties

Each process, form and control (field) will have the properties associated with it displayed in the right-hand pane of the Designer view.

Process properties

When you go to Administration > Designer and then click on a process, you will see the Process properties for that process in the right-hand pane.

The Process properties include:

  • Title - the title of the process, for example Quarterly Training Request
  • Page layout - you can click on Wide Wide buttonor Narrow Narrow button to change the process layout.

Process and form properties

In the example shown here, the ‘Training Process’ has two forms: ‘Training Request’ and ‘Training Approval’. When you open the process, the Process properties are shown. If you click on one of the forms within the process, the Form properties associated with that particular form will then be shown in the right-hand pane.

Form properties

When you click on a form, the Form properties appear in the right-hand pane.

Form properties

The Form properties include:

  • Title - the form title, for example Training Request

  • Visible - click on this checkbox if you want the form to be visible to users

  • Show info - click on this checkbox if you want details (such as the form owner, the design version and when the form was started and completed) to be displayed at the bottom of the form.

Form information

Underneath the Form properties you will see Form submit rules - go to Rules to find out more about the rules that can be applied to forms.

Click on one particular field (control) in the form - for example a text box - to see the Field properties associated with that field.

Field properties

When you select any field within a form (by clicking on the field name or field drag handle button Drag handle button) - such as User picker, list or text box - the Field properties associated with that field will appear in the right-hand pane.

Field properties

In the example shown here, the Employee Name field has been selected and the Field properties associated with it include the Field type (Text box in this case) and the Title of the field.

The options within the Field properties menu are:

  • Show Title - show the title of the field

  • Required - tick this checkbox to make this field mandatory for users to fill out (this will be denoted by an asterix beside the field name)

  • Enabled - tick this checkbox to make the field enabled for users to fill out

  • Visible - tick this checkbox to make the field visible to users

  • Layout - change the width of the field by clicking on the bar in the Layout box until you see the desired size. Click on the arrow beside Layout to see the Mobile Layout and click on the bar to change the width of the field when viewed on a mobile phone. The layout is split into 12 different bootstrap grid columns (a responsive CSS framework) - for example, a layout set to 6 columns would make the element span half of the screen/canvas.

    Changing text box width

Underneath the Field properties menu, you will see Rules - go to Rules to find out more about the rules that can be applied to fields.

Saving changes and version history

Make sure to save any changes you make by clicking on the Save button Save. You will always have the option to revert back to previous versions of your form by clicking the Design Version History Version button button in the top right corner.

What’s next Idea icon

Now that you’ve learned about the Properties associated with processes, forms and fields, find out more about the different categories and types of fields (controls):

3.2 - Input controls

Input fields are one category of controls and include the most common data fields used to obtain user input - for example text boxes, lists and tables.

Getting started with Input controls

To start adding Input controls (fields) to your Kianda forms:

  1. First, either open an existing process or create a new process by going to Administration > Designer in the left side menu. See Create First Process to learn how to create your first process.

Opening Designer from left side menu by choosing Administration>Designer

  1. Once you have opened your process, select the form you want to work on (so that the Edit Form button Pen icon is shown).
  2. Click on Controls in the left-hand pane so the Controls menu expands to show the four categories of Controls (fields): Input, Layout, Actions and Custom.

Opening Controls menu to view four categories of Controls

  1. Select Input to view the eight types of Input fields:

Input fields

The eight types of input fields are:

  • Text box - A text box field is a section in your form where users can enter text, for example, an Address field. See Text box control for more information.
  • List - A list field lists information, for example from a SharePoint data source. This is particularly useful for drop-down menus, when you want a user to fill out a form and choose an item from a list. See List control for more information.
  • Number - A number field provides an input box that only allows numeric input, such as currencies or percentages. See Number control for more information.
  • Date - A date field provides a date and time picker that allows users to input both date and time. See Date control for more information.
  • File - A file field allows users to upload multiple files. Uploaded files are stored within the configured data structures or folders. See File upload control for more information.
  • Table - A table field creates a table for input in a form. This table can be filled by the user, or autofilled as part of a rule. See Table control for more information.
  • User picker - A user picker field allows users to choose from a list of users. This can be a preconfigured group (like HR Managers) or a list of users - see User picker control for more information.
  • Toggle - A toggle field can be used as a toggle or checkbox that allows users to turn on/off components of the form. See Toggle control for more information.

How to add, edit, move and delete Input fields

To insert an Input field into your form click on the field type you want to add from the Input menu.

For example, to add a new text box field, click on Text box - a pop-up message will appear saying ‘Field added’ and a new text box with the default name Text box 1 will be added to your form.

Inserting a text box field

To edit whatever type of input field you have added to your form:

  1. Select the field (by either clicking on the field name or on the Drag handle button Drag handle button)
  2. Then click on the Edit Field button (Pen icon) Pen button.
  3. The Edit Field dialog box will automatically open, providing you with a variety of options for editing the field - such as changing the Title of the field - depending on the type of Input field you are working with.

Select field to edit

To move an Input field, simply

  1. Select the field’s Drag handle button Drag handle button
  2. Drag and drop the field wherever you want to move it within your form. This example shows how you could move a Text box field in a form:

Select field drag handle

To delete an Input field from your form:

  1. Select the field (by either clicking on the field’s name or its Drag handle button Drag handle button)
  2. Click on the Bin/Trash button Bin icon
  3. Click on OK to confirm.

You can also view and edit an input field’s Field Properties by selecting the field - for more details, see Field Properties.

Saving changes and version history

Make sure to save any changes you make by clicking on the Save button Save. You will always have the option to revert back to previous versions of your form by clicking the Design Version History Version button button in the top right corner.

What’s next Idea icon

We have briefly introduced each of the eight types of Input controls. Now let’s look at each of these types of input fields in more detail:

3.2.1 - Date control

Date controls or Date fields can be inserted in a form when you want a user to be able to input a date and time by using a date and time picker.

For example, in a Training Request form, you may want the user to select the date and time of the training course they want to attend.

How to get started

  1. To add a Date field to a form, first open the relevant process.

  2. Then select the form within that process that you want to add the field to (so that the Edit Form button Edit form button is visible).

  3. Click on Controls in the left-hand pane to expand the Controls menu.

  4. Select Input to view the range of Input controls and click on Date.

    A date field will be added to your form with the default title of ‘Date 1’ and a pop-up message will say ‘Field added’.

List inside and outside a panel

The Date field has a small calendar icon on the right hand side - when the user clicks on this icon a calendar is displayed, allowing them to select a date.

List inside and outside a panel

How to edit, move and delete Date fields

To edit a Date field:

  1. Select the field (by either clicking on the field title or on the field’s Drag handle button Drag handle button).

  2. Click on the Edit field button (Pen icon) Edit field button.

    Select date field to edit

  3. The Edit field dialog box will open, enabling you to choose from a range of options.

    Edit date field dialog box

  4. Title - you can change the title of the date field.

  5. Name - This is a unique name for the field and inherits a camel case version of the entered Title.

  6. Help text - you can insert help text a user can view when completing the date field. If you add help text, a question mark Help text icon icon will appear next to the field title and, if the user clicks on this, they will see the help text you have inserted.

  7. Custom CSS class name - You can type the name of a CSS class to allow the Date to inherit specific styles defined in the Global CSS file.

  8. Display format - you can choose whether the date field shows the date only or the date and time.

  9. Allow manual entry of date format? - choosing yes will allow you to manually type in the date into the field, whereas choosing no will only allow you to utilise the date drop-down feature.

  10. Adjust to user timezone - you can select this if you want the date field to adjust to the time zone of the form user.

  11. Set default date onload - if you choose ‘Yes’, this means that the date field will automatically be populated (with a date stamp) when a user opens the form to start completing it; by default, the date that will be inserted is today’s date. If you choose ‘No’, then the user will need to manually complete the date field.

    If you choose ‘Yes’, two additional options then appear in the dialog box:

    • Default date - this is where you can choose the default date that will be automatically inserted in the form when a user opens it. You can choose from ‘Now’, ‘Today’ (which inserts today’s date and a time of 00:00 midnight) or ‘Relative from now’ (you can insert the date you want to use, in terms of the number of days, hours and minutes from now).

    • Always set date even if not empty - if you select this option, this means that the default date you’ve chosen to be automatically inserted when a user opens the form will be updated/changed each time the user goes into the form. In other words, the initial date that was inserted when the form was first opened will be replaced/updated when the user goes back into the form. If you want the date field to retain the initial date the user started to complete the form, do not tick this checkbox.

    • Enable native picker on mobile - you can choose to allow users who are completing the date field on a mobile phone to use the default pop-up date picker associated with their mobile phone.

To move a Date field, simply

  1. Select the field’s Drag handle button Drag handle button.

  2. Drag and drop the field wherever you want to move it to within your form.

    Date field drag handle

To delete a Date field from your form:

  1. Select the field (by either clicking on the field’s name or its Drag handle button Drag handle button).
  2. Click on the Bin/Trash button Bin icon.
  3. Click on OK to confirm.

How to edit Date field properties

To view or edit the field properties associated with a Date field, select the field (by clicking on the field title or field drag handle button Drag handle button) - the Field properties menu will appear in the right-hand pane.

Field properties

For example, the Field Properties associated with a Date field titled ‘Date’ are shown here and include:

  • Field type - The type of field, in this case a Date field.
  • Title - The Title of the field, in this case ‘Date’.
  • Show title - If this is selected, the Date field title will be shown in the form.
  • Required - If this is selected, the Date field will be mandatory for the form user.
  • Enabled - If this is selected, the user will be able to edit or interact with the field.
  • Visible - If this is selected, the Date field will be visible in the form.
  • Layout - The width of the blue bar can be adjusted to change the width of the Date field as it appears on a PC or mobile phone (to view the Mobile layout, click on the expand button Expand button to the right).

To learn more about the different options within the Field properties menu, go to Field Properties.

Saving changes and version history

Make sure to save any changes you make by clicking on the Save button Save. You will always have the option to revert back to previous versions of your form by clicking the Design Version History Version button button in the top right corner.

What’s next Idea icon

Now that you’ve learned about Date controls, find out more about the other types of Input fields you can add to a Kianda process:

3.2.2 - File upload control

File upload controls (fields) can be inserted in a form if you want form users to be able to upload or store a file(s). File upload fields can also be useful if you want a file to be generated from the information entered in a form or if you want a file to be sent as part of your process - see Rules for more information.

For example, in an Inspection process, you may want the user (an inspector) to be able to upload the details of their inspection as a PDF file or photos as they complete an Inspection Form; or you may want the Kianda system to generate a report based on the information in the Inspection Form and to email this as a PDF file to a supervisor.

How to get started

  1. To add a File upload field to a form, first open the relevant process.

  2. Select the form within that process that you want to add the field to (so that the Edit Form button Edit form button is visible).

  3. Click on Controls in the left-hand pane to expand the Controls menu.

  4. Select Input to view the range of Input controls and click on File. A New field - File dialog box will open with a range of options you can choose from for your new File upload field.

    Edit file upload field dialog box

  5. Title: You can change the name of the File upload field from the default ‘File 1’.

  6. Name - This is a unique name for the field and inherits a camel case version of the entered Title.

  7. Help text: You can insert text to help the form user to complete the File upload field - if you add help text, a question mark Help text icon icon will appear next to the field title and, if the user clicks on this, they will see the help text you have inserted.

    File upload help text example

  8. Custom CSS class name - You can type the name of a CSS class to allow the File upload to inherit specific styles defined in the Global CSS file.

  9. Save location: This is the location the file will be saved to. When you click on the Destination button, a Select datasource dialog box opens in which you can choose where to save the file(s):

    Select datasource dialog box

    You can choose to save the file or files to Kianda or to another external data source.

  10. Open file behaviour: You can choose whether the file is downloaded or opens in an internet browser.

  11. Folder structure: If you have chosen an external data source as the ‘Save location’ for the file(s) uploaded to the file upload field, you can then choose the folder structure you want to use for saving the files to that external data source.

  12. Allow file override: You can choose whether or not to allow file override. If you choose ‘Yes’, if a user goes back into the form and uploads another file to the File upload field, this will override the original file they had uploaded. This option works in conjunction with the Allow uploading multiple files option - if you choose to allow multiple files to be uploaded, then the ‘Allow file override’ option is no longer relevant (as uploading more files will not override file/files already uploaded).

  13. Allow remove file: If you select Yes, this allows the form user to come back into the form and remove the file they had previously uploaded, and another option appears - Remove and delete file: if you choose Yes, when the file is removed, it will also be deleted from the location where it was stored specified in the Save location; if you choose No, then only the reference to the file is removed from the form and the file remains in the Save location.

  14. Allow uploading multiple files: Choose No to only allow the user to upload one file or choose Yes to allow the user to upload multiple files.

  15. File name options: Choose whether to keep the original file name, to have the file name auto generated by the system, or to be based on a form field. If you choose From form field, another option appears - File name field - allows you to select a field representing the name of the file:

    File name field

  16. File extension: You can set/limit the type of file(s) that can be uploaded by inserting a specific file type. For example, if you insert .pdf in the File extension box, when the user browses for the file to attach, the file type will automatically be set to .pdf. If you want to allow any type of file to be attached, leave this option blank.

  17. Enable media capture: If you choose Yes, this enables the user to capture media to upload - on a mobile device, when the user clicks on the Upload button their camera/video recorder will open (depending on whether you’ve selected the file extension to be image or video).

  18. Button text: By default, the File upload icon has the text Browse, but you can change this here.

  19. Button icon: By default, the file upload icon is File upload icon but you can change this by clicking the Button icon drop-down menu and choosing a different icon from the large range of icons available.

  20. Enable background upload: Select this checkbox to enable files to be uploaded using a background operation. This option is typically used in conjunction with the Enable chunked upload option.

  21. Enable chunked upload: Select this checkbox to upload files using resumable chunks. This option can be useful if the file size is likely to be large or the network speed is likely to be slow.

    Note: If you select Enable background upload and Enable chunked upload there is an additional step you need to take to ensure that these upload options work. In your form, you need to select each field or button that has a Save process rule applied to it, click on that rule to open the Edit rule dialog box and select the Perform background save checkbox. Then click OK. This will ensure that the upload options you’ve chosen for your File upload field work as intended.

    For example, you would need to select the ‘Save process’ rule attached to the ‘Save’ button in your form (by clicking on the Save button and then clicking on the Save process rule):

    Selecting Save Process rule

    This opens the Edit rule - Save form dialog box - check the Perform background save option and then click OK:

    Edit rule dialog box perform background save

    If the Enable background upload and Enable chunked upload options are chosen and a user completes a form while they are in an area with poor coverage, once the user re-establishes internet connection they will need to go back into Kianda and click the Force refresh button Refresh button at the top right of the Home page.

    • Show uploaded files count: Select Yes to show the number of uploaded files.
  22. Once you complete the New field - File dialog box and click OK, a new File upload field is added to your form, with the name you inserted as the Title in the dialog box (by default the title is File 1 unless you change it).

In the example of our Inspection Form, the new File upload field (titled Upload photos) added to the form could look like this when a user views it on a mobile phone (to see how your form or field will look on a mobile, view it in Mobile preview by using the Preview option which can be opened by clicking the play button icon Preview):

File upload example mobile phone

How to edit, move and delete File upload fields

To edit a File upload field:

  1. Select the File upload field (by either clicking on the field title or on the field’s drag handle button Drag handle button).
  2. Click on the Edit field button (Pen icon) Edit field button.

Select file upload field to edit

  1. The Edit field - File dialog box will open, enabling you to choose from the same range of options as appear in the New field - File dialog box (as already discussed in How to get started).

Edit date field dialog box

​ You can make any changes you wish in this dialog box and then click OK to confirm.

To move a File upload field, simply:

  1. Select the field’s drag handle button Drag handle button.
  2. Drag and drop the field wherever you want to move it to within your form.

Date field drag handle

To delete a File upload field from your form:

  1. Select the field (by either clicking on the field’s name or its drag handle button Drag handle button).
  2. Click on the Bin/Trash button Bin icon.
  3. Click on OK to confirm.

How to edit File upload field properties

To view or edit the field properties associated with a File upload field, select the field (by clicking on the field title or field drag handle button Drag handle button) - the Field properties menu will appear in the right-hand pane.

Field properties

For example, the Field Properties associated with a File upload field titled ‘Upload photos’ are shown here and include:

  • Field type - The type of field, in this case a File field.
  • Title - The Title of the field, in this case ‘Upload photos’.
  • Show title - If this is selected, the File upload field title will be shown in the form.
  • Required - If this is selected, the File upload field will be mandatory for the form user.
  • Enabled - If this is selected, the user will be able to edit or interact with the field.
  • Visible - If this is selected, the File upload field will be visible in the form.
  • Layout - The width of the blue bar can be adjusted to change the width of the File upload field as it appears on a PC or mobile phone (to view the Mobile layout, click on the expand button Expand button to the right).

To learn more about the different options within the Field properties menu, go to Field Properties.

Saving changes and version history

Make sure to save any changes you make by clicking on the Save button Save. You will always have the option to revert back to previous versions of your form by clicking the Design Version History Version button button in the top right corner.

What’s next Idea icon

Now that you’ve learned about the File upload control, find out more about the other types of Input fields you can add to a Kianda process:

3.2.3 - List control

List fields (controls) can be manually entered into a form or can be linked to from an external site like SharePoint. There are different display options - from drop-down lists to checklists - as well as other options (like the ability to make a list field mandatory for a user to complete).

For example, you could insert a list field in your form that will show a drop-down list of Types of Training that is maintained on SharePoint. The advantage of linking to an external data source like this is that your list will stay up-to-date with any changes made to the list on SharePoint.

How to get started

  1. To add a List field to a form, first open the relevant process.

  2. Select the form within that process that you want to add the field to (so that the Edit Form button Edit form button is visible). If you want to add the List field to a panel within your form, first select the panel by clicking on it and then add the List field.

  3. Click on Controls in the left-hand pane to expand the Controls menu.

  4. Select Input to view the range of Input controls and click on List. A New field - List dialog box will open with a range of options you can choose from for your new List field.

New list field dialog box

  1. Title - You can change the name of the List field from the default title List 1. For example, if you are working on a Training Request form, you may want to insert a List field to contain the types of training and may choose to title this ‘Type of Training’.

  2. Name - This is a unique name for the field and inherits a camel case version of the entered Title.

  3. Help text - You can insert text to help the form user to complete the List field. If you add help text, a question mark Help text icon icon will appear next to the field title and, if the user clicks on this, they will see the help text you have inserted. In this example, the list field is titled ‘Type of Training’ and has associated help text:

    List field help text example

  4. Custom CSS class name - You can type the name of a CSS class to allow the List to inherit specific styles defined in the Global CSS file.

  5. List source - You have three main options in terms of the source of the choices that will appear in your List field:

    a) Entered manually

    b) Form data

    c) Data source

    We will look at each of these three list source options in turn.

    If you select the Entered manually checkbox, you must then manually type the choices you want to appear in your list into the List source box. Three default choices are shown - simply replace these with the choices you want to appear in your list (keeping the same format of one choice per line). You can insert more than three choices.

    Manually entered list

    If you select the Form data checkbox (so the source of your list options is a form field), then the box under List source will now show the instruction ‘Select a form field…’ and two further options will appear below this - Display field and Value field.

    List field list source form data

    Click into the List source box and select the form field you wish to use as your List source and then choose a Display field (the field used to display values) and Value field to specify how you want to map the values from your data source into your list field.

    Select the Data source checkbox if you want to use an external data source as the source for the choices to appear in your list:

    List field list source datasource

    Then click on the Datasource button Data source button to open the Select datasource dialog box and choose the data source you want to connect to - for example, SharePoint. From there you can drill down into the datasource tree and select a specific data item to pull into the list. For more information on how to connect to data sources in Kianda, go to Data connectors.

    List field select data source dialog box

    Once you’ve selected a data source, click OK - a range of new options will now be shown below the Datasource button in the New field - List dialog box.

    List field Data source options example

    Select the Display field, Value field and a field to Sort by (the ‘Sort by’ option appears once you’ve selected a data source). As the datasource chosen in the example is a Kianda process, the fields will appear as form fields. Once you’ve chosen a field to sort by, an additional option - Direction - appears, enabling you to choose to sort values in Ascending or Descending order. In the example shown here, Kianda has been chosen as the data source and a field titled ‘Type of Training’ from a form called ‘Training Request’ has been chosen as both the Display field and Value field.

    Click on the Edit conditions button if you want to add a condition to your List field - for example, if you want to create a cascading list where the options available in a second list are dependent upon the option the user has chosen from a first list. To learn more about applying conditions, go to Conditions and to find out more about creating cascading lists, watch the video on How to create cascading dropdown lists.

    If you choose Kianda as the data source for your list field, two additional options will be displayed - Query any process (checks all processes within Kianda for the field you have selected as the source for your list) and Query type (you can select anything created by or assigned to a particular user).

    Once you’ve selected your List source and the various options associated with it, complete the remaining options in the New field - List dialog box:

  6. Enable offline cache - You can choose this option to make list data available when offline (only available for lists with less than 500 options). This can be useful if you know you are going to be working in areas with poor connectivity such as remote environments with known dead zones.

  7. Display format - You can choose to have your list field appear as either a Drop-down list, a Radio list, Multi-select or a Checkbox list.

    By default, the Dropdown list radio button is selected, along with two additional options - Filter mode (you can choose either ‘Starts With’ or ‘Contains’) and Enable native selector on mobile (so a user completing the list field on their mobile phone can use the default list selector on it).

    Dropdown list display format

    If you choose Radio list or Checkbox list you can choose a List display position of either Vertical or Horizontal.

  8. Once you complete the New field - List dialog box and click OK button, a new List field is added to your form, with the name you inserted as the Title in the dialog box (by default, the title is List 1 unless you change it).

If we take the example of a Training Request form with a list field that contains the different types of training a user can request, the list field (which is titled ‘Type of Training’ and has a drop-down list format) could look like this when a user views it on their mobile phone:

List field dropdown list example mobile phone

To see how your form or field will look like on a mobile, view it in Mobile preview by clicking the Preview button Preview(play icon) after first saving your changes.

How to edit, move and delete File upload fields

To edit a List field:

  1. Select the field (by either clicking on the field title or on the field’s Drag handle button Drag handle button).
  2. Click on the Edit field button (Pen icon) Edit field button.

Select file upload file to edit

The Edit field - List dialog box will open, enabling you to choose from the same range of options as appear in the New field - List dialog box (as already discussed in How to get started).

Edit date field dialog box

You can make any changes you wish in this dialog box and then click OK to confirm.

To move a List field, simply

  1. Select the field’s drag handle button Drag handle button.
  2. Drag and drop the field wherever you want to move it to within your form.

Date field drag handle

To delete a List field from your form:

  1. Select the field (by either clicking on the field’s name or its drag handle button Drag handle button).
  2. Click on the Bin/Trash button Bin icon.
  3. Click on OK to confirm.

How to edit List field properties

To view or edit the field properties associated with a List field, select the field (by clicking on the field title or field drag handle button Drag handle button) - the Field properties menu will appear in the right-hand pane.

List properties

For example, the Field Properties associated with a List field titled ‘Type of Training’ are shown here and include:

  • Field type - The type of field, in this case a List field.
  • Title - The Title of the field, in this case ‘Type of Training’.
  • Show title - If this is selected, the List field title will be shown in the form.
  • Required - If this is selected, the List field will be mandatory for the form user.
  • Enabled - If this is selected, the user will be able to edit or interact with the field.
  • Visible - If this is selected, the List field will be visible in the form.
  • Layout - The width of the blue bar can be adjusted to change the width of the List field as it appears on a PC or mobile phone (to view the Mobile layout, click on the expand button Expand button to the right).

To learn more about the different options within the Field properties menu, go to Field Properties.

Saving changes and version history

Make sure to save any changes you make by clicking on the Save button Save. You will always have the option to revert back to previous versions of your form by clicking the Design Version History Version button button in the top right corner.

What’s next Idea icon

Now that you’ve learned about List controls, find out more about the other types of Input fields you can add to a Kianda process:

3.2.4 - Number control

Number controls (fields) can be inserted in a form if you want form users to insert a numerical value. Number fields can be formatted to be integers (whole numbers), currency or percentages.

For example, in a Purchase Order Request form, you may want to use Number fields to allow the user to insert the number, unit price and total cost of items being ordered and you may apply rules to some of those fields so that they perform calculations or pull values from other fields or forms. Go to Rules and Expression builder for more information on how you make your forms dynamic.

How to get started

  1. To add a Number field to a form, first open the relevant process.

  2. Then select the form within that process that you want to add the field to (so that the Edit Form button Edit form button is visible).

  3. Click on Controls in the left-hand pane to expand the Controls menu.

  4. Select Input to view the range of Input controls and click on Number.

    A number field will be added to your form with the default title of ‘’Number 1’’ and a pop-up message will say ‘Field added’.

    Number field added

    By default, the new Number field will have up and down arrow buttons Up and down arrows at the right that users can click to increase or decrease the number in the field and will show any numbers entered to two decimal places. These settings can be amended by editing the field.

    In the example shown here, a new Number field has been added to form called ‘Training Request’. This new Number field could be edited to rename it ‘Cost of Training Course’ and could be formatted as currency (Euro) so that users could insert the cost of the training course they want to take.

How to edit, move and delete Number fields

To edit a Number field:

  1. Select the field (by either clicking on the field title or on the field’s Drag handle button Drag handle button).

  2. Click on the Edit field button (Pen icon) Edit field button.

    Select number field to edit

    The Edit field - Number dialog box will open, enabling you to choose from a range of options:

    Edit number field dialog box

  3. Title - you can change the title of the Number field from the default ‘Number 1’.

  4. Name - This is a unique name for the field and inherits a camel case version of the entered Title.

  5. Help text - you can insert text to help the form user to complete the Number field. If you add help text, a question mark Help text icon icon will appear next to the field title and, if the user clicks on this, they will see the help text you have inserted.

    File upload help text example

  6. Custom CSS class name - You can type the name of a CSS class to allow the Number to inherit specific styles defined in the Global CSS file.

  7. Display format - you can choose whether the number inserted by the user is formatted to be an integer (whole number), currency or a percentage.

    If you select Currency as the Display format, a new option will appear - Currency format - where you can select the currency you want to use.

    Number field currency options

    If you select Euro as the Currency format, a new format option called Country format appears to the right. This is a drop-down list from which you can choose from three different ways that Euro amounts can be displayed:

    Euro format options

    If you choose Ireland as the Country format, Euro amounts will be displayed like this:

    Euro Ireland currency format

    If you choose Portugal as the Country format, Euro amounts will be displayed like this:

    Euro Portugal currency format

    If you choose France as the Country format, Euro amounts will be displayed like this:

    Euro France currency format

  8. Show number up/down arrows - you can choose whether or not you want the Number field to have up/down arrow buttons Up and down arrows that enable the user to increase or decrease the number in the field.

  9. Enable native number input on mobile - you can select this to enable native number input when a user is completing the Number field on their mobile phone.

  10. Decimal places - you can insert the number of decimal places you want the figure in the Number field to have.

  11. Placeholder - you can insert placeholder text to appear in the Number field to assist the user. For example, this Number field titled ‘Salary’ has placeholder text:

    Number field with placeholder text

  12. Expression - you can add an expression to your Number field if, for example, you want the field to contain a calculation based on another field or want it to pull values from other fields. To add an expression, click on the expression button (ellipsis) Expression button ellipsis to open the Expression builder dialog box - here you can add expressions to perform math operations and various other actions.

    For example, let’s say you have a Number field called ‘Salary’ where the user inputs their salary and another Number field called ‘Bonus’ which you want to be automatically populated with a figure that is 20% of the ‘Salary’ figure. To do this, you add an Expression to the ‘Bonus’ field:

    Expression builder

    Now when a user completes the ‘Salary’ field, the Bonus field automatically populates with a figure that is 20% of their salary:

    Number expression example

    To learn more about applying rules and expressions to Number fields, go to Rules and Expression builder.

  13. Make whatever changes you want in this Edit field - Number dialog box and then click OK to confirm.

To move a Number field:

  1. Select the field’s Drag handle button Drag handle button.
  2. Drag and drop the field wherever you want to move it to within your form.

Date field drag handle

To delete a Number field from your form:

  1. Select the field (by either clicking on the field’s name or its drag handle button Drag handle button).
  2. Click on the Bin/Trash button Bin icon.
  3. Click on OK to confirm.

How to edit Number field properties

To view or edit the field properties associated with a Number field, select the field (by clicking on the field title or field drag handle button Drag handle button) - the Field properties menu will appear in the right-hand pane.

Field properties

For example, the Field Properties associated with a Number field titled ‘Salary’ are shown here and include:

  • Field type - The type of field, in this case a Number field.
  • Title - The Title of the field, in this case ‘Salary’.
  • Show title - If this is selected, the Number field title will be shown in the form.
  • Required - If this is selected, the Number field will be mandatory for the form user.
  • Enabled - If this is selected, the user will be able to edit or interact with the field.
  • Visible - If this is selected, the Number field will be visible in the form.
  • Layout - The width of the blue bar can be adjusted to change the width of the Number field as it appears on a PC or mobile phone (to view the Mobile layout, click on the expand button Expand button to the right).

To learn more about the different options within the Field properties menu, go to Field Properties.

Saving changes and version history

Make sure to save any changes you make by clicking on the Save button Save. You will always have the option to revert back to previous versions of your form by clicking the Design Version History Version button button in the top right corner.

What’s next Idea icon

Now that you’ve learned about the Number control, find out more about the other types of Input fields you can add to a Kianda process:

3.2.5 - Table control

Table controls (fields) can be inserted in a form if you want form users to complete a table, if you want display data pulled from external sources in a table, or if you want a table to be autofilled as part of a rule. Tables can include different types of fields, such as text boxes, date fields, number fields, and list fields.

For example, in a Purchase Order Request form, you may want to use a Table field to display certain information about items or suppliers and/or to capture details the user inputs about items being ordered. In addition, you could apply rules to some of the fields within the table to, for example, automatically calculate totals or percentages or to pull in data from external data sources.

For more information about applying rules to fields and forms go to Rules and for more specific information about applying rules to Table fields see Table rules.

We will now go through:

How to get started

  1. To add a Table field to a form, first open the relevant process.

  2. Then select the form within that process that you want to add the field to (so that the Edit Form button Edit form button is visible).

  3. Click on Controls in the left-hand pane to expand the Controls menu.

  4. Select Input to view the range of Input controls and click on Table.

    A Table field will be added to your form with the default title of ‘’Table 1’’ and a pop-up message will say ‘Field added’.

    Table field added

    By default, the new Table field will have one row with two columns of text fields, titled Text 1 and Text 2. You can add rows, columns and various different types of fields to the table by editing the table field, as outlined in the next section. In the example shown here, a new table has been added to a form called ‘Training Request’.

How to edit, move and delete Table fields

As we go through the options available for editing a Table, we will keep in mind the example of the table we added to the ‘Training Request’ form above.

How to edit column fields in a Table

First, decide how many columns you need in your table and what type of input field you want to use for each column. To learn more about the eight different types of Input fields that you can use, go to Input controls.

In our example, we want to change the default table that was inserted - titled Table 1 with two columns of text box fields - into a table called ‘Existing Qualifications’ to capture the existing qualifications of the user who is requesting further training.

We want our table to have three columns: the first column will be a text box field titled ‘Qualification Description’ where the user will manually type in the name of a qualification, the second column will be a drop-down list titled ‘Educational Institution’ (which could link to an external data source) where the user will choose the relevant institution, and the third column will be a date field titled ‘Date Qualification Obtained’, as shown here:

Table example training

How to change the title of a Table column

To change the default title of the first column texbox field from Text 1:

  1. Select that field by either clicking on the field title or by clicking into the blank text box so that the Edit field button Edit field button (Pen icon) displays.
  2. Click the Edit field button.

Table select field to edit

The Edit field - Text dialog box will open and you can change the title of the field here. There are also a number of other options available to you - see Text box control for more information on how you can edit text box fields.

Note: The unique names of fields outside of a table do not conflict with the unique names of fields within a table. Fields with duplicate unique names within the same table are not allowed however.

How to delete a column from a Table

To delete a column from a Table field:

  1. Select the column field you want to delete (either by clicking on the title or clicking into the blank field below the title) so that the Edit field and Bin/Trash button Bin iconis shown.
  2. Click on the Bin/Trash button.

Delete Table column

How to change the field type of an existing Table column

In our example, we want the second column in our table to be a drop-down list. We can either delete the default second text box column and then insert a new list column or we can change the field type of the existing column from text box to list.

To change the field type of an existing column:

  1. Select the column field you want to change (by either clicking on the column Title or clicking into the blank box below it) so that the Edit field button Edit field button (Pen icon) is shown.

  2. Click on the Change field button in the right-hand pane:

    Change Table column type

    A Change dialog box will open up, allowing you to change the existing column field type to another type of input field - there are many options to choose from (only some of which are shown here):

    Table change column type dialog box

In our example, if we want to change the ‘Text 2’ text box column to be a List field, we would select the List radio box and then click OK to confirm. An Edit field dialog box for the type of input field you have chosen will then open, allowing you to change the column field title (in our case, we will rename it as ‘Educational Institution’) and to choose from a range of options relevant to that field type.

How to insert new columns in a Table

To insert new columns into a Table:

  1. Either select the Table field itself or select one of the individual columns.

  2. Go to Controls>Input in the menu in the left-hand pane and click on the type of input field you want to insert.

    The new column will be inserted to the right of the existing columns, or, if you selected one of the existing columns before inserting the new column, it will be inserted to that right of that column.

In our example, we will insert a date field to be our third column (and can then rename it as ‘Date Qualification Obtained’ by clicking on Edit field button Edit field button (Pen icon) and changing it in the Edit field - Date dialog box):

Date field inserted in Table

How to move columns in a Table

To re-order columns in a Table, simply

  1. Select the column field you want to move (by either clicking the column title or clicking into the blank box below the title) so the Edit field button Edit field button (Pen icon) displays.
  2. Click on the left or right arrow buttons Left or right arrow buttons to move that column to the left or right:

Move table columns

How to edit the Table field

To edit the Table field itself:

  1. Select the Table (by either clicking on the Table title or on the table’s Drag handle button Drag handle button).

  2. Click on the Edit field button (Pen icon) Edit field button.

    Select table field to edit

    The Edit field - Table dialog box will open, enabling you to choose from a range of options:

    Edit table field dialog box

  3. Title - you can change the title of the Table from the default ‘Table 1’. In our example, we could change the name of the table to ‘Existing Qualifications’.

  4. Name - This is a unique name for the field and inherits a camel case version of the entered Title.

  5. Help text - you can insert text to help the form user to complete the Table. If you add help text, a question mark Help text icon icon will appear next to the field title and, if the user clicks on this, they will see the help text you have inserted.

    Table help text example

  6. Custom CSS class name - You can type the name of a CSS class to allow the Table to inherit specific styles defined in the Global CSS file.

  7. Add row text - you can insert the text you want to appear with the Add Row button Table add row button. By default, this will be ‘add row’.

  8. Page size - you can increase or decrease the number of row items you will see per page by clicking the up/down arrow buttons Up and down arrows at the right of the field. By default, it is set to show 10 row items per page.

  9. Enable adding rows - selecting ‘Yes’ enables the user to add rows to the table when they are completing it and displays the Add row button Table add row button and selecting ‘No’ removes this option. By default, this option is set to ‘Yes’.

  10. Enable removing rows - selecting ‘Yes’ enables the user to remove rows from the table as they are completing it (by clicking on the Bin/Trash button Bin icon at the end of each table row) and selecting ‘No’ removes this option. By default, this option is set to ‘Yes’.

  11. Show row count - you can choose to display text showing the number of rows in the table. This text will appear below the Add row button:

    Number field with placeholder text

  12. Enable sorting - you can select ‘Yes’ to enable the form user to sort the data in the table

  13. Enable search - you can select ‘Yes’ to enable the form user to search the data in the table. If you choose this option, the form user will see a search field at the top of the table:

    Table search field

  14. Add first row onload - by default, this is set to ‘Yes’, meaning that when the form is loaded the first row is automatically shown.

  15. Enable export to csv - you can select ‘Yes’ to enable the form user to export the table contents to a csv file. If you select ‘Yes’, some additional options appear in the Edit field - Table dialog box:

    Table enable export to csv

    The CSV Separator is set to be a comma by default (but you can change this) and you can insert text you want to appear on the Export CSV button. For example, if you insert ‘Export to CSV’ as the text to appear on the button, it will appear like this in the form to the user:

    Table export to CSV button

    The Columns to export will automatically show the columns in your table

  16. Make whatever changes you want to make to the table in the Edit field - Table dialog box and then click OK to confirm.

    If you want to make your table more dynamic - for example, so that calculations are made or information is autofilled into part of the table - you can add rules to it. To learn about applying rules to fields and forms go to Rules and for more specific information about applying rules to Table fields see Table rules.

How to move Table fields

To move a Table field within your form:

  1. Select the field’s Drag handle button Drag handle button.
  2. Drag and drop the field wherever you want to move it to.

Table field drag handle

How to delete Table fields

To delete a Table field from your form:

  1. Select the field (by either clicking on the field’s name or its Drag handle button Drag handle button).
  2. Click on the Bin/Trash button Bin icon.
  3. Click on OK to confirm.

How to edit Table field properties

To view or edit the field properties associated with a Table field, select the table (by clicking on the field title or field drag handle button Drag handle button) - the Field properties menu will appear in the right-hand pane.

Field properties

For example, the Field Properties associated with a Table field titled ‘Existing Qualifications’ are shown here and include:

  • Field type - The type of field, in this case a Table field.
  • Title - The Title of the field, in this case ‘Existing Qualifications’.
  • Show title - If this is selected, the Table field title will be shown in the form.
  • Required - If this is selected, the Table field will be mandatory for the form user.
  • Enabled - If this is selected, the user will be able to edit or interact with the field.
  • Visible - If this is selected, the Table field will be visible in the form.
  • Layout - The width of the blue bar can be adjusted to change the width of the Table field as it appears on a PC or mobile phone (to view the Mobile layout, click on the expand button Expand button to the right).

You can then check how the Table will appear to users on their PC or mobile phone by first saving your form and then clicking on the Preview button Preview button. Our sample table, Existing Qualifications could look like this when viewed on a PC:

Sample table in preview

You can also view and edit the properties of the individual column fields within the Table by selecting the column field.

To learn more about the different options within the Field properties menu, go to Field Properties.

Saving changes and version history

Make sure to save any changes you make by clicking on the Save button Save. You will always have the option to revert back to previous versions of your form by clicking the Design Version History Version button button in the top right corner.

What’s next Idea icon

Now that you’ve learned about the Table control, find out more about the other types of Input fields you can add to a Kianda process:

3.2.6 - Text box control

The Text box control can be used if you want a user to manually input text into a form. For example, in a Training Request form, you may want the user to insert their first name and surname and may want those fields to be mandatory for the user to complete.

There are various options available when creating a Text box field, such as formatting it to allow multiple lines of text, to contain a password (text input is not shown) or to autofill with saved information such as the user’s address or email. More advanced options include applying a rule or expression to a Text box field - for more information, see Rules and Expression builder.

How to get started

  1. To add a Text box field to a form, first open the relevant process.

  2. Then select the form within that process that you want to add the field to (so that the Edit Form button Edit form button is visible).

  3. Click on Controls in the left-hand pane to expand the Controls menu.

  4. Select Input to view the range of Input controls and click on Text box.

    A Text box field will be added to your form with the default title of ‘’Text box 1’’ and a pop-up message will say ‘Field added’.

    Text box inserted

    In the example shown here, a Text box field has been added to a form called ‘Training Request’ in a process called ‘Training Process’, as the first step in adding two Text box fields (which will be used to capture the first name and surname of the user who is completing the form).

    You can also place a Text box within an element - such as within a panel in a form. In the example above, the Text box was inserted outside the panel in the form. If you wanted to insert it within the panel, simply select the panel itself by clicking on its drag handle Drag Handle icon and then click on Controls > Input > Text box - this will result in the new Text box being added inside the panel, as shown here:

    Text box inside a panel

How to edit, move and delete Text box fields

As we go through the options available for editing a Text box, we will keep in mind the example of adding two text boxes to the ‘Training Request’ form to capture a user’s first name and surname.

How to edit a Text box field

To edit a Text box field:

  1. Select the Text box (by either clicking on its title or its Drag handle button Drag handle button).

  2. Click on the Edit field button (Pen icon) Edit field button.

    Select text box edit button

    The Edit field - Text box dialog box will open, enabling you to choose from a range of options:

    Edit table field dialog box

  3. Title - you can change the title of the Text box from the default ‘Text box 1’. In our example, we could change the name of the first Text box to ‘First Name’ and the second Text box to ‘Surname’.

  4. Name - This is a unique name for the field and inherits a camel case version of the entered Title.

  5. Help text - you can insert text to help the form user to complete the Table. If you add help text, a question mark Help text icon icon will appear next to the field title and, if the user clicks on this, they will see the help text you have inserted.

    Table help text example

  6. Custom CSS class name - You can type the name of a CSS class to allow the Textbox to inherit specific styles defined in the Global CSS file.

  7. Mode - you can decide whether your Text box is limited to a Single line of text or will allow for Multiple lines of text or can choose Rich text. Different additional options will then be shown, depending on the Mode you have chosen.

    If you choose ‘Single line of text’ as the Mode for your Text box - as in the example shown above - these additional options will be shown:

    • Max length - choose the maximum number of characters for the text inserted in your Text box by either typing in a number or by clicking the up/down arrow buttons Up down arrow buttons at the right side of the blank field beneath it

    • Text style - choose Normal, Capitalise, Uppercase or Lowercase, depending on how you want the text input in the Text box to appear

    • Control type - choose either Text or Password. If you choose Password, then the text input by the user in the Text box will not be visible:

      Text box formatted as a password

    • Autofill type - you can choose between Default, Off, Password, Address, Email and Phone. If, for example, you select Address, this means that when the user is completing this Text box field, it will automatically populate with the user’s saved address information (if the user has that saved information on their PC or mobile phone).

    • Placeholder - you can insert placeholder text to appear in the Text box field to assist the user. For example, this Text box field titled ‘Address 1’ has placeholder text:

      Example of Text box placeholder text

    If you choose ‘Multiple lines of text’ as the Mode for your Text box, these additional options will be shown:

    Text box multiple lines of text options

    • Rows - you can decide how many rows of text you want your Text box to have. Either manually type in a number or use the up/down arrows Up down arrow buttons on the right-side of the field

    • Max length - you can set a maximum number of characters for the Text box

    • Text style - choose from Normal, Capitalise, Uppercase or Lowercase

    • Placeholder - you can insert placeholder text to appear in the Text box field to assist the user.

    If you choose ‘Rich text’ as the Mode for your Text box, you will have the additional options of setting a Max length (maximum number of characters that can be input in the field) and choosing a Text style, as shown here:

    Text box Rich text options

  8. Expression - If you want to use your Text box field in a way that is more dynamic, you could decide to add an expression to it. For example, an Expression can be used to return a value - if you apply the Expression ‘Date()’ to your Text box field, it will return the current date and time.

    To add an Expression to your Text box field, click on the ellipsis button Ellipsis button in the Expression box to the right. This will open the Expression builder dialog box:

    Expression builder dialog box

    You can click on the Reference button Reference button in the Expression builder dialog box to see some of the most commonly used Expressions. To learn more about using Expressions, go to Expression builder.

  9. Make whatever changes you want to make to the Text box field in the Edit field - Text box dialog box and then click OK to confirm.

How to move Text box fields

To move a Text box within your form:

  1. Select the field’s Drag handle button Drag handle button.

  2. Drag and drop the field wherever you want to move it to.

    In our example, the two new Text boxes titled ‘First Name’ and ‘Surname’ can be moved from the bottom of the form to the top:

Table field drag handle

How to delete Text box fields

To delete a Text box field from your form:

  1. Select the field (by either clicking on the field’s name or its Drag handle button Drag handle button).
  2. Click on the Bin/Trash button Bin icon.
  3. Click on OK to confirm (or click on Cancel if you wish to cancel the deletion).

How to edit Text box field properties

To view or edit the field properties associated with a Text box field, select the field (by clicking on its title or its drag handle button Drag handle button) - the Field properties menu will appear in the right-hand pane.

Field properties

For example, the Field Properties associated with a Text box field titled ‘First Name’ are shown here and include:

  • Field type - The type of field, in this case a Text box field.

  • Title - The Title of the field, in this case ‘First Name’.

  • Show title - If this is selected, the Text box field title will be shown in the form.

  • Required - If this is selected, the Text box field will be a mandatory field that users must complete (denoted by a red asterisk next to the field title).

  • Enabled - If this is selected, the user will be able to edit or interact with the field.

  • Visible - If this is selected, the Text box field will be visible in the form.

  • Layout - The width of the blue bar can be adjusted to change the width of the Text box field as it appears on a PC or mobile phone (to view the Mobile layout, click on the expand button Expand button to the right).

To learn more about the different options within the Field properties menu, go to Field Properties.

You can check how the Text box will appear to users on their PC or mobile phone by first saving your form and then clicking on the Preview button Preview button. Our simple example of the ‘First Name’ and ‘Surname’ fields in a Training Request form could look like this when viewed on a user’s mobile phone:

Sample table in preview

Saving changes and version history

Make sure to save any changes you make by clicking on the Save button Save. You will always have the option to revert back to previous versions of your form by clicking the Design Version History Version button button in the top right corner.

What’s next Idea icon

Now that you’ve learned about the Text box control, find out more about the other types of Input fields you can add to a Kianda process:

3.2.7 - Toggle control

Toggle fields (controls) can be used in a form to record a decision, confirm that an action has been taken or an item has been received, or to record a yes/no type answer. They can be used as either a toggle or as a checkbox - for example, Toggle fields could be used to create a series of checkboxes in an Onboarding Form to record whether a new employee has received required training, been assigned an employee number and so on.

Rules can be applied to Toggle fields to make your form more dynamic. One such rule, the Show, hide or disable rule can be applied to a Toggle field to have the effect of showing or hiding remaining options/sections in the form dependent on whether the toggle/checkbox is selected or not.

For example, in a Training Request form, a Toggle field could be used to record a manager’s decision to either approve or reject an employee’s training request - by applying the Show, hide or disable rule to this field, a different last section of the form will display based on the manager’s decision. If the manager select’s to approve the training, a sign-off button then appears; if the manager reject’s the request, a ‘Reason’ text box appears for them to insert their feedback. To learn more about applying rules to fields, see Rules and Expression builder. To find out more about this specific rule, go to Show, hide or disable.

How to get started

  1. To add a Toggle field to a form, first open the relevant process.

  2. Then select the form within that process that you want to add the field to (so that the Edit Form button Edit form button is visible). If you want to add the Toggle field to a panel within your form, first select the panel by clicking on it and then add the Toggle field.

  3. Insert the new Toggle field by clicking on Controls in the left-hand pane to expand the Controls menu, then select Input to view the range of Input controls and click on Toggle.

    Insert toggle field

  4. A New field - Toggle dialog box will open with a range of options you can choose from for your new Toggle field.

New toggle field dialog box

  1. Title - You can change the name of the Toggle field from the default title Toggle 1.

  2. Name - This is a unique name for the field and inherits a camel case version of the entered Title.

  3. Help text - You can insert text to explain to the form user what selecting the toggle/checkbox means. If you add help text, a question mark Help text icon icon will appear next to the field title and, if the user clicks on this, they will see the help text you have inserted. In this example, the Toggle field is titled ‘Approve Training’ and has associated help text:

    Toggle field help text icon

    List field help text example

  4. Custom CSS class name - You can type the name of a CSS class to allow the Toggle to inherit specific styles defined in the Global CSS file.

  5. Value when enabled - You can set the value for when the user selects the toggle/checkbox. For example, the value when it is selected could be ‘Yes’.

  6. Value when disabled - You can set the value for when the user does not select the toggle/checkbox. For example, the value when it is not selected could be ‘No’.

  7. Display mode - You can choose to have the Toggle field display as either a Toggle button Toggle button icon or Checkbox Checkbox icon.

  8. Once you complete the New field - Toggle dialog box and click OK button, a new Toggle field is added to your form, with the name you inserted as the Title in the dialog box (by default, the title is Toggle 1 unless you change it).

If we take the example of the Training Request form we already discussed, with a Toggle field called ‘Approve Training Request’ that is formatted to be a checkbox, the Toggle field could look like this when a user views it on their mobile phone:

Toggle field example on a mobile phone

To check how your form or field will look like on a mobile, view it in Mobile preview by clicking the Preview button Preview(play icon) after first saving your changes.

How to edit, move and delete Toggle fields

As we go through the options available for editing a Toggle field, we will keep in mind the example of the ‘Approve Training Request’ Toggle field in our Training Request form.

How to edit a Toggle field

To edit a Toggle field:

  1. Select the field (by either clicking on the field title or on the field’s Drag handle button Drag handle button).

  2. Click on the Edit field button (Pen icon) Edit field button.

    Select toggle field to edit

    The Edit field - Toggle dialog box will open, enabling you to choose from the same range of options as appear in the New field - Toggle dialog box (as already discussed in How to get started).

    Edit toggle field dialog box

  3. You can make any changes you wish in this dialog box and then click OK to confirm.

You can apply rules to a Toggle field to make it more dynamic so that, for example, it generates information that is automatically inserted into another field.

For example, you could apply a ‘Set date’ rule to your ‘’Order Received’ toggle field so that it generates a date to be displayed in a ‘Date received’ field when Order received is selected by the user - this will mean that when the user selects the Order Received toggle field, this automatically generates a date stamp for when the order was received:

Toggle example date rule

To learn more about applying rules to fields, see Rules and Expression builder. To find out more about the specific rule added in our example - where a date is automatically populated in another field - go to Set form field.

How to move a Toggle field

To move a Toggle field:

  1. Simply select the field’s Drag handle button Drag handle button.
  2. Drag and drop the field wherever you want to move it to within your form.

Toggle field drag handle

How to delete a Toggle field

To delete a Toggle field from your form:

  1. Select the field (by either clicking on the field’s name or its Drag handle button Drag handle button).
  2. Click on the Bin/Trash button Bin icon.
  3. Click on OK to confirm.

How to edit Toggle field properties

To view or edit the field properties associated with a Toggle field, select the field (by clicking on the field title or field drag handle button Drag handle button) - the Field properties menu will appear in the right-hand pane.

Toggle field properties

For example, the Field Properties associated with a Toggle field titled ‘Approve Training Request’ are shown here and include:

  • Field type - The type of field, in this case a Toggle field.

  • Title - The Title of the field, in this case ‘Approve Training Request’.

  • Show title - If this is selected, the Toggle field title will be shown in the form.

  • Required - If this is selected, the Toggle field will be a mandatory field that users must complete (denoted by a red asterix next to the field title).

  • Enabled - If this is selected, the user will be able to edit or interact with the field.

  • Visible - If this is selected, the Toggle field will be visible in the form.

  • Layout - The width of the blue bar can be adjusted to change the width of the Toggle field as it appears on a PC or mobile phone (to view the Mobile layout, click on the expand button Expand button to the right).

To learn more about the different options within the Field properties menu, go to Field Properties.

Saving changes and version history

Make sure to save any changes you make by clicking on the Save button Save. You will always have the option to revert back to previous versions of your form by clicking the Design Version History Version button button in the top right corner.

What’s next Idea icon

Now that you’ve learned about Toggle controls, find out more about the other types of Input fields you can add to a Kianda process:

3.2.8 - User picker control

The User picker field can be used in a form if you want the form user to select a user, multiple users or a group of users. You can format the User picker field so that, for example, the form user can choose any user, can only choose a user or users from a pre-configured group - for example, users in the HR Department - or can choose multiple users.

You can pre-define Groups on Kianda by using the Users function under Kianda Administration. To learn more about how you can set up and manage Groups, go to Users & Groups.

For example, in a ‘Training Request’ form, you may insert a User picker field titled ‘Manager’ so that the user can select their manager (who will subsequently need to approve or reject their training request once it has been submitted).

How to get started

  1. To add a User picker field to a form, first open the relevant process.

  2. Then select the form within that process that you want to add the field to (so that the Edit Form button Edit form button is visible).

  3. Click on Controls in the left-hand pane to expand the Controls menu.

  4. Select Input to view the range of Input controls and click on User picker. If you want to insert the new field into a panel in your form, first select the panel by clicking on the drag handle button Drag handle button and then insert the new User picker field from the Controls menu.

Insert User picker field

  1. A New field - User picker dialog box will open with a range of options you can choose from for your new User picker field.

    New field user picker dialog box

  2. Title - You can change the name of the User picker field from the default ‘’User picker 1’.

  3. Name - This is a unique name for the field and inherits a camel case version of the entered Title.

  4. Help text - You can insert text to help the form user to complete the User Picker field. Taking the example of the ‘Manager’ User picker field in a ‘Training Request’ form, you could insert help text to this effect:

    User picker field help text example dialog box

    If you add help text, a question mark Help text icon icon will appear next to the field title and, if the user clicks on this, they will see the help text you have inserted.

    User picker field help text example icon

  5. Custom CSS class name - You can type the name of a CSS class to allow the User picker to inherit specific styles defined in the Global CSS file.

  6. Selection Mode - You can choose whether the user will only be able to select one user from the User Picker list (by selecting Single) or whether the user will be able to select multiple users (by selecting Multiple).

    If you choose to allow the user to select multiple users, by selecting Multiple as the Selection mode, an additional option then displays - Max users to select. Here you can set a maximum number of users that can be selected - you can do this by either manually typing the number into the box or by clicking on the up/down buttons Up down buttons at the right-hand side of the box.

    User picker multiple

  7. Default to current user - You can choose to have the current user display in the User picker field once the form is opened to be edited. If you select ‘Yes’, so the User picker field shows the current user by default, an additional option then displays - Allow override picker value.

    User picker default to current user

    If you choose Yes for Allow override picker value, this automatically allows the override of the user in the User Picker field.

    For example, in an ‘Annual Leave Request’ form, there could be an ‘Employee Name’ User picker field that defaults to the current user; but we may want the Employee’s Manager to be able to override the name in this field if they are submitting an annual leave request on behalf of an employee.

  8. Member of group - You can choose to restrict the users available to be selected in the User picker field to a certain group - for example, only users in the HR Team. Alternatively, you can leave this field blank.

    When you click into the Member of group field, you will see a drop-down list of all of the Groups you can select:

    User picker field select Member of group

    In Kianda, Groups can be configured under the Administration menu - to learn more about how you can set up and manage Groups, go to Users & Groups.

    For example, if you select ‘HR Team’, the end user completing the form will only be able to select users who are members of the ‘HR Team’ group in this User picker field.

  9. Selection options - You can choose what selection options are available to the form user to the right of the User picker field. You can choose to show as many of these three selection options as like: Users (all users), Groups (such as HR) and Partners.

    For example, if you choose to make all three selection options available, your User picker field will have a drop-down menu to the right where the form user can switch between Users, Groups and Partners:

    Selection options in a User picker field

    Note: If you have inserted a Group in the Member of group field, this selection will limit the users or groups available to be selected in the User picker field, regardless of what Selection options you choose to make available to the form user.

  10. Default selection option - You can choose to have a certain selection option displayed to the right of the User picker field by default - either Users, Groups or Partners.

  11. Show selection option menu - You can choose whether or not the selection option menu (where the form user can switch between Users, Groups and Partners) is shown on the right-hand side of the User picker field.

    If you choose No, there will not be a selection option menu:

    User picker without selection option menu

    If you choose Yes, a selection option menu will be available to the form user to click (to change the list of users they can select from):

    User picker field with selection option menu

  12. Once you complete the New field - User picker dialog box and click OK, a new User picker field is added to your form, with the name you inserted as the Title in the dialog box (by default the title is User picker 1 unless you change it).

    In the example of our Training Request Form, the new User picker field (titled Manager) added to the form could look like this when a user views it on their mobile phone:

    File upload example mobile phone

    To see how your form or field will look on a mobile, view it in Mobile preview by using the Preview option which can be opened by clicking the play button icon Preview. You also have the options to see how it will look on a PC or tablet.

How to edit, move and delete User picker fields

As we go through the options available for editing a User picker field, we will keep in mind the example of the ‘Manager’ User picker field in the ‘Training Request’ form.

How to edit a User picker field

To edit a User picker field:

  1. Select the field (by either clicking on the field title or on the field’s Drag handle button Drag handle button).
  2. Click on the Edit field button (Pen icon) Edit field button.

Select User picker field to edit

The Edit field - User picker dialog box will open, enabling you to choose from the same range of options as appear in the New field - User picker dialog box (as already discussed in How to get started).

Edit User picker field dialog box

You can make any changes you wish in this dialog box and then click OK to confirm.

How to move a User picker field

To move a User picker field simply select the field’s Drag handle button Drag handle button and drag and drop the field wherever you want to move it to within your form.

User picker drag handle

How to delete a User picker field

To delete a User picker field from your form:

  1. Select the field (by either clicking on the field’s title or its Drag handle button Drag handle button).
  2. Click on the Bin/Trash button Bin icon.
  3. Click on OK to confirm.

How to edit User picker field properties

To view or edit the field properties associated with a User picker field, select the field (by clicking on the field title or field drag handle button Drag handle button) - the Field properties menu will appear in the right-hand pane.

User picker field properties

For example, the Field Properties associated with a User picker field titled ‘Manager’ are shown here and include:

  • Field type - The type of field, in this case a User picker field.

  • Title - The Title of the field, in this case ‘Manager’.

  • Show title - If this is selected, the User picker field title will be shown in the form.

  • Required - If this is selected, the User picker field will be a mandatory field that users must complete (denoted by a red asterix next to the field title).

  • Enabled - If this is selected, the user will be able to edit or interact with the field.

  • Visible - If this is selected, the User picker field will be visible in the form.

  • Layout - The width of the blue bar can be adjusted to change the width of the User picker field as it appears on a PC or mobile phone (to view the Mobile layout, click on the expand button Expand button to the right).

To learn more about the different options within the Field properties menu, go to Field Properties.

Saving changes and version history

Make sure to save any changes you make by clicking on the Save button Save. You will always have the option to revert back to previous versions of your form by clicking the Design Version History Version button button in the top right corner.

User tips Target icon

Rules can be applied to User picker fields to make your form dynamic. Rules allow actions based upon conditions resulting from user interaction with fields. To learn about the different types of rules you can apply, go to Rules.

For example, you could apply a Set form field rule so that the User picker field is set to be the current user or the user who started the process off. The section below describes how to use a User picker field in forms with two rules in order to extract a value from a datasource.

Example of User Picker use with Find Items and Lookup User rules

The steps below detail how to use a User Picker field to pull a value from a datasource and use properties within the Kianda system associated with that value within a Kianda form to auto-populate a user picker field. This procedure is used when you need to populate more than one value in a user picker. Two rules are applied Find Items rule and Lookup user by property.

For example we start with a SharePoint list or other datasource that has a list of values, for example we could use a Kianda process as a datasource that holds values called ‘Employee number’ and ‘Employee’ in the system.

Example of a process acting as a datasource

In the image above an Employee number or code is entered via a process for 3 system users, in this example the number ‘400’ represents 3 users, Bartosz, Caitriona and Cian. More records could be created with Employee numbers representing other employees or combinations of users.

We will use the values from the first process which acts as a datasource in a second process called ‘User Lookup’ where fields will be auto-populated based on the Employee No. value entered.

Display names based on datasource value

For example if ‘400’ is entered into this process, then the fields ‘Display names’ and ‘User picker 1’ are auto-filled. This is as a result of 2 rules on the Employee No. field the system property to display a value linked to these 3 users.

What’s next Idea icon

Now that you’ve learned about the User picker control, find out more about the other types of Input fields you can add to a Kianda process:

3.3 - Layout controls

Layout fields are one category of controls (fields). They are fields that can be used to enhance the layout of your form - for example, responsive panels, dialog boxes and rich text fields.

Getting started with Layout fields

  1. To insert a Layout field into a form, first open an existing process or create a new process by going to Administration>Designer in the left side menu. See Create First Process to learn how to create your first process.

Opening Designer from left side menu by choosing Administration>Designer

  1. Then select the form within that process that you want to add the Layout field to (so that the Edit Form button Edit form button is visible).

  2. Next, click on Controls in the left-hand pane to expand the Controls menu and select Layout to view the Layout fields.

  3. Click on the Layout field you want to insert.

Layout fields menu

There are 4 types of layout fields:
  • Panel - The Panel field provides responsive panels to hold elements of your form like text boxes and lists and enables flexible layout options for better design. To learn more, go to Panel control.

  • Dialog - The Dialog field is used to create modal dialogs to alert or prompt form users. For example, a warning message could display to remind the user to complete part of a form before they proceed to the next section. To learn more, go to Modal Dialog control.

  • Richtext - The Richtext field is used to create rich content in forms, such as an attractive banner or static html, and provides optimum formatting options. To learn more, go to Richtext control.

  • Field group - The Field Group control can be used to mirror a group of fields from another form or location and reference those fields in your new form, making process design sleeker and more efficient. To learn more, go to Field group control.

How to add, edit, move and delete Layout fields

How to add Layout fields

To insert a Layout field into your form, click on the field type you want to add from the Layout menu.

For example, to add a new panel to your form, click on Panel - a pop-up message will appear saying ‘Field added’ and a panel field with the default name Panel 1 will be added to your form (by default, the title of the new panel will not be shown but you can make it visible by selecting the ‘Show title’ checkbox in the Field properties panel to the right).

Insert panel field

How to edit Layout fields

To edit whatever type of Layout field you have added to your form:

  1. Select the field (by either clicking on the field name or on the Drag handle button Drag handle button)

  2. Click on the Edit Field button (Pen icon) Pen button.

    In our example, we have selected the Panel field by clicking the Drag handle button and can then click on the Edit field button to edit it.

  3. This will open up the Edit Field dialog box where you can make various changes (such as changing the Title of the field) and where a variety of options will be available to you, depending on the type of Layout field you have selected.

Select panel to edit

How to move Layout fields

To move a Layout field:

  1. Select the field’s Drag handle button Drag handle button
  2. Drag and drop the field wherever you want to move it within your form

How to delete Layout fields

To delete an input field from your form:

  1. Select the field (by either clicking on the field’s name or its Drag handle button Drag handle button)
  2. Click on the Bin/Trash button Bin icon
  3. Click on OK to confirm

How to edit Layout field properties

To view or edit the field properties associated with a Layout field, select the field (by clicking on the field title or drag handle button Drag handle button) - the Field properties menu will appear in the right-hand pane.

Panel field properties

For example, the Field Properties associated with a Panel field titled ‘Existing Qualifications’ are shown here and include:

  • Field type - The type of field, in this case a Panel.

  • Title - The Title of the field, in this case ‘Existing Qualifications’.

  • Show title - If this is selected, the field title will be shown in the form.

  • Required - If this is selected, the field will be a mandatory field that users must complete (denoted by a red asterix next to the field title).

  • Enabled - If this is selected, the user will be able to edit or interact with the field.

  • Visible - If this is selected, the field will be visible in the form.

  • Layout - The width of the field is denoted by the width of the blue bar. Click on the bar to change the width of the field as it will appear on a PC or mobile phone (to view the Mobile layout, click on the expand button Expand button to the right).

To learn more about the different options within the Field properties menu, go to Field Properties.

Saving changes and version history

Make sure to save any changes you make by clicking on the Save button Save. You will always have the option to revert back to previous versions of your form by clicking the Design Version History Version button button in the top right corner.

What’s next Idea icon

We have briefly introduced each of the four types of Layout controls. Now let’s look at each of these types of Layout controls in more detail:

3.3.1 - Field group control

A Field group control is a convenient way to mirror a group of fields that are in another form within your process and reference those fields in your new form, making process design sleeker and more efficient.

For example, in an Education Request Process - where employees can request training in a ‘Training Request’ form and their manager can either approve or reject that request in a ‘Training Approval’ form - we may want to mirror some of the fields from the first form in the process, ‘Training Request’, into the second form ‘Training Approval’. We will keep this example in mind as we learn more about using the Field group control.

How to get started

  1. To add a Field group to a form, first open the relevant process - in our case, we will open the Education Request Process.

  2. Then select the form within that process that you want to add the field to (so that the Edit Form button Edit form button is visible) - we will select the ‘Training Approval’ form. Go to Create First Process to learn how to create your first process.

    Select form to insert Field group control

    Our Training Approval form contains two Panels - the first Panel currently only contains the Richtext field titled ‘Training Details’, the second Panel contains fields related to the approval decision. Panels are sections within your form - to learn more, go to Panel control. We will use the Field group control to add fields from the ‘Training Request’ form to the first panel.

  3. Insert the Field group by clicking on Controls in the left-hand pane to expand the Controls menu, then select Layout to view the range of Layout controls and click on Field group.

    Insert field group

  4. A New field - Field group dialog box will open with a range of options you can choose from for your new Field group:

    New field group dialog box

  5. Title - You can change the title of the Field group from the default title of ‘Field group 1’.

  6. Name - This is a unique name for the field and inherits a camel case version of the entered Title.

  7. Help text - You can insert text to help the form user to complete the Field group - if you add help text, a question mark Help text icon icon will appear next to the field title and, if the user clicks on this, they will see the help text you have inserted.

  8. Custom CSS class name - You can type the name of a CSS class to allow the Field group to inherit specific styles defined in the Global CSS file.

  9. Select fields to group or mirror - You can choose one or more fields from the current process to group or mirror by clicking on the field or fields to select them. You can expand forms (listed with a plus sign beside them) to view all of the fields within them by clicking on the form title in the list. Select as many fields as you want.

    In our example, we will select three fields in the ‘Training Request’ form that we want to be shown on the ‘Training Approval’ form - Employee Name, Type of Training and Reason:

    Select fields to mirror in Field group

  10. Grouped fields - The field(s) you select will automatically be grouped together in the Grouped fields section at the bottom of the dialog box - click on Grouped fields so that it expands to show the list of fields you have chosen:

    Field group grouped fields

    The fields you have chosen being ‘grouped’ together will mean that you will be able to edit them and move them around your form as a group (rather than as individual fields).

    If there is a field or fields you do not want to be grouped, simply click on the Bin/Trash icon Grouped fields blue bin icon to the right and that field will no longer be grouped with the others.

    You can also change the order of the fields within the Field group by simply clicking on the field’s drag handle button and dragging and dropping the field where you want it to be.

    Move field within Field group

    Note that selected fields grouped under the current field group are not copied only referenced.

  11. Once you have completed the New field - Field group dialog box, click OK and the new Field group will be added to your form.

By default, the Title of the new Field group will not be shown (unless you choose to display it, by selecting the Show title checkbox in the Field properties menu to the right).

In our example, our new Field group contains the three fields we chose:

Move field group

How to edit, move and delete Field groups

To edit a Field group:

  1. Select the field (by either clicking on the field title or on the field’s Drag handle button Drag handle button).
  2. Click on the Edit field button (Pen icon) Edit field button.

Select field group to edit

  1. The Edit field - Field group dialog box will open, enabling you to choose from the same range of options as appear in the New field - Field group dialog box (as already discussed in How to get started).

Field group edit dialog box

To move a Field group:

  1. Select the field’s Drag handle button Drag handle button.
  2. Drag and drop the field wherever you want to move it to within your form. Note that the grouped fields are available to move and edit as a group within the form.

To delete a Field group from your form:

  1. Select the group by clicking on the group’s Drag handle button Drag handle button.
  2. Click on the Bin/Trash button Bin icon.
  3. Click on OK to confirm (or click on Cancel if you wish to cancel the deletion).

How to edit Field group properties

To view or edit the field properties associated with a Field group, select the field (by clicking on the field title or field drag handle button Drag handle button) - the Field properties menu will appear in the right-hand pane.

Field group Field properties

For example, the Field Properties associated with a Field group field titled ‘Field group 1’ are shown here and include:

  • Field type - The type of field, in this case a Field group.

  • Title - The Title of the field, in this case ‘Field group 1’.

  • Show title - If this is selected, the Field group title will be shown in the form. In this case, the ‘Show title’ checkbox has not been selected, so it won’t be shown in the form.

  • Required - If this is selected, the field will be mandatory for form users to complete.

  • Enabled - If this is selected, the user will be able to edit or interact with the field.

  • Visible - If this is selected, the Field group will be visible in the form.

  • Layout - The width of the blue bar can be adjusted to change the width of the Field group as it appears on a PC or mobile phone (to view the Mobile layout, click on the expand button Expand button to the right).

To learn more about the different options within the Field properties menu, go to Field Properties.

Saving changes and version history

Make sure to save any changes you make by clicking on the Save button Save. You will always have the option to revert back to previous versions of your form by clicking the Design Version History Version button button in the top right corner.

What’s next Idea icon

Now that you’ve learned about the Field group control, find out more about the other types of Layout fields you can add to a Kianda process:

3.3.2 - Modal dialog control

The Modal dialog field allows you to design pop-up dialog messages that alert or provide reminders or warnings to form end-users.

You can apply a rule - to a field, form or button - so that the pop-up Dialog displays to the user when you want it to, for example, when the user clicks a certain button. Rules allow actions based upon conditions resulting from user interaction with fields. Go to Rules to learn about the different categories of rules that can be applied. One such rule that can be used in conjunction with the Dialog field is the Show, hide or disable rule - to learn more, see Show, hide or disable.

For example, in a simple Training Request form that employees can complete if they want to request training, it could be useful to insert a Dialog field so that a reminder message pops up when the employee clicks on the Save or Submit buttons, to remind them to check that they have completed all fields before they submit their form. We will keep this example in mind as we learn more about Dialog fields.

To view a video example of how to create a Modal dialog field, see How to create a modal dialog.

How to get started

  1. To add a Modal dialog field to a form, first open the relevant process.

  2. Then select the form within that process that you want to add the field to (so that the Edit Form button Edit form button is visible). Go to Create First Process to learn how to create your first process.

  3. Click on Controls in the left-hand pane to expand the Controls menu.

  4. Select Layout to view the range of Layout controls and click on Dialog. A pop-up message will appear saying ‘Field added’ and a Dialog field will be added to the bottom of your form.

    Insert Dialog field

    By default, the Dialog field will not be displayed in the form to users (as denoted by the eye symbol with the line through it Eye symbol with line through it). This is because, as already mentioned, Dialog fields are typically used in conjunction with a rule being applied to a field or button - such as the Submit or Save buttons - so that the pop-up message is only shown to users in certain circumstances, rather than being displayed in the form all the time.

    In our example of the Training Request form, we may only want the Dialog to display when the user clicks on either Submit or Save, to remind them to check that they have completed all fields.

How to set the heading for the Dialog

The title of the Dialog field will display as the heading at the top of the pop-up Dialog message. By default, the title of the new Dialog field is ‘Dialog 1’.

To change the title of a Dialog field:

  1. Select the new Dialog field (by either clicking on the drag handle Drag handle button or clicking in the area of the Dialog field) so that the Edit field button Edit form button is visible.
  2. Edit the Title in the Field properties panel to the right.

For example, we could decide to give our pop-up Dialog message a heading of ‘Reminder’. To learn more about editing the Field properties associated with Modal dialog fields, go to How to edit Modal dialog field properties.

Changing the Dialog title

How to insert body text for the Dialog

To create the body of the pop-up Dialog, you can insert any of the field types from the Controls menu, such as a text box, list, table or richtext. First, select the Dialog field (so that the Edit field button Edit form button is visible) and then go to the Controls menu and click on the field type you want to insert.

The Richtext field is a very flexible option to use for the body of the pop-up message as it gives you the most options - such as formatting and styling the text or inserting images or links. We will use a Richtext field to step through how to add text to the body of the Dialog field for our Training Request form.

  1. Select the Dialog field and then insert a Richtext field into it by clicking Controls >Layout >Richtext in the right-hand pane. To learn more about Richtext fields, go to Richtext control.

    Insert richtext into Dialog field

  2. A New field - Richtext dialog box will open:

    Richtext dialog box

  3. Title - You can change the title of the Richtext field from the default ‘Richtext 1’. Note: It is the Dialog field title that will show as the heading of the pop-up Dialog, not the Richtext title.

  4. Name - This is a unique name for the field and inherits a camel case version of the entered Title.

  5. Helptext - You can insert text to help the form user to complete the field - if you add help text, a question mark Help text icon icon will appear next to the field title and, if the user clicks on this, they will see the help text you have inserted. This option is not as relevant to the Dialog field as it is to other fields, as the Dialog field is not a field the user needs to complete.

  6. Custom CSS class name - You can type the name of a CSS class to allow the Richtext to inherit specific styles defined in the Global CSS file.

  7. Richtext - Type the text that you want to be shown as the main body text in the pop-up Dialog into this field and format it as you want - there are options to highlight text, change the font style and font colour, bold, underline, increase or decrease font size, use a bulleted or numbered list, format the text to align left/centre/right, insert a table or a link, insert an image or to switch to code view.

  8. Colour scheme - You can choose from five colour options for the colour that will appear in the background behind the Dialog richtext body text.

    For our example of the Training Request form, we will insert text to remind the employee completing the form to check that they have completed all fields before submitting it and will choose an orange background colour:

    Example richtext for Dialog field

  9. Once you have completed the New field - Richtext dialog box, click OK. You will now see the body text of your Dialog field in the Richtext field you added to it:

Dialog example

  1. To preview how the pop-up Dialog will look tp users, either click on the Dialog Preview button Dialog field preview button or click on the eye symbol Eye symbol:

Preview example of Dialog

  1. Click on Close or OK to close the preview.

How to edit, move and delete Modal dialog fields

As we go through the options available for editing, moving or deleting a Modal dialog field in a form, we will keep in mind our example of the ‘Reminder’ pop-up Dialog in the Training Request form.

How to edit a Modal dialog field

To edit a Modal dialog field:

  1. Select the Dialog field (by either clicking on the drag handle Drag handle button or clicking in the area of the Dialog field).

  2. Then click on the Edit field button (Pen icon) Edit field button.

    Select Dialog to edit

  3. The Edit field - Dialog dialog box will open, enabling you to choose from a range of options (we already changed the Dialog field title to ‘Reminder’ so this name will be shown in the dialog box name):

    Edit Modal Dialog field dialog box

    The options within the Edit field - Dialog dialog box include:

  • Title - You can change the title of the Modal Dialog field here. We already changed it to ‘Reminder’ from the default Dialog 1 in the ‘Title’ field in the Field properties pane.

  • Name - This is a unique name for the field

  • Help text - You can insert text to help the form user. If you add help text, a question mark Help text icon icon will appear next to the field title and, if the user clicks on this, they will see the help text you have inserted. This option is less relevant for the Dialog field as it is for other field types, as the Dialog field is not a field the user needs to complete.

  • Custom CSS class name - You can type the name of a CSS class to allow the Dialog to inherit specific styles defined in the Global CSS file.

  • Hide “OK” button - Select Yes if you do not want the user to see an ‘OK’ button at the bottom of the Dialog message.

  • Hide “Close” button - Select Yes if you do not want the user to see a ‘Close’ button at the bottom of the Dialog message.

  • Enable dismiss (X button right top) - Choosing Yes means an X button (that the user can click on to dismiss the pop-up message) will be shown at the top right of the Dialog.

  • Dialog size - You can choose from the Default size or Large size for your Dialog message.

  1. Once you have finished editing the Dialog field in the Edit field - Dialog dialog box, click on the OK button OK button to save your changes or click on Close to exit the dialog box without saving.

  2. To see how your form or Dialog field will look on a mobile, view it in Mobile preview by using the Preview option which can be opened by clicking the play button icon Preview. You also have the options to see how it will look on a PC or tablet.

How to move a Modal dialog field

To move a Modal dialog field:

  1. Select the field’s Drag handle button Drag handle button.

  2. Drag and drop it wherever you want to move it within your form.

    Move a Dialog field

How to delete a Modal dialog field

To delete a Modal dialog field from your form:

  1. Select it (by either clicking on the Panel field’s name or its Drag handle button Drag handle button).
  2. Click on the Bin/Trash button Bin icon.
  3. Click on OK to confirm the deletion (or click Cancel if you wish to cancel the deletion).

How to edit Modal dialog field properties

To view or edit the field properties associated with a Modal dialog field, select the Dialog field (by clicking on the drag handle button Drag handle buttonor clicking in the area of the Dialog field) - the Field properties menu will appear in the right-hand pane.

Panel field properties

In the example shown here, a Dialog field titled ‘Reminder’ has been selected and the Field properties associated with it are shown in the Field properties menu to the right:

  • Title - The title of the Modal Dialog field. In this case, ‘Reminder’.
  • Layout - How wide the Modal Dialog field will be on a PC and mobile phone, denoted by the width of the blue bar. You can change the width by clicking on the blue bar.

Saving changes and version history

Make sure to save any changes you make by clicking on the Save button Save. You will always have the option to revert back to previous versions of your form by clicking the Design Version History Version button button in the top right corner.

What’s next Idea icon

Now that you’ve learned about the Modal dialog control, find out more about the other types of Layout fields you can add to a Kianda process:

3.3.3 - Panel layout control

A Panel field is section within a form. Panels hold other elements of your form, such as text box fields, list fields and tables, and enable flexible layout options that result in a better end-user experience.

It is a good idea when first creating a form to insert a panel for each section of your form and then insert the fields you require into each of these panels. One advantage of having related fields contained within a panel is that you can then easily move that panel (and all of the fields within it) to another location within your form.

For example, in a ‘Training Request’ form, you may decide to insert two panels - one panel to contain the details relating to the employee requesting the training and a second panel to contain the details of the training course being requested.

How to get started

  1. To add a Panel to a form, first open the relevant process.

  2. Then select the form within that process that you want to add the field to (so that the Edit Form button Edit form button is visible). Go to Create First Process to learn how to create your first process.

  3. Insert the Panel by clicking on Controls in the left-hand pane to expand the Controls menu.

  4. Select Layout to view the range of Layout controls and click on Panel.

    A pop-up message will appear saying ‘Field added’ and a panel field with the default name Panel 1 will be added to your form.

    Insert panel field

    By default, the title of the new panel will not be displayed in your form, but you can make it visible by selecting the ‘Show title’ checkbox in the Field properties panel to the right) - to learn more about editing the Field properties associated with Panels, go to How to edit Panel field properties.

How to edit, move and delete Panels

As we go through the options available for editing a Panel in a form, we will keep in mind the example of adding two panels to a ‘Training Request’ form - one titled ‘Employee Details’ and one titled ‘Training Details’.

How to edit a Panel

To edit a Panel:

  1. Select the field.

  2. Click on the Edit field button (Pen icon) Edit field button.

    Select Panel to edit

    The Edit field - Panel dialog box will open, enabling you to choose from a range of options:

    Edit Panel dialog box

  3. Title - You can change the title of the Panel from the default ‘Panel 1’.

    In our example, after inserting two panels into our form, we could edit each of them in turn and change their titles to ‘Employee Details’ and ‘Training Details’.

    In order to have the title of a Panel display in your form, you need to take one further step - select each panel and then select the ‘Show title’ checkbox in the Field properties panel to the right. Now the titles of the two Panels will be shown - here we have selected the first panel in order to display the ‘Show title’ checkbox associated with it:

    Show Panel title

    You will learn more about the Field properties associated with Panels in How to edit Panel Field properties.

  4. Name (unique) - This is a unique name for the Panel field and inherits a camel case version of the entered Title.

  5. Help text - You can insert text to help the form user to complete the Panel.

    In our example, we could insert this help text to assist the user in completing the ‘Employee Details’ panel:

    Panel help text

    If you add help text, a question mark Help text icon icon will appear next to the Panel title and, if the user clicks on this, they will see the help text you have inserted.

    Panel help text displayed

  6. Custom CSS class name - You can type the name of a CSS class to allow the panel to inherit specific styles defined in the Global CSS file.

  7. Card design? - This option allows you to add a border radius to your panel, which rounds the edges. If you select the Yes radio button, you can choose between defining:

    • The total border radius in pixels by clicking the all corners button Card design all symbol and entering a value into the input field.

    • Each corner’s border radius individually in pixels by clicking on the individual corners button individual corners button and entering values for each corner in the four input fields.

      individual corners border radius

      This feature can give your forms an added level of unique styling.

      card detail

  8. Layout columns - Here you can decide how wide you want your Panel to be in your form - choose from 1 to 12 columns in width. For example click half-way across the blue bar to create a panel that is 6 columns wide, or click at the far right side of the blue bar to create a column that is 12 columns wide.

    Panel width

  9. Colour scheme - You can choose from six different colour options: navy, green, blue, amber, red, white. By default, the colour is set to white.

  10. Enable panel security - If you want to restrict who can see the contents of the Panel, choose Yes. Two additional options will then be shown - ‘Add security’ and ‘Allow anonymous link’:

    Enable Panel security

    To limit who can view the Panel contents, click the ‘Add security’ button. A new row is displayed, within which you can select the user(s) or groups who will be able to vie the Panel:

    Panel add security

    In Field security, you can choose from three options in terms of who will be able to view the Panel you are inserting: User or group, User picker field or Form owner(s).

    (i) If you choose to limit the Panel visibility to a ‘User or group’, you can then select the user(s) or groups you want to be able to see it in the ‘Select user(s) or groups’ box.

    (ii) If you choose to limit the Panel visibility to a ‘User picker field’, you then select the User picker field in the ‘Select a userpicker field’ box:

    Panel security visibility limited to User picker field

    This will limit the visibility of the Panel to the user(s) selected in that User picker field.

    (iii) If you choose to limit the Panel visibility to ‘Form owner(s)’, you then select the form in the ‘Select a form’ box - only the owner(s) of the selected form will be able to view the Panel you are inserting:

    Panel security visibility limited to Form owner

    The second main option in terms of Panel security is ‘Allow anonymous link’:

    Panel allow anonymous link

    • If you choose Yes, this will mean that the Panel will be visible when the form is accessed via an anonymous link.

    • If you choose No, anyone accessing the form from an anonymous link will not be able to see the Panel.

    Anonymous links can be useful if, for example, you want members of the public to complete your form without needing to log into Kianda. To learn more about how you can create anonymous links to a form that can be shared with external users, see Anonymous form link.

  11. Once you are finished editing the Panel in the Edit field dialog box, click on the OK button OK button to save your changes or click on Close to exit the dialog box without saving.

How to add fields to a Panel

Once you have inserted a Panel and completed the Edit field - Panel dialog box, you can then start to add the elements you need into the Panel - such as text boxes, lists, tables, number fields or date fields. Go to Controls to see the full list of fields available and Rules to learn about different categories of rules that can be applied.

To add fields to your Panel:

  1. Select the Panel (by either clicking on the field title or on the field’s Drag handle button Drag handle button) so that the Edit field button Edit form button is visible.
  2. Click on whatever type of field you want to insert from the Controls menu in the left-hand pane.

Let’s take the example of our first Panel, titled ‘Employee Details’. To add a Text box field to this Panel we can:

  1. Select the Panel by clicking on the ‘Employee Details’ field Drag handle.
  2. Click on Controls > Input > Text box in the Controls menu to insert a Text box. A pop-up message says ‘Field added’ and a new Text box, titled ‘Text box 1’, is added to the ‘Employee Details’ panel:

Insert text box field into a Panel

  1. You can then edit this new Text box field as needed - in our example, we will rename it as ‘First Name’. To learn more about Text box fields, go to Text box control.

By adding two text box fields (titled ‘First Name’ and ‘Surname’) and a date field (titled ‘Date of Birth’) to our ‘Employee Details’ Panel, and then adding the fields we need to the ‘Training Details’ Panel, our ‘Training Request’ form - with its two Panels - could look like this when viewed on a user’s mobile phone:

Panel example on mobile phone

To see how your form or field will look on a mobile, view it in Mobile preview by using the Preview option which can be opened by clicking the play button icon Preview. You also have the options to see how it will look on a PC or tablet.

How to move a Panel

To move a Panel, simply:

  1. Select the Panel field’s Drag handle button Drag handle button.
  2. Drag and drop it wherever you want to move it within your form.

Move a Panel

How to delete a Panel

To delete a Panel from your form:

  1. Select it (by either clicking on the Panel field’s name or its Drag handle button Drag handle button), click on the Bin/Trash button Bin icon
  2. Click on OK to confirm or click on Cancel if you wish to cancel the deletion.

Note: Remember that deleting a Panel will result in all of the fields contained within that Panel also being deleted.

How to edit Panel Field properties

To view or edit the field properties associated with a Panel, select the Panel field (by clicking on the field title or drag handle button Drag handle button) - the Field properties menu will appear in the right-hand pane.

Panel field properties

In the example shown here, the Field properties associated with the ‘Employee Details’ Panel include:

  • Field type - the type of field. In this case, Panel.
  • Title - the title of the Panel field (default name ‘Panel 1’ unless you change it). In this case, ‘Employee Details’.
  • Show title - this is selected, which means that the Panel title will be shown in the form.
  • Visible - this is selected, so the Panel will be visible to form users.
  • Layout - the width of the blue bars can be adjusted to change the width of the Richtext field on PC or mobile. To view the mobile width, click on the expand button Expand button to the right of the Layout option.

To learn more about the different options within the Field properties menu, go to Field Properties.

Saving changes and version history

Make sure to save any changes you make by clicking on the Save button Save. You will always have the option to revert back to previous versions of your form by clicking the Design Version History Version button button in the top right corner.

What’s next Idea icon

Now that you’ve learned about the Panel control, find out more about the other types of Layout fields you can add to a Kianda process:

3.3.4 - Richtext control

Richtext fields can be used to create custom rich text content in forms, such as an attractive banner. They provide optimum formatting options, such as bold and italics, or the option to insert images or links.

For example, we may want to insert some colourful headings into a Training Approval form within an Education Request process (where employees can request training in a Training Request form and their manager then either approves or rejects this request in a Training Approval form).

How to get started

  1. To add a Richtext field to a form, first open the relevant process - in our case, we will open the Education Request process. Go to Create First Process to learn how to create your first process.

  2. Then select the form within that process to which you want to add the Richtext field (so that the Edit Form button Edit form button is visible). We will select the ‘Training Approval’ form:

    Select form to insert Richtext field

    The Training Approval form contains two panels (as indicated above), neither of which currently has a heading. For the first panel, we will insert a Richtext heading titled ‘Training Details’ and, for the second panel, we will insert a Richtext heading titled ‘Approval Decision’.

  3. To insert a Richtext field into the first panel in the form:

    • Select that panel by clicking on the drag handle button Drag handle button.

    • Then click on Controls in the left-hand pane to expand the Controls menu and select Layout to view the range of Layout controls.

    • Click on Richtext.

    Insert Richtext field

  4. A New field - Richtext dialog box will open with a range of options you can choose from for your new Richtext field:

Richtext dialog box

  1. Title - You can change the title of the Richtext field from the default title of ‘Richtext 1’.

  2. Name - This is a unique name for the field and inherits a camel case version of the entered Title.

  3. Help text - You can insert text to help the form user - if you add help text, a question mark Help text icon icon will appear next to the field title and, if the user clicks on this, they will see the help text you have inserted.

  4. Custom CSS class name - You can type the name of a CSS class to allow the Richtext to inherit specific styles defined in the Global CSS file.

  5. Richtext - Here you can insert the text you want to appear and can choose from an wide array of styles and formats, including Style, Colour, Bold, Underline, Remove font style, Font size, Font family, Unordered list, Ordered list, Paragraph, and Table. You can also choose to insert a Link or Picture, if you click on the Picture button Picture buttonyou will be redirected to the File storage area where you can search for existing images stored in the Kianda file system. Here you can create a folder, upload a file and delete files.

    Storage files management area

    You can also switch to Code view. For example, if you click on Code view button Code view buttonyou can copy HTML code directly into the text.

    Type in the text you want to use into the body of the Richtext box - in our example, we will insert the text ‘Training Details’ (the title we want to use for the first panel in our form), bold it, choose font size 14 and a blue colour scheme:

    Example of Richtext body text

    You can click on the Help button Help button to get a list of over 20 keyboard shortcuts that you can use to style your text.

    Richtext help

    Click on the Ellipsis button Ellipsis button if you want to add an expression - see Expression builder for more details.

  6. Colour scheme - You can choose from Navy, Green, Blue, Amber, Red or White Colours for your rich text background.

  7. Once you have completed the New field - Richtext dialog box, click OK OK button and the new Richtext field will be added to your form.

In our example, it is inserted at the bottom of the panel we added it to. The same steps can be repeated in order to insert a Richtext heading in the second panel, titled ‘Approval Decision’.

Richtext field inserted

By default, the Richtext Title will not be shown (unless you choose to display it, by selecting the Show title checkbox in the Field properties menu to the right).

How to edit, move and delete Richtext fields

To edit a Richtext field:

  1. Select the field (by either clicking on the field title or on the field’s Drag handle button Drag handle button).
  2. Click on the Edit field button (Pen icon) Edit field button.

Select Richtext field to edit

The Edit field - Richtext dialog box will open, enabling you to choose from the same range of options as appear in the New field - Richtext dialog box (as already discussed in How to get started).

Richtext field edit dialog box

To move a Richtext field:

  1. Select the field’s Drag handle button Drag handle button.
  2. Drag and drop the field wherever you want to move it to within your form.

In our example, we can move the new Richtext heading to the top of the first panel in the Training Approval form:

Move a Richtext field

To delete a Richtext field from your form:

  1. Select the field (by clicking on the Drag handle button Drag handle button).

  2. Click on the Bin/Trash button Bin icon.

  3. Click on OK to confirm. Click on Cancel if you wish to cancel the deletion.

How to preview your Richtext field

To see how your Richtext field or fields will look to a user on a PC or mobile phone:

  1. Save your changes.
  2. Click on the Preview button Preview.
  3. Click on Desktop preview button Desktop preview button to see how the form will look when viewed on a PC or click on the Mobile preview button Mobile preview button to see how it will look on a mobile phone.

From our example, the new Richtext headings - ‘Training Details’ and ‘Approval Decision’ - could look like this when a user views the form on their mobile phone:

Richtext previewed on a mobile phone

How to edit Richtext field properties

To view or edit the field properties associated with a Richtext field, select the field (by clicking on the title or drag handle button Drag handle button) - the Field properties menu will appear in the right-hand pane.

Richtext field properties

In the example shown here, the Field properties associated with the ‘Training Details’ Richtext field include:

  • Field type - Richtext
  • Title - the title of the Richtext field (default name ‘Richtext 1’ unless you change this)
  • Show title - this is not selected, which means that the Richtext title will not be shown in the form
  • Required - this is not selected, so the Richtext field is not a mandatory field for the user to complete
  • Enabled - the field is enabled so the user can edit it (not relevant for a richtext heading which the user will not interact with)
  • Visible - this is selected, so the Richtext field will be visible to users
  • Layout - the width of the blue bar can be adjusted to change the width of the Richtext field on PC or mobile. To view the mobile width, click on the expand button Expand button to the right of the Layout option.

To learn more about the different options within the Field properties menu, go to Field Properties.

Saving changes and version history

Make sure to save any changes you make by clicking on the Save button Save. You will always have the option to revert back to previous versions of your form by clicking the Design Version History Version button button in the top right corner.

What’s next Idea icon

Now that you’ve learned about the Richtext control, find out more about the other types of Layout fields you can add to a Kianda process:

3.4 - Actions

Action fields are one category of controls and include the fields that allow user interface actions like buttons or links.

Getting started with Action controls

There are four types of Action fields:

  • Button - Buttons can be used to allow user interaction and to enable rules to be applied to actions taken by users. Applying rules to buttons can help to create smart, dynamic forms that follow business logic, without the need for coding. See Rules and Button control to learn more.

  • Link - Link fields can be used to create custom links to forms. These can be external links. See Link control for more information.

  • Image - Image fields can be used to display images, either statically or from file fields. Go to Image control to find out more.

  • Signature - Signature fields provide a very neat way to electronically sign-off on a form or process. To learn more, go to Signature control.

To add an Action field to a Kianda form:

  1. Open an existing process by going to Administration > Designer in the left side menu and clicking on a process, or create a new process in Designer. See Create First Process to learn how to create your first process.

    Open process in Designer

  2. Once you have opened your process, select the form you want to work on (so that the Edit Form button Pen icon is shown).

    In this example, a Training Request form has been selected:

    Select form

  3. Click on Controls in the left-hand pane so the Controls menu expands to show the four categories of Controls (fields): Input, Layout, Actions and Custom.

  4. Click on Actions to see the four types of Action fields: Button, Link, Image and Signature.

    Actions menu in the Controls panel

  5. Click on the Action field type you want to insert.

    For example, to insert an Image field:

    • Click on Image
    • A New field - Image dialog box opens automatically, giving you a range of options for your new Image field.
    • Once you complete this dialog box and click OK, the new Image field is inserted into your form. To learn more about the Image field, go to Image control.

    Image dialog box

How to edit, move and delete Action fields

To edit whatever type of Action field you have added to your form:

  1. Select the field (by either clicking on the field name or on the field’s drag handle button Drag handle button).

  2. Click on the Edit Field button (Pen icon) Pen button.

  3. The Edit Field dialog box will open, giving you a different range of options to make changes to the Action field - such as changing the Title of the field - depending on the type of Action field you are working with.

To move an Action field, simply:

  1. Select the field’s Drag handle button Drag handle button.

  2. Drag and drop the Action field wherever you want to move it within your form.

    For example, the ‘Training Documentation’ Link field shown here can be moved in the form by selecting the drag handle button and dragging and dropping it wherever you want to put it:

    Move link field example

To delete an Action field from your form:

  1. Select the Action field (by either clicking on the field’s title or its drag handle button Drag handle button).
  2. Click on the Bin/Trash button Bin icon.
  3. Click on OK to confirm.

How to view and edit Action control Field Properties

To view or edit an Action control’s Field properties:

  1. Select the Action field (by either clicking on the field title or on the field’s drag handle button Drag handle button).

  2. The Field Properties associated with the Action field will be displayed (and can be changed) in the Field properties menu on the right-hand side.

    Field properties associated with a Link field

    For example, the Field properties associated with a Link field titled ‘Training Documentation’ are shown here:

    • Field type - The type of field, in this case a Link field.
    • Title - The Title of the field, in this case ‘Training Documentation’.
    • Show title - If this is selected, the field title will be shown in the form.
    • Required - If this is selected, the field will be mandatory for the form user to complete (and a red star will be shown next to the field title to denote this).
    • Enabled - If this is selected, the user will be able to edit the field.
    • Visible - If this is selected, the field will be visible in the form.
    • Layout - The width of the blue bar can be adjusted to change the width of the field as it appears on a PC or mobile phone (to view the Mobile layout, click on the expand button Expand button to the right).

​ For more details, go to Field Properties.

Saving changes and version history

Make sure to save any changes you make by clicking on the Save button Save. You will always have the option to revert back to previous versions of your form by clicking the Design Version History Version button button in the top right corner.

What’s next Idea icon

We have briefly introduced each of the four types of Action fields. Now let’s look at each of these Action fields in more detail:

3.4.1 - Button control

Button fields can be used in forms to allow user interface actions. Often, rules are applied to buttons so that actions are automatically executed once the user clicks on the button. In this way, Button fields with rules can be used to trigger a sequence of events. To learn more about rules, go to Rules.

For example, as part of an Employee Appraisal Process, a manager may complete a Performance Plan form for each employee, setting out their Key Performance Areas and goals. It could be useful to add a button to this form - titled ‘Schedule Meeting’ - that will automatically schedule a performance review meeting between the manager and the employee at a pre-determined date in the future. We will keep this example in mind as we learn more about using Button controls.

How to get started

To add a Button field to a Kianda form:

  1. Open an existing process by going to Administration > Designer in the left side menu and clicking on a process, or create a new process in Designer. See Create First Process to learn how to create your first process.

    Open process in Designer

  2. Once you have opened your process, select the form you want to work on (so that the Edit Form button Pen icon is shown).

    In this example, a Performance Plan form has been selected:

    Select form

  3. Select the area within the form where you want to insert the new Button field - in our example, we will select the panel containing the ‘Schedule performance plan review meeting’ information.

    Select panel to insert Button

  4. Click on Controls in the left-hand pane, and, from the four categories of Controls (Input, Layout, Actions and Custom), click on Actions.

  5. Select Button from the four types of Action fields: Button, Link, Image and Signature:

    Actions menu insert Button

  6. A New field - Button dialog box will automatically open, giving you options for your new Button field:

    Button field dialog box

  7. Title - You can change the name of the Button from the default ‘Button 1’.

  8. Name (Unique) - This is a unique name for the Button and inherits a camel case version of the entered Title.

  9. Help text - You can insert text to help the form user. If you add help text, a question mark Help text icon icon will appear next to the field title and, if the user clicks on this, they will see the help text you have inserted.

  10. Custom CSS class name - You can type the name of a CSS class to allow the Button to inherit specific styles defined in the Global CSS file.

  11. Button size - You can choose the size of the Button ranging from XL (extra large) to XS (extra small). By default, the Button size is medium.

  12. Block button - If you choose Yes, the button will span the entire width of the button’s allocated space. If you choose No, an additional field called Align button will appear that allows you to select what direction the Button aligns to. By default, the Button is aligned to the center.

    align button

  13. Color scheme - You can choose a colour for your new Button field from six options.

  14. Icon - You can choose an icon to appear on your Button by clicking on the down arrow to the right and scrolling to select the icon you want to use (or can opt not to add an icon).

Button dialog box icon options

  1. Show in form body - Select Yes if you want your Button to be shown in the Form.

  2. Enable button security - Select Yes if you want to limit who can see the Button you are adding to the form.

    Button dialog box enable button security

    If you select Yes, two additional options are displayed: Add security and Allow anonymous link.

    When you click on Add security, a new line appears with the options Field security and Select user(s) or groups:

    Buttons add security

    In Field security, you can choose from three options in terms of who will be able to view the Button you are inserting:

    Button visibility options

    (i) If you choose to limit the Button visibility to a ‘User or group’, you can then select the user(s) or groups you want to be able to see the Button in the ‘Select user(s) or groups’ box.

    (ii) If you choose to limit the Button visibility to a ‘User picker field’, you then select the User picker field in the ‘Select a userpicker field’ box:

    Button visibility limited to User picker field

    This will limit the visibility of the Button to the user(s) selected in that User picker field.

    (iii) If you choose to limit the Button visibility to ‘Form owner(s)’, you then select the form in the ‘Select a form’ box - only the owner(s) of the selected form will be able to view the new Button you are inserting:

    Button visibility limited to Form owners

    The second main option in terms of Button security is ‘Allow anonymous link’:

    • If you choose Yes, this will mean that the Button field will be visible when the form is accessed via an anonymous link.

    • If you choose No, anyone accessing the form from an anonymous link will not be able to see the Button field.

    Anonymous links can be useful if, for example, you want members of the public to complete your form without needing to log into Kianda. To learn more about how you can create anonymous links to a form that can be shared with external users, see Anonymous form link.

  3. Once you complete the New field - Button dialog box, click OK and the new Button field is added to your form.

In our example, if we changed the Button field title to ‘Schedule Meeting’ and chose a green colour scheme and ‘people’ icon, set button size to small and aligned the button to the right, our new Button could look like this when added to our ‘Performance Plan’ form:

Button example titled Schedule Meeting

  • You may then decide to add rules to your new Button field - to learn more, go to Rules. The rules we add will be executed in the order in which they are listed under Rules in the right hand pane.

    For example, we could add a series of rules to our new Schedule Meeting button:

    Button field example with rules

    In our example, the sixth rule is a Meeting Request rule which will mean that, once the Schedule Meeting button is clicked, an automated email will be sent to the employee scheduling a performance review meeting - to learn more, go to Meeting request rule.

How to edit, move and delete Button fields

To edit a Button field:

  1. Select the Button field (by either clicking on the field name or on the field’s drag handle button Drag handle button).

  2. Click on the Edit Field button (Pen icon) Pen button.

  3. The Edit Field dialog box will open (with the Button title you chose reflected in the dialog box name), enabling you to choose from the same range of options as appear in the New field - Button dialog box (as already discussed in How to get started).

    Button field dialog box

To move a Button, simply:

  1. Select the Button’s Drag handle button Drag handle button.

  2. Drag and drop the Button wherever you want to move it within your form.

    For example, the ‘Schedule Meeting’ Button could be moved from where it was automatically added at the bottom of the panel to the location where we want it to go:

    Move Button field example

To delete a Button from your form:

  1. Select the Button (by either clicking on the Button’s title or its drag handle button Drag handle button).
  2. Click on the Bin/Trash button Bin icon.
  3. Click on OK to confirm.

How to view and edit Button field properties

To view or edit a Button’s Field properties:

  1. Select the Button field (by either clicking on the field title or on the field’s drag handle button Drag handle button).

  2. The Field Properties associated with the Button field will be displayed (and can be changed) in the Field properties menu to the right.

    Field properties associated with a Button

    For example, the Field Properties associated with a Button field titled ‘Schedule Meeting’ are shown here and include:

    • Field type - The type of field, in this case a Button.
    • Title - The Title of the field, in this case ‘Schedule Meeting’.
    • Show title - If this is selected, the Button field title will be shown in the form.
    • Required - If this is selected, the Button will be mandatory for the form user.
    • Enabled - If this is selected, the user will be able to edit or interact with the field.
    • Visible - If this is selected, the Button will be visible in the form.
    • Layout - The width of the blue bar can be adjusted to change the width of the Button as it appears on a PC or mobile phone (to view the Mobile layout, click on the expand button Expand button to the right).

​ For more details, go to Field Properties.

Saving changes and version history

Make sure to save any changes you make by clicking on the Save button Save. You will always have the option to revert back to previous versions of your form by clicking the Design Version History Version button button in the top right corner.

What’s next Idea icon

Now that you’ve learned about Button controls, find out more about the other types of Action fields you can add to Kianda forms:

3.4.2 - Image control

Image fields can be used to insert and display images, either statically or images captured from File upload fields. For example, you may wish to insert an image at the top of your form or may wish to enable form users to annotate an image.

How to get started

To add an Image field to a Kianda form:

  1. Open an existing process by going to Administration > Designer in the left side menu and clicking on a process, or create a new process in Designer. See Create First Process to learn how to create your first process.

    Open process in Designer

  2. Once you have opened your process, select the form you want to work on (so that the Edit Form button Pen icon is shown).

    In this example, a Training Approval form in an Education Request Process has been selected:

    Select form to insert an Image field

  3. Select the area within the form where you want to insert the Image field - in our example, we will select the first panel in the form - Training Details:

    Select panel to insert Image field

  4. Click on Controls in the left-hand pane, and, from the four categories of Controls (Input, Layout, Actions and Custom), click on Actions.

  5. Select Image from the four types of Action fields: Button, Link, Image and Signature:

    Actions menu insert Image

  6. A New field - Image dialog box will automatically open, giving you options for your new Image field:

    Image field dialog box

  7. Title - You can change the name of the Image field from the default ‘Image 1’. In our example, we could change the title to ‘Employees’.

  8. Name (Unique) - This is a unique name for the new field and inherits a camel case version of the entered Title.

  9. Help text - You can insert text to help the form user. If you add help text, a question mark Help text icon icon will appear next to the field title and, if the user clicks on this, they will see the help text you have inserted.

  10. Custom CSS class name - You can type the name of a CSS class to allow the Image to inherit specific styles defined in the Global CSS file.

  11. Image source - You can choose to insert the image either from an Image URL or from a File field within the form. Different additional options will be available to you, dependent on the Image source you choose.

    (i) If you choose Image URL as the Image source, insert the URL for the image into the Image URL field:

    Image source Image URL

    Then complete the Image max height and Image max width options:

    • Image max height - Insert the maximum height (in pixels) for your new Image field by either manually inserting a number or using the up down arrows Up down arrows buttons to the right of the field.

    • Image max width - Insert the maximum width (in pixels) for your new Image field by either manually inserting a number or using the up down arrows Up down arrows buttons to the right of the field.

    When you’ve completed the New field - Image dialog box and clicked OK, your new Image field will be inserted at the bottom of the area you selected - in our case, at the bottom of the first panel in the Training Approval form:

    Image field inserted with URL as Image source

    (ii) If you choose File field as the Image source, three additional options will be displayed below the ‘Image max height’ and ‘Image max width’ options - Enable image annotations, Display images inline and Enable quick remove image:

    Image source File field

    To use a File field as the Image source, you must first have inserted a File Upload field into your form and it must hold an image file.

    In our example, you could insert a File Upload field titled ‘Image file’ into the panel where you want to insert the new Image field and then browse to find an image you have saved on your computer:

    Insert File upload field to hold an image

    You could choose to make this File Upload field invisible to form users, by ensuring the Visible checkbox is not selected in the Field Properties menu to the right.

    If you want to allow form users to make annotations on the Image, make sure to select Yes to the Allow file override option in the New field - File dialog box. To learn more about File Upload fields, see File Upload field.

    Once the File Upload field has been added to the form and it contains the image file you want to use, you can then insert an Image field and, in the dialog box, choose File field as your Image source, click into the File field and select the field containing the image:

    Image with File field as Image source

    Then complete the Image max height and Image max width fields:

    Image source as File field and max height and max width inserted

    In our example, if we inserted an Image field using a File field as the Image source (and choose not to make the File field visible to form users), the new Image field could look like this once inserted in our form:

    Image example inserted using a File field as the Image Source

    You have three additional options if you choose File field as your Image source:

    • Enable image annotations - If you choose Yes, this will enable both you (as the Form Designer) and the end user (the form user) to make annotations to the Image - such as adding a text comment or inserting a shape.

      To make annotations to the Image as the Form Designer, choose Yes to ‘Enable image annotations’ and after clicking OK at the bottom of the New field - Image dialog box, click on the new Image field that has been added to your form:

      Click on image to annotate as form designer

      When you click on the Image, a new pop-up box will open, with an Annotate Image button at the top right:

      Click on image to annotate and Annotate button displays

      Click on this Annotate Image button and a menu will display with a range of options for annotating the image:

      Menu for annotating an Image field

      The options available for annotating the image include:

      ​ - Undo the last annotation Image annotation undo button

      ​ - Draw a rectangle Image annotation draw a rectangle button

      ​ - Draw a circle Image annotation draw a circle

      ​ - Write some text Image annotation Write some text button

      ​ - Draw an arrow Image annotation draw an arrow button

      ​ - Pen tool Image annotation pen tool button (which allows you to do a free hand drawing on the image)

      ​ - Redo the last undone annotation Image annotation Redo last undone annotation button

      An end user completing the form will be able to make annotations to the image in the same way - by clicking on the Image in the form and then clicking the Annotate Image button to view the menu.

      When you have made the changes you want to the image, click on the green Save button Image annotation green Save button. This annotation will then be visible in the image in your form.

      If you choose Yes to Enable image annotations, another option is shown - Keep original image:

      Enable image annotations Keep original image sub-option

      If you choose Yes for Keep original image, when the Image field is annotated, both the original image and annotated image will be shown side by side and will both be saved in the location you chose as the ‘Destination’ in the File Upload field.

    • Display images inline - Select Yes if you want the Image field to appear in line with the text in your form.

    • Enable quick remove image - If you select Yes, a Bin/Trash button Bin icon will be available to the form user at the bottom of the Image field in the form, enabling them to delete the image by clicking on it.

      Image quick remove button

  12. When you have finished selecting the options you want for your new Image field in the New field - Image dialog box, click OK and the Image will be added to your form.

  13. You can preview how the image will look to an end user by first saving the changes you’ve made to your form (by clicking on the Save button Save) and then clicking the Preview Preview button button.

    In our example, if we added an Image field to our Training Approval form and choose a File field as the Image source and to allow the user to make annotations to the image - it could look like this to user completing the form on their mobile phone:

    Preview Image field on a mobile phone

    If you chose to enable image annotations, the form user can click on the image, click on the Annotate image button Annotate image button and then use the options in the menu to make annotations on the image and save these.

How to edit, move and delete Image fields

To edit an Image field:

  1. Select the Image field (by either clicking on the field name or on the field’s drag handle button Drag handle button).

  2. Click on the Edit Field button (Pen icon) Pen button.

    Edit Image field

  3. The Edit Field - Image dialog box will open (with the Image field title you chose reflected in the dialog box name), enabling you to choose from the same range of options as appear in the New field - Image dialog box (as already discussed in How to get started).

    Image edit field dialog box

To move an Image field, simply:

  1. Select the Image field’s drag handle button Drag handle button.

  2. Drag and drop the Image field wherever you want to move it within your form.

    For example, when we added the ‘Employees’ Image field to the first panel in the Training Approval form, it was automatically inserted at the bottom of the panel - if we want it to show at the top of the panel, we can simply drag the image to the top of the panel and drop it there:

    Move Image field example

To delete an Image field from your form:

  1. Select the Image field (by either clicking on the field’s title or drag handle button Drag handle button).
  2. Click on the Bin/Trash button Bin icon.
  3. Click on OK to confirm.

How to view and edit Image control Field properties

To view or edit an Image control’s Field properties:

  1. Select the Image field (by either clicking on the field title or on its drag handle button Drag handle button).

  2. The Field Properties associated with the Image field will be displayed (and can be changed) in the Field properties menu to the right.

    Field properties associated with an Image field

    For example, the Field Properties associated with an Image field titled ‘Employees’ are shown here and include:

    • Field type - The type of field, in this case an Image field.

    • Title - The Title of the field, in this case ‘Employees’.

    • Show title - If this is selected, the Image field title will be shown in the form.

    • Required - If this is selected, the field will be mandatory for the form user.

    • Enabled - If this is selected, the user will be able to edit or interact with the field.

    • Visible - If this is selected, the Image field will be visible in the form.

    • Layout - The width of the blue bar can be adjusted to change the width of the Image field as it appears on a PC or mobile phone (to view the Mobile layout, click on the expand button Expand button to the right).

      For more details, go to Field Properties.

Saving changes and version history

Make sure to save any changes you make by clicking on the Save button Save. You will always have the option to revert back to previous versions of your form by clicking the Design Version History Version button button in the top right corner.

What’s next Idea icon

Now that you’ve learned about Image controls, find out more about the other types of Action fields you can add to Kianda forms:

3.4.3 - Link control

Link fields can be used to add custom links to forms, including external links.

For example, as part of an Employee Appraisal Process, a manager may complete a Performance Plan form for each employee, setting out their Key Performance Areas and goals. It could be useful to add a Link Field to this form that links to the company’s Employee Handbook. We will keep this example in mind as we learn more about using Link controls.

How to get started

To add a Link field to a Kianda form:

  1. Open an existing process by going to Administration > Designer in the left side menu and clicking on a process, or create a new process in Designer. See Create First Process to learn how to create your first process.

    Open process in Designer

  2. Once you have opened your process, select the form you want to work on (so that the Edit Form button Pen icon is shown).

    In this example, a Performance Plan form within an Employee Appraisal Process has been selected:

    Select form

  3. Select the area within the form where you want to insert the new Link field - in our example, we will select the first panel in the ‘Employee Information’ section of the form.

    Select panel to insert Link field

  4. Click on Controls in the left-hand pane, and, from the four categories of Controls (Input, Layout, Actions and Custom), click on Actions.

  5. Select Link from the four types of Action fields: Button, Link, Image and Signature:

    Actions menu insert Link

  6. A New field - Link dialog box will automatically open, giving you options for your new Link field.

    Link field dialog box

  7. Title - You can change the name of the Link field from the default ‘Link 1’. In our example, we will change the title to ‘Employee Handbook’.

  8. Name (Unique) - This is a unique name for the new field and inherits a camel case version of the entered Title.

  9. Help text - You can insert text to help the form user. If you add help text, a question mark Help text icon icon will appear next to the field title and, if the user clicks on this, they will see the help text you have inserted.

    In our example, we could insert this help text:

    Link field help text “Click here to open the latest version of the Employee Handbook”

    The user will then be able to view this help text by clicking on the question mark icon Help text icon next to the Link field title:

    Link field sample help text

  10. Custom CSS class name - You can type the name of a CSS class to allow the Link to inherit specific styles defined in the Global CSS file.

  11. Link target - You can choose to have the link either open as a New tab or open in the Same tab the form user is currently in.

  12. Default URL - This is where you can insert the URL you want the user to be brought to when they click on the Link field.

  13. Once you complete the New field - Link dialog box, click OK and the new Link field is added to your form.

In our example, if we changed the default Link field title to ‘Employee Handbook’ and inserted help text (as shown previously), our new Link field could look like this when added to our ‘Performance Plan’ form:

Link field example titled Employee Handbook

To edit a Link field:

  1. Select the Link field (by either clicking on the field name or on the field’s drag handle button Drag handle button).

  2. Click on the Edit Field button (Pen icon) Pen button.

    Edit Link field

  3. The Edit Field - Link dialog box will open (with the Link field title you chose reflected in the dialog box name), enabling you to choose from the same range of options as appear in the New field - Link dialog box (as already discussed in How to get started).

    Link field Edit field dialog box

To move a Link field, simply:

  1. Select the Link field’s drag handle button Drag handle button.

  2. Drag and drop the Link field wherever you want to move it within your form.

    For example, we could move the ‘Employee Handbook’ Link field by selecting its drag handle and dragging and dropping it wherever we want within our Performance Plan form:

    Move Link field example

To delete a Link field from your form:

  1. Select the Link field (by either clicking on its title or its drag handle button Drag handle button).
  2. Click on the Bin/Trash button Bin icon.
  3. Click on OK to confirm.

To view or edit a Link control’s Field properties:

  1. Select the Link field (by either clicking on the field’s title or drag handle button Drag handle button).

  2. The Field Properties associated with the Link field field will be displayed (and can be changed) in the Field properties menu to the right.

    Field properties associated with a Link control

    For example, the Field Properties associated with a Link control titled ‘Employee Handbook’ are shown here and include:

    • Field type - The type of field, in this case a Link field.
    • Title - The Title of the field, in this case ‘Employee Handbook’.
    • Show title - If this is selected, the Link field title will be shown in the form.
    • Required - If this is selected, the Link field will be mandatory for the form user.
    • Enabled - If this is selected, the user will be able to edit or interact with the field.
    • Visible - If this is selected, the Link field will be visible in the form.
    • Layout - The width of the blue bar can be adjusted to change the width of the Button as it appears on a PC or mobile phone (to view the Mobile layout, click on the expand button Expand button to the right).

​ For more details, go to Field Properties.

Saving changes and version history

Make sure to save any changes you make by clicking on the Save button Save. You will always have the option to revert back to previous versions of your form by clicking the Design Version History Version button button in the top right corner.

User tips Target icon

If you want the Link to be automatically emailed to someone once the form user clicks on the Submit button, for example, you could apply a Send email rule to the Submit button and reference the Link field in an expression in the email.

Rules allow actions based upon conditions resulting from user interaction with fields. To learn about the different types of rules that you can apply go to Rules, to learn about expressions see Expression builder or for more information specifically about the Send email rule, see Send email.

What’s next Idea icon

Now that you’ve learned about Link controls, find out more about the other types of Action fields you can add to Kianda forms:

3.4.4 - Signature control

A Signature control can be used in a form to capture a user’s electronic signature. This can be particularly useful in a form that needs to be signed off as part of an approval process.

For example, a manager may complete a Performance Plan form for each employee, setting out their Key Performance Areas and goals. It could be useful to add two Signature fields to this form - titled ‘Manager Signature’ and ‘Employee Signature’ - to record the Manager and Employee each signing off on the Performance Plan. We will keep this example in mind as we learn more about using Signature fields.

How to get started

  1. To add a Signature field to a Kianda form:

    1. Open an existing process by going to Administration > Designer in the left side menu and clicking on a process, or create a new process in Designer. See Create First Process to learn how to create your first process.

      Open process in Designer

    2. Once you have opened your process, select the form you want to work on (so that the Edit Form button Pen icon is shown).

      In this example, we have opened an Employee Appraisal Process and selected a Performance Plan form within it:

      Select form

    3. Select the area within the form where you want to insert the new Signature field(s) - in our example, we want to insert one new Signature field below the ‘For Manager’ table and a second new Signature field below the ‘For Employee’ table in our Performance Plan form:

      Select form section to insert Signature field

    4. Click on Controls in the left-hand pane, and, from the four categories of Controls (Input, Layout, Actions and Custom), click on Actions.

    5. Select Signature from the four types of Action fields: Button, Link, Image and Signature:

      Actions menu insert Signature

    6. A New field - Signature dialog box will automatically open, giving you options for your new Signature field:

      Signature field dialog box

    7. Title - You can change the name of the Signature field from the default ‘Signature 1’. In our example, we can change it to ‘Manager Signature’.

    8. Name (Unique) - This is a unique name for the new field and inherits a camel case version of the entered Title.

    9. Help text - You can insert text to help the form user. If you add help text, a question mark Help text icon icon will appear next to the field title and, if the user clicks on this, they will see the help text you have inserted.

      For example, we could insert this Help text to go with our new ‘Manager Signature’ Signature field:

      Signature field help text

    10. Custom CSS class name - You can type the name of a CSS class to allow the Signature to inherit specific styles defined in the Global CSS file.

    11. Signature pad height (pixels) - You can choose the height of the signature in pixels. To do this, either manually type in the number of pixels you want the height to be or use the up and down arrows Up down arrows to the right.

    12. Signature color - You can choose the colour for the signature itself, i.e. the name of the user electronically signing the form. To do this, click on the field and then either:

      (i) use the slider to move between colours and click on the palette to choose a particular hue

      (ii) click on the dropper icon Signature colour dropper icon and then choose a colour from your open PC window(s)

      (iii) type in the R G B value if you know the colour you want to use

      Signature colour

    13. Signature thickness - Insert a numerical value for how thick you want the signature font to be. By default, this is set to 2.

    14. Start signing button text - You can choose the text you want to appear on the Signature field button. By default, the text is ‘Start Signing’ but you can change this to whatever you want.

    15. Re-Sign button text - You can choose the text you want to appear on the ‘Re-Sign’ button. This ‘Re-Sign’ button appears after the user has clicked the Start signing button and completed the dialog box and it enables the user to replace or override the original signature they input. By default, the text is ‘Re-sign’ but you can change this to whatever you want.

      In our example of adding a Signature field titled ‘Manager Signature’, once the manager has signed, the ‘Re-sign’ button will be shown:

      Re-sign button showing after completing Signature field

    16. Show username and signing time - Select Yes to show the Kianda username of the person who has electronically signed with the Signature field and the time they signed at (per the local time settings on the user’s Kianda account).

      Signature showing username and signing time

    17. Require user authentication - Select Yes to require user authentication for the user clicking the Signature field button to sign the section/form. If you select Yes, an additional option will display - Authenticate via SSO.

      Signature user authentication option

      If you then choose Yes for authenticating the user via Single Sign-on, an initial pop-up box will appear to check whether the user is signed in and, after clicking on the Signature button a second pop-up will appear to confirm the user’s credentials.

      If you choose No for Authenticate via SSO, a pop-up appears requiring the user to confirm their login credentials.

    18. Hide sign by textbox - Select Yes if you want to hide the sign by textbox.

      For example, if we choose Yes for this option for our new ‘Manager Signature’, when the user clicks the ‘Start signing’ button and the pop-up box opens, they will just see an area where they can either choose Signature (with an electronically generated signature) or Draw or Upload (to draw or upload their signature):

      Signature pop up with sign by textbox hidden

      If we choose No to Hide sign by textbox, when the user clicks Start signing they will see a ‘Sign by’ textbox at the top of the pop-up that appears:

      Signature pop up including Sign by textbox

    19. Allow override sign by - Select Yes if you want to allow override of the signature inserted in the Signature field. If you choose Yes, an additional option will be shown - Default title of sign by:

      Signature field allow override sign by option

      If you select Yes to ‘Allow override sign by’ and then click into the ‘Default title of sign by’ field, you can then select a field to be used to populate the default name in the Signature field. For example, you could select a User picker field within your form as the ‘Default title of sign by’ - this would then mean that the user that is selected in that User picker field will be the default name shown in the Signature field.

    20. Hide default signature tab - Select Yes if you want to hide the default signature tab (where an electronic signature is automatically generated). If you choose Yes, the next option - Auto save signature - will no longer be available to you.

      In our example, if we select No to hiding the default signature tab, the user will see the electronically generated signature:

      Default signature tab shown

    21. Auto save signature - Select Yes if you want to auto save the signature.

    22. Button icon - You can choose an icon to appear on your Signature field button (or can opt not to have an icon on it). Click on the down arrow to the right of the field and select the icon you want from several hundred icons in the dropdown list.

    23. Button color - Choose the colour you want for your Signature field button. The options are Navy, Green, Blue, Amber, Red or White.

    24. Sign dialog button text - You can choose the text to appear on the button at the bottom right of the Signature dialog box. By default, the text is ‘OK’ but you can change this to whatever you want.

    25. Once you complete the New field - Signature dialog box, click OK and the new Signature field will be added to your form.

      In our example, if we insert a new Signature field titled ‘Manager Signature’, it will be added to the bottom of the Performance Plan form and look like this:

      Inserted Signature field

    26. By default, the Title of the new Signature field will not be shown but you can change this by selecting the the field and checking the Show title checkbox in the Field properties menu to the right.

      Show Signature field title

    27. You can then click on the new Signature field within the form to see how it will appear to users.

      In our case, we can click on the ‘Start Signing’ Manager Signature button to see the dialog box that will appear when the form user clicks on it:

      Signature preview dialog box

      The user can choose between a system-created Signature or to Draw or Upload their own version. If you click on Draw or Upload you can see how the user can either sign on the dotted line (and click on Clear at any stage to erase a mistake) or click on Upload handwritten signature and browse for a file.

      Signature Draw or Upload option

      Click on the OK button to close the dialog box.

    28. You may decide to add rules to your Signature field - to learn more about the different categories of rules available, go to Rules. The rules we add will be executed in the order in which they are listed under Rules in the right hand pane.

    How to edit, move and delete Signature fields

    To edit a Signature field:

    1. Select the Signature field (by either clicking on the field name or on the field’s drag handle button Drag handle button)

    2. Click on the Edit Field button (Pen icon) Pen button

      Edit Signature field

    3. The Edit Field dialog box will open (with the Signature field title you chose reflected in the dialog box name), enabling you to choose from the same range of options as appear in the New field - Signature dialog box (as already discussed in How to get started).

      Signature edit field dialog box

    To move a Signature field, simply:

    1. Select the Signature field’s Drag handle button Drag handle button.

    2. Drag and drop the Signature field wherever you want to move it within your form.

      For example, we can move the ‘Employee Signature’ Signature field from where it was automatically added at the bottom of the panel to the location where we want it to go:

      Move Signature field

      In our example, if we moved the two Signature fields we inserted in the Performance Plan form - one titled ‘Manager Signature’ and a second titled ‘Employee Signature’ - to go under the ‘For Manager’ and ‘For Employee’ sections, they could look like this:

      Signature example

    To delete a Signature field from your form:

    1. Select the Signature field (by either clicking on the field’s title or its drag handle button Drag handle button).
    2. Click on the Bin/Trash button Bin icon.
    3. Click on OK to confirm.

    How to view and edit Signature field properties

    To view or edit a Signature control’s Field properties:

    1. Select the Signature field (by either clicking on the field title or drag handle button Drag handle button).

    2. The Field Properties associated with the Signature field will be displayed (and can be changed) in the Field properties menu to the right.

      Field properties associated with a Signature field

      For example, the Field Properties associated with a Signature field titled ‘Manager Signature’ are shown here and include:

      • Field type - The type of field, in this case a Signature field.
      • Title - The Title of the field, in this case ‘Manager Signature’.
      • Show title - If this is selected, the Signature field title will be shown in the form.
      • Required - If this is selected, the Signature field will be mandatory for the form user.
      • Enabled - If this is selected, the user will be able to edit or interact with the field.
      • Visible - If this is selected, the Signature field will be visible in the form.
      • Layout - The width of the blue bar can be adjusted to change the width of the Signature field as it appears on a PC or mobile phone (to view the Mobile layout, click on the expand button Expand button to the right).

    ​ For more details, go to Field Properties.

    Saving changes and version history

    Make sure to save any changes you make by clicking on the Save button Save. You will always have the option to revert back to previous versions of your form by clicking the Design Version History Version button button in the top right corner.

    What’s next Idea icon

    Now that you’ve learned about the Signature control, find out more about the other types of Action fields you can add to Kianda forms:

3.5 - Custom controls

Custom fields are a fourth category of controls that are only available to you as a Designer in Kianda if Custom controls have been created by an Administrator or Designer in your Kianda workspace.

How to get started

To add a Custom field to a Kianda form:

  1. Open an existing process by going to Administration > Designer in the left side menu and clicking on a process, or create a new process in Designer. See Create First Process to learn how to create your first process.

    Open process in Designer

  2. Once you have opened your process, select the form you want to work on (so that the Edit Form button Pen icon is shown).

    In this example, a Training Request form in an Education Request Process has been selected:

    Select form to insert Custom field

  3. Select the area within the form where you want to insert the new Custom field - in our example, we will select the first panel in the Training Request form:

    Select panel to insert Custom field

  4. Click on Controls in the left-hand pane, and, from the four categories of Controls (Input, Layout, Actions and Custom), click on Custom.

    Insert Custom field

    Note: This fourth category of Controls will only be available to you if Custom controls have been created by Administrators or Developers in your Kianda workspace.

  5. The Custom fields available to you will be shown in the expanded Custom menu - in the example shown here, there are three Custom fields available to the form Designer:

    Insert Custom field examples

    Click on the Custom field you want to insert and it will be added to your form at the bottom of the form section you have selected.

    In our example, we can click on the first Custom field listed in the Custom sub-menu - Field widget - the new Custom widget (‘Field widget 1’) is added to the bottom of the panel we had selected and a pop-up message says ‘Field added’:

    New Custom field inserted

  6. You can then edit the new Custom field as you want - to do this, select the Custom field (by either clicking on its field title or on its drag handle button Drag handle button) and then click the Edit field button.

    Edit Custom field

    The Edit field dialog box will open, showing the range of options available for that particular Custom field.

How Custom controls are created

A Kianda Administrator or Developer can create Custom controls by opening the Administration menu from the left-side menu and clicking on Developer:

Create a Custom field by clicking on Developer from the Administration menu

The Developer resources page opens and displays all of the Custom widgets that have been created - these include Custom field widgets, Custom rule widgets and Custom Dashboard widgets.

Create new Custom widget Developer resources page

Note: Only Custom field widgets will be shown in the Custom controls menu in Kianda Designer - that is, only Custom widgets with a ‘Type’ of ‘Field’.

To create a new Custom Widget, the Developer/Administrator clicks on the New widget button New widget button.

An Edit widget dialog box opens, in which the Title, Unique ID, Widget icon and Widget type can be chosen:

Edit widget dialog box

When the Developer/Administrator completes the dialog box and clicks on OK, a workspace opens where they can create their Custom widget:

Custom widget workspace

Once a Custom field widget has been created, Designers will then be able to see and use that Custom field widget in the Custom section of the Controls menu when designing Kianda forms.

To learn more about how to create Custom field widgets, go to Creating a custom field widget.

How to edit, move and delete Custom fields

To edit a Custom field:

  1. Select the field (by either clicking on the field title or drag handle button Drag handle button)
  2. Click on the Edit field button (Pen icon) Edit field button

Select Custom field to edit

The Edit field dialog box will open, enabling you to choose from a range of options specific to that particular Custom field. The functionality of the field will depend on what the Custom field was designed to do.

To move a Custom field:

  1. Select the field’s drag handle button Drag handle button
  2. Drag and drop the field wherever you want to move it to within your form.

In our example, we could drag and drop the new Custom field titled ‘Field widget 1’ so that it comes before the ‘Type of Training’ List field:

Custom field drag handle

To delete a Custom field from your form:

  1. Select the field (by either clicking on the field’s name or its drag handle button Drag handle button)
  2. Click on the Bin/Trash button Bin icon
  3. Click on OK to confirm.

How to view or edit Custom control Field properties

To view or edit the Field properties associated with a Custom field, select the field (by clicking on the field title or its drag handle button Drag handle button) - the Field properties menu will appear in the right-hand pane.

Field properties associated with a Custom field

In the example shown here, a Custom field titled ‘Field widget 1’ has been selected and the Field properties associated with this field are shown in the Field properties menu to the right, including:

  • Field type - For Custom field widgets, the ‘Field type’ will be ‘Field widget’.

  • Title - The Title of the field, in this case ‘Field widget 1’. You can change the title here, in Field properties, or in the Edit field dialog box.

  • Show title - If this is selected, the Custom field title will be shown in the form.

  • Required - If this is selected, the field will be mandatory for the form user.

  • Enabled - If this is selected, the user will be able to edit or interact with the field.

  • Visible - If this is selected, the Custom field will be visible in the form.

  • Layout - The width of the blue bar can be adjusted to change the width of the Custom field as it appears on a PC or mobile phone (to view the Mobile layout, click on the expand button Expand button to the right).

    For more details, go to Field Properties.

Saving changes and version history

Make sure to save any changes you make by clicking on the Save button Save. You will always have the option to revert back to previous versions of your form by clicking the Design Version History Version button button in the top right corner.

What’s next Idea icon

Now that you’ve learned about Custom controls, find out more about how you can use Controls, how you can get started as a Kianda low-code developer, and more about the three other categories of Controls you can add to a Kianda process:

4 - Rules

Business rules are what makes Kianda forms come alive. They represent the actual actions users intend to perform when they interact with form components. There are 60 rules you can apply to forms, see Rules list.

There are two key principles to consider when working with forms:

  1. Rule design - you can decide what type of rule you are going to apply and where, as a rule can be applied at field/control level, form level and process level. For the latter the rule will execute ‘onload’ that is when the process instance is initiated.

  2. Rule order - if there are several rules attached to an item like a button, then the order of execution is important and can be modified to suit your needs.

These principles are explained in more in the next section on How to get started.

How to get started

If you have the role Administrator or Design business process, go to Administration > Designer and click on a process or create a new process, the predefined rules are found in the left-hand pane under Add a rule.

Rules

There are 10 categories of rules:

  1. Workflow - rules that represent the actions a user intends to perform when they interact with form components. These rules enable you to execute actions that can change the flow of information within a process. There are 7 workflow rules, see Workflow for more information.
  2. Communications - rules associated with user communication for example sending an email, meeting request or triggering a user alert. There are 4 communication rules, see Communications for more information.
  3. Data - rules associated with database operations such as Create, Read, Update and Delete (CRUD) allowing these actions to occur on configured data sources. There are 5 data rules, see Data for more information.
  4. Users - rules associated with user properties, allowing user lookup based on a user attribute or retrieve a user property. There are 4 user rules, see Users for more information.
  5. File management - rules concerned with generating documents such as Word, Excel or converting to PDF. There are 7 file management rules, see File Management for more information.
  6. Tables - rules associated with table operations such as sorting, copying table rows to another table, adding and removing table rows. There are 12 table rules, see Tables for more information.
  7. Dates - date rules to calculate time and format dates with advanced filter options like omitting weekends or special dates. There are 4 date rules, see Dates for more information.
  8. Form actions - rules linked to actions that are part of forms, for example submit, close or save. There are 6 form rules, see Form actions for more information.
  9. SharePoint - SharePoint associated rules such as adding, finding or removing users, defining permissions and check-in/checkout of an item. There are 10 SharePoint rules, see SharePoint for more information.
  10. Kianda AI - there is 1 Kianda AI rule related to text analysis, see Kianda AI for more information.

Rule design

You can apply rules at button, field, and form level. At form level, rule(s) execute ‘on load’, that is when a process instance is initiated or kicked off for example as a result of a user creating a new instance from a dashboard, or automated through a scheduled task, then the rules are triggered into action when the form(s) within that process becomes the active form(s).

To get started with rule design:

  1. Click on an existing process or create a new process by going to Administration in the left-hand side menu and then click on Designer.

  2. For existing processes and forms, decide which process, form or field you will apply the rule to by clicking on that item so that it is in edit mode so you can see the Pen button, Pen button Pen button for example a form Training Approval or Submit button. For new processes, add in forms and fields and select an element to add a rule to.

    Edit mode for forms and fields

  3. Click on Add a rule in the left-hand pane and click on a category of choice, such as Communications and then a rule, for example User alert.

    Rule design example

  4. When you have chosen your rule, an Edit rule dialog box opens allowing you to configure the rule to execute a particular action, which can be according to conditions if you wish.

The links at the end of this page will bring you to the different rule categories and from there you can navigate to rule pages to learn what each parameter is in the Edit rule dialog box for each rule. The next section highlights where rules can be applied.

Where to apply rules

As introduced in the section above, rules can be added at process, form and control/field level, and are typically used as follows, bearing in mind that Conditions can be applied to rules to control how the rules are executed:

  • A rule applied at process level executes ‘onload’ meaning that when a new process instance is initiated, the rule will automatically execute, for example when someone opens a form, a ‘Send email’ rule could be used to send an email to someone notifying them that a form has been opened.

  • A rule applied at form level executes when the form is submitted.

  • A rule applied at control level executes when the chosen field is clicked on, or involved in user or system interaction.

    As with all rules, Conditions within the rule determine how the rule is triggered, for example a rule applied to a control like a date field, may be executed only if a certain value is input into another field within a form.

Edit rule dialog box

Whenever a rule is added, the Edit rule dialog box will remind you where and at what level the rule is being applied, for example in the image below a Send email rule is being added to a button/control called Submit.

Where a rule is applied notice in an Edit rule dialog box

Note: Make sure that you save the process after adding forms and/or controls and before adding rules so that the names of the processes, forms or controls are committed to the Kianda database. Then the dialog box above can then retrieve the name(s) for use as shown above.

Rule order

If there is more than one rule for an item like a field or process, then the order of execution must be considered.

For example for a Submit button on a form, you may want a Send email rule to be executed first before any other rule is executed, that is an automated email will be sent before anything else. To ensure this happens, click on the Submit button to make sure you are in Edit mode, and under Rules in the right-hand pane, drag the Send email rule to the top of the list by clicking on the rule and dragging it to the top of the list of rules.

Rule order

Go to Multiple rules to read more about using multiple rules on a field or other item.

Rules list

A full list of rules is available in the table below.

Rules list

What’s next Idea icon

We have briefly introduced the concept of Rules. To read more about rules including each category of rules, click on the links below:

4.1 - General rule concepts

Rules are an important component of any process as they can be used to trigger automated actions, requiring minimal user management once created. There are 60 predefined rules in Kianda covering workflow applications, communications and file management to name a few.

Categories of rules

  • Workflow - Enables you to execute actions that might change the flow of the information within a process.

  • Communications - Enables sending emails or meeting requests or even user (push) notifications.

  • Data - This is an important and flexible rule group because it allows you to configure CRUD (Create, Read, Update and Delete) actions to configured data sources.

  • Users - This enables you to retrieve a user property, updating user properties or lookup for a user based on a user attribute.

  • File management - Allows operations such as the generation of a word document and conversion to PDF and more.

  • Tables - Provides specialised rules to enable working with tables like sorting, copying table rows to another table and more.

  • Dates - Enables convenient date calculation with advanced options like ignoring weekends or special dates.

  • Form actions - Allows operations like submit, save, close and delete forms.

  • SharePoint - Provides a variety of operations to be performed on the SharePoint connection. These rules include operations like create a list, find a user, define permission to an item, check-in / out an item or adding a user to a SharePoint group.

Working with rules

The following headings step through how to view, add, copy, edit and disable rules in processes. It is also important to keep in mind how rules should be listed when multiple rules are used on the same field.

When to add a rule

  • to a field

  • to a form

  • to a process (the rule will run on load)

How to view a rule

If rules have already been created

  1. Select the field or form that contains a rule, for example a button at the end of a form. If a field within a form has rules attached to it, this will be indicated within the form, as shown in the example below where the column Instances has 1 rule attached.

    Rule attached to a form field

  2. Under Rules in the right-hand pane, click on the given rule name to view the rule details, for example a ‘Set form’ rule called ‘Set link’ as shown below.

    View rule details

  3. Details of the rule are available in the Edit rule dialog box, for example the Set form field rule is shown below.
    Rule details

You can view rule conditions by clicking on Edit conditions and actions to be performed as part of the rule are under Action. Other features to note in the dialog box are:

  • Expression button Expression button used to add expressions to rules so that dynamic values can be returned based on calculations or form IDs, see Expressions for more details.
  • Mapping - mapping is used within rule actions, for example in the Set form field rule shown in the image above, the rule updates a form field based on a given value or expression. In many other fields mapping can be used to determine success or error during rule execution, see Success and error mapping for more details.

How to add a rule

To add a rule to a specific component:

  1. Select the field you want.

  2. Under Add a rule, select a category of rules, and then select the rule you want.

  3. Edit the rule dialog box and click ‘OK’. The rule will be displayed on the right-hand side of the page.

How to copy a rule

Duplicating rules can be very useful where you have similar rules that are associated with different fields. To duplicate a rule:

  1. Select the field with the desired rule.

  2. Under Rules in the right-hand pane, click on the Duplicate rule Duplicate rule button next to the rule name.

  3. Choose Copy to another field if you wish to copy to another field and select the field you want to copy to. Select OK when complete.

  4. Alternatively select OK without copying to another field or click on Close at any time to exit the dialog box.

How to edit a rule

Follow the steps to View an existing rule to open the Edit rule dialog box.

In the Edit rule dialog box, you can change:

  1. The Title of the rule
  2. Create or edit conditions for the rule by clicking on the Edit conditions button.
  3. Change how the rule performs by changing details under Action. Actions will differ depending on the rule in use.

How to disable a rule

Disabling a rule means that the rule is not active but is still visible in the Rules pane. The rule can be activated at any time again by clicking on the toggle button.

  1. Select the field that contains a rule, for example a button at the end of a form, or a field within a form that has rules attached.

  2. Under Rules in the right-hand pane, beside the given rule name slide the toggle button from ‘on’ to ‘off’ to view the rule details, for example a ‘Set form’ rule called ‘Set link’ as shown below.

    Rule disabled

  3. To enable the rule at any time again follow the steps above and slide the toggle button into the ‘on’ position.

    Rule enabled

Where to place a rule in a list of rules

The rule order refers to the order of execution of multiple rules. To change the rule order:

  1. Select the field with the rules attached.

  2. Under Rules in the right-hand pane, drag and drop the rules in the order you want them.

  3. The top-most rule is the first rule to be executed. By default buttons at the end of a form will automatically have Submit, Save, and Close rules. If you create rules you may wish to have these rules placed above these shutdown rules so that your rules are executed first before form shutdown.

    Note: Rule order becomes important when the output of one rule impacts the execution of another, for example if a process remains ‘open’ because a user must perform a particular action, then it is useful to have an automated email reminder sent to the user while the process is open. For example the order of rules on a Submit button could be: Set Status, Send Email, Submit, Save, Close, whereby the status of the process instance is set first, before an automated email and then the form shutdown rules of Submit, Save and Close occur.

    To read more about multiple rules, go to Multiple rules.

Conditions

Flexible and dynamic conditions form an important component to make forms fully dynamic. This feature enables you to create natural language conditions when rules should be triggered.

Condition Editor

To configure a rule to conditionally execute an action:

  1. Select the field or form that the rule will be attached to.
  2. Under Add a rule in the left-hand pane, click on a category of rules, for example Workflow and then a rule itself, for example Process security.
  3. Click on Edit conditions button within the rule.
  4. Add the conditions that satisfy your scenario. Multiple conditions can be grouped with condition groups.

For more information on Conditions, go to the Conditions page.

Custom rules

Under custom rules, you will find any custom-developed rules available under your developer section. Custom rules provide access to rules that are built for extensibility of Kianda capabilities. This is particularly used in situations when existing rules do not provide the required functionality.

Custom rules have the purpose of providing a user interface for the end-users. If you need to build a rule then you should use a custom rule widget.

It allows a developer to quickly build a reusable component that would then be used by process designers in real processes.

Check-out the development section for more details on how to build custom widgets in Kianda.

What’s next Idea icon

We have briefly introduced the key concepts of rules. Click on the links below to read more about rule concepts in detail:

4.1.1 - Conditions

Conditions are a key component of Kianda rules. They are the triggers that result in fully dynamic forms. Conditions enable you to create natural language conditions when rules should be triggered.

The Conditions button img is found within all rules as well as dashboard widgets. Conditions can also be set when setting data source security levels for B2B portals.

Conditions add an important level of interactivity, creating dynamic pathways within a process. These pathways could result from user interaction or from other events that happen.

Conditions work on the ‘if…then’ principle: ‘if’ the condition exists ‘then’ an action happens, and where applicable, if the condition does not exist, then another action can happen. You can use these principles as steps to implementing conditions:

  1. Create the condition(s)
  2. Create the action(s) that will be applied as a result of the first condition being in place.
  3. Where applicable, create the otherwise action(s) based on other conditions being in place.

Create the condition

  1. To create conditions, first choose the process element you want the condition to apply to – such as a form, set of forms, a field/control or set of fields. This could also be a set of common fields associated with all process instances, such as Process ID, Status or Modified by, see image below.

    Common fields used in the process element part of a condition

  2. Next, depending on whether the rule is applied to text-based fields, date fields or user picker fields, choose from 13 text operators, 25 date operators and one additional user picker operator, as shown in the image below.

  3. Then choose a value, this could be typed in text, number(s), date(s), form(s) or field(s).

Condition elements

Condition elements

In the case of multiple conditions, you can use And or Or to create a group of compound conditions:

img

The result is a flexible process workflow that will result in desired actions based on any number of conditions.

Rule action(s) – example Hide or Disable rule

To create actions and where applicable, otherwise actions, the action will depend on the rule that is chosen. All Kianda rules use a natural language structure to make it is easy to apply actions. For example, for the Workflow rule, Hide or Disable, you can choose forms and fields from your process and then apply seven possible actions (as shown below).

Action elements for Hide or Disable

7 actions for Hide or Disable

The actions within Hide or disable are:

  • Hide will hide a process element (forms or fields) from view.
  • Show will show the element.
  • Disable blocks a user from editing an element.
  • Enable allows a user to add a value to an element.
  • Toggle visible will toggle between showing an element or not, based on subsequent clicks of a field that the rule is applied to.
  • Toggle enable will toggle between allowing an element to be edited or not, based on subsequent clicks of a field that the rule is applied to.
  • Hide and clear will allow you to hide a process element and clear the details. For example, if a toggle button has this rule applied, with an otherwise action of show on a textbox, then if one value is chosen on the toggle button, the user is allowed enter details into the textbox. The otherwise action is that the field is hidden and cleared of data, so that no data can be retrieved. This might be useful, for example, when sensitive information is used, like a social security number on a form.

Note: You can use rules to create actions without conditions too. In this case the rule will simply execute, for example when a form or field is clicked on.

What’s next Idea icon

Depending on how the rule is applied, for example to a Submit button, the rule order is important to consider, see Multiple rules.

To find out more about rule implementation, go to the main Rules page and then click on the links to the different rule categories.

4.1.2 - Multiple rules

Introduction

When working with rules in forms, a key principle to consider is rule order. Rule order is important if there are multiple rules attached to an item like a button or form field to determine the sequence of rule execution. As a form designer, you can change the order of execution to suit your specific process design.

Remember you can assign rules at:

  • Process level - onload rules that execute when a new process instance is initiated.

    Process level rule example

  • Form level - onload rules that execute when a form is submitted.

    Form level rules

  • Button/field level - rules attached to buttons or fields within forms, or at the end of a form, for example a Submit button. An example of rule order is given at this level in the section below Rule order example.

Rules are typically synchronously executed in Kianda, so for example when using a Start a process rule, when the rule is executed first any mappings from a secondary/target process are mapped into a primary process, and from there if there are any rules to trigger on the secondary/target process those are executed, but a rule will only execute when the previous rule has completed. This is different to asynchronous execution where the system will execute rules without waiting for the previous rule execution to finish. Within time defined rules, like Start a process and Schedule a rule there is an option to choose between synchronous/in-series or asynchronous/in-parallel where the latter may be useful for rules without dependency.

Execute in series option on rules

Rule order example

For example, you may want a process to send automated emails to a safety manager, where the email includes submitted form data. In this case a Send email rule could be attached to a form Submit button so an email is sent once the button is clicked. This will result in an automated email to a designated person. To generate a report of the completed form, you can use the Generate word document rule triggered again when the Submit button is clicked. In this example the Generate word document rule has to be executed before the Send email rule, so that the Word document can be generated and then attached to the email.

The rule order consideration is therefore particularly important when rules are dependent on each other - where the output of one rule is the input of another rule.

Changing the rule order of multiple rules

In the example below we will look at changing the rule order of a Send email rule attached to a Submit button. The Submit, Save and Close buttons by default already have Submit, Save and Close process rules attached, in order to allow form shutdown.

To change rule order, when the rule is created:

  1. Click on the item that has multiple rules attached, for example a Submit button. Remember by default Submit buttons in forms will have ‘form shutdown’ rules, namely Submit, Save and Close.
  2. Click on Rules in the right-hand pane, drag the Send email rule to the top of the list by clicking on the rule and drag it to the top of the list, before Submit, Save and Close rules.

img

The video below shows an example of a Send email rule being created and saved. The rule is attached to the Submit button. Once the rule is created, by default the new rule goes to the bottom of the list of rules. To move the rule, simply click on it and drag it to where you wish to place it. In this example we want the email sent before any of the shutdown processes like Submit or Save, but after a Generate Inspection rule, so the output from that rule can be used in the Send email rule.

What’s next Idea icon

To find out more about rule implementation, go to the main Rules page and then click on the links to the different rule categories.

4.1.3 - Expression builder

Introduction

Expressions allow you to put together form identifiers (form field IDs) and constants with operators and functions to return a dynamic value that can be used in various places – for example, in a form or field rule to automate processes.

Expressions

Expression elements

For example, expressions could be used in the body of an automated email sent using the Send email rule, as shown here:

Expression example

Expression example

In the example above, [RequesterName] and [category] are identifiers, that are unique IDs for form fields. ProcessLink() is a function that will return a link to that process instance. Using the expressions above in an email will mean that every time an instance of the process runs, the values will be presented in an automated email, creating greater efficiencies and personalising the email for the recipient.

Getting started with expressions – example Email body text

Expressions are recognisable in Kianda from the Expressions button Expressions found in Edit rule dialog boxes and other menu items, such as enabling quick actions for processes and number fields.

Within rules, expressions can be created using the Expression builder where you can Add field to an expression or use the handy Reference guide to get a list of commonly used functions.

Expression builder

Expression builder example in action

Let’s look at an example of using an expression in the Body section of an email being sent using the Send email rule:

  1. First, add a Send email rule to a form or forms, field or fields by selecting Add a rule > Communications> Send email from the left-side pane.

  2. Type in any text that you want in the email Body and position your cursor where you want to add the expression.

    Cursor positioning in an email body to add an expression

  3. On the right of the Body section of the email, click on the Expressions button Expressions.

  4. The Expression builder dialog box appears.

  5. Click on the blank box under Add field to expression and find the field you want to reference in your email, for example, a text box with a name ‘EmployeeName’.

  6. Click Add to expression. The result is that the field appears in the Expression box.

    Expression builder example

  7. Click OK to add the expression to the email body text, or click on Close to exit the dialog box without making changes.

  8. To add additional field expressions, click on the Expressions button Expressionsagain, under Add field to expression, click on X beside the field name to clear the expression box and then search for the desired field from a form.

  9. To add a function, click on Reference and copy the function into the body of the email. A list of references are available below.

Expression functions

All JavaScript expressions and functions can be used in the Expression builder to create the impact you want, see Javascript expressions for more details.

In addition to defining your own expressions there is a set list of expressions found under References, see table below for meaning.

ExpressionFunction
+, -, /, *Performs one of the basic mathematical operations: add, subtract, divide or multiply.
Sum(arg1, arg2, …)Returns the sum of the arguments listed between the parentheses.
Date(arg1)Converts the argument into a date.
DateAdd(dateArg, day, month, year, hour, min)Adds time to a given date. The date is stored in dateArg and the time to be added is stored in the day, month, year, hour and min arguments.
Status()Returns the status of the current process.
ProcessID()Returns the ID of the current process.
FormOwner(formName)Returns the form owner(s) for the given form.
FormCompleted(formName)Returns the date completed for the given form.
Pad(value, size, symbol)Adds left padding to the value with the symbol provided.
QueryString(parameter)Returns the URL query string for the given parameter (or an empty string if undefined).
IsOnline()Returns “yes” or “no” depending on the status of the online connection.
ProcessLink()Returns the HTML link to the current process The link text can be added between the parantheses e.g. ProcessLink(“click here”). This expression is for use in emails and rich text fields.
Digest()Returns a summary of changes to fields in the current process. A table will be given with the original and new values.
Digest(‘fieldName1’,‘fieldName2’)Returns a summary of the changes for the given fields. See note below.
GetFieldText(‘fieldName’)Returns the text in the given field. See note below.
GetFieldValue(‘fieldName’)Returns the value in the given field. See note below.

Note: In the case of the last three expressions, you should select a field which contains data. If you give the name of a button field for example, then no data will be returned.

What’s next Idea icon

To find out more about rule implementation, go to the main Rules page and then click on the links to the different rule categories.

To see how expressions are used in controls such as Number fields, go to Number control.

To learn more about how to use JavaScript expressions in expression builder go to Javascript expressions for more details.

4.1.4 - Success/Error Mapping

Introduction

Success and Error mapping is used to denote the success or failure of certain rules being executed where data is being transferred or a rule is connected to a data connector. As a user with an administrator or designer role, you can use Kianda Designer to populate fields within the Kianda form, using the Edit rule dialog box to set parameters for success and error mapping.

When to use

Success and Error mapping should be with rule execution, displaying values that you want for rule execution success or failure.

You can use mapping with the following rules:

  • Data rules > Find items
  • Data rules > Create item
  • Data rules > Update item
  • Data rules > Delete item
  • All SharePoint rules, except Get attachments and Create anonymous link

How to use

  1. Select the field that will have the rule attached, for example a button at the end of a form, or a field within a form.

  2. Click on Add a rule in the left-hand pane and select one of the rules that uses mapping as shown in the When to use list above, for example the SharePoint rule called Create list, used to create a list in SharePoint dynamically using Kianda form data.

    (Example of a rule with mapping)

  3. In the Edit rule dialog box, give the rule a Title.

  4. If you want to add conditions for the rule, click on the Edit conditions button Edit conditions button to create conditions for the rule, see Conditions for more details.

  5. Under Action, click on the field Select a SharePoint data source from the drop-down list.

    Create a list example with details

  6. Fill out any additional fields as necessary, for example to create a list the following fields must be completed:

    • List template - choose from a list of SharePoint list types

    • List name field - choose a form field that will be used the create a name for the list in SharePoint

    • List url field - choose a form field that will be used in the creation of a URL within SharePoint

    • List description field - choose a form field that describes what the list is about

    • Quick Launch menu - options are Yes or No. Choosing Yes allows the created list to be displayed in the Quick Launch menu, containing a link to the list.

  7. To add success mapping, click on On success mapping and click on the Add mapping button. See On Success Mapping for more details.

  8. For On error mapping and click on the Add mapping button. See On Error Mapping for more details.

  9. you simply need to select the field within the form which will store the error message

  10. When you are finished editing the dialog box, click on OK or click on Close at any time to exit the dialog box.

On Success Mapping

Success mapping is a concept of populating your form fields with data that is retrieved from a datasource using a data connector, to learn more about data connectors go to Data connectors. This retrieved data from the datasource is known as a response. Using this response data, you can populate a field within your form, for example you can retrieve a file which is stored in your SharePoint or Dropbox datasource and populate the retrieved file into a File field. This will give you the ability to access the retrieved file in your process.

All data connectors within Kianda may have different response data that can be used to populate fields in a form. You can use the Success mapping in the rules mentioned in the When to use section. Take one of the SharePoint rules Create a site as an example. When all information is filled out in the rule, in the On success mapping section you can assess the data object (response) called Site properties. From the Site properties data object you can access three different pieces of data; Site Name, Site Id and Site URL. You can map (populate) those piece of data into fields in your form by selecting a field in the Form field section:

Success mapping example

  • Form field - this field allows you to select a field in your form to store the value from the datasource.

  • Data source field or text - this field allows you to select which piece of data your want to retrieve from the datasource, and store it in a form field.

  • Add mapping - Click on the Add mapping to add more fields for mapping results from the datasource to form fields.

  • Bin/Trash Bin/Trash button - Click on the Bin/Trash button Bin/Trash button to delete a mapping.

On Error Mapping

Error mapping is a concept of populating a form field in your Kianda process when using the rules from the When to use section. When using those rules, you get presented with the ability to map an error when there is an issue as the rule is executing, for example incorrectly filling out a parameter. It is useful to know the details of the error message that comes from the datasource your are connecting with. To see the error message, you need to create a separate Text box field in your form and map the error to that field. Open the On error mapping section and add a mapping by clicking on Add mapping button:

Error mapping example

  • In the Form field, select a form field which will store the error message in your Kianda form.

  • In the Error message or text field, enter an error message that you want to appear in the event of errors or click on the text box and select the Error message option to use a system generated error indicating what has gone wrong when the rule executed.

  • Click on the Add mapping button to add further mappings.

  • Click on the Bin/Trash button Bin/Trash button to delete a mapping.

What’s next Idea icon

To find out more about rule implementation, go to the main Rules page and then click on the links to the different rule categories.

4.2 - Workflow rules

Workflow rules is one category of rules that relates to user interactions with form components. Using Workflow rules will allow you to change the flow of information within a process. For example in a simple Training Process that is made up of three forms by default, the first form in a process is the current form.

Three form process example

In the example above, the workflow for this process would be completion of the forms in this order: Training Request > Training Approval > Training Attendance, however using Workflow rules, you could use Go to form to force the Training Attendance form to be the current form after the Training Request form has been completed.

You could also use the Assign form rule to assign editing rights to particular users so they can edit forms. See more about Go to form and Assign form below.

Using rules in this way changes the flow of the process, and additional levels of security and user interaction can be added using Process security and Hide or disable see below.

Getting started with Workflow rules

If you have the role Administrator or Design business process, go to Administration in the left-hand side menu and then Designer and click on an existing process or create a new process. Then decide on a form or field to add the rule to by clicking on that item and click on Add a rule.

The Workflow rules are found in the left-hand pane when you click on Workflow.

Workflow rules

There are seven types of Workflow rules as follows:

  1. Hide or disable

    This rule is used to hide, disable, show or enable one or more fields, one or more sections or entire forms. This rule has special meaning in terms of workflow allowing the application to direct user action and flow by hiding or showing entire sections of the application.

  2. Make required

    Use this rule to make individual fields required or entire forms. Unlike the field property ‘Required’, this rule will dynamically allocate a mandatory status on chosen forms or fields, that users must complete and submit.

  3. Go to form

    Go to form rule navigates the user from the current form to the destination form. This rule could also set the destination form’s display mode.

  4. Assign form

    This rule enables dynamic form ownership and form security assignment of a form owner by assigning a user or a group to a form. You could also choose to override or append the form owner. By default only form owners can see the form in edit

  5. Process security

    This rule defines the security of the entire process instance (record). Using this rule, you could add any user or group with the right permissions to view/update any instances.

  6. Start a (sub) process

    Start a process rule helps you create a new instance of the same process or a different process. You could also map the inputs from the current instance to a new instance.

  7. Schedule a rule

    This rule helps you schedule a rule/rules to be triggered one time, with a recurring schedule or immediately. For example, this rule could be used to schedule a daily reminder email to a user if the task is not complete.

What’s next Idea icon

We have briefly introduced each of the six types of Workflow rules. Now let’s look at each of these types of rules in more detail:

4.2.1 - Show, hide or disable

Introduction

Use the Hide or Disable rule to hide, disable, show or enable a field or a component in a Kianda form. This rule is very useful if you want different parts of a form, a complete form or multiple forms, to appear or hide based on how the form user completes the form.

There are seven possible actions within this rule that can be applied to fields or forms:

  • Hide from the user (not visible)
  • Show to the user (visible)
  • Disable for the user (not enabled)
  • Enable for the user (enabled)
  • Toggle visible: toggle between visible and not visible
  • Toggle enable: toggle between enabled and not enabled
  • Hide and clear: hide from the user (not visible) and clear the contents

When to use

You can add this rule:

  • to a field

  • to a form

  • to a process (the rule will run on load)

How to get started

The following steps illustrate a scenario to hide and show fields. The same steps can be applied to enable, disable, toggle enable and so on. To dynamically hide a field:

  1. If you have the role Administrator or Design business process, go to Administration > Designer, open an existing process or create a new process and decide which form or field you will apply the rule to, by clicking on that item so that it is in edit mode so you can see the Edit/pen button, Pen button Pen button.

  2. Click on Add a rule > Workflow > Hide or Disable.

  3. In the Edit rule - Hide or Disable dialog box, give the rule a title in the Title field.

    Edit rule - Hide or Disable dialog box

  4. If you want to add conditions for the rule, click on the Edit conditions button Edit conditions button to create conditions for the rule, see Conditions for more details.

  5. Under Action create one or more actions for the rule by clicking on the empty field to add a form or form field, and then choose an option from the action drop-down list, choosing from Hide, Show, Disable, Enable, Toggle visible, Toggle enable, or Hide and clear, see Introduction for an explanation of each action.

    Hide or disable example - Hide or show

    For example in the image above, a Feedback field will be hidden, using Hide, based on a condition, when a field Management decision equals a value ‘Yes’.

  6. To add more actions, click on Add. At any time remove an action by clicking on the Bin/Trash icon Bin/Trash button beside the name of the action.

  7. Just like an ‘if..else’ statement, you can add alternative/elsewise actions, based on different conditions by clicking on Add otherwise action.

    Hide or show example

    In the example above, Signature and Training materials field will show and a Feedback field will hide, while a Management decision field has a value of Yes, otherwise the shown fields will hide, while the Feedback field shows No. The result is a dynamic form that will reveal particular fields based on user input for the Management decision field.

  8. To remove the otherwise action(s), click on the Remove otherwise action fields.

  9. When you are finished editing the dialog box, click on OK or click on Close at any time to exit the dialog box.

  10. If the rule is attached to a field within a form, a rule notification will appear within the form design, for example a rule is applied to the field Management decision as shown in the image below.

    Rule on a form field

  11. When you click on the field or form that has the rule attached, the rule will appear in the right-hand pane under Rules.

    Hide or disable rule example

    The next section will cover how to use the buttons visible in the right-hand pane to manipulate the rule.

Editing, deleting or duplicating rules

When you have clicked on an existing rule, and the rule is visible in the right-hand pane under Rules, there are a number of options available to you.

  1. To disable a rule, click the slider across beside the rule name.

    Disable a rule

  2. To copy a rule, click on the Duplicate button Duplicate button beside the rule name.

  3. To delete a rule, click on the Bin/Trash button Bin/Trash button.

  4. To view a rule, click on the rule name to open the Edit rule dialog box.

User tip Target icon

Note, it is not necessary to add a condition to the rule. In this case the rule will be triggered automatically:

  • if the rule is applied to a field, then the rule will be triggered when the user enters a value in that field.
  • if the rule is applied to a button, then the rule will be triggered when the user clicks the button.
  • if the rule is applied to a form, then the rule will be triggered when the form is submitted.
  • if the rule is applied to a process, then the rule will be triggered on load, that is when the process is initiated.

If a rule causes a mandatory field to be hidden or disabled, this will not stop the form from being submitted.

What’s next Idea icon

To find out more about other workflow rules go to Workflow.

To find out more about other rules go to Rules.

4.2.2 - Make required

Introduction

The Make required rule is used to dynamically make form elements required or mandatory for users to fill in, or not required or to toggle between both states.

It is possible to make fields statically mandatory for users to fill in by checking the Required property for the field. However using this rule gives a greater degree of flexibility to cause an action based on user input using a Condition.

Take the example of a feedback form, where there is an option for a customer to fill in their name or not. If they do fill in their name however, then a Customer Account Number field becomes mandatory.

Make required rule example

As soon as Maddie fills out her name in the example above, then and only then the Customer Account Number becomes required, indicated by an asterix. This rule could be combined with Hide or Disable rule to make fields appear/hidden based on user input.

When to use

You can add this rule:

  • to a field

The rule can be added at other levels (process, form), but it is most commonly used in the method outlined in the Introduction.

How to get started

To dynamically make a field required:

  1. Click on an existing process by going to Administration > Designer and decide which form, or field you will apply the rule to, by clicking on that item so that it is in edit mode so you can see the Edit/pen button, Pen button Pen button.

  2. Click on Add a rule > Workflow > Make required.

  3. In the Edit rule - Make required dialog box, give the rule a title in the Title field.

    Make required rule example

  4. To add conditions for the rule, click on the Edit conditions button Edit conditions button to create conditions for the rule, see Conditions for more details.

    For example to make one field required based on another field being completed, the condition would look like this:

    Make required example condition

    As shown on the Conditions page there are a multitude of options to choose from where Not blank is just one option shown above.

  5. Under Action create one or more actions for the rule by clicking on the empty field to add a form or form field, and then choose an option from the action drop-down list, choosing from Required, Not required or Toggle required.

    Using the example from the Introduction, where a condition is used that if one field is not blank, then another becomes required would look like this:

    Make required example dialog box

  6. To add more actions, click on Add. At any time remove an action by clicking on the Bin/Trash icon Bin/Trash button beside the name of the action.

  7. When you are finished editing the dialog box, click on OK or click on Close at any time to exit the dialog box.

  8. If the rule is attached to a field within a form, a notification will appear within the form design, for example the field Customer name as shown in the image below.

    Rule on a form field

  9. When you click on the field or form that has the rule attached, the rule will appear in the right-hand pane under Rules.

    The next section will cover how to use the buttons visible in the right-hand pane to manipulate the rule.

Editing, deleting or duplicating rules

When you have clicked on an existing rule, and the rule is visible in the right-hand pane under Rules, there are a number of options available to you.

  1. To disable a rule click the slider across beside the rule name.

  2. To copy a rule, click on the Duplicate button Duplicate button beside the rule name.

  3. To delete a rule, click on the Bin/Trash button Bin/Trash button.

  4. To view a rule, click on the rule name to open the Edit rule dialog box.

What’s next Idea icon

To find out more about other workflow rules go to Workflow.

To find out more about other rules go to Rules.

4.2.3 - Go to form

The Go to form rule is used to control how a user moves between forms. As mentioned in Form basics, by default the first form in a process is the current form. Once submitted, control passes to the next form and the user is not allowed to go back to the previous form. The Go to form rule allows you to redirect the user to any form. The user can then navigate back and forth between those forms.

When to use

This rule can only be added to a button.

Warning!

The Close form and Go to form rules cannot be applied to the same button as both rules control which form comes next.

The Save form rule must be used and must appear before the Go to form rule in the list of rules.

How to get started

To dynamically redirect a user to a form:

  1. Click on an existing process by going to Administration > Designer and decide which form, or field you will apply the rule to, by clicking on that item so that it is in edit mode so you can see the Edit/pen button, Pen button Pen button.

  2. Click on Add a rule > Workflow > Go to form.

  3. In the Edit rule - Go to form dialog box, give the rule a title in the Title field.

    Go to form rule

  4. If you want to add conditions for the rule, click on the Edit conditions button Edit conditions button to create conditions for the rule, see Conditions for more details.

  5. Under Action, create one or more actions for the rule by filling out the following:

    • Select form - click on the field and select a form from the process.

    • Display mode - choose from:

      • Auto - the display mode will be either edit or read as determined by the system. If the destination form is the next form in the process workflow, and if the user is an owner of the form, and the form is not completed, then the form will be displayed in edit mode. Otherwise the form will appear in read mode.

      • Edit mode - the user will be able to edit the destination form.

      • Read mode - the user will be able to read, but not edit, the destination form.

    • Set as current form - choose from the radio buttons Yes or No. If you choose Yes this will change the process flow, forcing the selected form to become the current, active form.

      Go to form example

      For example in the image above of an IT Support process, there are a number of forms, one of which is User Review. In Kianda Designer, the Go to form rule is assigned to a Resolved button in the 1st Level Support form, meaning that the User Review form becomes the next active form, not the 2nd Level Support form although it is the next form in the process workflow.

  6. When you are finished editing the dialog box, click on OK or click on Close at any time to exit the dialog box.

  7. Remember this rule can only be attached to a button. When you click on the button, the rule will appear in the right-hand pane under Rules.

    Rule on a form field

See example above, for a Go to form rule, called ‘Go to User Review’ for a resolved button. Note there are 11 rules attached to that button so the order of execution is important, go to Multiple rules to learn more about how to change rule order.

The next section will cover how to use the buttons visible in the right-hand pane to manipulate the rule.

Editing, deleting or duplicating rules

When you have clicked on an existing rule, and the rule is visible in the right-hand pane under Rules, there are a number of options available to you.

  1. To disable a rule, click the slider across beside the rule name.

  2. To copy a rule, click on the Duplicate button Duplicate button beside the rule name.

  3. To delete a rule, click on the Bin/Trash button Bin/Trash button.

  4. To view a rule, click on the rule name to open the Edit rule dialog box.

What’s next Idea icon

To find out more about other workflow rules go to Workflow.

To find out more about other rules go to Rules.

4.2.4 - Assign form

Introduction

The Assign form rule is used to assign a form to a user or to a group of users, making them the form owners. This means that when a process instance is created, a form owner can edit the form in the process instance, for example a manager who needs to add comments on an appraisal form that has been submitted by an employee.

You can use this rule to override the existing form owners, or to add users or groups to the list of existing form owners. When assigning forms you can choose from:

  • Any user - choose from any user, groups or partners defined in the system

  • Current user - make the current form user, the form owner

  • Defined in a user field - use a selected user/group/partner chosen in a user picker field

  • Form owner(s) - existing form owners as defined in the form configuration

When to use

You can add this rule:

  • to a field
  • to a form
  • to a process (the rule will run on load)

How to get started

To dynamically assign a form to a user:

  1. Click on an existing process by going to Administration > Designer and decide which form, or field you will apply the rule to, by clicking on that item so that it is in edit mode so you can see the Edit/pen button, Pen button Pen button.

  2. Click on Add a rule > Workflow > Assign form.

  3. In the Edit rule - Assign form dialog box, give the rule a title in the Title field.

    Edit rule - Assign form dialog box

  4. If you want to add conditions for the rule, click on the Edit conditions button Edit conditions button to create conditions for the rule, see Conditions for more details.

  5. Under Action, create one or more actions for the rule by filling out the following:

    • Select form - click on the field and select a form from the process. Click on the Plus/Add button Add/Plus button to add more forms to assign. If you change your mind and want to delete a form, click on the Bin/Trash button Bin/Trash button.

    • Assign to - choose from the radio buttons:

      • Any user - choose from Users, Groups and/or Partners in the drop-down list. All users and groups must be predefined in the system, see Users and Groups for more details. Partners must also be predefined within the Invite partners section under Administration.
      • Current user - make the current user of the form, whoever is submitting or saving information, as the person that the form(s) is/are assigned to.
      • Defined in a user field - choose a user picker field from the process, where the selected users, groups or partners will have the forms assigned to them.
      • Form owner(s) - selecting this option means that the form owner(s) defined during form creation/editing will have the form(s) assigned to them, see Form owners for more details on what form ownership is and how to create form owners.
    • Depending on the option chosen for Assign to, different fields will display. For example if Any user is chosen, then a Select user(s) field appears as shown in the image above. If Defined in a user field or Form owner(s) is chosen then a Select form field appears prompting you to select a user picker field for the former, and a form with form owners for the latter. For example, in the image below a user from a field called Requester will become the form owner of a form called User Feedback.

      Select form field

    • Existing user(s) - choose from:

      • Override - this means that this rule will override form ownership, making those referenced in the Edit rule dialog box, the form owners.
      • Append - this means that for a current list of form owners, for example those defined during form creation, that list will be appended with any users referenced in the Edit rule dialog box.
  6. When you are finished editing the dialog box, click on OK or click on Close at any time to exit the dialog box.

  7. If the rule is attached to field within a form, a notification will appear within the form design, for example the field Management decision as shown in the image below.

    Rule on a form field

  8. When you click on the field or form that has the rule attached, the rule will appear in the right-hand pane under Rules.

    The next section will cover how to use the buttons visible in the right-hand pane to manipulate the rule.

Editing, deleting or duplicating rules

When you have clicked on an existing rule, and the rule is visible in the right-hand pane under Rules, there are a number of options available to you.

  1. To disable a rule, click the slider across beside the rule name.

  2. To copy a rule, click on the Duplicate button Duplicate button beside the rule name.

  3. To delete a rule, click on the Bin/Trash button Bin/Trash button.

  4. To view a rule, click on the rule name to open the Edit rule dialog box.

User tip Target icon

This rule can be used multiple times in sequence. A typical use case is that the first rule overrides the existing users and the following rule(s) appends users.

To view the default owners for the form, click on the form itself within the process in Designer and in the Edit form dialog box, see named owners in the Default owner(s) field. See Form owners for more details.

Note: a form displays in edit mode if:

  1. The user is the owner of the form, and
  2. The selected form is the current form, and
  3. The form is not submitted or in a completed state, that is being worked on. The Go to form rule can reset the submitted state of a form, see Go to form for details.

What’s next Idea icon

To find out more about other workflow rules go to Workflow.

To find out more about other rules go to Rules.

4.2.5 - Process security

Introduction

The Process security rule dynamically changes the security settings of a process instance.

Security settings for a process can be set statically by going to Settings for the process in Kianda Designer. If you check the checkbox for Enable process security, you can then select users, groups, and/or partners and set their access level, see Process settings for more details.

Process security settings

This setting is static and applies to every instance of the process. However the Process security rule is dynamic and changes the security settings for a particular instance. For example if there is a Finance process with a Payroll request form containing personal data like employee salary, this request form should only be visible to an assigned person. An Assign form rule could be used to give form ownership to an assigned person, allowing them to edit the form in a process instance, and if the rule is combined with the Process security rule then only the assigned person can view the request form for the process instance.

If there are multiple process instances listed in a dashboard, then process security will allow only those who have the designated access, to view those process instances.

When to use

You can add this rule:

  • to a field
  • to a form
  • to a process (the rule will run on load)

How to get started

To dynamically set security for process instances:

  1. Click on an existing process by going to Administration > Designer and decide which form, or field you will apply the rule to, by clicking on that item so that it is in edit mode so you can see the Edit/pen button, Pen button Pen button.

  2. Click on Add a rule > Workflow > Process security.

  3. In the Edit rule - Process security dialog box, give the rule a title in the Title field.

    Edit rule - Process security dialog box

  4. If you want to add conditions for the rule, click on the Edit conditions button Edit conditions button to create conditions for the rule, see Conditions for more details.

  5. Under Action, create one or more actions for the rule by filling out the following:

    • Add to process security users - choose from the radio buttons:

      • Any user - choose from Users, Groups and/or Partners in the drop-down list. All users and groups must be predefined in the system, see Users and Groups for more details. Partners must also be predefined within the Invite partners section under Administration.
      • Current user - make the current user of the form, whoever is submitting or saving information, as the person that is added to the form process security.
      • Defined in a user field - choose a user picker field from the process, where the selected users, groups or partners will be added to the form process security.
      • Form owner(s) - selecting this option means that the form owner(s) defined during form creation/editing will be added to the form process security, see Form owners for more details on what form ownership is and how to create form owners.
    • Depending on the option chosen for Add to process security users, different fields will display:

      • For example if Any user is chosen, then a Select user(s) field appears as shown in the image above. Choose from Users, Groups and/or Partners.

      • If Defined in a user field or Form owner(s) is chosen then a Select form field appears prompting you to select a user picker field for the former, and a form with form owners for the latter.

    • Existing user(s) - choose from:

      • Override - this means that this rule will override form ownership, making those referenced in the Edit rule dialog box the form owners.
      • Append - this means that for a current list of form owners, for example those defined during form creation, that list will be appended with any users referenced in the Edit rule dialog box.
    • Override security settings - choose from Yes or No.

      • If you choose Yes then a checkbox appears allowing you to Enable security.

        Process security enabled security example

      • If you check the checkbox, then you can choose the Process security mode which lists the following options:

        • Security users can create, assign to, can update, everyone else can view - this is the lowest level of security, allowing the assigned user(s) the ability to view, edit and assign process instances, while others can view the process instances.
        • Security users can create, assign to, can view and update - this allows the assigned user(s) the ability to view, edit and assign process instances.
        • Security users only can create, view and update - this is the highest level of security where only the named users, that is those defined as Line Manager in a user picker field, will be able to view and edit process instances. No other users will have access to the process instances.
  6. When you are finished editing the dialog box, click on OK or click on Close at any time to exit the dialog box.

  7. When you click on the field or form that has the rule attached, the rule will appear in the right-hand pane under Rules.

The next section will cover how to use the buttons visible in the right-hand pane to manipulate the rule.

Editing, deleting or duplicating rules

When you have clicked on an existing rule, and the rule is visible in the right-hand pane under Rules, there are a number of options available to you.

  1. To disable a rule, click the slider across beside the rule name.

  2. To copy a rule, click on the Duplicate button Duplicate button beside the rule name.

  3. To delete a rule, click on the Bin/Trash button Bin/Trash button.

  4. To view a rule, click on the rule name to open the Edit rule dialog box.

User tip Target icon

This rule can be used multiple times in sequence. You can use the first rule to override the existing users and the following rule(s) to append users.

You can override the process security settings by setting Override security settings to Yes. Tick Enable security to see the options for setting the security level. These options are identical to those in the static Process settings as mentioned in the Introduction.

Warning!

Setting Override security settings to Yes with Enable security not ticked will disable all security settings.

Process security rule dialog box 2

What’s next Idea icon

To find out more about other workflow rules go to Workflow.

To find out more about other rules go to Rules.

4.2.6 - Start a process

Introduction

The Start a process rule allows you to dynamically start a new instance of a different process, or a new instance of the same process, or updates an existing process instance from a chosen process.

For example if we have an ‘Onboarding’ process, our primary process that involves many different tasks like generating documentation, and sending out emails to managers, HR and new trainers, we could have a secondary process called ‘Send email process’ which sends out these automated emails for a new user once the ‘Onboarding process’ starts. You can transfer field data from the Onboarding process to the new process instance for ‘Send email process’. You can also update the secondary process instance, once you have the ID for the process instance, see step 5 below in [How to get started].

When to use

You can add this rule:

  • to a field
  • to a form
  • to a process (the rule will run on load)

Before getting started

In advance of using the this rule, in your process you need to have created at least one or more forms as well as creating:

  • Two processes, one process that acts as your primary process, that then triggers a secondary process also called your target process.

  • A text box field which can be hidden, to hold your target process ID if you wish to update an existing process. To learn more about text box field go to Text box control.

  • Predefined partners must be set up in the Invite partners section of Kianda if you wish to execute rules related to partner processes. Process security must be enabled in the target process to allow your process to interact with it. Go to Process security to see where this checkbox is.

How to get started

To dynamically start a new process:

  1. Click on an existing process by going to Administration > Designer and decide which form, or field you will apply the rule to, by clicking on that item for example the Submit button so that it is in edit mode so you can see the Edit/pen button, Pen button Pen button.

  2. Click on Add a rule > Workflow > Start a process.

  3. In the Edit rule - Start process dialog box, give the rule a title in the Title field.

    Start a process rule

  4. If you want to add conditions for the rule, click on the Edit conditions button Edit conditions button to create conditions for the rule, see Conditions for more details.

  5. Under Action create one or more actions for the rule starting with choosing the Process source for the secondary/target process. Choose from Own process or Partner process.

    • If you choose Own process then choose from a list of processes already created in the system under Select a process design using the drop-down list, or start to type in the name of a process and the list will autofill as shown below.

      Select process design

    • If you choose Partner process then choose from a list of predefined partners under Select a process design. Click on the drop-down list to add Partners. To read more about how to define partners in Kianda go to Invite partners section of Kianda. Note, the partner organisation must have enabled process security to allow your process to interact with the target process, go to Process security to see where this checkbox is.

      Partner process

      • When the design is chosen, other options will appear in the Edit rule dialog box, the Lookup existing process option appears, where you can choose Yes or No.

        Lookup existing process option Yes

        • If you choose No then that means you are creating a new process instance from that process design.
        • If you choose Yes then that means you are updating an existing process instance and you must provide a field containing the target process name. You will also need to provide for the existing process instance. This can be done using the On success mapping section, see below.
  6. An Input mapping section allows you to map values for fields from the primary process to the secondary/target process fields, read more below.

  7. A Table mapping section allows you to map values from a table(s) in the primary process to the secondary/target process table(s), see below.

  8. Use On success mapping to retrieve values from the secondary process, showing success in process execution. Click on the link to read more.

    Edit rule dialog box options

  9. The remaining options in the Edit rule dialog box are explained below.

  10. Click OK when you are finished editing the dialog box, or Close at any time to exit the dialog box.

Input mapping

For Input mapping you can map field values from one process to another. For example in an ‘Onboarding HR process’, if a user fills out their name in a Name field, then that name/value will be mapped to a field in a form in the secondary/target process ‘Send email process’ called New request Name as shown in the example below. Your forms must already have precreated fields to capture the values from process or user input.

Input mapping example

To use Input mapping, click on the blue bar for Input mapping:

  1. The process names will automatically appear in the left and right columns once a process design is selected from the drop-down list, see step 5 in How to get started above. Within each field, choose a form and then a field that you would like to map the values from one process to another. Alternatively, you can type in text to pass from the primary process to a field in the secondary process.

  2. Click on the Bin/Trash button Bin button to delete a mapping.

  3. Click on the Add mapping button Add mapping button to add further mappings from the secondary/target process to the primary process. Ensure that form fields are already precreated to hold these values.

Table mapping

If you use a table in your process you can map fields from a table in one process to another in a similar way to the fields in Input mapping, but this section includes additional parameters to give you a range of options.

To use table mapping, you must already have tables created in your primary and secondary processes. Then click on the blue bar for Table mapping:

  1. The process names will automatically appear in the left and right columns once a process design is selected from the drop-down list, see step 5 in How to get started above.

    Table mapping example within Start a Process rule

  2. Click on Add table mapping to and add input and output tables for each process. Click on a form and then a table of choice.

    Table mapping adding tables

  3. Click on the ellipsis button Ellipsis button to open the Table mappings dialog box.

    Table mappings dialog box

    Options within this dialog box are:

    • Operation - choose from:

      • Copy rows which allows you to copy row data from one process to another. You can also add conditions to the copying process by clicking on Copy row conditions to allow you to have conditions on which rows are copied over to the target process. We can add fields or text to the conditions. Click on Conditions to read more about conditions in Kianda.

        If you click on the Action button Action button then column titles from the primary and secondary processes are automatically listed under Column mapping as shown below, where Need and Reason are column headings in the table in the primary process and Customer need and Reason given are column headings in the table in the secondary/target process. In the example below, a condition has been set so that if Need equals the text ‘Broadband connection’ then the values input into the columns listed will be copied over.

        Table mappings example

      • Update rows - if you choose Update rows then contents of the target process table will be updated. Similar to copy rows, an Update row conditions button appears allowing you to set conditions for what content is updated. As with Copy row conditions you can set conditions to control how values are mapped from one process to another.

        An Action button Action button is available beside Column mapping to allow you to autofill field names from processes under Field or text and To table fields.

  4. Click on the Bin/Trash button Bin button to delete a mapping.

  5. Click on the Add table mapping button to add more tables.

On success mapping

If you wish to update an existing process instance you can use mapping within the On success mapping section to retrieve the Process ID of that process instance, and then trigger rules in the target process instance. A text box field within the form can be created to hold the Process ID value, see Before getting started. The ID for the existing process instance, is one of the Common fields that can be pulled from the system.

To use On success mapping:

  1. Click on the green bar of On success mapping to reveal primary and secondary/target process form fields. For example in the image below, the primary process is called Onboarding HR and the secondary process is called Send email process. Both of these appear automatically below when the green bar is clicked on.

    • From here you can choose to add in form fields, for example a text box field called Sales Onboarding Process ID that will hold a common field Process ID from the target process.

    On success mapping options

    • Click on the Bin/Trash button Bin button to delete a mapping.
    • Click on the Add mapping button Add mapping button to add further mappings from the secondary/target process to the primary process. Ensure that form fields are already precreated to hold these values.
  2. Further options exist under this section, starting with Trigger rules in target instance allowing you to kick off business rules enabling actions in the target process. Options are:

    • No where triggering rules is disabled, and no further options appear.

    • Yes where triggering rules is enabled, and further options appear:

      • Select a field or rule to trigger on target process - clicking on this field allows you to choose a form from the target process and from there you can drill down to a field to trigger all the rules attached to that field, or drill down to a particular rule so that only that rule will be triggered as shown in the example below.

        Trigger rule target process

        If you want to save values passed under Input mapping then trigger the Save button (that contains the Save process and Close rules) found by default in all Kianda forms.

      • Enable real-time rule execution? - options are Yes or No. If you choose Yes, rules in the secondary/target process instance will trigger without any delay in the server. If you choose No then a second option becomes available to allow you to choose to Execute in series?

        Rule execution options

        • Execute in series? - options are Yes or No. If you choose No then the server side execution of rules will happen in series or in sequence, instead of in parallel. In series or in sequence refers to synchronous execution, where a rule will only execute when the previous rule has completed. In parallel refers to asynchronous execution whereby rules execute without waiting for the previous rule to finish. This type of execution is useful when rules are not dependent on each other, for example the output of one rule is not used as input for another.
  3. When you are finished editing the dialog box click on OK or click on Close at any time to exit the dialog box.

For more details on using On success mapping with other rules click on On success mapping.

Editing, deleting or duplicating rules

When you have clicked on an existing rule, and the rule is visible in the right-hand pane under Rules, there are a number of options available to you.

  1. To disable a rule, click the slider across beside the rule name.

  2. To copy a rule, click on the Duplicate button Duplicate button beside the rule name.

  3. To delete a rule, click on the Bin/Trash button Bin/Trash button.

  4. To view a rule, click on the rule name to open the Edit rule dialog box.

User tip Target icon

  1. Remember the target process can be a Partner process and in this case, the partner organisation must have enabled process security (in the Process settings for the target process) to allow your process to interact with the target process.
  2. Use the Lookup existing process flag to find a particular instance of the target process at runtime. If you select Yes, then you can select a field in the current process which contains the id of the target instance.
  3. Use Trigger rules in target instance to select a field or rule to trigger in the target process. Set Execute in series to Yes to ensure server side execution is performed in series instead of in parallel.
  4. Another feature of this rule is that you can read data from another process instance. In this case it is advisable to give the title of the rule a title such as ‘Read data from Process X’. Click on the green bar of On success mapping and use this area to copy data from the target process to the current process.

What’s next Idea icon

To find out more about other workflow rules go to Workflow.

To find out more about other rules go to Rules.

4.2.7 - Schedule a rule

Introduction

Schedule a rule allows you to schedule a rule or a field to be triggered immediately, at some point in the future or recurring. If a form field has multiple rules attached to it, that include the Schedule a rule rule, rules can execute sequentially and you can change the order of the rule execution, see Multiple rules for details. You can also select a specific rule to execute. For example in the image below, the text box field First Name is expanded to show two rules. You can select all or just one rule to be triggered. You can select all rules by selecting the First Name text box itself or to select just one rule you can expand the field and selecting the desired rule you want to schedule:

Selecting one rule to be triggered

When to use

You can add this rule:

  • to a field
  • to a form
  • to a process (the rule will run on load)

How to get started

The following step illustrates a scenario to schedule a reminder email using the Send email rule when a form is submitted:

  1. Click on an existing process by going to Administration > Designer and decide which form, or field you will apply the rule to, by clicking on that item so that it is in edit mode so you can see the Edit/pen button, Pen button Pen button.

  2. Click on Add a rule > Workflow > Schedule a rule.

  3. In the Edit rule - Schedule a rule dialog box, give the rule a title in the Title field.

    Go to form rule

  4. If you want to add conditions for the rule, click on the Edit conditions button Edit conditions button to create conditions for the rule, see Conditions for more details.

  5. Under Action fill out the following:

    • Select the field or rule to trigger on schedule - allows you to select a field or rule you want to trigger. If a field has multiple rules, they will be triggered sequentially and you can change the order of the rule execution, see Multiple rules for details. You can also select a specific rule from a field with multiple rules by drilling down and selecting the desired rule. In this example we want to select a rule called Send email which is attached to the Submit button.

      Schedule a send email rule

    • Schedule - allows you to choose a time of schedule. For this example we will select to send the email Weekly at 10 am every 2 weeks.

      Schedule a send email rule

      You can select a different type of schedule that is suited to your rule, here are the options:

      • One time - Select Time mode as Absolute or Relative from now. If Absolute, you can select the time using the clock icon and the date using the calendar icon or you can select a form field (where the date is stored) by clicking on the icon with black discs Disks. If Relative from now, enter the days, hours and minutes directly.
      • Minutes - select the number of minutes you want the scheduled rule to reoccur.
      • Hourly - select the number of minutes and hours you want the scheduled rule to reoccur.
      • Daily - select the time of day and the number of days you want the scheduled rule to reoccur. You can select that the rule will trigger only on week days by enabling the Week days only checkbox.
      • Weekly - select a day of the week, time of the day and the number of weeks that you want the scheduled rule to reoccur.
      • Monthly - select the date of the month or First, Second, Third, Fourth, Last weekday of the month. You can also select a specific time that you want the scheduled rule to reoccur.
      • Immediately - the rule will trigger immediately.
    • Expire - It is possible to set the schedule rule to expire by enabling Expire checkbox. For this example we will use the When option and apply a condition. The goal of the reminder is to send it every two weeks until the status of the process is completed. In the condition of the When option, select Status from the Common fields and make it equals to completed as shown in the image below:

      Schedule a send email rule

      There are three options when to expire the scheduled rule:

      • By - the rule will expire by the date and time given. Either select the time using the clock icon and the date using the calendar icon OR select a form field (where the date is stored) by clicking on the icon with black discs.
      • After - the rule will expire after a set number of occurrences. Select the number of occurrences in the blank field or click on the icon with black discs to choose a field where the number of occurrences is stored.
      • When - add a condition which will cause the rule to expire when it is true.

    You are also presented with two more options when selecting any of the Schedule options except Immediately, the options are:

    Extra options for the schedule a rule

    • Make task unique - enable this option to prevent a second identical task being created for this instance of the process

    • Execute in series - select Yes if you want the server-side execution to be in series rather than in parallel.

  6. When you are finished editing the dialog box, click on OK or click on Close at any time to exit the dialog box.

Editing, deleting or duplicating rules

When you have clicked on an existing rule, and the rule is visible in the right-hand pane under Rules, there are a number of options available to you.

  1. To disable a rule, click the slider across beside the rule name.

  2. To copy a rule, click on the Duplicate button Duplicate button beside the rule name.

  3. To delete a rule, click on the Bin/Trash button Bin/Trash button.

  4. To view a rule, click on the rule name to open the Edit rule dialog box.

What’s next Idea icon

To find out more about other workflow rules go to Workflow.

To find out more about other rules go to Rules.

4.3 - Communication rules

Introduction

Communication rules is one category of rules to enable automated communications with process users, for example sending meeting requests or even user push notifications.

Take an example of a User alert rule. Implementing this rule will result in a new item in the user notification in the Quick action menu, for example a rule that alerts a user to complete a form. The user notification icon will look like this when the alert comes in, indicating there is one new notification: New user notification

Clicking on the notification icon, opens up a pop-up box with the notification, for example:

User alert example to complete a form

Clicking on the Reminder itself will bring the user to that form within the process instance, for the user to complete.

Depending on how you configure the alert, you can create an alert message which appears as a warning in a user’s workspace as shown in the image below.

user alert warning

Getting started with Communication rules

If you go to Administration > Designer and click on a process or create a new process, then click on Add a rule the Communication rules are found in the left-hand pane when you click on Communications.

Communication rules

There are four types of Communication rules as follows:

  • Send email - This rule allows you to send automated emails that contain images, text, process and other links and attachments. Email templates are defined within the rule, allowing you to style emails the way you want and use Expressions to automate the process. You can map fields and content from within the process, for example using a userpicker field so that user input in a form determines who an email is sent to. Emails can be sent out using a predefined SMTP connector, see Setting up a Global SMTP mail Connector for more details.

  • Meeting request - This rule is similar to the Send email rule and allows you to send automated specially formatted emails that contain a meeting request.

  • Anonymous form link - This rule creates an anonymous link to a form which can be sent to external users who do not need Kianda login details or accounts to access the form(s), for example contractors or third party providers. The receivers of the link can then simply click on the link and submit data back to a process instance in Kianda.

  • User alert - This rule sends an alert to a user which appears in the user notifications in the top right-hand quick actions menu bar. See Quick action menu for an introduction to the shortcuts available to users including notifications. You can configure the alert to appear the way you want for example to allow warning messages to appear as shown in the image in the Introduction or to link to a form for a user to complete.

What’s next Idea icon

To read more about each of the rule types go to the links below:

4.3.1 - Send email

This rule sends an email according to a predefined template. Each element of the email is configurable. The body of the email can include text, images and attachments. Data stored in fields in the current form can be copied in dynamically.

When to use the Send email rule

You can add this rule:

  • to a field
  • to a form
  • to a process (the rule will run on load)

Before you get started

In advance of using this rule, you need to have created one or more forms, complete with control fields. For example a text box control with an employee’s ‘Name’ may be part of a form ‘Annual Leave Request’. Then this ‘Name’ field can be used as an expression in the email to send personalised emails, so these aspects must be set up in advance.

  1. Decide how the rule will be implemented, for example will an email be sent once a form is saved or submitted. In the example of form submit, then click on that form in the process > Submit button > Add a rule > Send email.
  2. Decide who the automated email will be sent from, for example a no-reply type email. If you leave the From field empty, the email will be sent from noreply@kianda.com. If you want your email to come from a different sender, then go to Email connector for more details on how to set that up.
  3. Any email addresses to send To, From, CC or BCC must be set up in advance. This could be a textbox in a form called ‘Email address’ with a unique Name like ’emailAddress’, or it could be a user picker field associated with particular users, groups or partners.
  4. If you want to track the emails, then you must set up a field in your form to store email tracking.
  5. If you want to attach any files to an email, files must first be stored in a File field in one of the forms.

How to get started

  1. Click on an existing process by going to Administration > Designer and decide which form, or field you will apply the rule to, by clicking on that item so that it is in edit mode so you can see the Edit/pen button, Pen button Pen button. For example selecting the Submit as shown below.

    Form and button edit mode

  2. In the left-hand side pane, click on Add a rule > Communications > Send email.

  3. Choose from the edit options:

    1. Title - of the email for example ‘Send email to Training Managers’

    2. Edit conditions - click on Edit conditions Edit conditions button to set conditions for sending an email, for example while a process has a ‘status’ of ‘open’, send reminder emails. To learn more about conditions go to Conditions.

    3. From - who the email is from, click on Person button Person button and choose from the appropriate Selection mode, see Selection mode below.

      Warning

      If you add an email address to the From field, you must specify an Email connector, see Email connector. If a connector is not specified, the emails will come from noreply@kianda.com. If a Global SMTP connector is configured, all emails will be sent from the global connector.

    4. To - who the email is to, click on Person button Person button and choose from the appropriate Selection mode, see Selection mode below.

    5. CC - who will be copied on the email, as with To field.

    6. BCC - who will be blind copied on the email, as with To field.

    7. Subject - type in your email subject and click on the Ellipsis button Ellipsis button to add an expression, go to Expression builder for more information. The Subject cannot be left empty.

    8. Body - choose from an array of styles and formats to create your email including Style, Colour, Font size, Remove font style, Font family, Unordered list, Ordered list, Paragraph, Table, Link, Picture, Attach a File and Code view. For example if you click on Code view button Code view button you can copy HTML code directly into the body text.

      Send email

      If you click on the Picture button Picture buttonyou will be redirected to the File storage area where you can search for existing images stored in the Kianda file system, create a folder, or upload a file.

      Storage files management area

      To find out more about how to attach a file, see Attachments for more details.

      To add a message to your email, click on the Body text box. You can personalise automated emails using fields from the process by clicking on the Ellipsis button Ellipsis button to add an expression, see Expression builder for more details.

    9. Send via connector - options are a) No or b) Yes

      If you choose Yes then you must choose an Email connector and decide if you want to Save Sent Items (Yes or No) which means sent emails are saved in a sent items folder in your email account. For more information go to Email connector Email connector options

      Note that if Global SMTP Mail connector has been configured, all emails sent will use the Global connector settings instead, including no-reply@kianda.como find out more, go to Setting up a Global SMTP mail connector.

    10. Enable tracking - options are a) No or b) Yes

    • Note that this option is only available if Send via connector is set to No and the email is being sent from noreply@kianda.com.

    • If you choose Yes then you must click into the field under Field to store tracking event (Open, Click, Bounce, Spam) and choose a field from a form to store the event.

      Enable tracking

    • This option allows you to track the email after it is sent. All of these events, Open, Click, Bounce and Spam will be tracked.
    1. Click on OK button when you are finished editing to save your changes or click on Close to exit the dialog box without saving.

    2. Note when your rule is complete you may want to change the order of rules for the particular field or form that it has been applied to. Drag the new Send email rule to where you want, so the order of execution of rules is correct.

      For example for a Submit button on a form I may want my Send email rule to be executed first before any other rule is executed. To do this click on the Submit button to make sure you are in Edit mode, and under Rules in the right-hand pane, drag the Send email rule to the top of the list by clicking on the rule and dragging it.

      Rule order

      For more information on rule order, see Multiple Rules.

Email connector

The Email connector is a mailing tool that allows you to send emails with a specified email account, for example support@ or info@. An email connector must be set up in advance, to learn how to set up an Email connector go to Email connector.

If you leave the From field empty, the email will be sent from noreply@kianda.com. If you want your email to come from a different sender, follow these steps when you are editing the Send email rule:

  1. Set Send via connector to Yes.
  2. Click into the field under Email connector and select a connector.
  3. Click on OK button when you are finished editing to save your changes or click on Close to exit the dialog box without saving.

Note that if Global SMTP Mail connector has been configured, all emails sent will use the Global connector settings instead of what is specified in the send email rule. Go to Administration > Subscription > Subscription Details to check for a global setting or to find out more, go to Setting up a Global SMTP mail connector.

Selection mode

When you are filling out the To, From, CC or BCC fields and click on the Person button Person buttonyou have the following selection mode options to choose from:

  • Any user or partner

  • User(s) defined in a user field

  • Form owner(s)

  • Email address in a field.

Note; You can reset user/ field you selected by clicking ClearClear field on the dropdown field in the Select email users dialog box.

Select email users dialog box

  • Any user or partner - With this Selection mode selected. On the right-hand side of the Select users dropdown list, you can choose to select from Users, Groups and Partners. This allows you to distinguish which users are picked for this field. For example a single user, or a group of users.

  • User(s) defined in a user field - if you choose this option, it means the user name is already defined in a form. By clicking into the Select a user field, you can select a field from the process you are working in.

    • Click on the desired User field in your process to add to the Select a user field box.

      Select user

    • Click on User picker button to add more selection fields.

      Add user field

    • Remove a field clicking on the Bin/Trash button

      User defined field

  • Form owner(s) - With this option selected, by clicking into the field under Form owner of selected form and choose from the forms within that process. This automatically uses the form owner(s) email address. To learn more about forms and form owners go to Form basics.

    Form owner of selected form

  • Email address in a field - With this option selected, by clicking into the field under Type the address or select from a field, you can either type in an email address or choose from a field within the process you are working in.

select email users

In all cases when you have made your selection, click on OK button to save your changes or click on Close to exit the dialog box without saving.

Expression builder

The expression builder is a useful and efficient way to use existing form fields as part of automated emails that you want to send out.

For example if you have a form Annual Leave request that contains a text box field ‘Employee Name’ you can use this field in an automated email to let a manager know that an employee has submitted a request.

  1. Before you begin have your message inserted into the Body of the email and position your cursor where you want to add an expression, for example an Employee Name after ‘Your employee’ as shown below.

    Body text

  2. Click on the Ellipsis button Ellipsis buttonon the right-hand side of the email Body. An Expression builder dialog box opens.

  3. Click into the field under Add field to expression. Forms and fields that are part of your process appear where you can expand elements to drill down to find the field that you want, for example ‘Employee Name’. Click on the field to add field to the expression.

    Expression builder

  4. Click on the Add to expression button Add to expressionto add the field as an expression. Note that the expression is the Name(unique) of that field.

    Expression added

  5. Click on OK button when you are finished editing to save your changes or click on Close to exit the dialog box without saving.

  6. The result is the expression is now part of the automated email.

    Text box expression added

  7. To add more expressions, firstly position your cursor in your body text where you want to add the expression, then click on the Ellipsis button and under Add field to expression clear any existing fields by clicking on the Clear button. This appears when you hover over the Add field box.

    Clear field

    Then search for other fields, for example lists or links, and use the Expression reference functions, see step 7.

  8. Click on Reference Expression reference to find out how to use particular functions in your email. For example ProcessLink() returns the html link to the current process. Copy this function into the Expression box and click on OK to add the function. Then in the Body type in the text you want associated with this link for example “click here” into the brackets of the function:

    Click here text

    In this way you can build personalised automated emails that provide a link back to a process instance, for example that a manager can view, update or approve. For more information on References and Expressions see Expressions for more information.

Attachments

To attach a file into the Send email rule, you must first contain a file field in your process. To learn more about file control go to File upload control.

  1. To attach a file to an email, click on the Attach a file button Attach a file button. The Attach file to email dialog box opens.

  2. Select a File field from your process to attach the file, for example an Image filed as shown in the image below.

    Attach file dialog box

  3. Click in the File field, find and select the desired field.

  4. Click on Insert attachment. There is an option to attach a link to the file rather than the file itself.

In the Attachments section of the Send email dialog box, the name of the File field will appear indicating that attachments will come from the specified field. You can delete the specified File field by clicking the red bin/trash icon.

Send email dialog box - attachment section

What’s next Idea icon

To find out more about other communication rules go to Communication rules.

To find out more about other rules go to Rules.

4.3.2 - Meeting request

The Meeting request rule sends an email according to a predefined template. It works exactly like the Send email rule with three additional fields to which are used to set up the date and time of the meeting. The three additional fields are as follow:

  • Start time - indicating the starting date and time of the meeting.

  • End time - indicating the ending date and time of the meeting.

  • Location - indicating the location of the meeting.

If you are using an email connector, a meeting request will appear in the calendar of the receiver(s). Otherwise the meeting request will appear as a calendar file (.ics file type) attached to an email. to learn more about email connector go to Email connector.

When to use

You can add this rule:

  • to a field
  • to a form
  • to a process (the rule will run on load)

Before you get started

In advance of using this rule, you need to have created one or more forms, complete with control fields. For example a Text box control with an employee’s ‘Name’ may be part of a form ‘Meeting request’. Then this ‘Name’ field can be used as an expression in the email to send personalised emails, so these aspects must be set up in advance. The Meeting request rule must also contain three specific fields which are the Date control for both the Start and End time fields, as well as textbox control or a List control a field for the Location.

  1. Decide how the rule will be implemented, for example will an email be sent once a form is saved or submitted. In the example of form submit, then click on that form in the process > Submit button > Add a rule > Send email.
  2. Decide who the automated email will be sent from, for example a no-reply type email. If you leave the From field empty, the email will be sent from noreply@kianda.com. If you want your email to come from a different sender, then go to Email connector for more details on how to set that up.
  3. Any email addresses to send To, From, CC or BCC must be set up in advance. This could be a textbox in a form called ‘Email address’ with a unique Name like ’emailAddress’, or it could be a user picker field associated with particular users, groups or partners.
  4. If you want to track the emails, then you must set up a field in your form to store email tracking.
  5. If you want to attach any files to an email, files must first be stored in a File field in one of the forms.

Note; the start and end time fields are both required on the request meeting rule therefore you should make the start and end fields required on your form too. To learn more about required fields go to Control properties.

How to get started

  1. Click on an existing process by going to Administration > Designer and decide which form, or field you will apply the rule to, by clicking on that item so that it is in edit mode so you can see the Edit/pen button Pen button. For example selecting the Submit as shown below.

    Form and button edit mode

  2. In the left-hand side pane, click on Add a rule > Communications > Meeting request rule.

  3. In the Edit rule - Meeting request dialog box, fill out the following details:

    Edit rule Meeting request dialog box

    • Title - of the email for example ‘Send meeting request’
    • Edit conditions - click on Edit conditions Edit conditions button to set conditions for sending an email, for example while a process has a ‘status’ of ‘open’, send reminder emails. To learn more about conditions go to Conditions.
    • Start time - select a pre-defined date field from your form. This is a required field.
    • End time - select a pre-defined date field from your form. This is a required field.
    • From - who the email is from, click on Person button Person button and choose from the appropriate Selection mode, see Selection mode below.

    Warning

    If you add an email address to the From field, you must specify an Email connector, see Email connector. If a connector is not specified, the emails will come from noreply@kianda.com. If a Global SMTP connector is configured, all emails will be sent from the global connector.

    • To - who the email is to, click on Person button Person button and choose from the appropriate Selection mode, see Selection mode below. This is a **required **field.
    • BCC - who will be blind copied on the email, as with To field.
    • Subject - type in your email subject and click on the Ellipsis button Ellipsis button to add an expression, go to Expression builder for more information. This is a **required **field.
    • Body - choose from an array of styles and formats to create your email including Style, Colour, Font size, Remove font style, Font family, Unordered list, Ordered list, Paragraph, Table, Link, Picture, Attach a File and Code view. For example if you click on Code view button Code view button you can copy HTML code directly into the body text. This is a required field.

    Body of email

    ​ To find out more about how to attach a file, see Attachments for more details.

    ​ To add a message to your email, click on the Body text box. You can personalise automated emails using fields from the process by clicking on the Ellipsis button Ellipsis button to add an expression, see Expression builder for more details.

    • Send via connector - options are a) No or b) Yes

      • If you choose Yes then you must choose an Email connector and decide if you want to Save Sent Items (Yes or No) which means sent emails are saved in a sent items folder in your email account. For more information go to Email connector Email connector options

      • Note that if Global SMTP Mail connector has been configured, all emails sent will use the Global connector settings instead, including no-reply@kianda.como find out more, go to Setting up a Global SMTP mail connector.

    • Enable tracking - options are a) No or b) Yes

      • Note that this option is only available if Send via connector is set to No and the email is being sent from noreply@kianda.com.

      • If you choose Yes then you must click into the field under Field to store tracking event (Open, Click, Bounce, Spam) and choose a field from a form to store the event.

        Enable tracking

      • This option allows you to track the email after it is sent. All of these events, Open, Click, Bounce and Spam will be tracked.
    1. Click on OK button when you are finished editing to save your changes or click on Close to exit the dialog box without saving.

    2. Note when your rule is complete you may want to change the order of rules for the particular field or form that it has been applied to. Drag the new Meeting request rule to where you want, so the order of execution of rules is correct.

      For example for a Submit button on a form I may want my Meeting request rule to be executed first before any other rule is executed. To do this click on the Submit button to make sure you are in Edit mode so that the Edit/pen button Pen buttonappears, and under Rules in the right-hand pane, drag the Meeting request rule to the top of the list by clicking on the rule and dragging it. For more information on rules, see Rules.

      Rule order

    Email connector

    The Email connector is a mailing tool that allows you to send emails with a specified email account, for example support@ or info@. An email connector must be set up in advance, to learn how to do that go to Email connector.

    If you leave the From field empty, the email will be sent from noreply@kianda.com. If you want your email to come from a different sender, follow these steps when you are editing the Meeting request rule:

    1. Set Send via connector to Yes.
    2. Click into the field under Email connector and select a connector.
    3. Click on OK button when you are finished editing to save your changes or click on Close to exit the dialog box without saving.

    Note that if Global SMTP Mail connector has been configured, all emails sent will use the Global connector settings instead of what is specified in the send email rule. Go to Administration > Subscription > Subscription Details to check for a global setting or to find out more, go to Setting up a Global SMTP mail connector.

    Selection mode

    When you are filling out the To, From, or BCC fields and click on the Person button Person buttonyou have the following selection mode options to choose from:

    • Any user or partner

    • User(s) defined in a user field

    • Form owner(s)

    • Email address in a field.

    Note; You can reset user/ field you selected by clicking ClearClear field on the dropdown field in the Select email users dialog box.

    Select email users dialog box

    • Any user or partner - choose from Users, Groups and/or Partners in the drop-down list. All users must be predefined in the system, see Users and Groups for more details.

    • User(s) defined in a user field - choose a user picker field from the process, where the selected users, groups or partners will be assigned to the To, From or BCC respectively.

      • Click on the desired User field in your process to add to the Select a user field box.

        Select user

      • Click on User picker button to add more selection fields.

        Add user field

      • Remove a field clicking on the Bin/Trash button

        User defined field

    • Form owner(s) - selecting this option allows you to click into the field under Form owner of selected form and choose from the forms within that process. This automatically uses the form owner(s) email address. To learn more about forms and form owners go to Form basics.

      Form owner of selected form

  • Email address in a field - With this option selected, by clicking into the field under Type the address or select from a field, you can either type in an email address manually or choose from a field within the process you are working in.

select email users

In all cases when you have made your selection, click on OK button to save your changes or click on Close to exit the dialog box without saving.

Expression builder

The expression builder is a useful and efficient way to use existing form fields as part of automated emails that you want to send out.

For example if you have a form Annual Leave request that contains a text box field ‘Employee Name’ you can use this field in an automated email to let a manager know that an employee has submitted a request.

  1. Before you begin have your message inserted into the Body of the email and position your cursor where you want to add an expression, for example an Employee Name after ‘Your employee’ as shown below.

    Body text

  2. Click on the Ellipsis button Ellipsis buttonon the right-hand side of the email Body. An Expression builder dialog box opens.

  3. Click into the field under Add field to expression. Forms and fields that are part of your process appear where you can expand elements to drill down to find the field that you want, for example ‘Employee Name’. Click on the field to add field to the expression.

    Expression builder

  4. Click on the Add to expression button Add to expressionto add the field as an expression. Note that the expression is the Name(unique) of that field.

    Expression added

  5. Click on OK button when you are finished editing to save your changes or click on Close to exit the dialog box without saving.

  6. The result is the expression is now part of the automated email.

    Text box expression added

  7. To add more expressions, firstly position your cursor in your body text where you want to add the expression, then click on the Ellipsis button and under Add field to expression clear any existing fields by clicking on the Clear button. This appears when you hover over the Add field box.

    Clear field

    Then search for other fields, for example lists or links, and use the Expression reference functions, see step 7.

  8. Click on Reference Expression reference to find out how to use particular functions in your email. For example ProcessLink() returns the html link to the current process. Copy this function into the Expression box and click on OK to add the function. Then in the Body type in the text you want associated with this link for example “click here” into the brackets of the function:

    Click here text

    In this way you can build personalised automated emails that provide a link back to a process instance, for example that a manager can view, update or approve. For more information on References and Expressions see Expressions for more information.

Attachments

To attach a file into the Send email rule, you must first contain a file field in your process. To learn more about file control go to File upload control.

  1. To attach a file to an email, click on the Attach a file button Attach a file button. The Attach file to email dialog box opens.

  2. Select a File field from your process to attach the file, for example an Image filed as shown in the image below.

    Attach file dialog box

  3. Click in the File field, find and select the desired field.

  4. Click on Insert attachment. There is an option to attach a link to the file rather than the file itself.

In the Attachments section of the Send email dialog box, the name of the File field will appear indicating that attachments will come from the specified field. You can delete the specified File field by clicking the red bin/trash icon.

s

What’s next Idea icon

To find out more about other communication rules go to Communication rules.

To find out more about other rules go to Rules.

4.3.3 - Anonymous form link

The Anonymous form rule creates a link to a selected form from the process which can be sent to an external user. The user can open the form without the need for authentication into the Kianda platform.

When to use

To use the Anonymous form rule effectively, you would typically apply it to a Submit button along side Send email rule so that you can attach the link into an email and share the specified form with an external user.

You can add this rule:

  • to a field
  • to a form
  • to a process (the rule will run on load)

Before you get started

In advance of using the Anonymous form link, in your process you need to have created at least one or more forms. This rule also requires a link to be stored inside of a field, for example text box control. To learn more about text box control go to Text box control.

How to get started

To send an anonymous form link to an external user:

  1. Click on an existing process by going to Administration > Designer and decide which form, or field you will apply the rule to, by clicking on that item so that it is in edit mode so you can see the Edit/pen button, Pen button Pen button.

  2. Click on Add a rule > Communications > Anonymous form link.

  3. In the Edit rule - Anonymous form link dialog box, give the rule a title in the Title field.

    Edit rule - Anonymous link dialog box

  4. If you want to add conditions for the rule, click on the Edit conditions button Edit conditions button to create conditions for the rule, see Conditions for more details.

  5. In the Select a form dropdown, select the desired form to create a link to.

  6. Link expire settings contains three options:

    • Never expires - Indicating that the link will never expire and will always be active.

    • Expire after a number of uses - the link will expire after the specified number of uses in the Expire link after number of uses text box.

      Link expire settings - number of uses

    • Expire in time - the link will expire after the specified Days, Hours and Minutes from the time it was created.

      Link expire settings - time

  7. In the Field to store the generated anonymous link dropdown, select a field in which you want the link to be stored in.

  8. In the Message to display after anonymous submission text box, type in a message your want users to see after they submit the form.

    Link expire settings - time

    Link expire settings - time

  9. Selecting the Hide form topbar will hide all form tiles from the users view.

  10. Force logout:

    • Yes - users will be logged out after submitting the form.
    • No - users will stay logged in after submitting the form.
  11. Create a Send email rule and apply the link expression to the body of the email. To learn more about Send email rule and how to add expressions go to Send email.

User tip Target icon

  • The field used to store the Anonymous Link can be made invisible to the user of the current form. Go to the field properties and set the field to not visible.
  • Each record or instance of a process can have only one active link. If a second anonymous link is created for an instance of a process, the first link will not exist anymore. Users clicking on the first link will get an error message.

What’s next Idea icon

To find out more about other communication rules go to Communication rules.

To find out more about other rules go to Rules.

4.3.4 - User alert

The User alert rule sends an alert to a user who can click on the alert to open the process instance, for example to a form that needs to be completed by a given user. A user can view all alerts by clicking on the notifications or bell icon on the top right-hand corner of their screen.

For example in the image below there is one new notification.

User notification

When the user clicks on the icon, the alert created using the User alert rule appears.

User alert example

In this example clicking on the alert itself, will bring the user to a form that they need to fill out.

When to use

There are a lot of uses for the user alert rule. For example, the rule can be used as a reminder to complete a form or when a form is submitted and the form needs to be reviewed, a manger can receive the alert to review the information in the form.

You can add this rule:

  • to a field
  • to a form
  • to a process (the rule will run on load)

How to get started

  1. Click on an existing process by going to Administration > Designer and decide which form, or field you will apply the rule to, by clicking on that item so that it is in edit mode so you can see the Edit/pen button, Pen button Pen button.

  2. Click on Add a rule > Communications > Anonymous form link.

  3. In the Edit rule - User alert dialog box, give the rule a title in the Title field.

    Edit rule - Anonymous link dialog box

  4. If you want to add conditions for the rule, click on the Edit conditions button Edit conditions button to create conditions for the rule, see Conditions for more details.

  5. Send alert to - choose from the radio buttons:

    • Any user - choose from Users, Groups and/or Partners in the drop-down list. All users must be predefined in the system, see Users and Groups for more details.
    • Current user - make the current user of the form, whoever is submitting or saving information, as the person that the alert is being sent to.
    • Defined in a user field - choose a user picker field from the process, where the selected users, groups or partners will have an alert sent to.
    • Form owner(s) - selecting this option means that the form owner(s) defined during form creation/editing will have the alert sent to, see Form owners for more details on what form ownership is and how to create form owners.
  6. Alert title - select a field from the process to be the title or type one in.

  7. Alert message - select a field from the process for the message of the alert or type one in. Note: Maximum of 200 characters allowed in message.

  8. Alert Status - choose from four different colours to be applied to the tile of the alert.

  9. Alert icon - choose an icon from the drop-down list.

    Edit rule - Anonymous link dialog box

    The resulting alert design looks like this:

    Edit rule - Anonymous link dialog box

  10. Process ID - when the user receives an alert and clicks on it, he will open the process instance defined in the Process ID field.

    • If left blank, this field will contain the current Process ID.

    • A different process ID can be added by typing or copying in the ID (or if the Process ID is stored in a field, then that field can be selected).

What’s next Idea icon

To find out more about other communication rules go to Communication rules.

To find out more about other rules go to Rules.

4.4 - Data rules

Data rules is the category of rules that enables the flow of data between data connectors and form elements, for example reading or writing data from a database table or performing data manipulation.

Data rules

Take an example of one of the rules in the Data rules category, the Find items rule. This rule can be used to extract data from a data source and use this information in a Kianda form. Take an example of an Employee Onboarding or New hire process, where a user chooses a country for a ‘Country’ field from a drop-down list.

Drop-down list Find items example

The drop-down list is populated using a SharePoint list in this example, and the ‘Country’ field in turn uses a Find item rule to populate the table below it in the form.

Find items rule populating a table

The section below introduces each of the Data rules.

Getting started with Data rules

If you go to Administration > Designer and click on a process or create a new process, then click on Add a rule the Data rules are found in the left-hand pane when you click on Data.

There are five types of Data rules as follows:

  • Create item - The create item rule is used to create an item on your data connection. This is a straightforward rule which allows you to connect to your data source and map inputs. You can also map a data source field or text back to Kianda on success or store an error message on failure.

  • Delete item - To delete an item from your data connection, you could use a data source filter and map data source field or text from a data connection to Kianda form field.

  • Update item - This rule works in the same way as the Delete item rule. At any point, if you would like to update any item on your data connection, use this rule. To find an item to update, you could use a data source filter and map the input fields or text.

  • Find items - Use this rule together with a datasource to perform a query and return data for use with the form. To find an item, you could use a data source filter which acts as a conditional bridge between Kianda and data-connections. If the condition is true, you could map the data source field or text to the Kianda form field.

  • Set form field - This rule is used to update the value of fields in a form. The field value could be simple text or based on a custom expression with the ability to define JavaScript expressions. Use this rule to copy content between fields or to apply a custom expression to set the value of a given field.

What’s next Idea icon

We have briefly introduced each of the five types of Data rules. Click on the links below to find out more about each rule in detail.

4.4.1 - Set form field rule

Introduction

Using the Set form field rule you have the ability to select a field within your process and assign it a value using manually typed text or an expression. With the Set form field rule you can set multiple fields at once by adding more fields to the value mapping within the rule.

This rule is useful when automating processes with previously provided information from other forms. You can apply this rule to a form which will activate the rule when the form is loaded. You can pass query strings and apply the Set form field rule assign values to fields when opening form for the first time. To learn more about query strings go to Query strings.

When to use

You can add this rule:

  • to a field
  • to a form
  • to a process (the rule will run on load)

How to get started

  1. Click on an existing process by going to Administration > Designer and decide which form, or field you will apply the rule to, by clicking on that item so that it is in edit mode so you can see the Edit/pen button, Pen button Pen button.

  2. Click on Add a rule > Data > Set form field.

  3. In the Edit rule - Set form field dialog box, give the rule a title in the Title field.

    Edit rule - Set form field dialog box

  4. If you want to add conditions for the rule, click on the Edit conditions button Edit conditions button see Conditions for more details.

  5. In the Field value mapping section, you can select which fields to set and what values to give them. You can do that with the following fields:

    • Form field to set - this dropdown list is used to select a field from within your process that you want to set.
    • Value or expression - in this field you are able to type in text manually to set the value for a desired field. To make this rule dynamic and use other fields as values, you can use expressions. To learn more about expressions go to Expression builder.
    • Add mapping - you can choose to set multiple fields in your process by clicking on Add mapping button. You can also remove fields by clicking on the Bin/Trash icon Bin/Trash button.

Editing, deleting or duplicating rules

When you have clicked on an existing rule, and the rule is visible in the right-hand pane under Rules, there are a number of options available to you.

  1. To disable a rule click the slider across beside the rule name.
  2. To copy a rule, click on the Duplicate button Duplicate button beside the rule name.
  3. To delete a rule, click on the Bin/Trash button Bin/Trash button.
  4. To view a rule, click on the rule name to open the Edit rule dialog box.

What’s next Idea icon

To find out more about other Data rules go to Data rules.

To find out more about other rules go to Rules.

4.4.2 - Find items data rule

Introduction

This rule implements the Read function which is one of the four CRUD (Create, Read, Update and Database) functions. The rule will read one or more items of data from a chosen data source, for example SharePoint, SAP or Oracle databases, see Data connectors for more details.

This rule is used to find an item from your data connections. To find an item, you could use a data source filter which acts as a conditional bridge between Kianda and data connections. If the condition is true, you could map the data source field or text to the Kianda form field.

This rule is used to perform a query and return data for use in the form. The data may be stored locally or in one of the data sources

The Data source filter is useful when you want to query data from a specific user using a unique identifier like an Id, name or email.

When to use

You can add this rule:

  • to a field
  • to a form
  • to a process (the rule will run on load)

How to get started

  1. Click on an existing process by going to Administration > Designer and decide which form, or field you will apply the rule to, by clicking on that item so that it is in edit mode so you can see the Edit/pen button, Pen button Pen button.

  2. Click on Add a rule > Data > Find items.

  3. In the Edit rule - Find items dialog box, give the rule a title in the Title field.

    Edit rule - Assign form dialog box

  4. If you want to add conditions for the rule, click on the Edit conditions button Edit conditions button to create conditions for the rule, see Conditions for more details.

  5. Click on Select data source button Select data source to select the desired data source. When you select your data source, new mappings options are presented.

    Find items - mapping

  6. Data source filter - this is used to filter data within your datasource. It works on condition bases which allows you to pull wanted and unwanted data back into the process. To learn more about conditions go to Conditions.

  7. Map results to table:

    • Yes - selecting this option will allow you to map results to a table and opens the following options below:

      Find items - mapping

      • Select a table - allows you to select a table from within your process which will be populated by mapping. This is useful when you want to display a lot of data from the datasource.
      • Existing rows behaviour:
        • Override - will override any duplicate date therefore will keep the last duplicate inside of the table.
        • Append - will add any duplicate data to the table and therefore all occurrence of data will be displayed in the table.
      • Enable server paging - enables the server paging configurations. For example if your data source has 10 row per page, enabling this option will force the table to have 10 rows per page.
    • No - selecting this option will only pull the first occurrence from your data source.

  8. Results mapping - is used to set fields within your form from the datasource itself. To learn more about results mapping go to On Success Mapping.

  9. On error mapping - you can expand this option by clicking on it, then add fields where you can display any error message that may have occurred during the mapping process. To learn more about error mapping go to On Error Mapping.

  10. Max rows - will allow you to set a number of fields to be displayed within a table.

  11. Sort By - allows you to sort the results of your datasource within the mapped rows of the table.

Editing, deleting or duplicating rules

When you have clicked on an existing rule, and the rule is visible in the right-hand pane under Rules, there are a number of options available to you.

  1. To disable a rule click the slider across beside the rule name.
  2. To copy a rule, click on the Duplicate button Duplicate button beside the rule name.
  3. To delete a rule, click on the Bin/Trash button Bin/Trash button.
  4. To view a rule, click on the rule name to open the Edit rule dialog box.

What’s next Idea icon

To find out more about other Data rules go to Data rules.

To find out more about other rules go to Rules.

4.4.3 - Create data item rule

Introduction

This rule implements the Create function which is one of the four CRUD (Create, Read, Update and Database) functions. The rule will create one or more items of data from a chosen data source, for example SharePoint, SAP or Oracle databases, see Data connectors for more details.

The Create item rule allows you to create an item of any type in the specified data connector. When applying this rule, you must select a data source in which you want to create the item. When the data source is connecter, you can map inputs from your form fields into your source. Also, you could map a data source field or text back to Kianda on success or store an error message on failure.

When to use

You can add this rule:

  • to a field
  • to a form
  • to a process (the rule will run on load)

How to get started

  1. Click on an existing process by going to Administration > Designer and decide which form, or field you will apply the rule to, by clicking on that item so that it is in edit mode so you can see the Edit/pen button, Pen button Pen button.

  2. Click on Add a rule > Data > Create item.

  3. In the Edit rule - Create item dialog box, give the rule a title in the Title field.

    Edit rule - Assign form dialog box

  4. If you want to add conditions for the rule, click on the Edit conditions button Edit conditions button, see Conditions for more details.

  5. Click on Select data source button Select data sourceto select the data source you want to create a new item in. When you select your data source, new mapping options are presented.

    create item - mapping options

    • Input mapping - used to create an item inside of the data source that you selected.
      • Form field or text - you can select a field within your form or type in text manually to represent the value you want to your new item to contain.
      • Data source field - select a field in your data source to hold the new value.
      • Add mapping - you can choose to create multiple items in your data source by clicking on Add mapping button. You can also remove fields by clicking on the Bin/Trash icon Bin/Trash button.
    • On success mapping - select the field(s) in the form which will store information and populate the data source field or text field with the respective data source value. To learn more about success mapping go to On Success Mapping.
    • On error mapping - select the field(s) in the form which will store error messages. Then type in a value or use Error message, to create a system generated error message if an error occurs during rule execution. To learn more about error mapping go to On Error Mapping.

Editing, deleting or duplicating rules

When you have clicked on an existing rule, and the rule is visible in the right-hand pane under Rules, there are a number of options available to you.

  1. To disable a rule click the slider across beside the rule name.
  2. To copy a rule, click on the Duplicate button Duplicate button beside the rule name.
  3. To delete a rule, click on the Bin/Trash button Bin/Trash button.
  4. To view a rule, click on the rule name to open the Edit rule dialog box.

What’s next Idea icon

To find out more about other Data rules go to Data rules.

To find out more about other rules go to Rules.

4.4.4 - Update data item rule

Introduction

This rule implements the Update function which is one of the four CRUD (Create, Read, Update and Database) functions. The rule will read one or more items of data from a chosen data source, for example SharePoint, SAP or Oracle databases, see Data connectors for more details.

The Data source filter in this rule is used for targeting specific data item in your data connection. The item you want to update within your data source is targeted by filtering it out using a field within your form. It is a good idea to connect a dummy field to your data source first and then use that field to filter for the item you want to update. The actual value used to update the item in your data source can also use a field or text filled out in your mapping section (see below for more detail). To make your Update item rule extremely dynamic, it is recommended to create field for filtering an item and a separate field for the new value you want your item to hold.

When to use

The Update item rule should be used whenever you want to update an existing item within a data source of your choice.

You can add this rule:

  • to a field
  • to a form
  • to a process (the rule will run on load)

How to get started

  1. Click on an existing process by going to Administration > Designer and decide which form, or field you will apply the rule to, by clicking on that item so that it is in edit mode so you can see the Edit/pen button Pen button.

  2. Click on Add a rule > Data > Update item.

  3. In the Edit rule - Update item dialog box, give the rule a title in the Title field.

    Edit rule - Update form dialog box

  4. If you want to add conditions for the rule, click on the Edit conditions button Edit conditions button, see Conditions for more details.

  5. Click on Select data source button Select data sourceto select the data source you want to update an item in. When you select your data source, new mapping options are presented.

    update item - mapping options

  6. Data source filter - works on condition bases where by you can filter the specific item that you want to update within your data source. The condition uses a field from within your form and therefore it is good practice to create a field and connect it to your data source to have the ability of selecting an item that you want to update. To learn more about conditions go to Conditions.

  7. Input mapping - used to update an item inside of the datasource that you selected. Within this section the following fields are visible:

    • Form field or text - you can select a field within your form or type in text manually to represent the value you want your updated item to contain.
    • Data source field - select a field in your data source to hold the new value.
    • Add mapping - you can choose to create multiple items in your data source by clicking on Add mapping button. You can also remove fields by clicking on the Bin/Trash icon Bin/Trash button.
  8. On success mapping - select the field(s) in the form which will store information and populate the data source field or text field with the respective data source value. To learn more about success mapping go to On Success Mapping.

  9. On error mapping - select the field(s) in the form which will store error messages. Then type in a value or use Error message, to create a system generated error message if an error occurs during rule execution. To learn more about error mapping go to On Error Mapping.

  10. Ignore mapping for blank fields - used to check if there are any blank field that need to be updated on the datasource. For example, if there are two fields to be updated and the user wants to update only one, and leaves the other blank, then the filled out field is updated and the other field is left unchanged.

Editing, deleting or duplicating rules

When you have clicked on an existing rule, and the rule is visible in the right-hand pane under Rules, there are a number of options available to you.

  1. To disable a rule click the slider across beside the rule name.
  2. To copy a rule, click on the Duplicate button Duplicate button beside the rule name.
  3. To delete a rule, click on the Bin/Trash button Bin/Trash button.
  4. To view a rule, click on the rule name to open the Edit rule dialog box.

What’s next Idea icon

To find out more about other Data rules go to Data rules.

To find out more about other rules go to Rules.

4.4.5 - Delete data item rule

Introduction

This rule implements the Delete function which is one of the CRUD (Create, Read, Update and Database) functions. The rule will delete an item data from a chosen data source, for example SharePoint, SAP or Oracle databases, see Data connectors for more details.

The Data source filter in this rule is used for targeting specific data item in your data connection. The item you want to delete within your data source is targeted by filtering it out using a field within your form. It is a good idea to connect a dummy field to your data source first and then use that field to filter for the item you want to delete.

When to use

The Delete item rule should be used whenever you want to delete an existing item within a data source of your choice.

You can add this rule:

  • to a field
  • to a form
  • to a process (the rule will run on load)

How to get started

  1. Click on an existing process by going to Administration > Designer and decide which form, or field you will apply the rule to, by clicking on that item so that it is in edit mode so you can see the Edit/pen button, Pen button Pen button.

  2. Click on Add a rule > Data > Delete item.

  3. In the Edit rule - Delete item dialog box, give the rule a title in the Title field.

    Edit rule - Delete item dialog box

  4. If you want to add conditions for the rule, click on the Edit conditions button Edit conditions button see Conditions for more details.

  5. Click on Select data source button Select data sourceto select the data source you want to update an item in. When you select your data source, new mapping options are presented.

    Delete item - mapping options

  6. Data source filter - works on condition bases where by you can filter the specific item that you want to delete from your data source. The condition uses a field from within your form and therefore it is good practice to create a field and connect it to your data source to have the ability of selecting an item that you want to delete. To learn more about conditions go to Conditions.

  7. On success mapping - select the field(s) in the form which will store information and populate the data source field or text field with the respective data source value. To learn more about success mapping go to On Success Mapping.

  8. On error mapping - select the field(s) in the form which will store error messages. Then type in a value or use Error message, to create a system generated error message if an error occurs during rule execution. To learn more about error mapping go to On Error Mapping.

Editing, deleting or duplicating rules

When you have clicked on an existing rule, and the rule is visible in the right-hand pane under Rules, there are a number of options available to you.

  1. To disable a rule click the slider across beside the rule name.
  2. To copy a rule, click on the Duplicate button Duplicate button beside the rule name.
  3. To delete a rule, click on the Bin/Trash button Bin/Trash button.
  4. To view a rule, click on the rule name to open the Edit rule dialog box.

What’s next Idea icon

To find out more about other Data rules go to Data rules.

To find out more about other rules go to Rules.

4.5 - User rules

Introduction

User rules is one of the category of rules available in Kianda, that enables user-based operations associated with user properties, for example updating a user property, retrieving a user property and finding a user based on a property. The user rules also allow you to invite partners and share a particular process with them. These rules are very useful when you want to do any property actions on a user like find a user or update a property of a specific user.

Take an example of a Look up user by property rule. Implementing this rule will allow you to store a user in a User picker field by providing a property of a user, for example user role or email address. See image below when a location is being chosen, a trainer is found that is assigned to the location:

User rules

In this example the Location of training is a List control is connected to a SQL Server connector. The Display field, Value field and Sort by of the List control is set to Location. With the list control set up that way, we are provided with a list based on our Location column in the database. For more information on how to create a List control and set its datasource go to List control. See image below to see how the Location of training field is set up:

User rules

With all of our users, we have set up a Location property and each user is assigned a different locations based on where they operate and provide training. The lookup user by property is set to Location which we provide to the rule by selecting our Location of training field. The outcome of this combination will set our Trainer field with the user that the Location property matches the value specified in the Location of training field. To learn more about how to create your own user properties and attributes go to Modifying profile attributes. See image below of the Lookup user by property rule:

User rules

For example when a user selects Galway from the Location of training, the lookup rule will search for a user that has the location property set to Galway and the result is Mark Lycette. See image below to see the SQL database and that Mark Lycette matches with the Galway location.

User rules

Getting started with User rules

If you go to Administration > Designer and click on a process or create a new process, then click on Add a rule the User rules are found in the left-hand pane when you click on Users.

User rules

There are four types of User rules as follows:

  • Get user property - this rule allows you to retrieve user profile properties like email, department and so on for a current user, or a user defined via a user picker field, and map these properties for use in form logic.

  • Lookup user by property - this rule allows you to find users, groups or partner accounts based on input filters.

  • Invite partner - this rule sends an invitation to a contact in a partner organization for them to access a shared process.

  • Update user property - this rule allows you to update user profile properties, for example if a user moves department, where the update happens in a dynamic way.

What’s next Idea icon

To read more about each of the rule types go to the links below:

4.5.1 - Get user profile property

Introduction

The Get user property rule allows you to retrieve a property of a user that has been selected. You can select a user by defining one in a user picker field or selecting the current user, meaning that the user currently filling out the form will be selected when retrieving a profile property of a profile attribute. For example you can retrieve properties such as First Name, Last Name, Email or Phone number of a current user, those property values can be used fill in fields associated with a user.

When to use

Use this rule when you need to retrieve a profile property or a profile attribute from a current user or a user defined in a user picker field.

You can add this rule:

  • to a field
  • to a form
  • to a process (the rule will run on load)

Before getting started

In advance of using the Get user property rule, in your process you need to have created at least one or more forms. The rule also requires you to select a user profile source, the source can be the current user of the form or a user chosen within a User picker field. When selecting the current user option, you will target the property of the user that is currently using the form. When you pick the user picker field, you need to create a User picker field which is used to select a user to target when retrieving a property. The rule also requires a text box field which is used as a container to store the retrieved value of the property.

  • User picker (required) - field used to select a user for which you want to update a property. To learn more about user picker field go to User picker control.
  • Text box (required) - field used as a container to store the value of the property. To learn more about text box field go to Text box control.

How to get started

  1. Click on an existing process by going to Administration > Designer and decide which form, or field you will apply the rule to, by clicking on that item so that it is in edit mode so you can see the Edit/pen button, Pen button Pen button.

  2. Click on Add a rule > Users > Update user property.

  3. In the Edit rule - Update user property dialog box, give the rule a title in the Title field.

    Get user property - edit rule dialog box

  4. If you want to add conditions for the rule, click on the Edit conditions button Edit conditions button see Conditions for more details.

  5. Under the Action section fill out the following:

    • User profile source - select which type of source you want to use as the user to update the property for, choose from:

      • Current user - selecting this option will result in targeting the user that is currently using the form.

      • Defined in a user picker field - selecting this option will result in a Pick a user field option to appear allowing you to select a user picker field from your process. This will then specify which user you are targeting when wanting to retrieve a property, see image below:

        Selecting the user picker field option

    • Field to store user profile property - you can select a field within your process to store the value of the retrieved property.

    • User profile property - list of profile properties and profile attributes that you can retrieve. Note that you can create your own profile attributes which also appear in the list, to learn more about profile attributes go to Profile attributes.

  6. You can choose to retrieve more than one property of a user, to do so click on the Selecting the user picker field option button. This will result in adding more Field to store user profile property and User profile property fields. You can also delete unwanted fields by clicking on the red Bin/trash icon.

    Add/delete property selector

  7. When you are finished editing the dialog box, click on OK or click on Close at any time to exit the dialog box.

Editing, deleting or duplicating rules

When you have clicked on an existing rule, and the rule is visible in the right-hand pane under Rules, there are a number of options available to you.

  1. To disable a rule click the slider across beside the rule name.
  2. To copy a rule, click on the Duplicate button Duplicate button beside the rule name.
  3. To delete a rule, click on the Bin/Trash button Bin/Trash button.
  4. To view a rule, click on the rule name to open the Edit rule dialog box.

User tip Target icon

  • Use this rule to automate processes when a form requires information from a users profile. For example when a form contains field such as name, phone number or email address, you can use this rule to automatically set those fields by retrieving the users name, phone number and email address properties.

What’s next Idea icon

To find out more about other User rules go to User rules.

To find out more about other rules go to Rules.

4.5.2 - Lookup user by property

Introduction

The Lookup user by property rule allows you to look up a user from your subscription using one of the properties in their profile for example first name, last name, email or department. Using this rule you can also look up groups or partners by specifying one of the properties available. When looking up a user, group or a partner you can use the following properties:

  • First Name
  • Last name
  • Display name
  • Email
  • Phone number
  • Partner company name
  • Partner main contact email
  • Partner language
  • Partner region
  • UserId
  • Custom profile attributes, to learn more about profile attributes go to Profile attributes.

When to use

Use this rule when your process requires to filter a user using a profile property, for example, when a user fills out his email address, a user picker field is assigned with the user that matches the entered email address. This rule is used to automate a user picker field when property input is provided.

You can add this rule:

  • to a field
  • to a form
  • to a process (the rule will run on load)

Before getting started

In advance of using the Lookup user by property rule, in your process you need to have created at least one or more forms. The lookup user by property rule also requires a User picker field which is used to store the user that matches the property you have entered. For best practice, you can also create a text box field which holds the value of the property that you want to look by, for example the email address of a user.

  • User picker (required) - field to store the user when the look up is performed. To learn more about user picker field, go to User picker control.
  • Text box (optional) - value of the property you want to look by. To learn more about text box field, go to Text box control.

How to get started

  1. Click on an existing process by going to Administration > Designer and decide which form, or field you will apply the rule to, by clicking on that item so that it is in edit mode so you can see the Edit/pen button, Pen button Pen button.

  2. Click on Add a rule > Users > Lookup user by property.

  3. In the Edit rule - Lookup user by property dialog box, give the rule a title in the Title field.

    Lookup user by property - edit rule dialog box

  4. If you want to add conditions for the rule, click on the Edit conditions button Edit conditions button see Conditions for more details.

  5. Under the Action section fill out the following:

    • Type of user - select the type of user you want to look for, the choices are:
      • Person - individual user from your subscription.
      • Group - user group that you have created in your subscription.
      • Partner - user that is part of your subscription with partner rights.
    • User property to locate user by - list of profile properties and profile attributes that you want the user to be looked up by. Note that you can create your own profile attributes which also appear in the list, to learn more about profile attributes go to Profile attributes.
    • Field value or text - you can select a field within your form or type in text manually to represent the value of the property you want to look up by.
    • User field to store lookup result - field to store the user that the property you searched by matches.
  6. When you are finished editing the dialog box, click on OK or click on Close at any time to exit the dialog box.

Editing, deleting or duplicating rules

When you have clicked on an existing rule, and the rule is visible in the right-hand pane under Rules, there are a number of options available to you.

  1. To disable a rule click the slider across beside the rule name.
  2. To copy a rule, click on the Duplicate button Duplicate button beside the rule name.
  3. To delete a rule, click on the Bin/Trash button Bin/Trash button.
  4. To view a rule, click on the rule name to open the Edit rule dialog box.

User tip Target icon

Create a datasource with all users and their properties, you can create a list field and set the field to the created datasource. You can set the display of the list field to the property value of the data source. With that you will have a selection of user properties which you can use as a search mechanism for users. For example search users that are based in a specific location. To learn more about list field go to List control.

What’s next Idea icon

To find out more about other User rules go to User rules.

To find out more about other rules go to Rules.

4.5.3 - Invite partner

Introduction

The Invite partner rule allows you to dynamically send out an email to a partner organisation with an invitation to share a process from your subscription. This rule creates a profile for the partner as well as shares a process specified in the rule. You can choose to generate an invite link and store the link in a text box field if needed instead of sending out an automatic email.

When to use

Use this rule when inviting a third-party organisation from within a process instance, for example when your company must hire a third-party organisation to complete a specific task from your process, you can share this process with the third-party organisation to complete the task. Take a maintenance company for example, a process is created to perform a maintenance check. The maintenance company performs a check but some broken parts need to be re-manufactured, therefore the maintenance company sends out a Partner invitation to the manufacturing company in order to manufacture missing or broken parts as the maintenance company makes checks and fixes but not manufacture parts.

You can add this rule:

  • to a field
  • to a form
  • to a process (the rule will run on load)

Before getting started

Before you get started with this rule, you need to create a shared process instance of the process you intend to share with the partner. To learn more how to create a shared process instance, go to Shared processes.

In advance of using the Invite partner rule, in your process you need to have created at least one or more forms. The Invite partner rule also requires you to create a list of fields that are used to hold information about the partner and which process you want to share. See below for the list of fields required in your process before using the invite partner rule:

  • Partner organisation - text box field representing the name of the organisation that the partner is part of.
  • Shared process name - text box field representing the name of the process you want to share.
  • Contact first name - text box field representing the first name of the partner you want to share a process with.
  • Contact last name - text box field representing the last name of the partner you want to share a process with.
  • Contact email - text box field representing the email address of the partner you want to share a process with.
  • Partner country - text box field representing the country that your partner is situated in.
  • Partner city - text box field representing the city that your partner is in.

How to get started

  1. Click on an existing process by going to Administration > Designer and decide which form, or field you will apply the rule to, by clicking on that item so that it is in edit mode so you can see the Edit/pen button, Pen button Pen button.

  2. Click on Add a rule > Users > Invite partner.

  3. In the Edit rule - Invite partner dialog box, give the rule a title in the Title field.

    Invite partner - edit rule dialog box

  4. If you want to add conditions for the rule, click on the Edit conditions button Edit conditions button see Conditions for more details.

  5. Under the Action section fill out the following:

    • Partner organisation - field representing the name of the organisation that the partner is part of.

    • Shared process name - field representing the name of the process you want to share. Note that this name needs to match the name of the Shared process instance and not the name of a process. For example if your subscription has a process called Maintenance check, you need to create a shared process instance and give it an appropriate shared process name, for example Maintenance check - Plumbing Partner. In this field you need to use the Maintenance check - Plumbing Partner as the name.

    • Contact first name - field representing the first name of the partner you want to share a process with.

    • Contact last name - field representing the last name of the partner you want to share a process with.

    • Contact email - field representing the email address of the partner you want to share a process with.

    • Partner country - field representing the country that your partner is situated in.

    • Partner city - field representing the city that your partner is in.

    • Partner logo - text box field representing the URL of the partners logo or a file field with the uploaded logo.

    • Send invite email - radio list representing whether to send an email to the partner. If No is selected an extra field appears:

      • Field to store invite link - field used as a container to store the generated invite link.

        Invite link field

    • Partner account - a user picker field used to specify the account of the partner. You can pre-create an account for your partner and set this field with his user. This will prevent the invited partner to create an account when accepting the invite link.

  6. When you are finished editing the dialog box, click on OK or click on Close at any time to exit the dialog box.

Editing, deleting or duplicating rules

When you have clicked on an existing rule, and the rule is visible in the right-hand pane under Rules, there are a number of options available to you.

  1. To disable a rule click the slider across beside the rule name.
  2. To copy a rule, click on the Duplicate button Duplicate button beside the rule name.
  3. To delete a rule, click on the Bin/Trash button Bin/Trash button.
  4. To view a rule, click on the rule name to open the Edit rule dialog box.

User tip Target icon

Prior to inviting a partner, create a shared process instance of a process that you intend your partner to use. Give it a unique name for example use the original process name followed by the partners name. If you have a process called Inspection Checklist and your partners name is Windmill Inspections, call your shared process instance Inspection Checklist - Windmill Inspections. This will help you differentiate between your original process and the shared process.

What’s next Idea icon

To find out more about other User rules go to User rules.

To find out more about other rules go to Rules.

4.5.4 - Update user property

Introduction

The Update user property rule allows you to change/update a profile property of a user within your subscription. When updating a property of a user, you can choose to select between the current user of the form or a user that can be selected from a user picker field. To learn more about a user picker field go to User picker control. You can update the following properties of a user:

  • Phone number
  • Partner language
  • Partner region
  • Custom profile attributes, to learn more about profile attributes go to Profile attributes.

When to use

Use this rule when you need to update a profile property or a profile attribute of a user. Select the current user option to update a property of the user that is currently filling out a form, or create a user picker field to have more flexibility with user selection.

You can add this rule:

  • to a field
  • to a form
  • to a process (the rule will run on load)

Before getting started

In advance of using the Update user property rule, in your process you need to have created at least one or more forms. The update user property rule also requires you to select a user profile source, the source can be the Current user or a User picker field. When selecting the current user option, you will target the property of the user that is currently using the form. When you pick the user picker field, you need to create a User picker field which is used to specify a user when updating a property. For best practices you can create a text box field which will represent the new value of the property you want to update.

  • User picker (required) - field used to select a user for which you want to update a property. To learn more about user picker field go to User picker control.
  • Text box (optional) - field representing the new value of the property you want to update. To learn more about text box field go to Text box control.

How to get started

  1. Click on an existing process by going to Administration > Designer and decide which form, or field you will apply the rule to, by clicking on that item so that it is in edit mode so you can see the Edit/pen button, Pen button Pen button.

  2. Click on Add a rule > Users > Update user property.

  3. In the Edit rule - Update user property dialog box, give the rule a title in the Title field.

    Update user property - edit rule dialog box

  4. If you want to add conditions for the rule, click on the Edit conditions button Edit conditions button see Conditions for more details.

  5. Under the Action section fill out the following:

    • User profile source - select which type of source you want to use as the user to update the property for, choose from:

      • Current user - selecting this option will result in targeting the user that is currently using the form.

      • User picker field - selecting this option will result in a Pick a user field option appearing allowing you to select a user picker field from your process. This will then specify which user you are targeting when wanting to update a property. See image below:

        Selecting the user picker field option

    • Field or text - you can select a field within your form or type in text manually to represent the value of the property you want to update.

    • User property to update - list of profile properties and profile attributes that you want the update. Note that you can create your own profile attributes which also appear in the list, to learn more about profile attributes go to Profile attributes.

  6. You can choose to update more than one property of a user, to do so click on the Selecting the user picker field option This will result in adding more Field or text and User property to update fields. You can also delete unwanted property selectors by clicking on the red Bin/Trash icon.

    Add/delete property selector

  7. When you are finished editing the dialog box, click on OK or click on Close at any time to exit the dialog box.

Editing, deleting or duplicating rules

When you have clicked on an existing rule, and the rule is visible in the right-hand pane under Rules, there are a number of options available to you.

  1. To disable a rule click the slider across beside the rule name.
  2. To copy a rule, click on the Duplicate button Duplicate button beside the rule name.
  3. To delete a rule, click on the Bin/Trash button Bin/Trash button.
  4. To view a rule, click on the rule name to open the Edit rule dialog box.

User tip Target icon

When updating multiple properties at once, create a text box field for each property you want to update. This way you have more control of the value you want to assign to each property. To learn more about text box field go to Text box control.

What’s next Idea icon

To find out more about other User rules go to User rules.

To find out more about other rules go to Rules.

4.6 - File management rules

File management rules is one category of rules to enable operations such as the generation of Word documents, conversion to PDF format and merging PDF files together. These operations are useful when creating Word/Excel where the structure of those documents is the same for every instance but values are different. You can also use the File management rules for creating anonymous links which give access to files without permissions.

Take an example of a Create a file anonymous link rule. Implementing this rule will result in a randomly generated link which will lead to a file that you want to share. This link can be opened in any browser and can be accessible by anyone and there is no need for authentication when opening the link. You can also set the expiry time of the created link which will cause the link not to exist after the specified time. See images below for an example of the Create a file anonymous link rule:

File management rules

Getting started with File management rules

If you go to Administration > Designer and click on a process or create a new process, then click on Add a rule the File management rules are found in the left-hand pane when you click on File management.

File management rules

There are seven types of File management rules as follows:

  • Copy file - allows copying files between datasources. Use this file together with two file fields to move files between two different file locations. For example to copy files between an on premises folder and a SharePoint folder.

  • Convert to PDF - this rule allows the conversation of DOCX and DOC files into PDF format.

  • Generate word document - this rule generates a Word document from data associated with a process instance using a user-designed template.

  • Generate excel document - this rule generates an Excel workbook from data associated with a process instance using a user-designed template.

  • Set existing file - this rule is used to make an existing file accessible by a link, available within a configured file field. For example when you have access to a file through a link, you can use this link to store the file in a file field within your process.

  • Merge PDF - this rule allows you to merge two or more PDF files into a single PDF file. It also allows you to merge image file such as PNG or JPG to an existing PDF file.

  • Create a file anonymous link - this rule generates file links that can be shared anonymously with external users. No authentication is required when opening the anonymous link to a file.

What’s next Idea icon

To read more about each of the rule types go to the links below:

4.6.1 - Copy file

Introduction

The Copy file rule allows you to copy a file from one field in your form into another field in a different form. You can use this rule to copy files from one datasource into another, by using different file fields for where you are copying to and from. For example if you want to copy a file from your local file system to a SharePoint location, set file fields for these locations, see gif below:

When to use

Use this rule when you need to copy files from one form to another or to transfer files from one datasource into a different one.

You can add this rule:

  • to a field
  • to a form
  • to a process (the rule will run on load)

Before you get started

In advance of using the Copy file rule, in your process you need to have created at least one or more forms. The rule also requires two file fields in order to select the original file and the other is used to store the copied version. To learn how to add a file go to File upload control.

  • File field (Original version) - used to hold the file that you want to copy.
  • File field (Copied version) - used to store the copied version of the original file.

How to get started

  1. Click on an existing process by going to Administration > Designer and decide which form, or field you will apply the rule to, by clicking on that item so that it is in edit mode so you can see the Edit/pen button, Pen button Pen button.

  2. Click on Add a rule > File management > Copy file.

  3. In the Edit rule - Copy file dialog box, give the rule a title in the Title field.

    Edit rule - copy file

  4. If you want to add conditions for the rule, click on the Edit conditions button Edit conditions button see Conditions for more details.

  5. Under the Action section fill out the following:

    • Copy from - select a file field which holds the file that you want to copy.

    • Copy to - select a file field which will store the copied version of the original file.

    • Copy mode - you have two options when copying a file from one field into another:

      • Override - when a file already exists in the Copy to file filed and the copy rule is triggered again, the Copy to file filed will get overridden by the new file from Copy from. See example below:

        Override example

        When the Copy file rule is triggered, the file README.md in the SharePoint datasource field will be overridden by the access_frame.png file in the Local file system field. See below to see the result when Copy file rule is triggered again:

        Override example - result

      • Append - when a file already exists in the Copy to file filed and the copy rule is triggered again, the Copy to file filed will be appended resulting in multiple files in the Copy to filed. See example below:

        Override example

        When the Copy file rule is triggered, the file access_frame.png in the Local file system field will be appended to the already existing README.md file in the SharePoint datasource field. See below to see the result when Copy file rule is triggered again:

        Override example - result

  6. When you are finished editing the dialog box, click on OK or click on Close at any time to exit the dialog box.

Editing, deleting or duplicating rules

When you have clicked on an existing rule, and the rule is visible in the right-hand pane under Rules, there are a number of options available to you.

  1. To disable a rule click the slider across beside the rule name.
  2. To copy a rule, click on the Duplicate button Duplicate button beside the rule name.
  3. To delete a rule, click on the Bin/Trash button Bin/Trash button.
  4. To view a rule, click on the rule name to open the Edit rule dialog box.

User tip Target icon

  • You can use this rule to copy files from one datasource into another. In the file field options of the Copy to field, set the destination to a datasource you want to copy a file into. To learn how to change the destination option in a file field go to File upload control.

What’s next Idea icon

To find out more about other File management rules go to File management rules.

To find out more about other rules go to Rules.

4.6.2 - Convert to PDF

The Convert to PDF rule allows you to convert a Word document (.doc or .docx) into a PDF (.pdf) file. This rule is very useful when sharing Word documents using the send email rule, the Convert to PDF rule will convert a file into PDF which can be attached to an email. This will allow other users to open the PDF file on any device.

When to use

You can use this rule when you need to convert a .doc or .docx file into a PDF. PDF files are very useful as they can be opened on any device.

You can add this rule:

  • to a field
  • to a form
  • to a process (the rule will run on load)

Before you get started

In advance of using the Convert to PDF rule, in your process you need to have created at least one or more forms. The rule also requires two file fields in order to select a Word document file and the other is used to store the converted PDF version. To learn how to add a file go to File upload control.

  • File field (Word document) - used to hold the Word document file that you want to convert.
  • File field (Converted PDF file) - used to store the converted PDF version of the original Word document file.

How to get started

  1. Click on an existing process by going to Administration > Designer and decide which form, or field you will apply the rule to, by clicking on that item so that it is in edit mode so you can see the Edit/pen button, Pen button Pen button.

  2. Click on Add a rule > File management > Convert to PDF.

  3. In the Edit rule - Convert to PDF dialog box, give the rule a title in the Title field.

    Edit rule - convert to PDF

  4. If you want to add conditions for the rule, click on the Edit conditions button Edit conditions button see Conditions for more details.

  5. Under the Action section fill out the following:

    • Convert Word File - used to hold the Word document file that you want to convert.

    • Converted PDF File - used to store the converted PDF version of the original Word document file.

      See below for an example of a Word document before and after conversion, note the file extension in the Word file field before converting into a PDF:

      Convert to pdf before

      Below is an image representing the result after converting the Word document file into a PDF, note the file extension in the Converted PDF file field:

      Edit rule - convert to PDF

  6. When you are finished editing the dialog box, click on OK or click on Close at any time to exit the dialog box.

Editing, deleting or duplicating rules

When you have clicked on an existing rule, and the rule is visible in the right-hand pane under Rules, there are a number of options available to you.

  1. To disable a rule click the slider across beside the rule name.
  2. To copy a rule, click on the Duplicate button Duplicate button beside the rule name.
  3. To delete a rule, click on the Bin/Trash button Bin/Trash button.
  4. To view a rule, click on the rule name to open the Edit rule dialog box.

User tip Target icon

  • When converting files to a PDF format, you can set the destination of the converted file field to a location where you want to store the PDF. This will save you some time as you will not have to download the converted file because the destination that you choose in the file field will keep a separate copy.

What’s next Idea icon

To find out more about other File management rules go to File management rules.

To find out more about other rules go to Rules.

4.6.3 - Generate Word document

Introduction

This rule generates a Word document from data stored in the process using a Word .docx template. The Word template needs to be pre-created before using this rule and must be attached to a file field, this way the rule will know which template you want to use when creating the document. The Generate Word document rule can also convert the Word document into a PDF right after generating the document.

When to use

Use this rule when your process requires dynamic document generation where the structure of those documents is the same for every instance but the values are different. This rule will use a Word template previously mapped with smart tags. Smart tags are created in Word when a field is selected using the Kianda add-in task pane, and then inserted into the document, see image below for more details:

Smart tag explanation

You can add this rule:

  • to a field
  • to a form
  • to a process (the rule will run on load)

Before you get started

In advance of using the Generate Word document rule, in your process you need to have created at least one or more forms. The rule also requires two file fields, one for storing the Word template and the other for storing the generated Word document or PDF. To learn how to add a file go to File upload control.

  • File field (Template) - used as a container to store the Word template used to generate the Word document.
  • File field (Generated Word Document) - used as a container to store the generated Word document.

A Word template that is used to generate the Word document also needs to be pre-created using the Kianda add-in for Word. You can make each generated Word document very dynamic by using the smart tags that Kianda add-in uses to retrieve information for your form fields and places the values into the word document when generating it. To learn more about how to install and use Kianda add-in, go to Word document add-in.

How to get started

  1. Click on an existing process by going to Administration > Designer and decide which form, or field you will apply the rule to, by clicking on that item so that it is in edit mode so you can see the Edit/pen button, Pen button Pen button.

  2. Click on Add a rule > File management > Generate Word document.

  3. In the Edit rule - Generate Word document dialog box, give the rule a title in the Title field.

    Edit rule - copy file

  4. If you want to add conditions for the rule, click on the Edit conditions button Edit conditions button see Conditions for more details.

  5. Under the Action section fill out the following:

    • Select a document template - select a file field that stores the word template. Your template can pull all values from Input fields in the Controls section of Kianda. For example if a text box field contains “This is a test” text, the value pulled into the generated word document is “This is a test”, see image below:

      word document example

    • Select a document destination - select a file field that will store the generated word document.

    • Convert to PDF - radio button list which indicates whether you want to convert the generated document into a PDF file or not.

  6. When you are finished editing the dialog box, click on OK or click on Close at any time to exit the dialog box.

Editing, deleting or duplicating rules

When you have clicked on an existing rule, and the rule is visible in the right-hand pane under Rules, there are a number of options available to you.

  1. To disable a rule click the slider across beside the rule name.
  2. To copy a rule, click on the Duplicate button Duplicate button beside the rule name.
  3. To delete a rule, click on the Bin/Trash button Bin/Trash button.
  4. To view a rule, click on the rule name to open the Edit rule dialog box.

User tip Target icon

  • When using this rule, create a utility panel and make it invisible to other users. You can then move the Word template file filed and the generated word document file field inside the utility panel. This way other users will not be able to see the unnecessary file fields and will not be able to tamper with them. To see an example of a utility panel, go to Creating a utility panel.
  • You can use the Convert to PDF function of the rule to convert the generated word document into a PDF file instead of using the Convert to PDF rule which is also available in the File management rules.

What’s next Idea icon

To find out more about other File management rules go to File management rules.

To find out more about other rules go to Rules.

4.6.4 - Generate excel workbook

Introduction

This rule generates an Excel workbook from data stored in a process using an Excel .xlsx template. The Excel template needs to be pre-created before using this rule and must be attached to a file field, this way the rule will know which template you want to use when creating the workbook.

When to use

Use this rule when your process requires dynamic workbook generation where the structure of those workbooks is the same for every instance, but the values of fields are different. Use this rule with combination of the Table control to output big tables and transfer them into the Excel workbook, to learn more about table control go to Table control. This rule will use an Excel template previously mapped with smart tags. Smart tags are created in Excel when a field is selected using the Kianda add-in task pane, and then inserted into the document, see image below for more details.

Smart tag explanation

You can add this rule:

  • to a field
  • to a form
  • to a process (the rule will run on load)

Before you get started

In advance of using the Generate Excel workbook rule, in your process you need to have created at least one or more forms. The rule also requires two file fields, one for storing the Excel template and the other for storing the generated Excel workbook. To learn how to add a file go to File upload control.

  • File field (Template) - used as a container to store the Excel template used to generate the workbook.
  • File field (Generated Excel workbook) - used as a container to store the generated Excel workbook.

An Excel template that is used to generate the Excel workbook also needs to be pre-created using the Kianda add-in for Excel. You can make each generated Excel workbook very dynamic by using the smart tags that Kianda add-in uses to retrieve information for your form fields and places the values into the Excel workbook when generating it. To learn more about how to install and use Kianda add-in in Excel, go to Excel workbook add-in.

How to get started

  1. Click on an existing process by going to Administration > Designer and decide which form, or field you will apply the rule to, by clicking on that item so that it is in edit mode so you can see the Edit/pen button, Pen button Pen button.

  2. Click on Add a rule > File management > Generate excel workbook.

  3. In the Edit rule - Generate excel workbook dialog box, give the rule a title in the Title field.

    Edit rule - copy file

  4. If you want to add conditions for the rule, click on the Edit conditions button Edit conditions button, see Conditions for more details.

  5. Under the Action section fill out the following:

    • Excel workbook template - select a file field that stores the Excel template. Your template can pull all values from Input fields in the Controls section of Kianda. For example if a text box field contains “This is a test” text, the value pulled into the generated Excel workbook is “This is a test”.

      word document example

    • Generated workbook destination - select a file field that will store the generated word document.

  6. When you are finished editing the dialog box, click on OK or click on Close at any time to exit the dialog box.

Editing, deleting or duplicating rules

When you have clicked on an existing rule, and the rule is visible in the right-hand pane under Rules, there are a number of options available to you.

  1. To disable a rule, click the slider across beside the rule name.
  2. To copy a rule, click on the Duplicate button Duplicate button beside the rule name.
  3. To delete a rule, click on the Bin/Trash button Bin/Trash button.
  4. To view a rule, click on the rule name to open the Edit rule dialog box.

User tip Target icon

  • When using this rule, create a utility panel and make it invisible to other users. You can then move the Excel template file field and the generated Excel workbook file field inside the utility panel. This way other users will not be able to see the unnecessary file fields and will not be able to tamper with them. To see an example of a utility panel, go to Creating a utility panel.
  • Use this rule when working with tables inside of Kianda. It is very easy to create an Excel spreadsheet by transferring data from your processes into Excel using the Excel add-in. Use smart tags from the add-in to add a table, the data from your table will be transferred into the Excel spreadsheet without manually typing them. See Excel workbook add-in for more detail.

What’s next Idea icon

To find out more about other File management rules go to File management rules.

To find out more about other rules go to Rules.

4.6.5 - Set existing file

Introduction

The Set existing file rule allows a user to create a file and assign it into a file field based on a provided file URL path. For example if you have access to a file stored in the cloud and have the URL, you can use this URL to download the file from the internet and place it in a file field with a name. The name you give to the downloaded file must contain the extension, for example if the file stored in the cloud is a PDF file and you want the name of the file to be “Workbook”, then you need to set the name of the file to Workbook.pdf. You must provide the correct extension for the file otherwise the created file will not be downloadable.

Correct file extension

When to use

Use this rule when your process requires you to bring an existing file that you have a link to but not the file itself. For example if you have a link that leads to a file that is stored in a SharePoint datasource, you can bring this file into your process by using this rule and storing it in a file field.

You can add this rule:

  • to a field
  • to a form
  • to a process (the rule will run on load)

Before you get started

In advance of using the Set existing file rule, in your process you need to have created at least one or more forms. The rule also requires one file field in order to store the file which is created from the given URL.

  • File field (required) - used to store the created file from the given URL. To learn more on File fields go to File upload control.

How to get started

  1. Click on an existing process by going to Administration > Designer and decide which form, or field you will apply the rule to, by clicking on that item so that it is in edit mode so you can see the Edit/pen button, Pen button Pen button.

  2. Click on Add a rule > File management > Set existing file.

  3. In the Edit rule - Set existing file dialog box, give the rule a title in the Title field.

    Edit rule - set existing file

  4. f you want to add conditions for the rule, click on the Edit conditions button Edit conditions button see Conditions for more details.

  5. Under the Action section fill out the following:

    • Set File - file field used as a container to store the created file using the given URL.
    • FileName field or text - you can select a field within your form or type in text manually to represent the name you want your created file to have.
    • File URL field or text - you can select a field within your form or type in text manually to represent the URL used to create the file.

    Using a field for the name and a field for the URL will allow you to create a different files with a different names every time you use this rule, see the image below and note how the File name field corresponds to the created file in the File field:

    created file ussing fields

  6. When you are finished editing the dialog box, click on OK or click on Close at any time to exit the dialog box.

Editing, deleting or duplicating rules

When you have clicked on an existing rule, and the rule is visible in the right-hand pane under Rules, there are a number of options available to you.

  1. To disable a rule click the slider across beside the rule name.
  2. To copy a rule, click on the Duplicate button Duplicate button beside the rule name.
  3. To delete a rule, click on the Bin/Trash button Bin/Trash button.
  4. To view a rule, click on the rule name to open the Edit rule dialog box.

User tip Target icon

  • Create a Text box field that can be used to change the URL every time you want to create a file. This will make the rule dynamic and versatile. To laern more about text box field and how to create one, got to Text box control.
  • Create another Text box field that can be used to change the name of the file every time you want to create it from a URL.

What’s next Idea icon

To find out more about other File management rules go to File management rules.

To find out more about other rules go to Rules.

4.6.6 - Merge PDF

Introduction

The Merge PDF rule allows you to combine two or more .pdf files together. It is also possible to combine image files to the PDF file, for example .png or jpg. This rule can be useful when creating one large PDF document from smaller files. The generated file name will be the same as the first file used to merge, see image below for an example:

Generated PDF file name

When to use

Use this rule when your process requires you to merge dynamically two or more PDF files. For example automatically merge expense receipts submitted by users into a single PDF files containing all images or PDF receipts.

You can add this rule:

  • to a field
  • to a form
  • to a process (the rule will run on load)

Before you get started

In advance of using the Merge PDF rule, in your process you need to have created at least one or more forms. The rule also requires at least 3 file fields, which are used to select files that you want to merge and a file field to store the merged PDF. To learn how to add a file go to File upload control.

  • File field (To be merged file #1) - used to hold the first file that you want to merge.
  • File field (To be merged file #2) - used to hold the second file that you want to merge.
  • File field (Merged PDF file) - used to store the merged PDF version of the two files.

How to get started

  1. Click on an existing process by going to Administration > Designer and decide which form, or field you will apply the rule to, by clicking on that item so that it is in edit mode so you can see the Edit/pen button, Pen button Pen button.

  2. Click on Add a rule > File management > Merge PDF.

  3. In the Edit rule - Merge PDF dialog box, give the rule a title in the Title field.

    Edit rule - copy file

  4. If you want to add conditions for the rule, click on the Edit conditions button Edit conditions button see Conditions for more details.

  5. Under the Action section fill out the following:

    • Files to be merged (PDF OR Images) - select a file field which contains a PDF file or an image. Note that in order to merge PDF and image files, your first merging file must be a .pdf file followed by other image files, see image below:

      PDF files merged with images

    • +Add more files - you can choose to merge multiple PDF or image files together by clicking on Add more files button. You can also remove file fields by clicking on the Bin/Trash icon Bin/Trash button. Adding more file fields will allow you to attach more PDF or images files that you want to merge, see below image as an example:

      Multiple files to be merged

    • Merged PDF file - select a file field from your process that you want use to store your merged PDF file.

  6. When you are finished editing the dialog box, click on OK or click on Close at any time to exit the dialog box.

Editing, deleting or duplicating rules

When you have clicked on an existing rule, and the rule is visible in the right-hand pane under Rules, there are a number of options available to you.

  1. To disable a rule click the slider across beside the rule name.
  2. To copy a rule, click on the Duplicate button Duplicate button beside the rule name.
  3. To delete a rule, click on the Bin/Trash button Bin/Trash button.
  4. To view a rule, click on the rule name to open the Edit rule dialog box.

User tip Target icon

  • When merging file with this rule, you need to place the .pdf file first followed by the image files.

What’s next Idea icon

To find out more about other File management rules go to File management rules.

To find out more about other rules go to Rules.

4.6.7 - Create a file anonymous link

Introduction

The Create a file anonymous link rule enables you to create a link to a file from your process. The link is fully anonymous which means anybody can access the file if they have the link. You can set an expiry time of the link (in hours), the count down will start from the time the link was created. It is possible to create anonymous link for multiple files as long as your file field supports it, see image below for an example:

Multiple files uploaded to a file field.

Multiple files in a file field

File field settings to allow multiple files to be uploaded.

Multiple files in a file field

When to use

Use this rule when your process or application requires sharing anonymously a file stored in one of the supported file connectors. For example when sharing a file link to a report stored behind an authenticated file system.

Add this rule to any form element.

  • to a field
  • to a form
  • to a process (the rule will run on load)

Before you get started

In advance of using the Anonymous form link, in your process you need to have created at least one or more forms. The create a file anonymous link rule also requires two control fields in order to store a file which you want to share and a text box control for storing the link. You can also create another text box or a number field to store the link duration, this field is optional but can be a good idea if you want to customise the duration of the link dynamically.

  • File field - used to store the file which you want to create a link to. To learn how to create a file filed go to File upload control.
  • Text box field - used to store the generated anonymous link which can be shared with other users. To learn how to create a text box field go to Text box control.
  • Text box or Number field (optional) - allows you to determine the duration of the link in hours. To learn hot to create a number field go to Number control.

How to get started

  1. Click on an existing process by going to Administration > Designer and decide which form, or field you will apply the rule to, by clicking on that item so that it is in edit mode so you can see the Edit/pen button, Pen button Pen button.

  2. Click on Add a rule > File management > Create a file anonymous link.

  3. In the Edit rule - Create a file anonymous link dialog box, give the rule a title in the Title field.

    Edit rule -Create a file anonymous link

  4. If you want to add conditions for the rule, click on the Edit conditions button Edit conditions button see Conditions for more details.

  5. Under the Action section fill out the following:

    • Select a file field to create anonymous link(s) for - select the field that contain the file that you want to create the link for.

    • Link duration in hours (Default is 6 hours) - an optional field indicating the link expiry in hours.

    • Select a filed to store resulting anonymous link(s) - field to store the generated link. When there are multiple files uploaded to create the links for, the resulted links will be displayed between square brackets[] and separated by a , see below image:

      Multiple links result

  6. When you are finished editing the dialog box, click on OK or click on Close at any time to exit the dialog box.

Editing, deleting or duplicating rules

When you have clicked on an existing rule, and the rule is visible in the right-hand pane under Rules, there are a number of options available to you.

  1. To disable a rule click the slider across beside the rule name.
  2. To copy a rule, click on the Duplicate button Duplicate button beside the rule name.
  3. To delete a rule, click on the Bin/Trash button Bin/Trash button.
  4. To view a rule, click on the rule name to open the Edit rule dialog box.

User tip Target icon

  • When sharing an anonymous link with someone, use the send email rule and attach the link in the body of the email. Make sure to generate the link before sending the email.
  • To make the rule versatile with setting the duration time, create a text box or a number field and select it in the Link duration in hours field. This way you can set the expiry of the link every time you create one.

What’s next Idea icon

To find out more about other File management rules go to File management rules.

To find out more about other rules go to Rules.

4.7 - Table rules

Table rules is one category of rules to enable table operations such as sorting, copying table rows to another table, exporting and importing table data as .csv files and adding and removing table rows. These operations are useful to implement in external data sources, automating actions using Kianda processes.

Take an example of a Sort table rule. Implementing this rule will result in a table being sorted in an ascending or descending manner depending on what column of the table you want to sort by. For an example, take the image below as your table.

Example table

You can attach the Sort table rule to a button and selecting one of the columns available, for example Total Price, and the order of sorting for example descending. The result of the table after sorting will look as follows:

Example table

Getting started with Table rules

If you go to Administration > Designer and click on a process or create a new process, then click on Add a rule, the Table rules are found in the left-hand pane when you click on Tables.

Table rules

There are 12 types of Table rules as follows:

  • Loop table - this rule loops through table rows, where other rules can be triggered and implemented.

  • Add table row - this rule adds a new row to a table.

  • Remove table row - this rule removes a current row from a table.

  • Import CSV - this rule imports .csv or .xlsx file data into a table, based on mapping provided within the rule.

  • Export CSV - this rule is export the contents of a table to a .csv file.

  • Copy table rows - this rule copies table rows from one table to another.

  • Clear table rows - this rule removes table rows that match given criteria.

  • Lookup value from table - this rule performs a lookup on a table value that match given criteria

  • Update table values -this rule updates table columns that match given criteria.

  • Sort table -this rule sorts table data based on multiple conditions.

  • Aggregate table - this rule aggregates table values.

  • Hide/Show column - this rule allows you to hide or show columns within a table

What’s next Idea icon

To read more about each of the rule types go to the links below:

4.7.1 - Loop table

Introduction

The Loop table rule allows you to loop through table rows within a table of choice from within your process. When selected the rule allows you to trigger fields or rules to perform a particular action within the specified table. For example if a button is added to the table with an associated action, you can then trigger that action while looping through the table.

For example in the table below, there is a Calculate total button in a Calculate total column. This button has a rule that will set a value in the field in the Total column. Using the Loop table rule every row is looped through and this Calculate total button rule is triggered, completing the fields for each row in the Total column.

Edit rule - purchase table

If the Loop table rule isn’t used, the user has to manually click on the Calculate Total button for each row, to populate the field in the Total column.

When to use

This rule is often used when the same action must be performed for multiple rows within a table.

You can add this rule:

  • to a field
  • to a form
  • to a process (the rule will run on load)

Before you get started

To demonstrate this rule, we will loop through a simple Purchase table described in the introduction above, in which we will calculate the total price spent on each item bought. To learn more on how to add a table into your form go to In the table we will have the following columns:

  • Item - text box field representing the name of the item bought. To learn how to add a text box field go to Text box control.

  • Price - number field representing the price of the item. To learn how to add a number field go to Number control.

  • Quantity - number field representing the quantity of the item.

  • Total - number field representing the total quantity spent on the item.

  • Calculate total - a button with a Set form field rule attached. To learn more on how to add and how to use the Set form field go to Set form field rule.

    Edit rule - purchase table

The goal in this example is to loop though the table and trigger the Calculate total button so that for each item purchased, the total can be calculated depending on its quantity.

How to get started

  1. Click on an existing process by going to Administration > Designer and decide which form, or field you will apply the rule to, by clicking on that item so that it is in edit mode so you can see the Edit/pen button, Pen button Pen button.

  2. Click on Add a rule > Table > Loop table.

  3. In the Edit rule - Loop table dialog box, give the rule a title in the Title field.

  4. In the Select a table option, select the table you want to loop through.

  5. In the Select a column field or rule to trigger option, select a field or rule you want to trigger when looping through the table. In this example, we will select the Calculate total button from the table column.

    Edit rule - loop table

  6. Enable start action gives you two options:

    • Yes - allows you to select a field that will execute before the loop starts.
    • No - means no changes are made, the loop will execute straight away.
  7. Enable end action gives you two options:

    • Yes - allows you to select a field that will execute after the loop finishes.
    • No - means no changes are made, the loop will end without any action.

Editing, deleting or duplicating rules

When you have clicked on an existing rule, and the rule is visible in the right-hand pane under Rules, there are a number of options available to you.

  1. To disable a rule click the slider across beside the rule name.
  2. To copy a rule, click on the Duplicate button Duplicate button beside the rule name.
  3. To delete a rule, click on the Bin/Trash button Bin/Trash button.
  4. To view a rule, click on the rule name to open the Edit rule dialog box.

What’s next Idea icon

To find out more about other Table rules go to Table rules.

To find out more about other rules go to Rules.

4.7.2 - Add table row

Introduction

The Add table row rule allows you to add rows within a specified table. You can set values for each field within the newly created row by mapping values into them. For assigning values to each field in a row, you can use manually typed text or use other fields from your process. By default you need to give a value to a field in the newly created row, but can also add rows with no values. You can do that by clicking on the Bin/Trash icon Bin/Trash button in the New row mapping as shown in the image below:

Add table row - delete mapping

This will delete the mapping fields and allow you to add the rule without assigning values to a field in the new row. The new row mapping should look as follows:

Empty new row mapping

When to use

You can use this rule if you want more dynamic and more automated tables. By removing the original add row button from the table and adding a new button with the Add table row rule attached, you can map specific row fields to automatically appear with values when adding the rows. Take a look below how to add and use the Add table row rule.

You can add this rule:

  • to a field
  • to a form
  • to a process (the rule will run on load)

How to get started

  1. Click on an existing process by going to Administration > Designer and decide which form, or field you will apply the rule to, by clicking on that item so that it is in edit mode so you can see the Edit/pen button, Pen button Pen button.

  2. Click on Add a rule > Table > Add table row.

  3. In the Edit rule - Add table row dialog box, give the rule a title in the Title field.

    Edit rule - Add table row

  4. If you want to add conditions for the rule, click on the Edit conditions button Edit conditions button see Conditions for more details.

  5. In the Select a table option, select the table you want to add a new row to. New mapping options are presented when you select a table.

  6. In the New row mapping you have the option to assign values to newly created rows and the fields within it.

    Add table row - mapping

    • Table row field - allows you to select a field from the row which you want to map a value to.

    • Form field or text - you can select a field within your form or type in text manually to represent the value you want your row field to contain.

    • Add mapping - you can choose to assign values to multiple row in your row by clicking on Add mapping button. You can also remove fields by clicking on the Bin/Trash icon Bin/Trash button. To add a row without any values, delete all mapping fields as shown below.

      Empty new row mapping

  7. When you are finished editing the dialog box, click on OK or click on Close at any time to exit the dialog box.

Editing, deleting or duplicating rules

When you have clicked on an existing rule, and the rule is visible in the right-hand pane under Rules, there are a number of options available to you.

  1. To disable a rule click the slider across beside the rule name.
  2. To copy a rule, click on the Duplicate button Duplicate button beside the rule name.
  3. To delete a rule, click on the Bin/Trash button Bin/Trash button.
  4. To view a rule, click on the rule name to open the Edit rule dialog box.

What’s next Idea icon

To find out more about other Table rules go to Table rules.

To find out more about other rules go to Rules.

4.7.3 - Remove table row

Introduction

The Remove table row rule allows you to remove rows within a specified table. The rule targets only the last row in a table and will do nothing when there are no rows present in a table. You can apply conditions to this rule which will allow you to perform checks and only remove rows when a certain condition is met.

When to use

You can use this rule paired up with the Add table row rule. The add table rule will allow you to add a row with data in its columns and remove table row rule could be applied to a button, used to remove a row if wrong data has been entered. This gives the user the ability to add a row and remove rows. Give the remove table row rule a condition to make sure not to delete valuable data, see Conditions for more detail. To learn more about Add table row rule go to Add table row.

You can add this rule:

  • to a field
  • to a form
  • to a process (the rule will run on load)

Before you get started

For this rule to work you need to have one or more tables in your process. This will allow you to select a table that you want to target when removing rows. To learn how to add a table to your process go to Table control.

How to get started

  1. Click on an existing process by going to Administration > Designer and decide which form, or field you will apply the rule to, by clicking on that item so that it is in edit mode so you can see the Edit/pen button, Pen button Pen button.

  2. Click on Add a rule > Table > Remove table row.

  3. In the Edit rule - Remove table row dialog box, give the rule a title in the Title field.

    Edit rule - Remove table row

  4. If you want to add conditions for the rule, click on the Edit conditions button Edit conditions button see Conditions for more details. It is a good idea to add condition to this rule to prevent deleting valuable information from the table.

  5. In the Select a table option, select the table you want to remove a row from.

  6. When you are finished editing the dialog box, click on OK or click on Close at any time to exit the dialog box.

Editing, deleting or duplicating rules

When you have clicked on an existing rule, and the rule is visible in the right-hand pane under Rules, there are a number of options available to you.

  1. To disable a rule click the slider across beside the rule name.
  2. To copy a rule, click on the Duplicate button Duplicate button beside the rule name.
  3. To delete a rule, click on the Bin/Trash button Bin/Trash button.
  4. To view a rule, click on the rule name to open the Edit rule dialog box.

What’s next Idea icon

To find out more about other Table rules go to Table rules.

To find out more about other rules go to Rules.

4.7.4 - Import CSV or Excel into Table

Introduction

The Import CSV rule allows you import a Comma-Separated Values (CSV) file and populate a specified table within your process. Using this rule automates and speeds up the process of populating a table when a lot of data is present. CSV files may look different depending on what program you will open it with, here is an example of a CSV file opened with Excel:

CSV file - excel

Here is the same file opened using Notepad:

CSV file - notepad

As shown in the two images above, the format changes depending on what program you open the file with. Using the Notepad, each column is separated with a comma and each new line is a row. Excel formats commas and new lines automatically and creates numbers for rows and letters for columns. The CSV file can be separated using different separators other than comma. For example you can use ; as a separator, keep in mind that Excel does not format non-comma separated values correctly and the file will look as follows when opened using Excel:

CSV file - excel

Here is the same file opened using Notepad:

CSV file - excel

When to use

You can use this rule to populate a table when there is a lot of data present in a CSV file. Apply this rule to a process so that your table is populated automatically when a process has been loaded.

You can add this rule:

  • to a field
  • to a form
  • to a process (the rule will run on load)

Before you get started

For this rule to work there are a couple of prerequisites needed inside of your process:

  • Table - needed to let the rule know which table will be populated using the csv file, for more detail on how to add a table go to Table control.
  • File - needed as a container to hold your csv file. Using a file control, you can upload a csv file and use that csv file to populate a table. For more detail on how to add a file go to File upload control.

Keep in mind that in order to populate a table within your process correctly, you need to have the same amount of columns in the table as inside of the CSV file. For example a table looking as follows:

Import CSV rule - Sample table

This indicates that the CSV file that we want to import should have three columns:

CSV file

How to get started

  1. Click on an existing process by going to Administration > Designer and decide which form, or field you will apply the rule to, by clicking on that item so that it is in edit mode so you can see the Edit/pen button, Pen button Pen button.

  2. Click on Add a rule > Table > Import CSV.

  3. In the Edit rule - Import CSV dialog box, give the rule a title in the Title field.

    Edit rule - Import CSV

  4. If you want to add conditions for the rule, click on the Edit conditions button Edit conditions button see Conditions for more details.

  5. Under the Action section fill out the following:

    • Select the CSV file field - select a file field containing a csv file. This file field needs to be pre-created as it is a required field when using this rule. the csv file attached to this field will be used to populate the table.

    • CSV separator - the default separator is a comma ( , ) but you can set it to any character, number or symbol you want. Keep in mind that the separator fields separates each column of a row. For example you can have a file that looks as follows:

      This image represents how a table looks like applying the Import CSV rule with a sample file and when the CSV separator is set to a comma ( , ) see below:

      Comma separated CSV file

    • Num cols. in CSV - this field represents the number of columns in your CSV file. From the example and image above, this field is set to three.

    • Skip first line - radio button asking whether to skip the first line or add the first line of the CSV file. If the first line of your CSV file represents the title of the column, you can select Yes and the line will not be included in your table.

    • Destination table - field that allows you to select the table you want to target when populating data from the CSV file. New mapping options are presented when selecting a table.

      Import CSV mapping options

      • Table row field - select the row you want to target when setting a value.

      • CSV field or text - you can select a field/column within your CSV file or type in text manually to represent the value you want your field to contain.

      • Add mapping - you can choose to assign values to multiple fields in your row by clicking on Add mapping button. You can also remove fields by clicking on the Bin/Trash icon Bin/Trash button.

        Going back to the CSV separator example image, to achieve the correct mapping, we need to add three fields as shown below:

        Import CSV mapping options

    • Existing rows behavior - you have two options when populating data into your selected table:

      • Override - will override all existing rows of your table with the new data from your CSV file.
      • Append - will ignore the existing rows inside of your table and simply append all the new rows from your CSV file to the end of the table.
    • CSV Date format - type in manually the data format that you have set in your CSV file. This applies to a column when it is of type Date. The formatting of the date specified in tis field must be the same as in your CSV file. For example when your date format in the CSV file is DD/MM/YYYY and CSV Date format option is set to YYYY/DD/MM, you can encounter date bugs in your table.

  6. When you are finished editing the dialog box, click on OK or click on Close at any time to exit the dialog box.

Editing, deleting or duplicating rules

When you have clicked on an existing rule, and the rule is visible in the right-hand pane under Rules, there are a number of options available to you.

  1. To disable a rule click the slider across beside the rule name.
  2. To copy a rule, click on the Duplicate button Duplicate button beside the rule name.
  3. To delete a rule, click on the Bin/Trash button Bin/Trash button.
  4. To view a rule, click on the rule name to open the Edit rule dialog box.

What’s next Idea icon

To find out more about other Table rules go to Table rules.

To find out more about other rules go to Rules.

4.7.5 - Export table as CSV

Introduction

The Export CSV rule allows you export a specified table from within your process into a CSV (Comma Separated Values) file. In the edit rule dialog box you can format how each value is separated and which columns to include and exclude when exporting. Keep in mind when exporting a table into a CSV format, it will export data for the following field types:

  • Text box
  • Number
  • Date

Any other field types will be ignored, for example all control types from within Layout and Actions will be ignored.

When to use

You can use this rule when you want to open the table with a notepad or excel. This rule is also useful when you want to share a table with other users, you can do that by exporting the table into a File field and attaching the file into an email using the Send email rule. To learn more about attaching a file into an email go to Attachments.

You can add this rule:

  • to a field
  • to a form
  • to a process (the rule will run on load)

Before you get started

For this rule to work there are a couple of prerequisites needed inside of your process:

  • Table - needed to let the rule know which table will be used to export into the CSV file, for more detail on how to add a table go to Table control.
  • File - needed as a container to hold your exported CSV file. When the table is exported into this file field, you can downloaded by clicking on the file name. For more detail on how to add a file field go to File upload control.

How to get started

  1. Click on an existing process by going to Administration > Designer and decide which form, or field you will apply the rule to, by clicking on that item so that it is in edit mode so you can see the Edit/pen button, Pen button Pen button.

  2. Click on Add a rule > Table > Export CSV.

  3. In the Edit rule - Export CSV dialog box, give the rule a title in the Title field.

    Edit rule - Export CSV

  4. If you want to add conditions for the rule, click on the Edit conditions button Edit conditions button see Conditions for more details. It is a good idea to add condition to this rule to prevent exporting incomplete tables.

  5. Under the Action section fill out the following:

    • Origin table - field that allows you to select the table you want to target when exporting into a CSV file. When selecting a table, new options appear:

    • Columns to export - this is a checklist allowing you to select or deselect columns from a table that you want to keep or dismiss from exporting into the CSV file. These fields will correspond to field names given in your table, see below image for an example.

      Table with three columns will correspond to Columns to export option in the export CSV edit rule dialog box.

      Export to export checklist

    • CSV separator - the default separator is a comma , but you can set it to any character, number or symbol you want. Keep in mind that the separator fields separates each column of a row. For example you can have a file that looks as follows when setting this field with a semi-colon ;as shown with Notepad below:

      Semicolon separated csv file

      Keep in mind when exporting a table using a separator other than a comma , and open it in Excel, the data will not be formatted correctly within Excel as it recognises columns when only separated by commas , for example the above file is opened with Notepad while the image below shows the same exported file opened with Excel:

      Semicolon separated csv file

    • Include header row - radio button asking whether to include the header row meaning that the column title will be included or not.

    • Destination file field - field specifying the container which hold the csv file of the exported table. When the CSV file is present in the file field, the name of the file will be the same as the title of the table specified to export. For example if the title of a table is Countries, the file will be called Countrie.csv. You can download the file by clicking on the file name.

  6. When you are finished editing the dialog box, click on OK or click on Close at any time to exit the dialog box.

Editing, deleting or duplicating rules

When you have clicked on an existing rule, and the rule is visible in the right-hand pane under Rules, there are a number of options available to you.

  1. To disable a rule click the slider across beside the rule name.
  2. To copy a rule, click on the Duplicate button Duplicate button beside the rule name.
  3. To delete a rule, click on the Bin/Trash button Bin/Trash button.
  4. To view a rule, click on the rule name to open the Edit rule dialog box.

What’s next Idea icon

To find out more about other Table rules go to Table rules.

To find out more about other rules go to Rules.

4.7.6 - Copy table rows

Introduction

The Copy table rows rule allows you copy any field from within a specified table into another table within your process. You can select the same tables which will act similar to Add table row, see Add table row for more detail.

When to use

You can use this rule when you want to copy specific fields from one table to another. You do not need to copy all columns from a row. For example, from a table row that has Country, City, Currency columns, you can just copy the City column.

You can add this rule:

  • to a field
  • to a form
  • to a process (the rule will run on load)

Before you get started

For this rule to work you need to have one or more tables in your process. This will allow you to select a table to copy from and to. It is possible to have only one table in your process but that will limit you to copy a row from the specific table to the same table.

How to get started

  1. Click on an existing process by going to Administration > Designer and decide which form, or field you will apply the rule to, by clicking on that item so that it is in edit mode so you can see the Edit/pen button, Pen button Pen button.

  2. Click on Add a rule > Table > Copy table rows.

  3. In the Edit rule - Copy table rows dialog box, give the rule a title in the Title field.

    Edit rule - Copy table rows

  4. If you want to add conditions for the rule, click on the Edit conditions button Edit conditions button see Conditions for more details.

  5. Under the Action section fill out the following:

    • Table to copy rows from - select the table you wish to copy fields from. This table needs to be pre-created before adding this rule. If no table is selected in this field, an error message will show.
    • Table to copy rows to - select the table you wish to copy fields to. This field must be pre-created before adding this rule. You can select the same table as in the Table to copy from section. This will act similar to add table row rule, see Add table row for more detail.

    When both the Table to copy rows from and Table to copy rows to are assigned, more options are presented.

    • Copy row conditions - allows you to add conditions to the fields you want to copy into the new table. These conditions work like filters. For example if a table looks like this:

      Copy row table example

      We can set a condition using the Copy row condition to copy only specific rows. For example we only want to copy the rows which contain the word “land” in the country field. To achieve this, the Copy row condition would look as follows:

      Copy row mapping

      Box 1 represents the field from the table which you are copying from.

      Box 2 represents the conditional check.

      This is an example of the output using the conditions shown above. Note we are only copying the country and currency into the new table:

      Example output table

    • Column mapping - allows you to assign values from fields within your process into the newly copied row.

      Copy row mapping

      • Field or text - you can select a field within your form or type in text manually to represent the value you want your field in the new row to contain.
      • To table - select the field from the table you are copying to, to contain the value specified in the Field or text section.
      • Add mapping - you can choose to set multiple fields of a row by clicking on Add mapping button. You can also remove fields by clicking on the Bin/Trash icon Bin/Trash button.
  6. When you are finished editing the dialog box, click on OK or click on Close at any time to exit the dialog box.

Editing, deleting or duplicating rules

When you have clicked on an existing rule, and the rule is visible in the right-hand pane under Rules, there are a number of options available to you.

  1. To disable a rule click the slider across beside the rule name.
  2. To copy a rule, click on the Duplicate button Duplicate button beside the rule name.
  3. To delete a rule, click on the Bin/Trash button Bin/Trash button.
  4. To view a rule, click on the rule name to open the Edit rule dialog box.

What’s next Idea icon

To find out more about other Table rules go to Table rules.

To find out more about other rules go to Rules.

4.7.7 - Clear table rows

Introduction

The Clear table rows rule allows you clear/delete all or some rows from a specified table in your process. This rule acts similar to Remove table row except with the Clear table rows, you can delete multiple rows and filter out which rows to delete by adding conditions. To learn more about Remove table row go to Remove table row.

When to use

You can use this rule when you want clear all rows from a table or by adding criteria to delete rows, you can filter out which rows to clear from the table.

You can add this rule:

  • to a field
  • to a form
  • to a process (the rule will run on load)

Before you get started

For this rule to work you need to have one or more tables in your process. This will allow you to select a table that you want to clear rows in. To learn how to add a table to your process go to Table control.

How to get started

  1. Click on an existing process by going to Administration > Designer and decide which form, or field you will apply the rule to, by clicking on that item so that it is in edit mode so you can see the Edit/pen button, Pen button Pen button.

  2. Click on Add a rule > Table > Clear table rows.

  3. In the Edit rule - Clear table rows dialog box, give the rule a title in the Title field.

    Edit rule - Clear table rows

  4. If you want to add conditions for the rule, click on the Edit conditions button Edit conditions button see Conditions for more details.

  5. Under the Action section fill out the following:

    • Table to clear rows from - select the table you wish target when clearing rows from. This table needs to be pre-created before adding this rule. If no table is selected in this field, an error message will show. When the Table to clear rows from is assigned, the Criteria to delete rows is presented.

    • Criteria to delete rows - allows you to add a condition which works like a filter. Adding a condition will allow you to filter out which rows to delete and which to keep when using the Clear table rows rule. For example if a table looks like this:

      Copy row table example

      We can set a condition using the Criteria to delete rows button. For example if we want to delete all rows in which the Country field contains the word “land”. To achieve this, the Criteria to delete rows would look as follows:

      Copy row mapping

      Box 1 represents the field from the table which you are clearing rows in.

      Box 2 represents the conditional check.

      This is an example of the output using the conditions shown above:

      Example output table

  6. When you are finished editing the dialog box, click on OK or click on Close at any time to exit the dialog box.

Editing, deleting or duplicating rules

When you have clicked on an existing rule, and the rule is visible in the right-hand pane under Rules, there are a number of options available to you.

  1. To disable a rule click the slider across beside the rule name.
  2. To copy a rule, click on the Duplicate button Duplicate button beside the rule name.
  3. To delete a rule, click on the Bin/Trash button Bin/Trash button.
  4. To view a rule, click on the rule name to open the Edit rule dialog box.

What’s next Idea icon

To find out more about other Table rules go to Table rules.

To find out more about other rules go to Rules.

4.7.8 - Lookup value from table

Introduction

The Lookup value from table rule allows you look for a column field within a row that contains a value specified in a lookup condition. When the lookup condition is met, you can extract any column value from that row and set a different field from within your process with that value.

When to use

You can use this rule when you want to extract values from the first row when a condition is met.

You can add this rule:

  • to a field
  • to a form
  • to a process (the rule will run on load)

Before you get started

For this rule to work you need to have one or more tables in your process. This will allow you to select a table that you wanttarget when looking up values. To learn how to add a table to your process go to Table control.

How to get started

  1. Click on an existing process by going to Administration > Designer and decide which form, or field you will apply the rule to, by clicking on that item so that it is in edit mode so you can see the Edit/pen button, Pen button Pen button.

  2. Click on Add a rule > Table > Lookup value from table.

  3. In the Edit rule - Lookup value from table dialog box, give the rule a title in the Title field.

    Edit rule - Lookup value from table

  4. If you want to add conditions for the rule, click on the Edit conditions button Edit conditions button see Conditions for more details.

  5. Under the Action section fill out the following:

    • Table to lookup value from - select the table you wish target when looking up values from. This table needs to be pre-created before adding this rule. If no table is selected in this field, an error message will show. When the Table to lookup value from is assigned, two more options are presented:

    • Table lookup conditions - allows you to add a condition that works like a filter. Adding a condition will allow you to target a column of a row and check if it has a specific value. For example checking if a currency column is equals to Euro, the condition will look as follows:

      Copy row mapping

      Box 1 represents the column from a row which you are looking up.

      Box 2 represents the value you are making the check against.

    • Lookup mapping - allows you to extract a value from the row that met the lookup condition.

      • Column to extract - select the specific column from the row to extract the value.
      • Field to store extracted value - select a pre-created field to store the value from the selected column in the Column to extract section.
      • Add mapping - you can choose to extract multiple values from a row by clicking on Add mapping button. You can also remove fields by clicking on the Bin/Trash icon Bin/Trash button.
  6. When you are finished editing the dialog box, click on OK or click on Close at any time to exit the dialog box.

Editing, deleting or duplicating rules

When you have clicked on an existing rule, and the rule is visible in the right-hand pane under Rules, there are a number of options available to you.

  1. To disable a rule click the slider across beside the rule name.
  2. To copy a rule, click on the Duplicate button Duplicate button beside the rule name.
  3. To delete a rule, click on the Bin/Trash button Bin/Trash button.
  4. To view a rule, click on the rule name to open the Edit rule dialog box.

What’s next Idea icon

To find out more about other Table rules go to Table rules.

To find out more about other rules go to Rules.

4.7.9 - Update table values

Introduction

The Update table values rule loops through a table allowing you to update column values. You can update all values in a selected column or update just the columns that match a condition.

When to use

You can use this rule when you want to update a column value in rows that match the condition specified inside the rule.

You can add this rule:

  • to a field
  • to a form
  • to a process (the rule will run on load)

Before you get started

For this rule to work you need to have one or more tables in your process. This will allow you to select a table that you want to update values in. To learn how to add a table to your process go to Table control.

How to get started

  1. Click on an existing process by going to Administration > Designer and decide which form, or field you will apply the rule to, by clicking on that item so that it is in edit mode so you can see the Edit/pen button, Pen button Pen button.

  2. Click on Add a rule > Table > Update table values.

  3. In the Edit rule - Update table values dialog box, give the rule a title in the Title field.

    Edit rule - Update table values

  4. If you want to add conditions for the rule, click on the Edit conditions button Edit conditions button see Conditions for more details.

  5. Under the Action section fill out the following:

    • Table to update - select the table you wish target to update values in. This table needs to be pre-created before adding this rule. If no table is selected in this field, an error message will show. When the Table to update is assigned, three more options are presented:

    • Table lookup conditions - allows you to add a condition that works like a filter. Adding a condition will allow you to target the specific row that the condition specifies. For example checking if a currency column is equal to Euro, the condition will look as follows:

      Copy row mapping

      Box 1 represents the column from a row which you are looking up.

      Box 2 represents the value you are making the check against.

    • Table column to update - allows you to select a column you want to update when a condition in the Table lookup conditions option is met. This field will be updated with the value given in Field or text to update table column with section.

    • Field or text to update table column with - you can select a field within your form or type in text manually to represent the value you want your updated column to contain.

  6. When you are finished editing the dialog box, click on OK or click on Close at any time to exit the dialog box.

Editing, deleting or duplicating rules

When you have clicked on an existing rule, and the rule is visible in the right-hand pane under Rules, there are a number of options available to you.

  1. To disable a rule click the slider across beside the rule name.
  2. To copy a rule, click on the Duplicate button Duplicate button beside the rule name.
  3. To delete a rule, click on the Bin/Trash button Bin/Trash button.
  4. To view a rule, click on the rule name to open the Edit rule dialog box.

What’s next Idea icon

To find out more about other Table rules go to Table rules.

To find out more about other rules go to Rules.

4.7.10 - Sort table

Introduction

The Sort table rule loops through a table allowing you to sort data in an ascending or descending manner. In the rule options, you can select which column of the table to sort by. The column you select can be any of the Control input fields, the sorting algorithm takes the numerical or text value of each field and sorts it accordingly. For example if there is a User picker column in the table like shown below:

Sort table users before sort

The sorting algorithm will use the text value or in this case the name of each user and sort it in an alphabetical order as the order is set to ascending. Take note that the Favorite Image column has also changes the order to the matching user as the sorting rule targets the whole row, not just the column. The result of the sort is as follows:

Sort table users before sort

When to use

You can use this rule when you want to sort a table in an ascending or descending manner. The rule allows you to select the column by which you want to sort it, a field which identifies that column will make your table dynamic and very versatile. For example having a List field with options for all columns in your table.

You can add this rule:

  • to a field
  • to a form
  • to a process (the rule will run on load)

Before you get started

For this rule to work you need to have one or more tables in your process. This will allow you to select a table that you want to be sorted. To learn how to add a table to your process go to Table control.

How to get started

  1. Click on an existing process by going to Administration > Designer and decide which form, or field you will apply the rule to, by clicking on that item so that it is in edit mode so you can see the Edit/pen button, Pen button Pen button.

  2. Click on Add a rule > Table > Sort table.

  3. In the Edit rule - Sort table dialog box, give the rule a title in the Title field.

    Edit rule - Sort table

  4. If you want to add conditions for the rule, click on the Edit conditions button Edit conditions button see Conditions for more details.

  5. Under the Action section fill out the following:

    • Select a table - select the table you wish target when sorting values in. This table needs to be pre-created before adding this rule. If no table is selected in this field, an error message will show.

    • Column to sort - allows you to select a column within your table you wish to sort by.

    • Sort order - radio button selection of the sorting order:

      • Asc - Ascending order. For example sorting number in an ascending order will look as follows:

        Numbers Ascending

      • Desc - Descending order. For example sorting number in an descending order will look as follows:

        Numbers Descending

    • Add Sort - you can choose to set multiple columns to sort your table by clicking on Add Sort button. You can also remove fields by clicking on the Bin/Trash icon Bin/Trash button.

  6. When you are finished editing the dialog box, click on OK or click on Close at any time to exit the dialog box.

Editing, deleting or duplicating rules

When you have clicked on an existing rule, and the rule is visible in the right-hand pane under Rules, there are a number of options available to you.

  1. To disable a rule click the slider across beside the rule name.
  2. To copy a rule, click on the Duplicate button Duplicate button beside the rule name.
  3. To delete a rule, click on the Bin/Trash button Bin/Trash button.
  4. To view a rule, click on the rule name to open the Edit rule dialog box.

What’s next Idea icon

To find out more about other Table rules go to Table rules.

To find out more about other rules go to Rules.

4.7.11 - Aggregate table

Introduction

The Aggregate table rule loops through a table allowing you to aggregate a specific column and store the value in another field from within you process. There are three functions of the Aggregate table rule which are Sum, Average and Count. Sum and Average only work on number fields while Count will count the number of rows it looped through.

When to use

You can use this rule to sum up all the values in a column or get the average. Sum and Average functions of the aggregate rule work only on number fields. The Count function can be used to count the rows that the aggregate rule looped through.

You can add this rule:

  • to a field
  • to a form
  • to a process (the rule will run on load)

Before you get started

For this rule to work there are a couple of prerequisites needed inside of your process:

  • Table - needed to let the rule know which table will be used to aggregate columns together, for more detail on how to add a table go to Table control.
  • Text box - needed as a container to hold the result from the aggregate. For more detail on how to add a text box field go to Text box control.

How to get started

  1. Click on an existing process by going to Administration > Designer and decide which form, or field you will apply the rule to, by clicking on that item so that it is in edit mode so you can see the Edit/pen button, Pen button Pen button.

  2. Click on Add a rule > Table > Aggregate table.

  3. In the Edit rule - Aggregate table dialog box, give the rule a title in the Title field.

    Edit rule - Aggregate table

  4. If you want to add conditions for the rule, click on the Edit conditions button Edit conditions button see Conditions for more details.

  5. Under the Action section fill out the following:

    • Select a table field - select the table you wish target when aggregating values. This table needs to be pre-created before adding this rule. If no table is selected in this field, an error message will show.

    • Table aggregate conditions - allows you to add a condition that works like a filter. Adding a condition will allow you to target the specific row that the condition matches. For example, you want to aggregate all rows that the avarage score is more than 50%.

    • Operation - radio selection of the operation that you want performed on the aggregate rule:

      • Sum - counts all fields together and outputs the total(only works with numbers). Requires a Number field within your table. To lean more on Number field, got to Number control.
      • Average - gets the average from all the values provided in a column(only works with numbers). Requires a Number field within your table. To lean more on Number field, got to Number control.
      • Count - counts all row instances that the aggregate rule looped through.
      • Select a number field to aggregate - allows you to select a number field within your table. It is only used with the Sum and Average operations.
    • Result field - select the field you want to store the value of the aggregation.

    • Auto update result - checkbox allowing you to enable or disable auto update. This will determine if the result field will be updated when more rows are added after the aggregation.

  6. When you are finished editing the dialog box, click on OK or click on Close at any time to exit the dialog box.

Editing, deleting or duplicating rules

When you have clicked on an existing rule, and the rule is visible in the right-hand pane under Rules, there are a number of options available to you.

  1. To disable a rule click the slider across beside the rule name.
  2. To copy a rule, click on the Duplicate button Duplicate button beside the rule name.
  3. To delete a rule, click on the Bin/Trash button Bin/Trash button.
  4. To view a rule, click on the rule name to open the Edit rule dialog box.

What’s next Idea icon

To find out more about other Table rules go to Table rules.

To find out more about other rules go to Rules.

4.7.12 - Hide or Show table column

Introduction

The Hide / Show column rule allows you change the visibility of a selected column within a table in a process. You can either disable or enable the property, you can also toggle between both of the visible states.

When to use

You can use this rule to hide or show specific columns in your table. This rule is often used when hiding private data from users that do not need access to it. For example you can choose to show total earning column of a table to your managers but not other employees. You can also apply this rule to a button and give it the toggle function which will allow you to toggle the visible property of a column.

You can add this rule:

  • to a field
  • to a form
  • to a process (the rule will run on load)

Before you get started

For this rule to work you need to have one or more tables in your process. This will allow you to select a table in which you want to hide or show a column in. To learn how to add a table to your process go to Table control.

How to get started

  1. Click on an existing process by going to Administration > Designer and decide which form, or field you will apply the rule to, by clicking on that item so that it is in edit mode so you can see the Edit/pen button, Pen button Pen button.

  2. Click on Add a rule > Table > Hide/Show column.

  3. In the Edit rule - Hide/Show column dialog box, give the rule a title in the Title field.

    Edit rule - Aggregate table

  4. If you want to add conditions for the rule, click on the Edit conditions button Edit conditions button see Conditions for more details.

  5. Under the Action section fill out the following:

    • Select a table to hide / show columns from - select the table you wish target. This table needs to be pre-created before adding this rule. If no table is selected in this field, an error message will show. When the table is selected, an + Add button appears. Click on it to add a field where you can select the column you wish to hide or show.

      Select field and visible property

    • [1] Column to hide / show - select the column you want to target you want the hide / show rule to apply to.

    • [2] Visible - select to which visible property you want the column to be set to.

      • Hide - will set the visible property to disabled.
      • Show- will set the visible property to enabled.
      • Toggle visible - will set the visible property as the opposite of what it is. For example if the current state of the visible property is enabled, when this rule is triggered, it will set the visible property to disabled.
    • Add - you can choose to change visibile property of multiple columns in your table by clicking on + Add button. You can also remove fields by clicking on the Bin/Trash icon Bin/Trash button.

  6. When you are finished editing the dialog box, click on OK or click on Close at any time to exit the dialog box.

Editing, deleting or duplicating rules

When you have clicked on an existing rule, and the rule is visible in the right-hand pane under Rules, there are a number of options available to you.

  1. To disable a rule click the slider across beside the rule name.
  2. To copy a rule, click on the Duplicate button Duplicate button beside the rule name.
  3. To delete a rule, click on the Bin/Trash button Bin/Trash button.
  4. To view a rule, click on the rule name to open the Edit rule dialog box.

What’s next Idea icon

To find out more about other Table rules go to Table rules.

To find out more about other rules go to Rules.

4.8 - Date rules

Date rules is a category of rules that allows for the calculation, manipulation and general formatting of times and dates. Date rules can be utilised to set the time of a scheduled task, determine which process user submitted an instance first, and format dates that are inputted in date fields. To learn more about dates, see Date control.

Below is an example of a date rule in operation; a Compare date rule is applied to a date field input in a form. If the date entered is after a set deadline, the field Status - After Deadline? in this process is set to Yes. You could use this to ensure that process instances must be completed before an upcoming deadline.

Date rules

Getting started with Date rules

If you go to Administration > Designer and click on a process or create a new process, then click on Add a rule, the Date rules are found in the left-hand pane when you click on Dates.

Date rules

There are four types of Date rules as follows:

  • Add time to date - this rule allows the addition of time to a date which can be based on a chosen be parameter such as starting from now, today or another specified value. This can used in conjunction with the Schedule a rule rule to schedule reminders for certain process instances.

  • Calculate time - this rule calculates the number of time units between two dates, or between now/today and a given date.

  • Compare dates - this rule allows the comparison of date fields to know if one date is for example, between dates, before or after a given date. The rule could be used to ensure that process instances must be completed before an upcoming deadline.

  • Format date - this rule applies custom formatting to input date fields so you can choose the format of the date (for example, parsing the date format MM/DD/YY to DD/MM/YY).

What’s next Idea icon

We have briefly introduced the four types of Date rules. To read more about each of the rule types go to the links below:

4.8.1 - Add time to date

Introduction

The Add time to date rule allows you to add time to a date field in order to have a future date set within your form. This rule can remind users through set intervals to complete a process instance before a set time. An example of this rule would be entering a numeric value of 1 into the Time to add or a field, selecting Days from the Time unit drop-down list, and selecting Today() from the To date radio button options.

Date rules add time to date screen

When to use

The Add time to date rule should be used when a user wishes to add time to a date. For example, sending a reminder email after a set interval of time.

You can add this rule:

  • to a field
  • to a form
  • to a process (the rule will run on load)

Before you get started

In advance of using this rule, you need to have created one or more forms, complete with control fields. For example, you must have a created field in your form that the Add time to date rule can be applied to. See Date control for more information on using date fields.

How to get started

  1. Click on an existing process by going to Administration > Designer and decide which form, or field you will apply the rule to, by clicking on that item so that it is in edit mode so you can see the Edit/pen button, Pen button Pen button.

  2. Click on Add a rule > Dates > Add time to date.

    Date rules selected

  3. In the Edit rule - Add time to date dialog box, give the rule a title in the Title field.

  4. If you want to add conditions for the rule, click on the Edit conditions button Edit conditions button. See Conditions for more details.

    Date rules edit conditions

  5. Under Action create one or more actions for the rule by filling out the following:

    • Time to add or a field - click on the field and select a numerical value, or another field in your Kianda form. This will be the interval quantity.

    • Time unit - choose an option from the drop-down list to serve as your interval unit:

      • Minutes

      • Hours

      • Days

      • Weeks

      • Months

      • Years

    • To date - choose from the radio buttons:

      • Now() - adding time to date immediately

      • Today() - adding time to date from midnight today

      • Date field - adding time to date from the date specified in another field

        Date rules select time

    • Destination date field - choose the date field within your form which this new date is to be stored. If the Use business hours? checkbox is ticked, you will be prompted to enter the start and end time of your business’ working day, using the time picker list. It should be noted that this checkbox only appears when the time unit chosen is minutes or hours.

      Date rules destination date field

    • Date calculation settings - you can select whether the time added to your chosen date field:

      • Includes weekends
      • Excludes weekends
      • Excludes weekends and special dates
      • Excludes special dates
    • Special dates - you can also define custom special dates and save them accordingly. Click on Add special date to add in a date. Enter a label for this special date in the left field and a date in the right field. By choosing a title for a new special date, and entering the date into the date field, the date can be saved using the Save special dates for reuse button Date rules save special date button. To load previously saved dates, click on the Load special dates button Date rules load special date button. You can delete a saved Special date by clicking on the Bin/Trash buttonbin icon.

      Date rules special dates

  6. Finally, clicking on the OK OK button button will save the new rule you have just created and apply it to the chosen field.

Editing, deleting or duplicating rules

When you have clicked on an existing rule, and the rule is visible in the right-hand pane under Rules, there are a number of options available to you.

  1. To disable a rule click the slider across beside the rule name.
  2. To copy a rule, click on the Duplicate button Duplicate button beside the rule name.
  3. To delete a rule, click on the Bin/Trash button Bin/Trash button.
  4. To view a rule, click on the rule name to open the Edit rule dialog box.

User tip Target icon

Multiple Special dates can be loaded at once to allow you to select a number of specific dates to exclude from the rule.

The Add time to date rule is commonly used with the Schedule a rule rule to apply the specified time to a rule on a button, for example. This can be used like a clock to countdown to an event such as sending a reminder email.

What’s next Idea icon

To find out more about other date rules go to Dates.

To find out more about other rules go to Rules.

4.8.2 - Calculate time

Introduction

The Calculate time rule allows you to calculate the difference in time units between one date field and another, or from the current date and a chosen date field. The resulting number is then stored within a separate field within a Kianda form. An example of this rule would be entering a date under From date, selecting the Now() radio button, and entering a field under destination field. This will display the amount of days that are between the entered date field, and now.

Calculate Time Screen

For example, the resulting number could be utilised as a countdown feature to communicate to the user that an important date is approaching, and that a task needs to be completed (as seen below). In this instance, there are 20 days before a deadline. To learn more about dates, see Date control.

Calculate Time Results

When to use

The Calculate time rule should be used when a user wishes to calculate the time difference between a date field and another date/time. For example, creating a countdown function that returns the amount of time units between two set dates.

You can add this rule:

  • to a field
  • to a form
  • to a process (the rule will run on load)

Before you get started

In advance of using this rule, you need to have created one or more forms, complete with control fields. For example, you must have a created field in your form that the Calculate time rule can be applied to. See Date control for more information on using date fields.

How to get started

  1. Click on an existing process by going to Administration > Designer and decide which form, or field you will apply the rule to, by clicking on that item so that it is in edit mode so you can see the Edit/pen button, Pen button Pen button.

  2. Click on Add a rule > Dates > Calculate time.

    Selecting Calculate Time

  3. In the Edit rule - Calculate time dialog box, give the rule a title in the Title field.

  4. If you want to add conditions for the rule, click on the Edit conditions button Edit conditions button. See Conditions for more details.

    Selecting Calculate Time

  5. Under Action > Calculate time between dates, create one or more actions for the rule by filling out the following:

    • Time unit - choose an option from the drop-down list to serve as your calculation unit:

      • Minutes

      • Hours

      • Days

      • Weeks

      • Months

      • Years

    • From date - click on the field and select another field from the drop-down list. This will be the date the calculation will start counting from.

    • To date - choose from the radio buttons:

      • Now() - calculating the number of time units between the From date to now.

      • Today() - calculating the number of time units between the From date to today at midnight.

      • Date field - calculating the number of time units between the From date to the date specified in another field.

        Calculate time select date

    • Destination date field - choose the date field within your form which this new date is to be stored. If the Use business hours? checkbox is ticked, you will be prompted to enter the start and end time of your business’ working day, using the time picker list.

      Date rules destination date field

    • Date calculation settings - you can select whether the time calculated:

      • Includes weekends
      • Excludes weekends
      • Excludes weekends and special dates
      • Excludes special dates

      Beside the Count only full hours? label (or time unit chosen), if the No radio button is selected, the Round result hours? (or time unit chosen) label will appear to the right. You will be prompted to select either a Yes or No radio button, allowing you to neatly round the chosen time unit to the nearest whole number (if Yes is selected).

    • Special dates - you can also define custom special dates and save them accordingly. Click on Add special date to add in a date. Enter a label for this special date in the left field and a date in the right field. By choosing a title for a new special date, and entering the date into the date field, the date can be saved using the Save special dates for reuse button Date rules save special date button. To load previously saved dates, click on the Load special dates button Date rules load special date button. You can delete a saved Special date by clicking on the Bin/Trash buttonbin icon.

      Calculate time calculations

    1. Finally, clicking on the OK OK button button will save the new rule you have just created and apply it to the chosen field.

Editing, deleting or duplicating rules

When you have clicked on an existing rule, and the rule is visible in the right-hand pane under Rules, there are a number of options available to you.

  1. To disable a rule click the slider across beside the rule name.
  2. To copy a rule, click on the Duplicate button Duplicate button beside the rule name.
  3. To delete a rule, click on the Bin/Trash button Bin/Trash button.
  4. To view a rule, click on the rule name to open the Edit rule dialog box.

User tip Target icon

Multiple Special dates can be loaded at once to allow you to select a number of specific dates to exclude from the rule.

What’s next Idea icon

To find out more about other date rules go to Dates.

To find out more about other rules go to Rules.

4.8.3 - Compare dates

Introduction

The Compare dates rule is utilised to compare two date fields. Depending on the selected comparison function, the result of this rule will be saved as a boolean value (true/false) in another Kianda form field.

In the below example, the Compare dates rule is applied to a date field input in a form. If the date entered is after a set deadline, the field Status - After Deadline? in this process is set to Yes. You could use this to ensure that process instances must be completed before an upcoming deadline.

Date rules

When to use

The Compare dates rule should be used when a user wishes to compare two different dates. For example, creating a submission deadline function that disallows form submissions after a specified date.

You can add this rule:

  • to a field
  • to a form
  • to a process (the rule will run on load)

Before you get started

In advance of using this rule, you need to have created one or more forms, complete with control fields. For example, you must have a created field in your form that the Compare dates rule can be applied to. See Date control for more information on using date fields.

How to get started

  1. Click on an existing process by going to Administration > Designer and decide which form, or field you will apply the rule to, by clicking on that item so that it is in edit mode so you can see the Edit/pen button, Pen button Pen button.

  2. Click on Add a rule > Dates > Compare dates.

    Selecting Compare dates

  3. In the Edit rule - Compare dates dialog box, give the rule a title in the Title field.

  4. If you want to add conditions for the rule, click on the Edit conditions button Edit conditions button. See Conditions for more details.

    Compare dates screen conditions

  5. Under Action > Compare dates, create one or more actions for the rule by filling out the following:

    • Date to compare - choose a date field from the drop-down list to serve as the date you would like to compare. This date will be placed before the comparison function.

    • Compare to date - choose a date field from the drop-down list to serve as the date you would like to compare to the initially selected date (Date to compare). This date will be placed after the comparison function.

    • Compare function - Choose from the radio buttons:

      • Is between dates - checking this button displays a new field Compare from date, where you must select a start date field from the drop-down list, as well as choosing a Compare to date from the other drop-down list (end date). This function returns true or false if the Date to compare falls within the start and end dates selected.

        Between dates function

      • Is before date - checking this button determines if the selected date for the Date to compare field falls before the selected date for the Compare to date field.

      • Is after date - checking this button determines if the selected date for the Date to compare field falls after the selected date for the Compare to date field.

  6. Under Action > Result:

    • Destination field - choose the field within your Kianda form where you would like to store the resulting boolean value of the comparison function. As can be seen in the below example, you can utilise the result as a status checker using a destination text field.

    • Value when true - if the result of the comparison function is true, enter what string of text you would like to return to your form.

    • Value when false - if the result of the comparison function is false, enter what string of text you would like to return to your form.

      The resulting value can be used in a Kianda Condition to control other parameters. See Conditions for more details.

      Compare dates result

  7. Finally, clicking on the OK OK button button will save the new rule you have just created and apply it to the chosen field.

Editing, deleting or duplicating rules

When you have clicked on an existing rule, and the rule is visible in the right-hand pane under Rules, there are a number of options available to you.

  1. To disable a rule click the slider across beside the rule name.
  2. To copy a rule, click on the Duplicate button Duplicate button beside the rule name.
  3. To delete a rule, click on the Bin/Trash button Bin/Trash button.
  4. To view a rule, click on the rule name to open the Edit rule dialog box.

User tip Target icon

Selecting the Compare to date function displays an additional field where you can select two different dates, and determine if your Date to compare is within.

The resulting boolean value can be used within other Kianda Conditions.

What’s next Idea icon

To find out more about other date rules go to Dates.

To find out more about other rules go to Rules.

4.8.4 - Format date

Introduction

The Format date rule is used to reformat a selected date field within your Kianda form, and send it to a destination field. You can choose from a range of date formats where month or day leads, and time is also included, see step 5 in How to get started.

In the below example, the Format date rule is applied to a selected field from the drop-down list and is formatted to the MM/DD/YYYY format. The resulting formatted date is then displayed in the Formatted Date field that is selected under Select a destination field for the formatted date. You can utilise this rule to format the entered date so that it matches various national date formatting standards. The default formatting for Kianda dates are DD/MM/YYYY, so in the below example an entered date of 23/08/2022 would become 08/23/2022.

Format date screen

When to use

The format date rule should be used when you wish to amend the formatting of a date field within Kianda. For example, you receive a date from a data source in one format and wish to present it in the form in another format.

You can add this rule:

  • to a field
  • to a form
  • to a process (the rule will run on load)

Before you get started

In advance of using this rule, you need to have created one or more forms, complete with control fields. For example, you must have a created field in your form that the Format date rule can be applied to. See Date control for more information on using date fields.

How to get started

  1. Click on an existing process by going to Administration > Designer and decide which form, or field you will apply the rule to, by clicking on that item so that it is in edit mode so you can see the Edit/pen button, Pen button Pen button.

  2. Click on Add a rule > Dates > Format date.

    Select format date

  3. In the Edit rule - Format date dialog box, give the rule a title in the Title field.

  4. If you want to add conditions for the rule, click on the Edit conditions button Edit conditions button. See Conditions for more details.

    Format date screen conditions

  5. Under Action, create one or more actions for the rule by filling out the following:

    • Select a date field - choose a date field from the drop-down list you would like to be formatted. The help button help buttonprovides you with additional support.

    • Define a format or select a predefined value - choose from the drop-down list the type of date formatting you would like to change your date to:

      date formats

    • Select a destination field for the formatted date - choose a date field from the drop-down list where you would like to store the new formatted date.

  6. Finally, clicking on the OK OK button button will save the new rule you have just created and apply it to the chosen field.

Editing, deleting or duplicating rules

When you have clicked on an existing rule, and the rule is visible in the right-hand pane under Rules, there are a number of options available to you.

  1. To disable a rule click the slider across beside the rule name.
  2. To copy a rule, click on the Duplicate button Duplicate button beside the rule name.
  3. To delete a rule, click on the Bin/Trash button Bin/Trash button.
  4. To view a rule, click on the rule name to open the Edit rule dialog box.

User tip Target icon

This rule can be utilised to format a date to various national date formatting standards.

What’s next Idea icon

To find out more about other date rules go to Dates.

To find out more about other rules go to Rules.

4.9 - Form action rules

Rules within the Form action rules category allow you to perform form specific actions on forms and processes such as saving a form / process, submitting a form, closing a form, deleting a process and validating form input.

Getting started with Form action rules

If you go to Administration > Designer and click on a process or create a new process, then click on Add a rule the Form action rules are found in the left-hand pane when you click on Form action.

Form action rules

There are six Form action rules as follows:

  • Validate input - provides ability perform flexible data validation and prevents incorrect data submission

  • Field display mode - this rule forces the display mode to override the automatic display mode of fields and forms

  • Submit form - marks the current form as complete and makes it read-only

  • Save form - commits a record or process instance in the server

  • Close form - closes the form and navigates to another resource

  • Delete form - marks the record or process instance to be deleted

What’s next Idea icon

To read more about each of the rule types go to the links below:

4.9.1 - Validate input

The Validate input provides the ability to perform flexible data validation and prevents incorrect data submission. For example, this could be performed on a Date of Incident field, where the validation checks that the date entered is a past date.

When to use

You can add this rule:

  • to a field
  • to a form
  • to a process (the rule will run on load)

How to get started

To showcase the Validate input rule in action, we will make a validation check on a Date of Incident field to see if the entered date is a past date.

To implement the rule:

  1. Click on an existing process by going to Administration > Designer and decide which form, or field you will apply the rule to, by clicking on that item so that it is in edit mode so you can see the Edit/pen button, Pen button Pen button.

  2. Click on Add a rule > Form actions > Validate input.

  3. In the Edit rule - Field display mode dialog box, give the rule a title in the Title field.

  4. Click on Edit conditions Edit Conditions button to add a validation condition. To learn more about conditions go to Conditions.

  5. Select the field you want the condition check to be performed on. In this example it is the Date of Incident field.

  6. Select type of validation to be performed. In this example it is the Is After Today validation.

    Validate input selection

  7. In the Edit rule - Validate input dialog box, In the Error message to display when rule conditions above apply text box, type in the error message you want to be displayed if validation condition apply.

  8. Select a form or field to Trigger rules if validation condition apply so that rules attached to that particular form or field are initiated if the condition(s) set in step 6 apply.

    For example if the Submit button is selected in this field, all its rules will be executed which means the Submit process, Save process and Close rules will be executed after a condition is met.

    Submit button rules

From the example mentioned above, we created a simple Incident Form in which a user needs to select a date of an incident. The image below displays the Validate input rule in action, where the date selected Is After Today therefore the condition is valid and an error message is displayed.

Incident form date error message

Editing, deleting or duplicating rules

When you have clicked on an existing rule, and the rule is visible in the right-hand pane under Rules, there are a number of options available to you.

  1. To disable a rule click the slider across beside the rule name.

  2. To copy a rule, click on the Duplicate button Duplicate buttonbeside the rule name.

  3. To delete a rule, click on the Bin/Trash button Bin/Trash button.

  4. To view a rule, click on the rule name to open the Edit rule dialog box.

User tip Target icon

  • When validating a field, form or a process, think of conditions. When a condition is met, an action must follow. For example an error message is displayed (Action) when the wrong date is entered (Condition).

What’s next Idea icon

To find our more about other form action rules go to Form Action rules.

To find out more about other rules go to Rules.

4.9.2 - Field Display mode

The Field display mode rule temporarily changes the display mode of a field or form creating a temporary form or field display mode. This rule forces the display mode to override the automatically calculated display mode of fields and forms.

When to use

You can add this rule:

  • to a field
  • to a form
  • to a process (the rule will run on load)

How to get started

To showcase the Field display mode in action, we will change the display mode of a user picker field to Read mode after a user has been chosen. To learn more about User picker field go to User picker control.

To implement the rule:

  1. Click on an existing process by going to Administration > Designer and decide which form, or field you will apply the rule to, by clicking on that item so that it is in edit mode so you can see the Edit/pen button, Pen button Pen button.

  2. Click on Add a rule > Form actions > Field display mode.

  3. In the Edit rule - Field display mode dialog box, give the rule a title in the Title field.

  4. If you want to add conditions for the rule, click on the Edit conditions button Edit conditions button to create conditions for the rule, see Conditions for more details.

  5. To demonstrate how this rule works, we will add a condition to a field. Select the field you want the condition to be applied to. In this example it is the Employee field.

  6. Select type of operator check to be performed on the condition. In this example it is the Not blank operator. Here we are checking whether the Employee field is Not blank.

    Edit conditions

  7. In the Field or form option, select the field you want the Field display mode rule to affect. In this example it is the Employee field.

  8. Choose from Edit mode or Read mode.

    • Edit mode - allows the form or field to be edited.
    • Read mode - sets the mode of a form or a field to Read-only.
  9. Click on Add to add as many fields or forms as needed.

    Edit rule dialog box

    The video below demonstrates the Field Display mode rule in action, where the Employee field becomes Read mode after a user is selected. The Date field which was not editable changes to Edit mode after a user is selected. This is achieved by applying a condition to the Employee field. The condition checks if the Employee field is Not blank, therefore when a user has been selected this condition is valid, activating the Field Display mode rule.

Editing, deleting or duplicating rules

When you have clicked on an existing rule, and the rule is visible in the right-hand pane under Rules, there are a number of options available to you.

  1. To disable a rule click the slider across beside the rule name.

  2. To copy a rule, click on the Duplicate button Duplicate buttonbeside the rule name.

  3. To delete a rule, click on the Bin/Trash button Bin/Trash button.

  4. To view a rule, click on the rule name to open the Edit rule dialog box.

User tip Target icon

  • Form state (Edit / Read) will not be saved. It is recommended that display mode is reverted once no longer needed.

What’s next Idea icon

To find our more about other form action rules go to Form Action rules.

To find out more about other rules go to Rules.

4.9.3 - Submit form

The Submit form rule marks the current form as complete and makes it read-only. By default upon submit of a form, the next form in the process is activated.

This rule is automatically attached to Submit button which is added to all forms by default.

When to use

This action is used to submit a form that you are working on, that is the ‘current’ form.

You can add this rule:

  • to a field
  • to a form
  • to a process (the rule will run on load)

How to get started

To implement the rule:

  1. Click on an existing process by going to Administration > Designer and decide which form, or field you will apply the rule to, by clicking on that item so that it is in edit mode so you can see the Edit/pen button, Pen button Pen button.

  2. Click on Add a rule > Form actions > Field display mode.

  3. In the Edit rule - Field display mode dialog box, give the rule a title in the Title field.

  4. If you want to add conditions for the rule, click on the Edit conditions button Edit conditions button to create conditions for the rule, see Conditions for more details.

  5. Under Action, Set process status choose from Auto (Current form title) or Manual. If you choose Manual then type in the desired text to appear to users in the Status text after submit field.

Each process contains an internal status value, this is automatically set to the name of the active form. For example there are two forms in a Incident process, a Incident form, a Review form and the Auto (Current form title) is selected in the Set process status option. When the Incident form is completed and submitted, the internal status will be set to the next active form, in this case the Review form. When all forms are completed and submitted, the internal status is set to completed. The image below shows how the internal status of the process can be reflected in a dashboard to keep track of the current stage of a process.

Submit form read only

We can also set our own value for the internal status by changing the Set process status option to Manual. This will open a textbox field in which you can enter in a custom status after a form is submitted. For example, after submitting the first form, we will set the status to open:

Submit form read only

Editing, deleting or duplicating rules

When you have clicked on an existing rule, and the rule is visible in the right-hand pane under Rules, there are a number of options available to you.

  1. To disable a rule click the slider across beside the rule name.

  2. To copy a rule, click on the Duplicate button Duplicate button beside the rule name.

  3. To delete a rule, click on the Bin/Trash button Bin/Trash button.

  4. To view a rule, click on the rule name to open the Edit rule dialog box.

User tip Target icon

  • You can display the internal status of a process in a list widget on your dashboard. This can help you keep track of the current state the process instance is. For example when the process is complete or which form in the process is currently active.

What’s next Idea icon

To find our more about other form action rules go to Form Action rules.

To find out more about other rules go to Rules.

4.9.4 - Save form

The Save form rule saves changes made in a form. This is particularly useful if a user needs to complete a long form, or is offsite, so that initial changes to the form are saved and then all changes can be submitted later on. The rule commits a record in the server.

This rule is automatically attached to Submit and Save buttons which are added to forms by default.

When to use

Use this rule to ensure the state of the application is stored with data.

You can add this rule:

  • to a field
  • to a form
  • to a process (the rule will run on load)

How to get started

To implement the rule:

  1. Click on an existing process by going to Administration > Designer and decide which form, or field you will apply the rule to, by clicking on that item so that it is in edit mode so you can see the Edit/pen button, Pen button Pen button.

  2. Click on Add a rule > Form actions > Save form.

  3. In the Edit rule - Save form dialog box, give the rule a Title.

  4. Under Action, check the box for Perform background save if you want to perform background save of forms. This option MUST be enabled to allow background upload and chunked upload to be possible in the File upload control.

    Edit rule - Save form dialog box

    File upload - Upload rules

    For example if you are offsite or don’t have a good internet connection and need to upload files to forms, then it is useful to allow ‘chunked’ and ‘background upload’ so that the file can be transmitted in resumable chunks. See File upload control for more information on file upload.

    File upload - background and chunked upload options

    File upload - Upload rules

  5. Under Action, you can also check the box for Perform partial save to allow partial save of a form.

    For example if this option is selected, it will allow you to save a form in small amounts so information is not lost when internet connection is lost.

  6. You can also create a notification to display to users when a save has been successful by typing a message in the Save notification field.

  7. You can create conditions for the actions to happen, see Conditions for more information.

Editing, deleting or duplicating rules

When you have clicked on an existing rule, and the rule is visible in the right-hand pane under Rules, there are a number of options available to you.

  1. To disable a rule click the slider across beside the rule name.

  2. To copy a rule, click on the Duplicate button Duplicate button beside the rule name.

  3. To delete a rule, click on the Bin/Trash button Bin/Trash button.

  4. To view a rule, click on the rule name to open the Edit rule dialog box.

User tip Target icon

  • You can add a condition to the Save form rule to make sure that users fill out certain pieces of information in your form before they can actually save it.

What’s next Idea icon

To find our more about other form action rules go to Form Action rules.

To find out more about other rules go to Rules.

4.9.5 - Close form

The Close form rule closes the form and allows users to navigate back to home page of Kianda platform or to another resource. This rule is automatically attached to Close, Submit and Save buttons which are added to forms by default.

When to use

Together with the Submit, and Save rules, the Close form rule forms the shutdown procedures for forms and should not be deleted from Submit, Save or Close buttons.

You can add this rule:

  • to a field
  • to a form
  • to a process (the rule will run on load)

How to get started

By default all forms come with a Close button, and therefore a Close form rule however, you can set a close rule yourself, and redirect the user anywhere. To do so:

  1. Click on an existing process by going to Administration > Designer and decide which form, or field you will apply the rule to, by clicking on that item so that it is in edit mode so you can see the Edit/pen button, Pen button Pen button.

  2. Click on Add a rule > Form actions > Close form.

  3. In the Edit rule - Close form dialog box, give the rule a Title.

  4. In the On form close navigate to option, you can select from four different actions.

    • Auto - This option will redirect the user to the last location they were before opening the form.

    • Return to a dashboard - This option will redirect the user to a dashboard of choice. To navigate to a specific dashboard, in the Please choose a dashboard option select the desired dashboard.

      Return to dashboard option

      In the dashboard Query string parameters are used to populate the Filter widget when a given dashboard is loaded. To learn more about query parameters go to Query parameters. To learn more about Filter widget and how to use query strings there, go to Filter widget - query strings.

    • Return to URL - This option will redirect the user to any URL specified in the Please choose a field or type the URL text box.

    • Go to process - This option will redirect you to a process specified in the Please indicate the process or instance ID text box. See heading below for more information.

How the ‘Go to process’ option works

With this option selected, you can now enter an ID of a process you want the user to be navigated to. There is also a Is new instance? radio list available with a Yes or No options. If you choose:

  • Yes - In the Please indicate the process or instance ID text box, you MUST specify a process ID which is the ID (Unique) of a process.

    Edit process - ID field

  • No - In the Please indicate the process or instance ID text box, you MUST specify an instance ID of a process. The instance ID is a unique identifier for a process instance. For example an Incident process may have more than one instances and each of those instances contains a unique ID as shown in the image below.

    Edit process - ID field

Query string parameters are used to populate form or fields when a given form is loaded. To learn more about query strings, visit Query Strings and for a more specific example visit Close rule Query Strings.

Editing, deleting or duplicating rules

When you have clicked on an existing rule, and the rule is visible in the right-hand pane under Rules, there are a number of options available to you.

  1. To disable a rule click the slider across beside the rule name.

Disable a rule

  1. To copy a rule, click on the Duplicate button Duplicate buttonbeside the rule name.

  2. To delete a rule, click on the Bin/Trash button Bin/Trash button.

  3. To view a rule, click on the rule name to open the Edit rule dialog box.

User tip Target icon

Note, You cannot use Close form and Go to form in the same button.

Note, it is not necessary to add a condition to the rule. In this case the rule will be triggered automatically:

  • if the rule is applied to a field, then the rule will be triggered when the user enters a value in that field.
  • if the rule is applied to a button, then the rule will be triggered when the user clicks the button.
  • if the rule is applied to a form, then the rule will be triggered when the form is submitted.
  • if the rule is applied to a process, then the rule will be triggered on load, that is when the process is initiated.

What’s next Idea icon

To find our more about other form action rules go to Form Action rules.

To find out more about other rules go to Rules.

4.9.6 - Delete form

The Delete form rule marks a process instance to be deleted. This rule can be used for example for General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) reasons whereby a process instance with personal data is deleted.

When to use

Use this rule with the Save form rule to commit the deletion request in the server.

You can add this rule:

  • to a field
  • to a form
  • to a process (the rule will run on load)

How to get started

As mentioned in the example above, we will use this rule to delete personal data for GDPR reasons.

To implement the rule:

  1. Click on an existing process by going to Administration > Designer and decide which form, or field you will apply the rule to, by clicking on that item so that it is in edit mode so you can see the Edit/pen button, Pen button Pen button.
  2. Click on Add a rule > Form actions > Delete form.
  3. In the Edit rule - Delete form dialog box, give the rule a Title.
  4. There is no action on the Delete form rule that can be specified. The internal action of this rule is to delete the process instance if a condition becomes true, see Conditions for more information.
  5. To apply a condition to the Delete form rule, in the Edit rule - Delete form dialog box click on Edit conditions Edit conditions button.

GDPR example use case

In this example we have two forms:

  • Personal Information form in which some personal data of an employee are being stored.

    Personal information form

  • Company feedback form in which the employee can give feedback of the company and decide whether to keep personal information in the company system or delete them.

    Company feedback form

In this example we will add the Delete form rule to the Submit button of the Company feedback form.

  1. Follow steps 1 through 5 above to add the rule to a desired field. In this example it is the Submit button in the Company feedback form.

  2. In the Edit conditions dialog box select a field for the condition check. In this example it is the Delete personal data for GDPR reasons field.

  3. Select desired operator for the condition . In this example it is the Equals operator.

  4. Choose a value for the conditional check. In this example type in Yes.

    Delete data condition

The image below presents deleted process instances. As shown in the Delete personal data for GDPR reasons column, there is no Yes values as all those processes were deleted from the system.

Deleted processes - list widget

Editing, deleting or duplicating rules

When you have clicked on an existing rule, and the rule is visible in the right-hand pane under Rules, there are a number of options available to you.

  1. To disable a rule click the slider across beside the rule name.

  2. To copy a rule, click on the Duplicate button Duplicate button beside the rule name.

  3. To delete a rule, click on the Bin/Trash button Bin/Trash button.

  4. To view a rule, click on the rule name to open the Edit rule dialog box.

User tip Target icon

  • When adding the Delete form rule to a process, make sure to change the rule order of execution of the Delete form to be after Submit form. Remember that you can’t submit a deleted form.

What’s next Idea icon

To find our more about other form action rules go to Form Action rules.

To find out more about other rules go to Rules.

4.10 - AI rules

Kianda AI rules is one category of rules in Kianda that is used to analyse text within fields of your process, for example analysing a feedback text box of a process.

AI (Artificial Intelligence) is a form of intelligence demonstrated by machines, opposed to natural intelligence displayed by humans or animals. The AI system used in the Kianda AI rules is Text Analysis.

Text Analysis is a process by which the AI is programmed to distil information and meaning from text. For example, this can be analysing text written in feedback forms, item reviews or analysing documentation to understand its purpose.

Take an example of Text analysis rule and its extract key phrases function. Implementing this rule will analyse the block of text and as a result, it will give back key and most relevant words or expressions into another field within your process. See the image below for an example of a feedback text and resulting key phrases:

key phrases example feedback and result

Getting started with Kianda AI rules

If you go to Administration > Designer and click on a process or create a new process, then click on Add a rule, the Kianda AI rules are found in the left-hand pane when you click on Kianda AI.

Add Kianda AI rules

Currently, there is one rule available in the Kianda AI rule category:

  • Text analysis - gives sentiment analysis or extracts key phrases from a block of text.

4.10.1 - Text Analysis

Introduction

The Text analysis rule allows you to analyse small or large amounts of text. There are two functions for analysis with the Text analysis rule:

  • Sentiment analysis
  • Extract key phrases

With each function, the AI is programmed to distil information and meaning from a text block. For example, extract key phrases function is programmed to extract most relevant words or expressions from a block of text. Sentiment analysis on the other hand can be used to give a Positive or Negative result on feedback forms or item reviews and presented in a dashboard, see image below for an example dashboard sentiment analysis:

sentiment dashboard displaying score and feedback.

When to use

Use this rule when you want to analyse large blocks of text into a Positive or Negative result with a percentage score, or when you want to extract key phrases.

You can add this rule:

  • to a field
  • to a form
  • to a process (the rule will run on load)

Before you get started

To be able to use the Text analysis rule, there a couple of prerequisites needed in your process. To use both functions, your process needs a Text box field which will represent the text that is targeted during Text analysis. To learn more on how to add a text box to your process, go to Text box control.

To use the Sentiment analysis function, you need the following:

  • Text box field - container which will store the computed sentiment result. Positive or Negative.
  • Number field - container used to store the percentage score of the result. To learn on how to add a number field to your process, go to Number control.

To use the Extract key phrases function, you will need the following:

  • Text box field - container which will store all of the most relevant words or expressions.

How to get started

  1. Click on an existing process by going to Administration > Designer and decide which form, or field you will apply the rule to, by clicking on that item so that it is in edit mode so you can see the Edit/pen button, Pen button Pen button.

  2. Click on Add a rule > Kianda AI > Text analysis.

  3. In the Edit rule - Text analysis dialog box, give the rule a title in the Title field.

    Text analysis edit rule dialog box

  4. If you want to add conditions for the rule, click on the Edit conditions button Edit conditions button see Conditions for more details.

  5. Under the Action section fill out the following:

    • Input field containing text for analysis - select a field from within your process that you wish to target when analysing text.
    • Text analysis function - from the radio list, select the desired text analysis function.
      • Sentimental analysis - analysis text while giving it a positive or negative result along with the percentage score of the result.
      • Extract key phrases - extract most relevant words or expressions from a block of text.
    • Text input language - select the language in which the targeted text is in. The choices are as follows:
      • English
      • French
      • German
      • Portuguese

    When the Sentiment analysis function is selected, fill out the following fields:

    Sentiment function options

    • Field to store computed sentiment (Negative or Positive) - select a field from your process to store the result of the analysis.
    • Fields to store the sentiment score - select a field from your process to store the percentage score of the analysis.

    When the Extract key phrases function is selected, fill out the following:

    Extract key phrases function options

    • Field to store computed key phrases - select a field from your process to store all of the most relevant words or expressions of the analysis.
  6. When you are finished editing the dialog box, click on OK or click on Close at any time to exit the dialog box.

What’s next Idea icon

To find out more about other rules go to Rules.

4.11 - SharePoint rules

SharePoint rules is a category of rules within Kianda that are associated with SharePoint specific functionality. These rules are using SharePoint Application Programming Interface (API) to perform Create, Read, Update and Delete (CRUD) operations within your SharePoint connector. The SharePoint rules are designed to manage your SharePoint connector instead of populating it with data. With these rules you can create a site, a list or a group on your SharePoint connector along with adding users to groups, removing them from groups or changing user or group permissions.

Take an example of a Find a user rule. Implementing this rule will result in acquiring a Username or User Id of a particular user which is part of your SharePoint users group. When using SharePoint rules that are managing users, the Find a user rule is very useful as rules such as Add user to a group or remove user from a group require a User Id that can be retrieved from the Find a user rule.

Before getting started

In advance of using the SharePoint rules you must have created a SharePoint data connector and establish a connection with your SharePoint site. The data connector is used as part of the SharePoint rules to perform CRUD operations on a site you established a connection with. To learn more about the SharePoint data connector go to SharePoint connector.

Getting started with SharePoint rules

If you go to Administration > Designer and click on a process or create a new process, then click on Add a rule, the SharePoint rules are found in the left-hand pane when you click on SharePoint.

Sharepoint rules

There are 10 SharePoint rules as follows:

  • Create a list - creates a new list in a SharePoint site.
  • Create a site - creates a new site on SharePoint, enabling the use of a site template.
  • Create a group - creates a new group on SharePoint
  • Find a user - finds or searches for a user within SharePoint
  • Add a user to a group - adds a SharePoint user to a SharePoint group. It is important to note the difference between SharePoint users and Kianda users. SharePoint users are users of the SharePoint system. Kianda users are users of the Kianda system.
  • Remove a user from a group - removes a SharePoint user from a SharePoint group
  • Reset an item permissions - changes the SharePoint permissions for a given list, document or folder.
  • Check in / out an item - checks in or out a file in SharePoint
  • Get attachments - reads the attachments from a SharePoint list
  • Create anonymous link - creates anonymous links for a SharePoint held file

What’s next Idea icon

We have briefly introduced each of the ten types of SharePoint rules. Click on the links below to find out more about each rule in detail.

4.11.1 - Add a user to a group

This rule allows you to add a user into a SharePoint group using Kianda.

When to use

This rule should be used when a user within Kianda should be added to SharePoint Group, for example, a new hire being added to a team group during their onboarding phase.

You can add this rule:

  • to a field
  • to a form
  • to a process (the rule will run on load)

Before you get started

In advance of using the Add a user to a group rule, you need to have created one or more forms. In the forms you must have created two separate fields which are needed for:

  • Field which represents the title of the group you are adding the user to. This field can for example be a Text box field. To learn more about how to create a text box field go to Text box control.
  • Field which represents the Username or User Id of the user you want to add to the group, this can also be a text box field.

How to use

To apply this rule, first choose an item to attach the rule to and have a SharePoint data source ready where you want the user to be located. This data source should be a predefined data connector created with Data sources under Administration.

  1. Select the field or other item to attach the rule to.

  2. Click on Add a rule > SharePoint > Add a user to a group.

  3. In the Edit rule - Add a user to a group dialog box, give the rule a Title. Then select a SharePoint data source from the drop-down list.

    Add a user to a group dialog box

  4. Two new fields will appear: For Group title field, select the field where the group title is stored for example, a list field. For Username or User Id, select the field where the Username or User id is stored.

  5. Once these fields are set you can also set conditions for the rule, see Conditions for more information.

  6. The final two sections are optional: On success mapping and Error mapping. See Success and Error Mapping for more information.

  7. Click on OK when complete.

User tips Target icon

To use this rule, you must have a user predefined in Kianda and in SharePoint. The group must also be predefined in SharePoint. This rule gives the advantage of allowing multiple users to move to SharePoint groups which could be useful for example during restructuring in an organisation, where existing users need to move to other departments/groups.

If you have multiple rules attached to the field or other item, you may wish to reorder the rules to change the order of rule execution. Go to Multiple rules to find out more.

What’s next Idea icon

Now that you’ve learned about Add a user to a group, return to the SharePoint rules page to find out about other SharePoint rules.

4.11.2 - Check in or out an item

This rule allows you to check in or check out an item within SharePoint using Kianda.

When to use

This rule should be used when a user within Kianda wanted to check in or check out an item from SharePoint

You can add this rule:

  • to a field
  • to a form
  • to a process (the rule will run on load)

Before you get started

In advance of using the Check in or out an item rule, you need to have created one or more forms within your process. When using the check in or out function of the rule, you are required to have a field within your process that specifies an Id of an item you want to check in or out. For example the Item Id field can be a Text box field. When using the Check in functionality of the rule, you are required to create a field which is used to store a comment for the check in, the field type of the comment can also be a text box.

How to use

To apply this rule, first choose an item to attach the rule to and have a SharePoint data source ready where you want to check in or out an item. This data source should be a predefined data connector created with Data sources under Administration.

  1. Select the field or other item to attach the rule to.

  2. Click on Add a rule > SharePoint > Check in/out an item.

  3. In the Edit rule - Check in/out an item dialog box, give the rule a Title. Then select a SharePoint data source from the drop-down list.

    Check in/out an item dialog box

  4. Three options are presented:

    • List - select the list where the item is present which is needed to be checked in/out.
    • Operation - choose from Check in or Check out. If you choose Check in, then select also a field from a Kianda form which will serve as a Check in comment field.
    • Item Id field - this will be used to determine which item is being checked in/out. Select the appropriate field from a Kianda form.
  5. Once these fields are set you can also set conditions for the rule, see Conditions for more information.

  6. The final two sections are optional: On success mapping and Error mapping. See Success and Error Mapping for more information.

  7. Click on OK when complete.

User tip Target icon

If you have multiple rules attached to the field or other item, you may wish to reorder the rules to change the order of rule execution. Go to Multiple rules to find out more.

What’s next Idea icon

Now that you’ve learned about Check in/out an item, return to the SharePoint rules page to find out about other SharePoint rules.

4.11.3 - Create a group

This rule allows you to create a SharePoint group from within Kianda.

When to use

This rule should be used when you want to create a new SharePoint group from within your Kianda process for example as part of a new project you want to create a group in SharePoint to provide permissions to specific users.

You can add this rule:

  • to a field
  • to a form
  • to a process (the rule will run on load)

Before you get started

In advance of using the Create a group rule, you need to have created one or more forms. In the forms you must have created two separate fields which are needed for:

  • Field which will represent the title of the group, for example a Text box field. To learn more about how to create a text box field go to Text box control.
  • Field which will represent the description of the group, this can also be a text box field.

How to use

To apply this rule, first choose an item to attach the rule to and have a SharePoint data source ready where you want the group to be located. This data source should be a predefined data connector created with Data sources under Administration.

  1. Select the field or other item to attach the rule to.

  2. Click on Add a rule > SharePoint > Create a group.

  3. In the Edit rule - Create a group dialog box, give the rule a Title. Then select a SharePoint data source from the drop-down list.

    Create a group rule dialog box

  4. Two new fields will appear to allow you to confirm group details: For Group title field, select the field where the group title is stored for example, a list field. For Group Description field, create a description for the group.

  5. Once these fields are set you can also set conditions for the rule, see Conditions for more information.

  6. The final two sections are optional: On success mapping and Error mapping. See Success and Error Mapping for more information.

  7. Click on OK when complete.

User tip Target icon

If you have multiple rules attached to the field or other item, you may wish to reorder the rules to change the order of rule execution. Go to Multiple rules to find out more.

What’s next Idea icon

Now that you’ve learned about Create a group, return to the SharePoint rules page to find out about other SharePoint rules.

4.11.4 - Create a list

This rule allows you to create a SharePoint List from within Kianda.

When to use

This rule should be used when within your Kianda process you wish to create a new SharePoint list, for example as part of a new project you want to create a list in SharePoint to store information pertaining to that project such as invoice numbers.

You can add this rule:

  • to a field
  • to a form
  • to a process (the rule will run on load)

Before you get started

In advance of using the Create a list rule, you need to have created one or more forms within your process and within the process you need to create three separate fields which will be used when setting up the rule:

  • A field which will represent the Name of the list, for example a text box field. To learn more about a text box field, go to Text box control.

  • A field which will represent the Description of the newly created list. This field can also be a text box field.

  • A field which will be used when creating the URL for the list. You can also use a text box field.

How to use

To apply this rule, first choose an item to attach the rule to and have a SharePoint data source ready where you want the list to be located. This data source should be a predefined data connector created with Data sources under Administration.

  1. Select a field or other item to attach the rule to.

  2. Click on Add a rule > SharePoint > Create a list.

  3. In the Edit rule - Create a list dialog box, give the rule a Title. Then select a SharePoint data source from the drop-down list.

    Create a list rule dialog box

  4. You will be presented with five options within the dialog box:

    • List template allows you to select an existing SharePoint list within the SharePoint data source to emulate the formatting and design of the list.
    • List name field allows you to create a name for the list. This field, List url field and List description field are all populated from a Kianda form. Choose a field from a Kianda form.
    • List url field will be used in the creation of the URL within SharePoint. Choose a field from a Kianda form.
    • List description field will be used for the SharePoint list description. Choose a field from a Kianda form.
    • Quick Launch menu - options are Yes or No.
  5. Once these fields are set you can also set conditions for the rule, see Conditions for more information.

  6. The final two sections are optional: On success mapping and Error mapping. See Success and Error Mapping for more information.

  7. Click on OK when complete.

User tip Target icon

If you have multiple rules attached to the field or other item, you may wish to reorder the rules to change the order of rule execution. Go to Multiple rules to find out more.

What’s next Idea icon

Now that you’ve learned about Create a list, return to the SharePoint rules page to find out about other SharePoint rules.

4.11.5 - Create a site

This rule allows you to create a SharePoint site from within Kianda.

When to use

This rule should be used when within your Kianda process you wish to create a new SharePoint site, for example, as part of a new project you want to create a site in SharePoint to store information pertaining to that project, to include all lists and other documentation that you need.

You can add this rule:

  • to a field
  • to a form
  • to a process (the rule will run on load)

Before you get stared

In advance of using the Create a site rule, you need to have created one or more forms within your process and within the process you need to create three separate fields. Those fields that you create will be used when filling out the rule details:

  • A field which will represent the Name of the site, for example a text box field. To learn more about a text box field, go to Text box control.

  • A field which will represent the Description of the newly created site, for example a text box field.

  • A field which will be used when creating the URL for the site, for example a text box field.

How to use

To apply this rule, first choose an item to attach the rule to and have a SharePoint data source ready where you want the site to be located. This data source should be a predefined data connector created with Data sources under Administration.

  1. Select a field or other item to attach the rule to.

  2. Click on Add a rule > SharePoint > Create a site.

  3. In the Edit rule - Create a site dialog box, give the rule a Title. Then select a SharePoint data source from the drop-down list.

    Create a site rule dialog box

  4. You will be presented with five options within the dialog box:

    • Site template allows you to select an existing SharePoint site within the SharePoint data source to emulate the formatting and design of the site.
    • Site title field will be used to create the name of the site. Site title field, site URL, and site description field are all derived from the Kianda form. Choose a field from a Kianda form.
    • Site url field will be used in the creation of the URL within SharePoint. Choose a field from a Kianda form.
    • Site description field will be used for the SharePoint site description. Choose a field from a Kianda form.
    • Inherit parent permissions - options are: Yes and No. If you choose ‘Yes’ it will allow your new site to inherit parent permissions for that SharePoint location.
  5. Once these fields are set you can also set conditions for the rule, see Conditions for more information.

  6. The final two sections are optional: On success mapping and Error mapping. See Success and Error Mapping for more information.

  7. Click on OK when complete.

User tip Target icon

If you have multiple rules attached to the field or other item, you may wish to reorder the rules to change the order of rule execution. Go to Multiple rules to find out more.

What’s next Idea icon

Now that you’ve learned about Create a site, return to the SharePoint rules page to find out about other SharePoint rules.

4.11.6 - Create an anonymous link

This rule allows you to create an anonymous link for a file within SharePoint from a Kianda form. This can be useful for example to share with contractors who don’t need to be set up as SharePoint users, but may need access to a file in SharePoint.

When to use

This rule should be used when a file within SharePoint should be shared with an individual via an anonymous link.

You can add this rule:

  • to a field

  • to a form

  • to a process (the rule will run on load)

Before you get started

In advance of using the Create anonymous link, in your process you need to have created at least one or more forms. The create anonymous link rule also requires two control fields. A file control in order to store a file which you want to share and a text box control for storing the generated link. You can also create another text box or a number field to store the link duration, this field is optional but can be a good idea if you want to customise the duration of the link dynamically.

  • File field - used to store the file which you want to create a link to. To learn how to create a file field go to File upload control.
  • Text box field - used to store the generated anonymous link which can be shared with other users. To learn how to create a text box field go to Text box control.
  • Text box or Number field (optional) - allows you to determine the duration of the link in hours. To learn how to create a number field go to Number control.

How to use

To apply this rule, first choose an item to attach the rule to, for example a file field within a form in Kianda.

  1. Select a file field.

  2. Click on Add a rule > SharePoint > Create anonymous link.

  3. In the Edit rule - Create anonymous link dialog box, give the rule a Title.

    Create anonymous link dialog box

  4. Under Select a file field with files to create anonymous link(s) select the file field to link to the desired SharePoint file(s).

  5. Under Link duration in hours type in a number value. By default the link duration is 6 hours, but this can be increased or decreased as needed.

  6. Under Select a field to store resulting anonymous link(s) choose a field within Kianda to store this anonymous link, which can then be used to access the file. For example you could create a utility panel with a textbox for the anonymous link, where the panel and the textbox are not visible to users. This textbox is simply used to hold the system generated link.

  7. Once these fields are set you can also set conditions for the rule, see Conditions for more information.

  8. The final two sections are optional: On success mapping and Error mapping. See Success and Error Mapping for more information.

  9. Click on OK when complete.

User tip Target icon

If you have multiple rules attached to the field or other item, you may wish to reorder the rules to change the order of rule execution. Go to Multiple rules to find out more.

What’s next Idea icon

Now that you’ve learned about Create anonymous link, return to the SharePoint rules page to find out about other SharePoint rules.

4.11.7 - Find a user

This rule allows you to find a user from a data source using a Kianda process.

When to use

Use this rule to pull user data into a Kianda form for example when someone wants to add employee information to a form using SharePoint details.

You can add this rule:

  • to a field
  • to a form
  • to a process (the rule will run on load)

Before you get started

In advance of using the Find a user rule, you need to have created at least one or more forms within your process. The find a user rule also requires you to create a field which is used as the search term for the user. You can retrieve two pieces of data from a user that you are looking for, a Username and a User Id. You can store the retrieved data in a field within your form, for example in a Text box field.

How to use

To apply this rule, first choose an item to attach the rule to and have a SharePoint data source ready where you have your user located. This data source should be a predefined data connector created with Data sources under Administration.

  1. Select a field or other item to attach the rule to.

  2. Click on Add a rule > SharePoint > Find a user.

  3. In the Edit rule - Find a user dialog box, give the rule a Title. Then select a SharePoint data source from the drop-down list.

Find a user dialog box

  1. You will be presented with two options within the dialog box:

    • Find user by provides the search criteria to find the user that is, display name, email, or ID. These are all SharePoint parameters.

    • Search term field is used to select the Kianda form field which will be used to lookup the user details from the data source.

  2. Once these fields are set you can also set conditions for the rule, see Conditions for more information.

  3. On success mapping is used to retrieve data from the user we are searching for. The two pieces of data you can retrieve is a Username and User Id. Go to On success mapping to learn how to retrieve data and populate it in a form field.

  4. The final section is optional: Error mapping. See On error Mapping for more information.

  5. Click on OK when complete.

User tip Target icon

If you have multiple rules attached to the field or other item, you may wish to reorder the rules to change the order of rule execution. Go to Multiple rules to find out more.

What’s next Idea icon

Now that you’ve learned about Find a user, return to the SharePoint rules page to find out about other SharePoint rules.

4.11.8 - Get List item attachments

This rule allows you to retrieve an attachment from a SharePoint list for use in a Kianda process.

When to use

This rule should be used when an attachment needs to be extracted from SharePoint and displayed within a Kianda process, for example a SharePoint list with attachment as seen in the image below.

List attachment example

You can add this rule:

  • to a field

  • to a form

  • to a process (the rule will run on load)

Before you get stared

In advance of using the Get attachments rule, in your process you need to have created at least one or more forms. The get attachments rule also requires one file field which is used to store the attachment that you want to retrieve from your SharePoint. To learn more about file field in Kianda, go to File upload control.

How to use

To apply this rule, first choose an item to attach the rule to and have a SharePoint data source ready where you have your attachments from a list located. This data source should be a predefined data connector created with Data sources under Administration.

  1. Select the field or other item to attach the rule to.
  2. Click on Add a rule > SharePoint > Get attachments.
  3. In the Edit rule - Get attachments dialog box, give the rule a Title. Get attachments dialog box
  4. If you want to add conditions for the rule, click on the Edit conditions button Edit conditions button. You create a condition for a rule if you want it to be triggered when a condition is true or false, see Conditions for more details.
  5. Under the Action section fill out the following:
    • Select data source - this button when pressed is used to select a SharePoint datasource that you want to use when retrieving an attachment.
    • Data source filter - this is used to filter data within your datasource. It works on condition bases which allows you to pull wanted and unwanted data back into the process. To learn more about conditions go to Conditions.
    • Select a destination file input - this drop-down field is used to select a file field from your process. The selected file field will store the attachment retrieved from the datasource.
  6. When you are finished editing the dialog box, click on OK or click on Close at any time to exit the dialog box.

This rule can then be run for example on a button which is manually triggered by a user, or automatically on load of the process. From here the file can be utilised to populate data fields, tables and so on. Go to the Rules page to navigate to other rules.

User tip Target icon

If you have multiple rules attached to the field or other item, you may wish to reorder the rules to change the order of rule execution. Go to Multiple rules to find out more.

What’s next Idea icon

Now that you’ve learned about Get attachments, return to the SharePoint rules page to find out about other SharePoint rules.

4.11.9 - Remove a user from a group

This rule allows you to remove a user from a SharePoint group using Kianda.

When to use

This rule should be used when a user within Kianda should be removed from a SharePoint Group, for example, an employee leaving a company and to ensure they are removed from team groups.

You can add this rule:

  • to a field
  • to a form
  • to a process (the rule will run on load)

Before you get started

In advance of using the Remove a user from a group rule, you need to have created one or more forms in your process. In the forms you must have created two separate fields which are needed for:

  • Field which will represent the title of the group you want to remove a user from, for example a Text box field. To learn more about how to create a text box field go to Text box control.
  • Field which will represent the description of the group, this can also be a text box field.

How to use

To apply this rule, first choose an item to attach the rule to and have a SharePoint data source ready where you want the user to be removed from a group. This data source should be a predefined data connector created with Data sources under Administration.

  1. Select the field or other item to attach the rule to.

  2. Click on Add a rule > SharePoint > Remove a user from a group.

  3. In the Edit rule - Remove a user from a group dialog box, give the rule a Title. Then select a SharePoint data source from the drop-down list.

    Remove a user from a group dialog box

  4. Two new fields will appear: Username and Group name. These are used to confirm the user which is to be removed and the group they are to be removed from. For Group title field, select the field where the group title is stored for example, a list field. For Username or User Id, select the field where the Username or User id is stored.

  5. Once these fields are set you can also set conditions for the rule, see Conditions for more information.

  6. The final two sections are optional: On success mapping and Error mapping. See Success and Error Mapping for more information.

  7. Click on OK when complete.

User tip Target icon

If you have multiple rules attached to the field or other item, you may wish to reorder the rules to change the order of rule execution. Go to Multiple rules to find out more.

What’s next Idea icon

Now that you’ve learned about Remove a user from a group, return to the SharePoint rules page to find out about other SharePoint rules.

4.11.10 - Reset permissions

This rule allows you to reset permissions for a user/group within a SharePoint site/list/item using Kianda.

When to use

This rule should be used when you wish to alter permissions within Kianda to reflect within SharePoint.

You can add this rule:

  • to a field

  • to a form

  • to a process (the rule will run on load)

How to use

To apply this rule, first choose an item to attach the rule to and have a SharePoint data source ready where you want the user/group permissions to be reset. This data source should be a predefined data connector created with Data sources under Administration.

  1. Select the field to attach the rule to.

  2. Click on Add a rule > SharePoint > Reset an item permissions.

  3. In the Edit rule - Reset an item permissions dialog box, give the rule a Title. Then select a SharePoint data source from the drop-down list.

    Reset an item permissions dialog box

  4. You will be presented with three options:

    • Item type is used to confirm what level the permissions are to be set, be it at a site level, list level or item level. Choose from the options:
      • Site - When selecting the site option, a Site relative url field drop-down is presented which is used to select a field from your process. The field should contain the full URL path to the site that you want to reset permissions for.
      • List - When selecting the list option, a List relative url field drop-down is presented which is used to select a field from your process. The field should contain the full URL path to the list that you want to reset permissions for.
      • Item - When selecting the item option, an Item id field drop-down and List title field drop-down are presented. The item id field is used to specify which Kianda field contains the Id identifier for the item you want to change permissions for. The List title field is used to specify which Kianda field contains the title of the list that stores the item.
    • Existing permissions allows you to either append or override the permissions of the user/group within SharePoint. Choose from the options: Add to existing or Replace existing. If it is set to Add to existing it will append the permissions and if it is set to Replace existing it will override the current permissions and only reflect the new permissions assigned via this rule.
  5. Under Input mapping section, click on Add mapping. This setting is used to determine what level of permissions the user/group will be assigned. For User or Group id, select the field where the user is stored. This could be either a User Picker field or a text field. Select the Permission level from the drop-down list.

    Permissions in SharePoint dialog box

    There are 10 permissions:

    • Full control - enables users to have full control of the website

    • Design - enables users to view, add, update, delete, approve, and customize items or pages in the website.

    • Edit - enables users to manage lists.

    • Contribute - enables users to manage personal views, edit items and user information, delete versions in existing lists and document libraries, and add, remove, and update personal Web Parts.

    • Read - enables users to view pages and list items, and to download documents.

    • View Only - enables users to view application pages. The View Only permission level is used for the Excel Services Viewers group.

    • Approve - enables users to edit and approve pages, list items, and documents. For publishing sites only.

    • Manage Hierarchy - enables users to create sites; edit pages, list items, and documents, and change site permissions. For Publishing sites only.

    • Restricted Read - enables users to view pages and documents. For publishing sites only.

    • Restricted Interfaces for Translation - enables users to view lists/libraries properties by remote interface (like REST API, Web Services).

    For more on SharePoint permissions go to https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/sites/user-permissions-and-permission-levels.

  6. Once these fields are set you can also set conditions for the rule, see Conditions for more information.

  7. The final two sections are optional: On success mapping and Error mapping. See Success and Error Mapping for more information.

  8. Click on OK when complete.

User tip Target icon

If you have multiple rules attached to the field or other item, you may wish to reorder the rules to change the order of rule execution. Go to Multiple rules to find out more.

What’s next Idea icon

Now that you’ve learned about Reset permissions, return to the SharePoint rules page to find out about other SharePoint rules.

5 - Dashboard pages

Kianda dashboards deliver a convenient way to provide insights into how your business processes are performing. Dashboards offer easy reporting, permissions management, quick build, condition-based filtering and many more useful features.

From lists to tiles, filters and charts, dashboards allow you to build full digital experiences to monitor your real-time processes in a few minutes.

There are 3 steps involved in creating a dashboard:

  1. Create a dashboard page.
  2. Add one or more widgets.
  3. Configure or edit the widgets to make the page look the way you want.

This page covers how to create, edit, and delete dashboards and give an overview of how to add widgets to a dashboard page.

If you are using Kianda predefined processes from the App Store, then dashboards have already been created for you! These are available by clicking on Dashboard from the main side menu or left-hand pane.

Before you begin, it is important to be aware that there are two modes involved in dashboard pages, an Edit mode and View mode as described below.

Edit mode and View mode

When using dashboards, there are two modes: Edit mode and View mode.

Dashboards View mode

When you are in View mode, the Edit button Edit button will be visible to the right in the top menu bar.

View mode

Dashboards Edit mode

When you click on the Edit current page button Edit button you will be in Edit mode. When you are viewing a page in Edit mode, these options will be available to you along the top of the dashboard page:

  • the Widget menu where you can insert any of the seven available dashboard widgets
  • the Settings button Settings to make changes to the dashboard page
  • the Bin/Trash button Bin button to delete the dashboard page
  • the Add layout container button Dashboard Add layout container button to add a layout container to the dashboard page in order to organise the widgets on the page and achieve the layout you want
  • three buttons Dashboard widget buttons in edit mode on each widget on the dashboard that allow you to edit the options relating to that widget type (Update configuration), edit the widget settings (Update widget settings) or delete the widget from the dashboard (Remove widget)

Page edit mode

If you want to create a dashboard page from scratch go to How to create a dashboard page or if you want to learn more about dashboard widgets go to Dashboard widgets.

How to create a Dashboard page

Kianda offers a user-friendly interface to create dashboards in minutes. This video covers the steps for creating a new dashboard:

To create a new Dashboard page:

  1. Click on Home Home button in the left-hand pane

  2. Click on the Create a new page icon Create a new page

  3. A Create dashboard page dialog box will open, allowing you to choose from a range of options for your new dashboard page:

    Create dashboard page dialog box

The options in the Create dashboard page dialog box include:

  • Title - The title of the dashboard page. You can insert whatever title you want - for example, ‘Training Requests’.

  • Name - This is a unique name for the dashboard.

  • Visible to - You can decide who will be able see the dashboard. You can select single or multiple users or Groups or a combination of the two (as shown here):

    Dashboard page visible to

    Note: Levels of Security

    • Dashboard-level security can only be applied if you are an Administrator and can set the visibility of dashboards and widgets. The dashboard page-level security you are setting here - who can see the dashboard page - will override any security you set for the visibility of individual widgets on that dashboard. See Dashboard security and Widget security for more information.

    • Widget security: You will also be able to set security for each of the individual widgets that you add to the dashboard, i.e. who can view each dashboard widget.

  • Icon - You can choose an icon for your dashboard page from a drop-down list of hundreds of available icons.

    Dashboard icon drop down menu

    The icon you select will appear next to the dashboard title when you click on Dashboard in the left side menu to view all of the available dashboards:

    Dashboard page icon example

  • Sort order - Choose a numeric value - by either typing it into the field or by clicking on the up down arrows at the right of the field Up down arrows - for the place you want this dashboard to go in terms of the order of the dashboard pages in your main left side menu.

  • Group - You can choose to group this dashboard as a sub-page of an existing dashboard page. If you want to do this, insert the name of the dashboard page you want to group this new dashboard page under.

  • Enable favourites - Select this checkbox if you want to insert an ‘Add to favourites’ button to the top menu in the dashboard.

    Once you complete the Create dashboard page dialog box and click OK, and then click the Save button Dashboard Save buttonin the top dashboard menu, a new ‘Add to favourites’ button will be added to your top dashboard menu:

    Dashboard Add to favourites button being clicked

    If you want to add the current dashboard to your favourites:

    • Click the Add to favourites button Dashboard Add to favourites button star icon

    • Complete the Add to favourite dialog box that opens and then click the Add favourite button to add this dashboard to your favourites (or click Close to cancel adding it to your favourites):

      Dashboard Add to favourite dialog box

    • If you click ‘Add favourite’, the dialog box will close and a pop-up message will display saying ‘Favourite saved successfully’. A new star icon will now appear next to this dashboard page in the Dashboards menu in the main left side menu (denoting that it is a favourite page).

      Favourited dashboard page with star

  1. Click on the OK button when you are have completed the Create dashboard page dialog box (or click on Close to close the dialog box and cancel the creation of the new dashboard page).

  2. The output is a menu with a number of widgets available that you can add to the dashboard.

    Widget menu

    Note: To add a widget to a dashboard, simply click on the widget type from the widget menu when you are in Edit mode. See How to add layout containers to a Dashboard page and How to add widgets to a Dashboard page to learn more, and go to Dashboard widgets to find out more about each widget type.

  3. Click on the Save button Dashboard Save buttonin the top menu to save any changes you make to the new Dashboard page - a pop-up message saying ‘Page saved successfully’ will display.

    Alternatively, if you don’t want to save the changes you’ve made to the page, click on the Stop editing page button to return to View mode without saving changes:

    Dashboard stop editing page button

  4. You are now in View mode. To make further changes to the dashboard page, return to Edit mode by clicking on the Edit button Edit button in the top menu.

How to edit a Dashboard page

  1. Click on the Edit current page button Edit button to go into Edit mode.
  2. Click on the Settings button Settings - see How to edit Dashboard page settings for more details.
  3. Click on the Save button Dashboard Save button in the top dashboard menu to save the changes to the page.

How to delete a Dashboard page

  1. Click on the Edit current page button Edit button to go into Edit mode.

  2. Click on the Trash/Bin icon Bin.

  3. A Delete page dialog box will open:

    Delete dashboard dialog box

  4. Click on OK to confirm that you want to delete the dashboard page (or click on Cancel to cancel the deletion).

  5. Click on the Save button Dashboard Save button in the top dashboard menu to save the changes to the page.

How to add layout containers to a Dashboard page

A layout container is a simple way to organise, arrange and move the widgets you add to your dashboard. It works in a way that is similar to how a Panel layout control is used in a form to organise the fields in a form.

To add a layout container to a Dashboard:

  1. Click on the Edit current page button Edit button to go into Edit mode.

  2. Click the green Add layout container button Dashboard Add layout container button at the bottom right of the dashboard page.

  3. Complete the Create a layout container dialog box that opens by inserting a name and then selecting the width you want for the layout container (by selecting how wide the blue bar is):

    Dashboard Create a layout container dialog box

Note:

  • If you know the layout you want for your Dashboard, in terms of what widgets you want to put where, and how large you want the various widgets to be, insert layout containers before you start adding widgets to your dashboard page. Then, when you insert each widget, you can choose which layout container you want to assign it to when you are creating the widget.

  • Alternatively, if you aren’t sure what widgets you are going to add or what layout you want for your dashboard, you can simply start adding widgets to your dashboard without any layout containers. Once you have added the widgets to the dashboard, you can either drag and drop the widgets to get the dashboard page layout you want or you can go back and insert layout containers and assign widgets to those containers but clicking on the Update widget settings button for each widget.

  • For example, for this existing widget, by opening the Edit widget dialog box, we can now choose to assign it to any of the four available layout containers:

    Dashboard widget assign to layout container

    How to edit and delete a layout container

    To edit a layout container:

    1. Find the layout container you would like to edit and click on the Edit layout container button Edit layout container button image in the bottom left corner of the layout container.

    2. In the Create a layout container dialog box, apply any necessary changes to the fields.

      Editing a layout container image
    3. When finished click on OK to confirm your changes, or click on Close to cancel your changes.

    4. Click on the Save button Dashboard Save button in the top dashboard menu to save the changes to the page.

    To delete a layout container:

    1. Find the layout container you would like to edit and click on the Delete button Delete button image.
    2. Click on the Save button Dashboard Save button in the top dashboard menu to save the changes to the page.

    The widgets that were previously within that layout container will then be appended to the end of the dashboard page.

How to add widgets to a Dashboard page

To add a widget to a Dashboard page:

  1. Click on the Edit current page button Edit button to go into Edit mode.

  2. If you know the layout you want for your Dashboard, click the green Add layout container button Dashboard Add layout container button to create a layout container or several layout containers. See How to add layout containers to a Dashboard page.

  3. Click on the type of widget you want to insert, from the seven available widget types in the dashboard widgets menu.

    Dashboard widgets menu in Edit mode

  4. Complete the relevant dialog boxes for the widget type you have chosen. To learn more, go to Dashboard widgets and click on the widget type you want to add to your dashboard to find out more about it.

  5. Once you have added your widget(s), click on the Save button Dashboard Save button in the top dashboard menu to save the changes to the page.

Dashboard widgets

Kianda comes with 7 predefined dashboard widgets that you can add to a dashboard page once you are in Edit mode. Using these widgets, you can quickly and easily create a process dashboard in minutes.

To learn more about each widget type and how to add it to a dashboard, click on the name of the widget:

  • Rich Text widget: The Rich Text widget can be used to display text, links or images in a dashboard.

  • Tile widget: The Tile widget can be used to display a count of instances with different colour schemes. You could also add conditions to a display count - for example, you could add a condition of “Status” equals “In-progress” so that the count of process instances with a status of “In-progress” is displayed.

  • Chart widget: Using a Chart widget, you could display a pie chart, bar chart or a line chart in your dashboard. These charts can be used to represent various conditions in a process.

  • List widget: The List widget displays the instances (individual records) of the selected process. It can also be used to connect with any other widget to display the filtered items.

  • Filter widget: The Filter widget can be used to filter process instances based on a field. For example, process instances could be filtered by status.

  • Link widget: The Link widget can be used to add a link to a new process, dashboard or any external sources (such as SharePoint or a website).

  • Walk-through widget: The Walk-through widget allows you to create a walk-through of a process quickly which could be made available to a user, group or organisation.

When you have added one or more dashboard widgets, you can move the widgets around the dashboard page using the Drag handle button. This is possible when you are in Edit mode, see Edit mode and View mode.

Drag handle button

How to edit Dashboard page settings

To edit a Dashboard page:

  1. Click on the Edit current page button Edit button to go into Edit mode.

  2. Click on the Settings button Settings.

  3. An Edit dashboard page dialog box opens:

Edit dashboard page dialog box

The options available are the same as those available in the Create dashboard page dialog box used to create a new dashboard page - see How to create a dashboard page - but there are also two additional options:

  • Display in mobile footer - Select this checkbox to display a link to the dashboard in the footer of a mobile phone when the Kianda workspace is accessed on a mobile. Here we can see the example of a link to a dashboard page called ‘Staff onboarding’ available in the footer of a mobile phone:

    Display dashboard in mobile phone footer

  • Hide from navigation - Select this checkbox if you want to hide this dashboard from the navigation in the left side menu.

    Note: Selecting this option will override whatever options you may have inserted in the ‘Visible to’ option in the Create dashboard page dialog box (which allows you to restrict who can see the dashboard). Selecting Hide from navigation will mean the dashboard page will not be visible to anyone in the main side menu.

  1. Click on the Version history information button information button to view the version history of the dashboard. This allows you to view the current dashboard version as well as all the previously saved dashboard versions, when they were modified, and by who they were saved. Clicking on the Restore page version button restore page version button allows you to rollback to that version, which changes all the current dashboard widgets and settings to reflect the version selected. It should be noted that when rolling back to a previous version for example version 2.0 from version 5.0, you can still restore a version that succeeds version 2.0 if necessary as the version numbers are incremental.

    dashboard version history

  2. Click on the OK button to save the changes you have made in the Edit dashboard page dialog box (or click on Close to exit the dialog box without saving).

  3. Click on the Save button Dashboard Save button in the top dashboard menu to save the changes to the page.

Enabling data export from dashboards

Kianda allows users to export the data from dashboards with a simple click.

This video explains how to set up the configuration to export data from dashboards:

Offline availability

Kianda is a progressive web application. This enables Kianda dashboards to provide insights to the business processes, even in offline mode.

This can be beneficial for businesses with users who will need to complete forms when their device is offline - for example, a business with users who carry out inspections or maintenance in remote locations with no access to the internet. While working offline, the user can still create new process instances or carry out actions on an existing instance.

Saving changes

Make sure to save any changes you make to your Dashboard by clicking on the Save button Dashboard Save button.

What’s next Idea icon

We have briefly introduced Kianda Dashboards. Now let’s look at each of available Dashboard widgets - and Conditions that can be applied to some of them - in more detail:

5.1 - Rich Text widget

A dashboard Rich Text widget can be used to create custom rich text content on a dashboard page, such as an attractive banner or heading. It can provide optimum formatting options, such as bold and italics and the option to insert images or links.

How to get started

To add a Rich Text widget to a dashboard:

  1. Open the relevant dashboard page. To learn how to create your first dashboard page, go to How to create a dashboard page.

    For this example, we’ll open a dashboard page called ‘Annual Leave’ that currently only has a List widget on it:

    Annual Leave dashboard page example

  2. Click on the Edit current page button from the top dashboard menu to go into Dashboard Edit mode (in which the Widget menu, Settings button Settings, Bin/Trash button Bin trash button and Add layout container button Dashboard Add layout container button are available):

    Click Edit current page button to go into Edit mode

  3. Click on the Rich Text widget button in the Dashboard Widget menu.

    Select the Rich Text button in the Dashboard Widget menu

  4. The Add widget dialog box opens with a range of options for your new Rich Text widget.

    Dashboard Add widget dialog box

    Choose the options you want:

    • Title - You can insert the title you want for your Rich Text widget. In our example, we’ll call it ‘Information’.

    • Layout columns - You can choose how wide you want your Rich Text widget to be. You can choose from 1 to 12 columns in width by clicking on the blue bar. For example click half-way across the blue bar to create a widget that is 6 columns wide, or click on the right of the blue bar to create a column that is 12 columns wide.

    • Colour scheme - You can choose from six colour options for the header of the widget (Navy, Green, Blue, Amber, Red or White).

    • Show header - You can choose whether or not you want the header of your Dashboard widget to be shown.

    • Visible to - You can determine who will be able to see the Rich Text widget. You can select single or multiple Users or Groups, or a combination of the two. You can select Users or Groups in the right-hand menu so that the options shown in the drop-down list are either individual users or Groups.

      To find out more about pre-defined Groups on Kianda, go to Users & Groups.

      • Note - Dashboard page security: When a dashboard page is first created, the users(s)/group(s) who will be able to view the dashboard are selected in the ‘Visible to’ option in the Create dashboard page dialog box (see Step 3 in How to create a Dashboard page).

        You can also edit or update this setting at any point to change who has permission to view a particular dashboard page. This higher dashboard-level security setting will take precedence over the security settings (‘Visible to’) that are applied to the individual widgets within the dashboard (such as the Rich Text widget, in this case).

        See Dashboard security and Widget security for more information.

    • Layout container - This option will only display if you have already created layout containers for your Dashboard page. Here, you can select which layout container you want your new Link widget to be placed in.

      A layout container is a simple way to organise, arrange and move the widgets you add to your dashboard. To learn more about layout containers, go to How to add layout containers to a Dashboard page.

      In this example, we can select to place our new Rich Text widget into one of three layout containers - Top, Middle or Bottom:

      Dashboard Add widget dialog box select Layout container

    • Device visibility - You can choose what devices and types of internet connections the dashboard Rich Text widget will be visible on - select all the options you want from Desktop, Tablet, Mobile, Wi-Fi and Flight mode as to when the device can view the dashboards. By default, all options are selected.

Device visibility

  1. Click on OK when you’ve completed the Add widget dialog box.

  2. An Edit content dialog box automatically opens:

    Dashboard Rich Text widget Edit content dialog box

    • Insert the content you want to appear in your Rich Text widget by using the available options.

    • Insert the text you want to appear in the body of the Edit content dialog box. You can choose from an wide array of styles and formats, including: Style, Colour, Bold, Underline, Remove font style, Font size, Font family, Unordered list, Ordered list, Paragraph, and Table.

    • You can also choose to insert a Link or Picture or to switch to Code view (if you click on Code view button Code view buttonyou can copy HTML code directly into the text).

    • If you click on the Picture button Picture buttonyou will be redirected to the File storage area where you can search for existing images stored in the Kianda file system, you can also create a folder, upload or delete a file.

    Storage files management area

    For our example, we will insert text details relating to the Annual Leave dashboard, format them as we want, and also insert a suitable image:

    Dashboard Rich Text widget Edit content dialog box example

  3. Click on the OK button when you are finished inserting the content you want in your Rich Text widget or click on Close to exit the dialog box without saving.

  4. Your Rich Text widget will now be displayed on your dashboard. Click on Save Dashboard Save button in the dashboard top menu to save the insertion of the new widget.

    Dashboard Rich Text widget example

How to edit Rich Text widgets

To edit a Rich Text widget on a dashboard:

  1. In the dashboard, click on the Edit current page button Edit button in the top menu to view the page in Dashboard Edit mode (in which the Widget menu, Settings button Settings and Bin/Trash button Bin trash button are available).

  2. Click on the Rich Text widget’s Update configuration (Edit) button Dashboard update configuration button.

    Select Dashboard Rich Text widget Update configuration button

  3. The Edit content dialog box opens, enabling you to make whatever changes you want to the content of the Rich Text widget using the same range of options as outlined in Step 6 of How to get started.

  4. Making the changes you want and then click OK.

  5. The updated Rich Text widget will be shown on the Dashboard. Click on Save Dashboard Save button in the dashboard top menu to save the changes you’ve made.

How to move Rich Text widgets

To move a Rich Text widget on a dashboard:

  1. On your dashboard, click on the Edit current page button Edit button in the top menu to go into Dashboard Edit mode.
  2. Select the widget’s drag handle button Dashboard widget drag handle button.
  3. Drag and drop the widget where you want it to go on your dashboard.
  4. Click on Save Dashboard Save button in the dashboard top menu to save the changes you’ve made.

In our example, we could move the new Rich Text widget to the left of the List widget:

Move a Dashboard Rich Text widget

How to delete Rich Text widgets

To delete a Rich Text widget from your dashboard:

  1. On your dashboard, click on the Edit current page button Edit button in the top menu to go into Dashboard Edit mode.

  2. Click on the widget’s Remove widget (Bin/Trash icon) button Bin icon.

    Delete Dashboard Rich Text widget

  3. A Delete widget dialog box will open. Click on OK to delete the widget (or click on Cancel if you wish to cancel the deletion).

    Dashboard Delete widget dialog

  4. Click on Save Dashboard Save button in the dashboard top menu to save the changes you’ve made.

How to edit Rich Text widget settings

To update or edit your Rich Text widget settings:

  1. On your dashboard, click on the Edit current page button Edit button in the top menu to go into Dashboard Edit mode.

  2. Click on the Update widget settings (Cog) button Dashboard Update widget settings button.

    Dashboard Update widget settings button

  3. The Edit widget dialog box will open, enabling you to make changes to any of the available options (the same options as were available in the Create widget dialog box discussed in Step 4 of How to get started).

    Dashboard Rich Text widget Edit widget dialog box

    In our example, we could choose to make increase the width of the Rich Text widget to be 7 columns wide, by clicking to the right of the existing blue bar.

  4. Click on OK to confirm the changes you’ve made to the widget settings (or click on Close if you don’t want to retain any changes).

  5. The updated Rich Text widget will display on your dashboard. Click on Save Dashboard Save button in the dashboard top menu to save the changes you’ve made.

Saving changes

Make sure to save any changes you make to your Rich Text widget by clicking on the Save button Dashboard Save button in the dashboard top menu. If you leave the dashboard without saving the changes you have made to a widget, the next time you visit the dashboard it won’t include any of the changes made to it since the dashboard page was last saved.

What’s next Idea icon

Now that you’ve learned about the Dashboard Rich Text widget, find out more about the other types of Dashboard widget you can add to your Kianda dashboard:

5.2 - Tile widget

A dashboard Tile widget allows you to display a count of instances. This is a really useful way to showcase whole numbers - for example, the total budget requested through Purchase Orders, the number of customer queries solved in a week or the number of training requests that have been approved.

How to get started

  1. After creating a dashboard page, make sure you are in Edit mode, by clicking on the Edit button Edit button at the top of the page, so the Widget menu with 7 widget types is available. Then click on the Tile widget Tile widget button.

  2. The Add widget dialog box opens.

    Add tile widget

    Choose from the edit options:

    • Title - the dashboard title, for example Type of Training

    • Layout columns - control the size of the dashboard, choose from 1 to 12 columns in width. For example click half-way across the blue bar to create a panel that is 6 columns wide, or click on the right of the blue bar to create a column that is 12 columns wide.

    • Colour scheme - choose from Navy, Green, Blue, Amber, Red or White Colours for your dashboard.

    • Show header checkbox - tick this checkbox if you wish to show a header on your dashboard.

    • Visible to - You can determine who will be able to see the Tile widget. You can select single or multiple Users or Groups, or a combination of the two. You can select Users or Groups in the right-hand menu so that the options shown in the drop-down list are either individual users or Groups.

      To find out more about pre-defined Groups on Kianda, go to Users & Groups.

      • Note - Dashboard page security: When a dashboard page is first created, the users(s)/group(s) who will be able to view the dashboard are selected in the ‘Visible to’ option in the Create dashboard page dialog box (see Step 3 in How to create a Dashboard page).

        You can also edit or update this setting at any point to change who has permission to view a particular dashboard page. This higher dashboard-level security setting will take precedence over the security settings (‘Visible to’) that are applied to the individual widgets within the dashboard (such as the Tile widget, in this case).

        See Dashboard security and Widget security for more information.

    • Layout container - This option will only display if you have already created layout containers for your Dashboard page. Here, you can select which layout container you want your new Tile widget to be placed in.

      A layout container is a simple way to organise, arrange and move the widgets you add to your dashboard. To learn more about layout containers, go to How to add layout containers to a Dashboard page.

      In this example, we can select to place our new Tile widget into one of three layout containers - Top, Middle or Bottom:

      Dashboard Add widget dialog box select Layout container

    • Device visibility - choose from icons for deshtop, tablet, mobile, wifi and flightmode as to when the device can view the dashboards.

      Device visibility

  3. Click on the OK button when you are finished editing the dashboard to save your changes or click on Close to exit the dialog box without saving.

  4. You can then edit the widget to display certain fields from your form, that relates to the data you are interested in. Go to Configure your widget to find out more.

  5. When you are finished making edits, click on the Save button Save button in the top menu to ensure your dashboard changes are saved and you see a pop-up message Page saved successfully.

  6. To make further changes later on, click on the Edit button Edit button in the top menu and then click on the Pen button.

    Pen button in a widget

  7. To re-edit the title, colour scheme or other options in Step 2, click on the Settings button Settings buttonand the Edit widget dialog box options, allowing you to make changes.

  8. To delete the widget at any stage, click on the Bin icon Bin button beside the cog button, and then click on Ok to confirm that you want to delete the dashboard page or click on Cancel if you wish to cancel the deletion.

Configure your widget

  1. Click on the Update configuration or Pen button in a tile widget you have created.

    Tile widget edit

  2. A dialog box opens with filter options in the left-hand pane, a Conditions button Conditions in the middle of the box, and tile view fields and Key performance indicators in the right-hand pane. Go to Conditions to read more about conditions you can apply to dashboard widgets, and go to Tile view fields to read more about changing how a tile looks.

    Editing a tile widget

  3. The first option on the left is to choose is where the data should originate from using the Data from radio buttons. Choose from a) Process b) Partner process c) Data source. Depending on which option you choose go to the relevant area to read more on Choosing data from a Process, Choosing data from a Partner process and Choosing data from a Data source.

  4. The second option Show processes has 3 radio buttons associated with it a) Matching condition b) Matching condition and assigned to current user c) Matching condition and created by current user.

  5. The third option Show decimals allows you to choose if a decimal point is used in the number displayed. Choose from a) Yes or b) No if you want to only show a whole number.

  6. The fourth option Connect to List widget allows you to choose if this widget should connect to List widgets you have created for this dashboard page. Choose from a) Yes or b) No if you want to connect the widgets. If you click on Yes then click into the List Widget field and choose from previously created list widgets.

    Connect to List widget

  7. Tile expression allows you to select if the displayed number in the tile is a count, sum, or average of the data.

  8. Tile icon is where you can choose what icon will be displayed in the tile to suit your specific needs.

  9. Change color or text of tile based on condition/s - this section allows you to add key performance indicators (KPI) to your tile widget. For example, if the value you’re monitoring rises above 10, the colour and icon can be changed to indicate. This can draw your attention to key indicators such as emergencies or unacceptable levels of non-conformance within your organisation.

    To create a KPI, click on the white Plus button White plus button image to bring up the Add Tile KPI screen.

    KPI image

    On the Add Tile KPI screen, fill out:

    • KPI condition - choose an operator such as greater than, equal to - followed by a value. When this condition is met, the tile will change to the below properties:
    • Tile title - the new title of the tile
    • Tile icon - the new icon of the tile
    • Tile colour - the new colour of the tile

    When finished, click OK to save your changes, or click Close to cancel your changes.

    All KPIS will be displayed in the modal dialog, and can be deleted by clicking on the Bin/Trash icon button Bin icon. You can click on pen edit icon pen icon image to edit the associated KPI also.

    KPIs all view image

  10. When you are finished choosing options, click on the OK button to save your changes or click on Close to exit the dialog box without saving.

Choosing data from a Process

If you choose data from a Process, then the options below become available.

Choosing data from a Process

Choose from the following options:

  • Business process - click into the field to choose a process which will be the input for the dashboard.
  • Show processes - choose from a) Matching condition b) Matching condition and assigned to current user c) Matching condition and created by current user.

Choosing data from a Partner Process

If you choose data from a Partner Process, then the options below become available.

Choosing data from a Process

Choose from the following options:

  • Partner - click into the field to choose from a pre-configured Partner who has created the process you are interested in.
  • Business process - click into the field to choose a process which will be the input for the dashboard.
  • Show processes - choose from a) Matching condition b) Matching condition and assigned to current user c) Matching condition and created by current user

Choosing data from a Data source

If you choose data from a Data source, then click on the Select data source button.

Selecting a data source

You will be directed to different data sources where you can search in the datasource tree search box or drill down to the data source you want.

Select data source

Click on the OK button when you are finished editing to save your changes or click on Close to exit the dialog box without saving.

How to move Tile widgets

To move a Tile widget on a dashboard:

  1. On your dashboard, click on the Edit current page button Edit button in the top menu to go into Dashboard Edit mode.
  2. Select the widget’s drag handle button Dashboard widget drag handle button.
  3. Drag and drop the widget where you want it to go on your dashboard.
  4. Click on Save Dashboard Save button in the dashboard top menu to save the changes you’ve made.

How to delete Tile widgets

To delete a Tile widget from your dashboard:

  1. On your dashboard, click on the Edit current page button Edit button in the top menu to go into Dashboard Edit mode.

  2. Click on the widget’s Remove widget (Bin/Trash icon) button Bin icon.

  3. A Delete widget dialog box will open. Click on OK to delete the widget (or click on Cancel if you wish to cancel the deletion).

    Dashboard Delete widget dialog

  4. Click on Save Dashboard Save button in the dashboard top menu to save the changes you’ve made.

How to edit Tile widget settings

To update or edit your Tile widget settings:

  1. On your dashboard, click on the Edit current page button Edit button in the top menu to go into Dashboard Edit mode.

  2. Click on the Update widget settings (Cog) button Dashboard Update widget settings button.

  3. The Edit widget dialog box will open, enabling you to make changes to any of the available options (the same options as were available in the Add widget dialog box discussed in Step 2 of How to get started).

    For example, we could choose to reduce the width of the Tile widget by clicking to the left of the blue bar which denotes layout column width.

  4. Click on OK to confirm the changes you’ve made to the widget settings (or click on Close if you don’t want to retain any changes).

  5. The updated Tile widget will display on your dashboard. Click on Save Dashboard Save button in the dashboard top menu to save the changes you’ve made.

Saving changes

Make sure to save any changes you make to your dashboard Tile widget by clicking on the Save button Dashboard Save button in the dashboard top menu. If you leave the dashboard without saving the changes you have made to a widget, the next time you visit the dashboard it won’t include any of the changes made to it since the dashboard page was last saved.

What’s next Idea icon

Now that you’ve learned about Dashboard Tile widgets, find out more about the other types of Dashboard widgets you can add to your Kianda dashboard:

5.3 - List widget

A dashboard List widget displays the instances of the selected process in a dashboard. The List widget can also be used to connect with any other dashboard widgets to display filtered items.

How to get started

  1. After creating a dashboard page, make sure you are in Edit mode, by clicking on the Edit button Edit button at the top of the page, so the Widget menu with 7 widget types is available. Then click on the List widget List widget.

  2. The Add widget dialog box opens.

    Add list widget

    Choose from the edit options:

    • Title - the dashboard title, for example Training Requests

    • Layout columns - control the size of the dashboard, choose from 1 to 12 columns in width. For example click half-way across the blue bar to create a panel that is 6 columns wide, or click on the right of the blue bar to create a column that is 12 columns wide.

    • Colour scheme - choose from Navy, Green, Blue, Amber, Red or White Colours for your dashboard.

    • Show header checkbox - tick this checkbox if you wish to show a header on your dashboard.

    • Visible to - You can choose who will be able to see the List widget. Select single or multiple Users or Groups, or a combination of the two. You can use the menu on the right to either filter the drop-down list by Users or Groups. To find out more about pre-defined Groups on Kianda, go to Users & Groups.

      • Note - Dashboard page security: When a dashboard page is first created, the users(s)/group(s) who will be able to view the dashboard are selected in the ‘Visible to’ option in the Create dashboard page dialog box (see Step 3 in How to create a Dashboard page).

        You can also edit or update this setting at any point to change who has permission to view a particular dashboard page. This higher dashboard-level security setting will take precedence over the security settings (‘Visible to’) that are applied to the individual widgets within the dashboard (such as a dashboard List widget, in this case).

        See Dashboard security and Widget security for more information.

    • Layout container - This option will only display if you have already created layout containers for your Dashboard page. Here, you can select which layout container you want your new List widget to be placed in.

      A layout container is a simple way to organise, arrange and move the widgets you add to your dashboard. To learn more about layout containers, go to How to add layout containers to a Dashboard page.

      In this example, we can select to place our new List widget into one of three layout containers - Top, Middle or Bottom:

      Dashboard Add widget dialog box select Layout container

    • Device visibility - choose from icons for deshtop, tablet, mobile, wifi and flightmode as to when the device can view the dashboards.

      Device visibility

  3. Click on the OK button when you are finished editing the dashboard to save your changes or click on Close to exit the dialog box without saving.

  4. You can then edit the widget to display certain fields from your form, that relates to the data you are interested in. Go to Configure your widget to find out more.

  5. When you are finished making edits, click on the Save button Save button in the top menu to ensure your dashboard changes are saved and you see a pop-up message Page saved successfully.

  6. To make further changes later on, click on the Edit button Edit button in the top menu and then click on the Pen button.

    Pen button in a widget

  7. To re-edit the title, colour scheme or other options in Step 2, click on the Settings button Settings buttonand the Edit widget dialog box options, allowing you to make changes.

  8. To delete the widget at any stage, click on the Bin icon Bin button beside the cog button, and then click on Ok to confirm that you want to delete the dashboard page or click on Cancel if you wish to cancel the deletion.

Configure your widget

  1. Click on the Update configuration or Pen button in a list widget you have created.

    Chart widget edit

  2. A dialog box opens with filter options in the left-hand pane, a Conditions button Conditionsin the middle of the box, and list view fields in the right-hand pane. Go to Conditions to read more about conditions you can apply to dashboard widgets and go to List view fields to read more about how to apply fields to your list view.

    Editing options

  3. The first option to choose is where the data should originate from using the Data from radio buttons. Choose from a) Process b) Partner process c) Data source. Depending on which option you choose go to the relevant area to read more on Choosing data from a Process, Choosing data from a Partner process and Choosing data from a Data source.

  4. Once a data source is chosen, then there are a number of other options available, see Filter options.

  5. When you are finished choosing options, click on the OK button to save your changes or click on Close to exit the dialog box without saving.

Choosing data from a Process

If you choose data from a Process, then the options below become available.

Choosing data from a Process

Choose from the following options:

  • Business process - click into the field to choose a process which will be the input for the dashboard.
  • Show processes - choose from a) Matching condition b) Matching condition and assigned to current user c) Matching condition and created by current user.
  • For all other available options see Filter options.

Choosing data from a Partner Process

If you choose data from a Partner Process, then the options below become available.

Choosing data from a Process

Choose from the following options:

  • Partner - click into the field to choose from a pre-configured Partner who has created the process you are interested in.
  • Business process - click into the field to choose a process which will be the input for the dashboard.
  • Show processes - choose from a) Matching condition b) Matching condition and assigned to current user c) Matching condition and created by current user.
  • For all other available options see Filter options.

Choosing data from a Data source

If you choose data from a Data source, then the options below become available.

Choosing data from a Process

  1. Click on Select data source. You will be directed to different data sources where you can search in the datasource tree search box or drill down to the data source you want.

    Select data source

    Click on the OK button when you are finished editing to save your changes or click on Close to exit the dialog box without saving.

  2. Click on Data source filter.

  3. For all other available options see Filter options.

Filter options

Once you have chosen where the dashboard data will come from then there are a number of other options available.

  1. Choose from the edit options:

    • Enable sorting - choose from a) Yes or b) No if you wish to enable sorting in the dashboard

    • Enable filtering - choose from a) Yes or b) No if you wish to enable filtering in the dashboard

    • Enable search - choose from a) Yes or b) No if you wish to enable a search in the dashboard

    • Enable “Load more” mode - choose from a) Yes or b) No if you wish to enable more data records to be visible. If you click on Yes, then you can decide on what text should appear on screen, by typing the text in the Load more button text field.

      Enter a number in Items per page for the number items you wish to load at a time. The default value is ‘20’.

    • Show ‘Add process’ button? - choose from a) Yes or b) No if you wish to Add process to your dashboard. If you click on Yes, then you can decide on what text should appear on screen, by typing the text in the ‘Add process’ button text field.

      By default, the process used to generate the data is added, click on No beside the Add ‘Process Name’ by default if you don’t wish to add the input process.

    • Show delete button? - choose from a) Yes or b) No if you wish to add a Delete button to your dashboard. If you choose Yes, then the option Enable bulk delete appears allowing you to choose a) Yes or b) No to enable bulk deletion of records.

    • Enable show history? - choose from a) Yes or b) No if you wish to show the history of the dashboard.

    • Enable data export? - choose from a) Yes or b) No if you wish to allow data export. If you select Yes, a new option will appear:

      • Enable data format? - choose from a) OData, b) CSV or c) Excel. To watch a video tutorial about exporting your process data from a list widget using OData, click here.
    • Sort by - click into the Sort By field and choose from options a) Common fields or b) fields within a form.

    • Common fields are fields commonly used in dashboards such as ‘Created’ or ‘Status’ or choose from a field within a form by clicking and drilling down to the field name that you want to sort by, for example a text box field called ‘Name’ in a form called ‘Training Request’.

    • When a field is chosen then the options for Sort Direction appear as either a) Ascending or b) Descending.

    • Enable empty list template - click on a) Yes or b) No to enable.

  2. Go to List view fields to read about options in the right-hand pane of this dialog box on how to choose fields to filter data.

  3. Click on the OK button when you are finished editing to save your changes or click on Close to exit the dialog box without saving.

List view fields

When you choose the List widget for your dashboard, there are a number of ways to select fields that you want to view.

  1. Click on the Pen button Pen button on the widget you have created, to see the List view fields visible in the right-hand pane.

    List view fields

  2. Click on Common fields to see a list of commonly used dashboard fields such as ‘Status’, ‘Created by’ and ‘Modified’. Click on as many fields as needed to add to the dashboard, for example 3 fields are selected below.

    Common fields

    Click on Common fields again to close the options.

  3. Click on Design fields to see a list of all the fields used in the design of the forms used in the chosen process. For example the Training Process shown below has 2 forms, ‘Training Request’ and ‘Training Approval’ and all control fields used in the form design are available to choose as filters for the dashboard. Click on the + symbol to drill down into the form, and click on the relevant fields to use them, for example Name, Type of Training and Management Decision have been chosen below.

    Design fields

    Click on Design fields again to close the options.

  4. Clicking on List fields shows you a list of all the fields you have already chosen from Common fields and Design fields. There is also an option to Add column and Add action. You can change the order of the fields as they appear in the list from left to right by clicking on the Drag handle button Drag handle.

    List fields

  5. Click on the OK button when you are finished editing to save your changes or click on Close to exit the dialog box without saving.

  6. To change the list settings, that is the way the list looks, title and so on, click on the Settings button Settings buttonand go to How to edit List widget settings to find out more about edit options.

  7. When you are finished making edits, click on the Save button Save button in the top menu to ensure your dashboard changes are saved and you see a pop-up message Page saved successfully.

  8. To make further changes later on, click on the Edit button Edit button in the top menu and then click on the Pen button.

    Pen button in a widget

  9. When you have completed your changes, click on the Save button Dashboard Save button to save your changes or X to quit without saving.

Add column

If the numerous Common fields and Design fields are not enough, you can add your own columns using the Add column button in List view fields pane. To add a new column:

  1. Click on the Add column button add column button to display a HTML and CSS code editor that allows you to design the custom column.

  2. In the code editor, enter the Title of your new column add the code to achieve the desired look and effect for your new column. For example, a common practice would be to code a conditional function checking the internal status of each row’s record - if it’s equal to ‘Open’, create a red button to draw attention to records that are still open, and vice versa with the closed records. You can interact with and perform operations on the list’s fields by utilising the row.properties.enterFieldName method. The conditional statement uses Ember.js, learn more by clicking here.

    Add column code editor

  3. When finished, click on OK to save your changes, or click on Close to cancel your changes.

Your new column will then appear to the right of your previously added column. To learn how to move these columns, see here.

custom status column

Add action

You can also add an action to your list widget, which will trigger a field or rule to be executed within the list’s associated process. To add an action:

  1. Click on the Add action button add action button to display the Add List Action dialog box.

  2. Fill out the following fields:

    • Select the field or rule to trigger - when the action button is clicked, which field or rule will be executed.
    • Button icon - the visual icon associated with the button
    • Button color
  3. When finished, click on OK to save your changes, or click on Close to cancel your changes.

    add list action pic

Your new action will now appear as a button to the right of previously added column. To learn how to move these columns/actions, see here.

action button in list

The code for the new action is automatically generated upon creating the action, as seen below with the created action generating a PDF report relating to the record in the same row. You can view the code and program extra features if desired by editing the action.

action code

How to move List widgets

To move a List widget on a dashboard:

  1. On your dashboard, click on the Edit current page button Edit button in the top menu to go into Dashboard Edit mode.
  2. Select the widget’s drag handle button Dashboard widget drag handle button.
  3. Drag and drop the widget where you want it to go on your dashboard.
  4. Click on Save Dashboard Save button in the dashboard top menu to save the changes you’ve made.

How to delete List widgets

To delete a List widget from your dashboard:

  1. On your dashboard, click on the Edit current page button Edit button in the top menu to go into Dashboard Edit mode.

  2. Click on the widget’s Remove widget (Bin/Trash icon) button Bin icon.

  3. A Delete widget dialog box will open. Click on OK to delete the widget (or click on Cancel if you wish to cancel the deletion).

    Dashboard Delete widget dialog

  4. Click on Save Dashboard Save button in the dashboard top menu to save the changes you’ve made.

How to edit List widget settings

To update or edit your List widget settings:

  1. On your dashboard, click on the Edit current page button Edit button in the top menu to go into Dashboard Edit mode.

  2. Click on the Update widget settings (Cog) button Dashboard Update widget settings button.

  3. The Edit widget dialog box will open, enabling you to make changes to any of the available options (the same options as were available in the Add widget dialog box discussed in Step 2 of How to get started).

    For example, we could choose to reduce the width of the List widget to be 4 columns wide, by clicking to the left of the existing blue bar.

  4. Click on OK to confirm the changes you’ve made to the widget settings (or click on Close if you don’t want to retain any changes).

  5. The updated List widget will display on your dashboard. Click on Save Dashboard Save button in the dashboard top menu to save the changes you’ve made.

Saving changes

Make sure to save any changes you make to your List widget by clicking on the Save button Dashboard Save button in the dashboard top menu. If you leave the dashboard without saving the changes you have made to a widget, the next time you visit the dashboard it won’t include any of the changes made to it since the dashboard page was last saved.

What’s next Idea icon

Now that you’ve learned about the Dashboard List widget, find out more about the other types of Dashboard widgets you can add to your Kianda dashboard:

5.4 - Chart widget

A dashboard Chart widget enables you to create pie charts, bar charts or line charts on your dashboard page. These charts can be used to represent various conditions or values in a process.

How to get started

  1. After creating a dashboard page, make sure you are in Edit mode, by clicking on the Edit button Edit button at the top of the page, so the Widget menu with 7 widget types is available. Then click on the Chart widget Chart widget.

  2. The Add widget dialog box opens.

    Add chart widget

    Choose the options you want for your new Chart widget:

    • Title - You can insert the title you want for your Chart widget (instead of the default title that is shown).

    • Layout columns - You can choose how wide you want your Chart widget to be. You can choose from 1 to 12 columns in width by clicking on the blue bar. For example, click half-way across the blue bar to create a widget that is 6 columns wide.

    • Colour scheme - You can choose from six colour options for the header of the widget (Navy, Green, Blue, Amber, Red or White), if you choose to display it.

    • Show header - You can choose whether or not you want the header of your Chart widget to be displayed in the dashboard. This checkbox is selected by default, so de-select it if you don’t want the header to be displayed.

    • Visible to - You can choose who will be able to see the Chart widget. Select single or multiple Users or Groups, or a combination of the two. You can use the menu on the right to either filter the drop-down list by Users or Groups. To find out more about pre-defined Groups on Kianda, go to Users & Groups.

      • Note - Dashboard page security: When a dashboard page is first created, the users(s)/group(s) who will be able to view the dashboard are selected in the ‘Visible to’ option in the Create dashboard page dialog box (see Step 3 in How to create a Dashboard page).

        You can also edit or update this setting at any point to change who has permission to view a particular dashboard page. This higher dashboard-level security setting will take precedence over the security settings (‘Visible to’) that are applied to the individual widgets within the dashboard (such as the Chart widget, in this case).

        See Dashboard security and Widget security for more information.

    • Layout container: This option will only display if you have already created layout containers for your Dashboard page. Here, you can select the layout container you want to place your new Chart widget in.

      A layout container is a simple way to organise, arrange and move the widgets you add to your dashboard. To learn more about layout containers, go to How to add layout containers to a Dashboard page.

      In this example, we can select to place our new Chart widget into one of three layout containers - Top, Middle or Bottom:

      Dashboard Add widget dialog box select Layout container

    • Device visibility - You can choose what devices and types of internet connections the dashboard Chart widget will be visible on - select all the options you want from Desktop, Tablet, Mobile, Wi-Fi and Flight mode as to when the device can view the dashboards. By default, all options are selected.

      Device visibility

  3. Click on OK when you’ve completed the Add widget dialog box.

  4. An Edit chart dialog box automatically opens showing the options for your new Chart widget. To learn more about these options and how to complete the Edit chart dialog box so the Chart widget displays certain fields from your form, see Step 3 of How to edit Chart widgets.

  5. Once you have finished choosing the options you want in the Edit chart dialog box, click on the OK button (or click on Close to exit the dialog box without saving).

  6. Click on the Save button Dashboard Save button in the top dashboard menu to save the insertion of the new Chart widget.

  7. Your new Chart widget will now be displayed on your dashboard.

    Here is an example of how Chart widgets can look on a dashboard page:

    Example of dashboard Chart widgets on a dashboard page

How to edit Chart widgets

To edit a Chart widget on a dashboard:

  1. In the dashboard, click on the Edit current page button Edit button in the top menu to view the page in Dashboard Edit mode (in which the Widget menu, Settings button Settings and Bin/Trash button Bin trash button are available).

  2. Click on the Chart widget’s Update configuration (Edit) button Dashboard update configuration button.

    Chart widget edit

  3. The Edit chart dialog box opens, enabling you to choose from a range of options for your Chart widget. Filter options are shown in the left-hand pane, a Conditions button Conditions button in the middle of the dialog box, and chart edit fields in the right-hand pane.

    Go to Conditions to read more about conditions you can apply to data and go to Chart view fields to read more about changing how a chart looks.

    Editing a chart widget

  4. The first option on the left is to choose is where the data should originate from using the Data from radio buttons. Choose from a) Process b) Partner process or c) Data source. Depending on which option you choose go to the relevant area to read more on Choosing data from a Process, Choosing data from a Partner process and Choosing data from a Data source.

  5. The second option Show processes has 3 radio buttons associated with it a) Matching condition b) Matching condition and assigned to current user c) Matching condition and created by current user.

  6. The third option Connect to List Widget allows you to choose if this widget should connect to List widgets you have created for this dashboard page. Choose from a) Yes or b) No if you want to connect the widgets. If you click on Yes, then click into the List Widget field, you can choose from previously created list widgets.

    Connect to List widget

  7. Go to Chart view fields to read about options in the right-hand pane of this dialog box to make changes to your chart like size, labels and adding a chart legend.

  8. When you are finished choosing options, click on the OK button to save your changes or click on Close to exit the dialog box without saving.

  9. Making the changes you want and then click OK.

  10. The updated Chart widget will be shown on the Dashboard. Click on Save Dashboard Save button in the dashboard top menu to save the changes you’ve made.

Choosing data from a Process

If you choose data from a Process, then the options below become available.

Choosing data from a Process

Choose from the following options:

  • Business process - click into the field to choose a process which will be the input for the dashboard.
  • Show processes - choose from a) Matching condition b) Matching condition and assigned to current user c) Matching condition and created by current user.

Choosing data from a Partner Process

If you choose data from a Partner Process, then the options below become available.

Choosing data from a Process

Choose from the following options:

  • Partner - click into the field to choose from a pre-configured Partner who has created the process you are interested in.
  • Business process - click into the field to choose a process which will be the input for the dashboard.
  • Show processes - choose from a) Matching condition b) Matching condition and assigned to current user c) Matching condition and created by current user.

Choosing data from a Data source

If you choose data from a Data source, then click on the Select data source button.

Selecting a data source

You will be directed to different data sources where you can search in the data source tree search box or drill down to the data source you want.

Select data source

Click on the OK button when you are finished editing to save your changes or click on Close to exit the dialog box without saving.

Chart view fields

When you choose the Chart widget for your dashboard, there are a number of options to configure the chart to make it look the way you want.

  1. Click on the Pen button Pen button in the widget you have created, to see the fields used to edit the chart, visible in the right-hand pane.

    Chart edit fields

  2. Choose from the edit options:

    • Chart type - choose from a) Pie chart b) Bar chart c) Line chart.

    • Labels field - click into the field to drill down to find what you want to use. You can use Common fields such as Status and Created, commonly used in dashboards, and use design fields that are part of processes attached to forms, for example fields within the forms Training Request and Training Approval below.

      labelsfield

    • Values field - choose from a) Count b) Sum c) Average and click into the field itself to drill down to the fields you want, as with the Labels field.

    • Chart width - use the arrow to choose a numeric value.

    • Chart height - use the arrow to choose a numeric value.

    • Limit label names - options are a) Yes or b) No

    • Show values - options are a) Yes or b) No

    • Hide legend - options are a) Yes or b) No

  3. Click on the OK button when you are finished editing to save your changes or click on Close to exit the dialog box without saving.

  4. To change the chart settings, that is the way the chart looks, title and so on, click on the Settings button Settings button and go to How to edit Chart widget settings to find out more about edit options.

  5. When you are finished making edits to your widget, click on the Save button Save button in the top menu to ensure your dashboard changes are saved and you will see a pop-up message Page saved successfully.

  6. To make further changes later on, click on the Edit button Edit button in the top menu and then click on the Pen button.

    Pen button in a widget

How to move Chart widgets

To move a Chart widget on a dashboard:

  1. On your dashboard, click on the Edit current page button Edit button in the top menu to go into Dashboard Edit mode.
  2. Select the widget’s drag handle button Dashboard widget drag handle button.
  3. Drag and drop the widget where you want it to go on your dashboard.
  4. Click on Save Dashboard Save button in the dashboard top menu to save the changes you’ve made.

How to delete Chart widgets

To delete a Chart widget from your dashboard:

  1. On your dashboard, click on the Edit current page button Edit button in the top menu to go into Dashboard Edit mode.

  2. Click on the widget’s Remove widget (Bin/Trash icon) button Bin icon.

  3. A Delete widget dialog box will open. Click on OK to delete the widget (or click on Cancel if you wish to cancel the deletion).

    Dashboard Delete widget dialog

  4. Click on Save Dashboard Save button in the dashboard top menu to save the changes you’ve made.

How to edit Chart widget settings

To update or edit your Chart widget settings:

  1. On your dashboard, click on the Edit current page button Edit button in the top menu to go into Dashboard Edit mode.

  2. Click on the Update widget settings (Cog) button Dashboard Update widget settings button.

  3. The Edit widget dialog box will open, enabling you to make changes to any of the available options (the same options as were available in the Add widget dialog box discussed in Step 2 of How to get started).

    For example, we could choose to reduce the width of the Chart widget by clicking to the left of the blue bar which denotes layout column width.

  4. Click on OK to confirm the changes you’ve made to the widget settings (or click on Close if you don’t want to retain any changes).

  5. The updated Chart widget will display on your dashboard. Click on Save Dashboard Save button in the dashboard top menu to save the changes you’ve made.

Saving changes

Make sure to save any changes you make to your Chart widget by clicking on the Save button Dashboard Save button in the dashboard top menu. If you leave the dashboard without saving the changes you have made to a widget, the next time you visit the dashboard it won’t include any of the changes made to it since the dashboard page was last saved.

What’s next Idea icon

Now that you’ve learned about the Dashboard Chart widget, find out more about the other types of Dashboard widgets you can add to your Kianda dashboard:

5.5 - Chart v2 widget

A dashboard Chart v2 widget enables you to create pie charts, bar charts, line charts, radar charts, doughnut and polar area charts on your dashboard page. These charts can be used to represent various conditions or values in a process.

How to get started

  1. After creating a dashboard page, make sure you are in Edit mode, by clicking on the Edit button Edit button at the top of the page, so the Widget menu with 7 widget types is available. Then click on the Chart widget Chart widget.

  2. The Add widget dialog box opens.

    Add chart widget

    Choose the options you want for your new Chart widget:

    • Title - You can insert the title you want for your Chart widget (instead of the default title that is shown).

    • Layout columns - You can choose how wide you want your Chart widget to be. You can choose from 1 to 12 columns in width by clicking on the blue bar. For example, click half-way across the blue bar to create a widget that is 6 columns wide.

    • Custom CSS - here you can assign a class name for your widget. You can create or edit the CSS for your custom class in the global CSS file. To learn more about the global CSS visit Global CSS file.

    • Colour scheme - You can choose from six colour options for the header of the widget (Navy, Green, Blue, Amber, Red or White), if you choose to display it.

    • Show header - You can choose whether or not you want the header of your Chart widget to be displayed in the dashboard. This checkbox is selected by default, so de-select it if you don’t want the header to be displayed.

    • Visible to - You can choose who will be able to see the Chart widget. Select single or multiple Users or Groups, or a combination of the two. You can use the menu on the right to either filter the drop-down list by Users or Groups. To find out more about pre-defined Groups on Kianda, go to Users & Groups.

      • Note - Dashboard page security: When a dashboard page is first created, the users(s)/group(s) who will be able to view the dashboard are selected in the ‘Visible to’ option in the Create dashboard page dialog box (see Step 3 in How to create a Dashboard page).

        You can also edit or update this setting at any point to change who has permission to view a particular dashboard page. This higher dashboard-level security setting will take precedence over the security settings (‘Visible to’) that are applied to the individual widgets within the dashboard (such as the Chart widget, in this case).

        See Dashboard security and Widget security for more information.

    • Device visibility - You can choose what devices and types of internet connections the dashboard Chart widget will be visible on - select all the options you want from Desktop, Tablet, Mobile, Wi-Fi and Flight mode as to when the device can view the dashboards. By default, all options are selected.

      Device visibility

  3. Click on OK when you’ve completed the Add widget dialog box.

  4. An Edit chart wizard automatically opens showing the options for your new Chart widget. To learn more about these options and how to complete the chart wizard, see How to create a chart from the wizard.

  5. Once you have finished completing the options you want in the wizard, click on the OK button (or click on Close to exit the dialog box without saving).

  6. Click on the Save button Dashboard Save button in the top dashboard menu to save the insertion of the new Chart widget.

  7. Your new Chart widget will now be displayed on your dashboard.

    Here is an example of how Chart widgets can look on a dashboard page:

    Example of dashboard Chart widgets on a dashboard page

How to create a chart from the wizard

To create a Chart widget on a dashboard using the wizard:

  1. Once you are in the chart wizard, first you need to choose a type of chart you want to create. There are six option:

    • Pie chart - A pie chart is a circular statistical graphic, which is divided into slices to illustrate numerical proportion. In a pie chart, the arc length of each slice is proportional to the quantity it represents. To learn how to create a pie chart using Chart v2, visit How to create a Pie Chart.
    • Bar chart - A bar chart or bar graph is a chart or graph that presents categorical data with rectangular bars with heights or lengths proportional to the values that they represent. The bars can be plotted vertically or horizontally. A vertical bar chart is sometimes called a column chart. To learn how to create a pie chart using Chart v2, visit How to create a Bar Chart.
    • Line chart - A line chart or line graph or curve chart is a type of chart which displays information as a series of data points called ‘markers’ connected by straight line segments. It is a basic type of chart common in many fields. To learn how to create a pie chart using Chart v2, visit How to create a Line Chart.
    • Radar chart - Radar Charts are used to compare two or more items or groups on various features or characteristics. Example: Compare two anti-depressant drugs on features such as: efficacy for severe depression, prevalence of specific side effects, interaction with alcohol, continuation of relief over time, cost to the consumer etc. To learn how to create a pie chart using Chart v2, visit How to create a Radar Chart.
    • Doughnut chart - Donut charts are used to show the proportions of categorical data, with the size of each piece representing the proportion of each category. A donut chart is created using a string field and a count of features, number, or rate/ratio field. To learn how to create a pie chart using Chart v2, visit How to create a Doughnut Chart.
    • Polar area chart - Polar area charts are similar to pie charts, but each segment has the same angle - the radius of the segment differs depending on the value. This type of chart is often useful when we want to show a comparison data similar to a pie chart, but also show a scale of values for context. To learn how to create a pie chart using Chart v2, visit How to create a Polar area Chart.
  2. After choosing your chart type, click on Continue 1 to move to the next step.

    Chart wizard step 1

  3. In this step of the wizard, click on Chart wizard add dataset.

  4. An Add or edit dataset dialog will open, fill in the following details:

    Chart wizard add dataset

    • Dataset label - enter the label for your dataset. This label will appear when you hover over the chart.
    • Data from - Choose from a) Process b) Partner process or c) Data source. Depending on which option you choose go to the relevant area to read more on Choosing data from a Process, Choosing data from a Partner process and Choosing data from a Data source.
    • Labels field - use the drop-down list to select the label of the data you want displayed. This can be any field from your process.
    • Values field - use the drop-down list to select the value of the data you want displayed. This can be any field from your process. Count represents the total amount that the chosen value has appeared in a process. Sum is only available if your process contains a number field. Selecting sum, will add up all value for each process instance. Average is also only available for number fields which will return the average of all instances added up.
    • Conditions icon - add conditions to your chart. Go to Conditions to read more about conditions.
  5. When you are finished choosing options in the Add or edit dataset dialog box, click on the OK button to save your changes.

  6. In this example, we created a Sport dataset.

    Dataset sport example

    To add more datasets, click on Add new dataset button.

  7. When you added all the datasets you require, click on Continue 2.

  8. In the Chart labels section of the wizard, fill in the following information:

    Dataset sport example

    • Labels sorting - choose a sorting order for the label:

      • Default
      • Ascending
      • Descending
    • Labels colour - here will be displayed the number of labels from your process. Select a colour for a specific piece of data from your process.

  9. When you complete the chart labels section, click on Continue 2.

  10. The final step in the wizard is Chart option, fill in the following information:

    Continue 2

    • Chart width - use the arrow to choose a numeric value.

    • Chart height - use the arrow to choose a numeric value.

    • Limit label names - you can select yes to limit the number of labels in your chart. If you select no, the chart will display all labels available from your datasets.

    • Show values - select yes or no to show values within your chart.

    • Hide legend - select yes or no to hide or show the legend of your chart.

      • Set legend Position - select the position of the legend.
    • Hide chart title - select yes or no to hide or show the title of the chart.

    • Connect to List Widget - select yes or no to connect an existing list widget in your dashboard to the chart.

      • List Widget - from the drop-down list, select the list widget you want to connect to the chart.
  11. When you are finished with the Chart options section, click on Continue 2.

Choosing data from a Process

If you choose data from a Process, then the options below become available.

Choosing data from a Process

Choose from the following options:

  • Business process - click into the field to choose a process which will be the input for the dashboard.
  • Show processes - choose from a) Matching condition b) Matching condition and assigned to current user c) Matching condition and created by current user.

Choosing data from a Partner Process

If you choose data from a Partner Process, then the options below become available.

Choosing data from a Process

Choose from the following options:

  • Partner - click into the field to choose from a pre-configured Partner who has created the process you are interested in.
  • Business process - click into the field to choose a process which will be the input for the dashboard.
  • Show processes - choose from a) Matching condition b) Matching condition and assigned to current user c) Matching condition and created by current user.

Choosing data from a Data source

If you choose data from a Data source, then click on the Select data source button.

Selecting a data source

You will be directed to different data sources where you can search in the data source tree search box or drill down to the data source you want.

Select data source

Click on the OK button when you are finished editing to save your changes or click on Close to exit the dialog box without saving.

How to create a Pie Chart

  1. Create a Chart v2 widget in a dashboard of your choice.

  2. In the Chart Wizard, select Pie chart radio button and click on Continue 1 to move to the next step.

    Chart type: Radar chart

  3. In this step of the wizard, click on Chart wizard add dataset. The first dataset will represent a segment of the pie chart.

  4. As an example, we will link the first dataset to the number of jobs in a building site project. We will display the Project as a label and Jobs as the value.

    Chart wizard add dataset

    • First, link the dataset to our Building completion process in the Business process drop-down list.
    • Select the Projects as the Labels field.
    • Select Jobs in the values field 1 and select Count from the radio list. This will result in presenting the number of jobs in each project.
    • Click on OK in the Add or Edit dataset dialog to save your dataset.
    • To have multiple pie representations in one chart, follow the same step described in step 4.
  5. Click Continue to move to the next step. Here select a colour scheme for your datasets.

  6. When you are finished with your colour scheme, click on Continue to move to the last section of the wizard.

  7. Follow step 10 of How to create a chart from the wizard to complete your chart. To display each segment as a percentage, select No in the Show values? option in the last section of the chart wizard.

How to create a Bar Chart

  1. Create a Chart v2 widget in a dashboard of your choice.

  2. In the Chart Wizard, select Bar chart radio button and click on Continue 1 to move to the next step.

    Chart type: Radar chart

  3. In this step of the wizard, click on Chart wizard add dataset The first dataset will represent a segment of the pie chart.

  4. As an example, we will link the first dataset to the number of jobs in a building site project. We will display the Year as a label and Salary as the value.

    Chart wizard add dataset

    • First, link the dataset to our Salary process in the Business process drop-down list.
    • Select the Projects as the Labels field.
    • Select Jobs in the values field 1 and select Count from the radio list. This will result in presenting the number of jobs in each project.
    • Click on OK in the Add or Edit dataset dialog to save your dataset.
    • To have multiple pie representations in one chart, follow the same step described in step 4.
  5. Click Continue to move to the next step. Here select a colour scheme for your datasets.

  6. When you are finished with your colour scheme, click on Continue to move to the last section of the wizard.

  7. Follow step 10 of How to create a chart from the wizard to complete your chart. To display each segment as a percentage, select No in the Show values? option in the last section of the chart wizard.

How to create a Line Chart

  1. Create a Chart v2 widget in a dashboard of your choice.

  2. In the Chart Wizard, select Line chart radio button and click on Continue 1 to move to the next step.

    Chart type: Radar chart

  3. In this step of the wizard, click on Chart wizard add dataset The first dataset will represent the first piece of data and its label will be visible on the bottom of the line chart.

  4. As an example, we will link the first dataset to display a salary number depending on the year. We will display the Year as a label and Salary as the value.

    Chart wizard add dataset

    • First, link the dataset to our Salary process in the Business process drop-down list.
    • Select the Projects as the Labels field.
    • Select Year in the values field 1 and select Sum from the radio list. This will result in presenting the total number of the salary earned each year.
    • Click on OK in the Add or Edit dataset dialog to save your dataset.
    • To have multiple pie representations in one chart, follow the same step described in step 4.
  5. Click Continue to move to the next step. Here select a colour scheme for your datasets.

  6. When you are finished with your colour scheme, click on Continue to move to the last section of the wizard.

  7. Follow step 10 of How to create a chart from the wizard to complete your chart. To display each segment as a percentage, select No in the Show values? option in the last section of the chart wizard.

How to create a Radar Chart

  1. Create a Chart v2 widget in a dashboard of your choice.

  2. In the Chart Wizard, select Radar chart radio button and click on Continue 1 to move to the next step.

    Chart type: Radar chart

  3. In this step of the wizard, click on Chart wizard add dataset The first dataset represents your labels. The labels on a radar chart is each point on the outer part of the radar.

  4. As an example, we will link the first dataset to one of our sites from a process. We will display the Risk as a label and Percentage as the value.

    Chart wizard add dataset

    • Link the dataset to our risk assessment process in the Business process drop-down list.

    • Click on Conditions icon button to set a condition. Here we’ll set a condition to only display the percentage of a risk if a site is equal to Dublin Bay (one of our existing sites in the process). This is our first radar diagram.

      Chart wizard add dataset

    • Select the Risk as the Labels field.

    • Select Percentage in the values field 1 and select sum from the radio list. This will result in displaying the percentage of each risk of Dublin Bay.

    • Click on OK in the Add or Edit dataset dialog to save your dataset.

    • To have multiple radar diagram in one chart, follow the same step described in step 4.

  5. Click Continue to move to the next step. Here select a colour scheme for your datasets.

  6. When you are finished with your colour scheme, click on Continue to move to the last section of the wizard.

  7. Follow step 10 of How to create a chart from the wizard to complete your chart.

How to create a Doughnut Chart

  1. Create a Chart v2 widget in a dashboard of your choice.

  2. In the Chart Wizard, select Radar chart radio button and click on Continue 1 to move to the next step.

    Chart type: Radar chart

  3. In this step of the wizard, click on Chart wizard add dataset The first dataset represents your most outer doughnut.

  4. As an example, we will link the process to our Building process. We will display the Projects as a label. The value field for this dataset is set to jobs which will result in the doughnut displaying number of jobs for each project.

    Chart wizard add dataset

    • Link the dataset to our risk assessment process in the Business process drop-down list.
    • Select the Projects as the Labels field.
    • Select Jobs in the values field 1 and select Count from the radio list.
    • Click on OK in the Add or Edit dataset dialog to save your dataset.
    • To have multiple doughnut diagram in one chart, follow the same step described in step 4.
  5. Click Continue to move to the next step. Here select a colour scheme for your datasets.

  6. When you are finished with your colour scheme, click on Continue to move to the last section of the wizard.

  7. Follow step 10 of How to create a chart from the wizard to complete your chart.

How to create a Polar area Chart

  1. Create a Chart v2 widget in a dashboard of your choice.

  2. In the Chart Wizard, select Radar chart radio button and click on Continue 1 to move to the next step.

    Chart type: Radar chart

  3. In this step of the wizard, click on Chart wizard add dataset The first dataset represents your labels. The labels on a radar chart is each point on the outer part of the radar.

  4. As an example, we will link the first dataset to one of our sites from a process. We will display the Risk as a label and Percentage as the value.

    Chart wizard add dataset

    • Link the dataset to our risk assessment process in the Business process drop-down list.

    • Click on Conditions icon button to set a condition. Here we’ll set a condition to only display the percentage of a risk if a site is equal to Dublin Bay (one of our existing sites in the process). This is our first radar diagram.

      Chart wizard add dataset

    • Select the Risk as the Labels field.

    • Select Percentage in the values field 1 and select sum from the radio list. This will result in displaying the percentage of each risk of Dublin Bay.

    • Click on OK in the Add or Edit dataset dialog to save your dataset.

    • To have multiple radar diagram in one chart, follow the same step described in step 4.

  5. Click Continue to move to the next step. Here select a colour scheme for your datasets.

  6. When you are finished with your colour scheme, click on Continue to move to the last section of the wizard.

  7. Follow step 10 of How to create a chart from the wizard to complete your chart.

How to move Chart widgets

To move a Chart widget on a dashboard:

  1. On your dashboard, click on the Edit current page button Edit button in the top menu to go into Dashboard Edit mode.
  2. Select the widget’s drag handle button Dashboard widget drag handle button.
  3. Drag and drop the widget where you want it to go on your dashboard.
  4. Click on Save Dashboard Save button in the dashboard top menu to save the changes you’ve made.

How to delete Chart widgets

To delete a Chart widget from your dashboard:

  1. On your dashboard, click on the Edit current page button Edit button in the top menu to go into Dashboard Edit mode.

  2. Click on the widget’s Remove widget (Bin/Trash icon) button Bin icon.

  3. A Delete widget dialog box will open. Click on OK to delete the widget (or click on Cancel if you wish to cancel the deletion).

    Dashboard Delete widget dialog

  4. Click on Save Dashboard Save button in the dashboard top menu to save the changes you’ve made.

How to edit Chart widget settings

To update or edit your Chart widget settings:

  1. On your dashboard, click on the Edit current page button Edit button in the top menu to go into Dashboard Edit mode.

  2. Click on the Update widget settings (Cog) button Dashboard Update widget settings button.

  3. The Edit widget wizard will open, enabling you to make changes to any of the available options.

  4. Click on OK to confirm the changes you’ve made to the widget settings (or click on Close if you don’t want to retain any changes).

  5. The updated Chart widget will display on your dashboard. Click on Save Dashboard Save button in the dashboard top menu to save the changes you’ve made.

Saving changes

Make sure to save any changes you make to your Chart widget by clicking on the Save button Dashboard Save button in the dashboard top menu. If you leave the dashboard without saving the changes you have made to a widget, the next time you visit the dashboard it won’t include any of the changes made to it since the dashboard page was last saved.

What’s next Idea icon

Now that you’ve learned about the Dashboard Chart widget, find out more about the other types of Dashboard widgets you can add to your Kianda dashboard:

5.6 - Filter widget

Introduction

In your dashboards you can create a Filter Widget. This widget is typically used to filter data in other dashboard widgets, for example, a List Widget, so your filter choice will influence how the list widget displays. You can use the filter to search for specific type of data within other widgets helping you to breakdown information without having to look for it manually.

You can create four types of filters:

  • Manual/datasource filter - this filter will allow you to search for data by selecting an option which can be entered in manually or pulled from a datasource. There are two styles of manual/datasource filters: a Dropdown or a Radio list:

    Click Edit current page button to go into Edit mode

  • Date range filter - this filter allows you to enter two sets of dates which can be then used to filter your data based on a date input in a connected dashboard widget.

    Click Edit current page button to go into Edit mode

  • Free text filter - this filter allows you to filter data in a connected dashboard widget by typing text freely into the search bar.

    Note: by default you are required to connect this filter to another dashboard widget so that the filter knows which widget your are searching for data.

    free text filter

  • Current user filter - this filter allows you to pull a profile attribute from the currently logged in user which can be then used to filter data in another dashboard widget. For example you can pull the display name attribute from the user and based on that, you could filter data in other widgets that belong to the current user. To learn more about users and profile attributes visit Modify profile attributes.

    Current user filter

How to get started

To add a Filter widget to a dashboard:

  1. Open the relevant dashboard page. To learn how to create your first dashboard page, go to How to create a dashboard page.

  2. Click on the Edit current page button from the top dashboard menu to go into Dashboards Edit mode (in which the Widget menu, Settings button Settings, Bin/Trash button Bin trash button and Add layout container button Dashboard Add layout container button are available):

    Click Edit current page button to go into Edit mode

  3. Click on the Filter widget button in the Dashboard Widget menu.

    Select the Rich Text button in the Dashboard Widget menu

  4. The Add widget dialog box opens with a range of options for your new Filter widget.

    Dashboard Add widget dialog box

    Choose the options you want:

    • Title - You can insert the title you want for your Filter widget (instead of the default title that is shown).

    • Layout columns - You can choose how wide you want your Filter widget to be. You can choose from 1 to 12 columns in width by clicking on the blue bar. For example click half-way across the blue bar to create a widget that is 6 columns wide, or click to the very end of the bar to create a column that is 12 columns wide.

    • Colour scheme - You can choose from six colour options for the header of the widget (Navy, Green, Blue, Amber, Red or White), if you choose to display it.

    • Show header - You can choose whether or not you want the header of your widget to be shown when the dashboard is not in edit mode. This checkbox is selected by default, so de-select it if you don’t want the header to be displayed.

      show header

    • Visible to - You can choose who will be able to see the Filter widget. Select single or multiple Users or Groups, or a combination of the two. You can use the menu on the right to either filter the drop-down list by Users or Groups. To find out more about pre-defined Groups on Kianda, go to Users & Groups.

      • Note - Dashboard page security: When a dashboard page is first created, the users(s)/group(s) who will be able to view the dashboard are selected in the ‘Visible to’ option in the Create dashboard page dialog box (see Step 3 in How to create a Dashboard page).

        You can also edit or update this setting at any point to change who has permission to view a particular dashboard page. This higher dashboard-level security setting will take precedence over the security settings (‘Visible to’) that are applied to the individual widgets within the dashboard (such as the Filter widget, in this case).

        See Dashboard security and Widget security for more information.

    • Layout container: This option will only display if you have already created layout containers for your Dashboard page. Here, you can select the layout container you want to place your new Filter widget in.

      A layout container is a simple way to organise, arrange and move the widgets you add to your dashboard. To learn more about layout containers, go to How to add layout containers to a Dashboard page.

    • Device visibility - You can choose what devices and types of internet connections the dashboard Filter widget will be visible on - select all the options you want from Desktop, Tablet, Mobile, Wi-Fi and Flight mode as to when the device can view the dashboards. By default, all options are selected.

      Device visibility

  5. Click on OK when you’ve completed the Add widget dialog box. A Filter settings dialog will open automatically:

    filter widget settings

How to create a Manual/datasource filter

  1. First, follow the steps in How to get started to create a filter widget or edit an existing filter, to edit an existing filter, see How to edit Filter widgets.

  2. In the Filter settings dialog, select Dropdown list or Radio list as your Filter type.

  3. In the Filter options select from:

    • Manual entries - this option will provide you a text box in which you can specify your filter options. Each option needs to be on a separate line of the text box, see image below:

      manual entries filter option

      Your filter will display filter options in a different manner depending on the style you choose: Dropdown or Radio list. Dropdown list displays one additional setting (explained below).

      Dropdown vs Radio list filter

    • Data source - once you select this option, additional settings will appear:

      datasource entries

      • Datasource button - this button will allow you to connect to datasource which will allow you to pull the filter options. For example, you can connect to a SharePoint list that contains all your filter options or any other datasource that has been created within your system. See Data connectors for a full list of datasources you can create.

      • Edit condition button - this button allows you to create a condition to pull data from the datasource, once the condition is matched the data will be pulled from the datasource. See Conditions to learn more.

      • Display field & Value field - Display field will be the option visible to the user while the Value field will be the actual value when the option is selected. For example, if you are pulling your filter options form a SharePoint list which has multiple columns, you can select one of those columns to be displayed for the user and use another column for the value. To further extend the example, you could have the display field set to a username (title) and in the background pull the users role as the value.

        Display and value fields

  4. If you choose to create Dropdown list filter, an additional option in the settings will be required to fill out:

    • Filter mode - this options will allow you to search either the beginning of a string by selecting Starts With or by selecting Contains, the filter will search if the chosen option is contained in a string.
  5. You can set a default value of your filter by typing one of your options into the Default value text box. This means that whenever your dashboard is loaded, the text you enter in the Default value will be automatically set as the default option.

  6. Enable query string - check this checkbox if you wish to include a query string when filtering data. When enabled, an additional textbox will appear under the Default value textbox:

    filter connection

    Type the name of your parameter into the textbox provided (where the place holder says “Parameter name”). Check the Auto update URL checkbox to allow the URL be updated automatically when you select an option. To learn more about query strings within Kianda, visit Query Strings and for an additional example of query strings within the Filter widget, visit Filter Widget Query Strings.

  7. Control placeholder - if you select Dropdown list as your filter type, an additional text field will appear called Control placeholder. The text entered here will appear as the placeholder text for your dropdown filter.

    Filter placeholder text

  8. Click on Add connection to connect your filter to another dashboard widget which you want to target while filtering data based on the option selected.

    filter connection

    • Click on the Widget dropdown list to select an existing dashboard widget. Once a widget is selected a Data source filter button will appear.

    • Data source filter button is used to create a condition. Once this condition is met, the connected widget will then display data that matches the condition.

      filter condition

      • The left dropdown is the value from the widget you’re connecting to, while the right most textbox is the value chosen in the filter.
  9. Confirm your settings of the filter by clicking OK on all dialog boxes and click on save dashboard button to see all changes to the filter widget.

    save dashboard button

How to create a Date range filter

  1. First, follow the steps in How to get started to create a filter widget or edit an existing filter, to edit an existing filter, see How to edit Filter widgets.

  2. In the Filter settings dialog, select Date range as your Filter type.

  3. In the filter options select a Date format, once your date range filter is set up, the filter will allow you to:

    • Date - allows you to select a date from a date picker.

    • Date and time - allows you to select a date from a date picker and a time from a time picker.

      date and time filter difference

  4. Click on Add connection to connect your filter to another dashboard widget which you want to target while filtering data based on the date selected.

    filter connection

    • Click on the Widget dropdown list to select an existing dashboard widget. Once a widget is selected a Data source filter button will appear.

    • Data source filter button is used to create a condition. Once this condition is met, the connected widget will then display data that matches the condition. Note that because you are using a date filter, the widget you are targeting must contain a date value. See the below image of a condition that allows us to filter a last modified date field (available in common fields of each process instance) between the range of our two inputs on List widget which is attached to a process.

      filter condition

      In the image below, you can see that the list only displays process instances between the dates we provided in the date filter.

      Date range example

  5. Confirm your settings of the filter by clicking OK on all dialog boxes and click on save dashboard button to see all changes to the date filter widget.

    save dashboard button

How to create Free text filter

  1. First, follow the steps in How to get started to create a filter widget or edit an existing filter, to edit an existing filter, see How to edit Filter widgets.

  2. In the Filter settings dialog, select Free text as your Filter type.

  3. You can set a default value of your filter by typing one into the Default value text box. This means that whenever your dashboard is loaded, the text you enter in the Default value will be automatically set as the default option. If you don’t need a default value, you can also create a placeholder by typing text into the placeholder provided:

    save dashboard button

  4. Enable query string - check this checkbox if you wish to include a query string when filtering data. When enabled, an additional textbox will appear under the Default value textbox:

    filter connection

    Type the name of your parameter into the textbox provided (where the place holder says “Parameter name”). Check the Auto update URL checkbox to allow the URL be updated automatically when you select an option. To learn more about query strings within Kianda, visit Query Strings and for an additional example of query strings within the Filter widget, visit Filter Widget Query Strings.

  5. Click on Add connection to connect your filter to another dashboard widget which you want to target while filtering data based on the free text provided by a user.

    filter connection

    • Click on the Widget dropdown list to select an existing dashboard widget. Once a widget is selected a Data source filter button will appear.

    • Data source filter button is used to create a condition. Once this condition is met, the connected widget will then display data that matches the condition.

      filter condition

      The left dropdown is the value from the widget you’re connecting to, while the right most textbox is the free text value.

  6. Confirm your settings of the filter by clicking OK on all dialog boxes and click on save dashboard button to see all changes to the filter widget.

    save dashboard button

How to create Current user filter

  1. First, follow the steps in How to get started to create a filter widget or edit an existing filter, to edit an existing filter, see How to edit Filter widgets.

  2. In the Filter settings dialog, select Current user as your Filter type.

  3. In the Current user property dropdown list, select the property you want to extract as the value of your filter. To learn more about users and profile attributes visit Modify profile attributes.

    Dashboard Filter widget filter by Current User filter options

  4. Click on Add connection to connect your filter to another dashboard widget which you want to target while filtering data based on the Current user property value.

    filter connection

    • Click on the Widget dropdown list to select an existing dashboard widget. Once a widget is selected a Data source filter button will appear.

    • Data source filter button is used to create a condition. Once this condition is met, the connected widget will then display data that matches the condition.

      filter condition

      The left dropdown is the value from the widget you’re connecting to, while the right most textbox is the free text value.

  5. Confirm your settings of the filter by clicking OK on all dialog boxes and click on save dashboard button to see all changes to the filter widget.

    save dashboard button

How to edit Filter widgets

To edit a Filter widget on a dashboard:

  1. In the dashboard, click on the Edit current page button Edit button in the top menu to view the page in Dashboards Edit mode (in which the Widget menu, Settings button Settings and Bin/Trash button Bin trash button are available).

  2. Click on the Filter widget’s Update configuration (Edit) button Dashboard update configuration button.

    Select Dashboard Link widget Update configuration button

  3. The Filter settings dialog box opens, enabling you to make whatever changes you want to the filter using the same range of options as outlined in Step 6 of How to get started.

  4. Making the changes you want and then click OK.

  5. The updated Filter widget will be shown on the Dashboard. Click on Save Dashboard Save button in the dashboard top menu to save the changes you’ve made.

How to move Filter widgets

To move a Filter widget on a dashboard:

  1. On your dashboard, click on the Edit current page button Edit button in the top menu to go into Dashboards Edit mode.

  2. Select the widget’s drag handle button Dashboard widget drag handle button.

  3. Drag and drop the widget where you want it to go on your dashboard.

    In our example, we could move the new Filter widget to the top left of the dashboard: Move a Dashboard Link widget

  4. Click on Save Dashboard Save button in the dashboard top menu to save the changes you’ve made.

How to delete Filter widgets

To delete a Filter widget from your dashboard:

  1. On your dashboard, click on the Edit current page button Edit button in the top menu to go into Dashboards Edit mode.

  2. Click on the widget’s Remove widget (Bin/Trash icon) button Bin icon.

    Delete Dashboard Rich Text widget

  3. A Delete widget dialog box will open. Click on OK to delete the widget (or click on Cancel if you wish to cancel the deletion).

    Dashboard Delete widget dialog

  4. Click on Save Dashboard Save button in the dashboard top menu to save the changes you’ve made.

How to edit Filter widget settings

To update or edit your Filter widget settings:

  1. On your dashboard, click on the Edit current page button Edit button in the top menu to go into Dashboards Edit mode.

  2. Click on the Update widget settings (Cog) button Dashboard Update widget settings button.

    Dashboard Update widget settings button

  3. The Edit widget dialog box will open, enabling you to make changes to any of the available options (the same options as were available in the Add widget dialog box discussed in Step 4 of How to get started).

    Dashboard Link widget Edit widget dialog box

    In our example, we could choose to reduce the width of the Filter widget to be 4 columns wide, by clicking to the left of the existing blue bar.

  4. Click on OK to confirm the changes you’ve made to the widget settings (or click on Close if you don’t want to retain any changes).

  5. The updated Filter widget will display on your dashboard. Click on Save Dashboard Save button in the dashboard top menu to save the changes you’ve made.

Saving changes

Make sure to save any changes you make to your Filter widget by clicking on the Save button Dashboard Save button in the dashboard top menu. If you leave the dashboard without saving the changes you have made to a widget, the next time you visit the dashboard it won’t include any of the changes made to it since the dashboard page was last saved.

What’s next Idea icon

Now that you’ve learned about the Dashboard Filter widget, find out more about the other types of Dashboard widgets you can add to your Kianda dashboard:

5.7 - Link widget

A dashboard Link widget can be used to create a button link on a dashboard page that initiates a new process instance (by bringing the user straight into the first form of a particular process), links to another dashboard or links to an external website.

How to get started

To add a Link widget to a dashboard:

  1. Open the relevant dashboard page. To learn how to create your first dashboard page, go to How to create a dashboard page.

    For this example, we’ll open a dashboard page called ‘Annual Leave’ that currently has a Rich Text widget and List widget on it:

    Annual Leave dashboard page example 2

  2. Click on the Edit current page button from the top dashboard menu to go into Dashboard Edit mode (in which the Widget menu, Settings button Settings, Bin/Trash button Bin trash button and Add layout container button Dashboard Add layout container button are available):

    Click Edit current page button to go into Edit mode

  3. Click on the Link widget button in the Dashboard Widget menu.

    Select the Rich Text button in the Dashboard Widget menu

  4. The Add widget dialog box opens with a range of options for your new Link widget.

    Dashboard Add widget dialog box

    Choose the options you want:

    • Title - You can insert the title you want for your Link widget. In our example, we’ll call it ‘Start New Process’.

    • Layout columns - You can choose how wide you want your Link widget to be. You can choose from 1 to 12 columns in width by clicking on the blue bar. For example click half-way across the blue bar to create a widget that is 6 columns wide, or click to the very end of the bar to create a column that is 12 columns wide.

    • Custom CSS - You can add a custom CSS class name to your link widget which you can use this to style the link. To learn more on adding CSS to your platform, visit Global CSS.

    • Colour scheme - You can choose from six colour options for the header of the widget (Navy, Green, Blue, Amber, Red or White), if you choose to display it.

    • Show header - You can choose whether or not you want the header of your Dashboard widget to be shown. You will need to select this checkbox if you want the Link widget header to be displayed, as it is not selected by default. If the widget header is not shown, the user will just see the link button.

    • Visible to - You can choose who will be able to see the Link widget. Select single or multiple Users or Groups, or a combination of the two. You can use the menu on the right to either filter the drop-down list by Users or Groups. To find out more about pre-defined Groups on Kianda, go to Users & Groups.

      • Note - Dashboard page security: When a dashboard page is first created, the users(s)/group(s) who will be able to view the dashboard are selected in the ‘Visible to’ option in the Create dashboard page dialog box (see Step 3 in How to create a Dashboard page).

        You can also edit or update this setting at any point to change who has permission to view a particular dashboard page. This higher dashboard-level security setting will take precedence over the security settings (‘Visible to’) that are applied to the individual widgets within the dashboard (such as a Link widget, in this case).

        See Dashboard security and Widget security for more information.

    • Device visibility - You can choose what devices and types of internet connections the dashboard Link widget will be visible on - select all the options you want from Desktop, Tablet, Mobile, Wi-Fi and Flight mode as to when the device can view the dashboards. By default, all options are selected.

      Device visibility

  5. Click on OK when you’ve completed the Add widget dialog box.

  6. An Edit button links dialog box automatically opens showing the Link widget title you inserted in the Add widget dialog box:

    Dashboard Link widget Edit button links dialog box

    Click on the title of the Link widget or on the Edit link button Dashboard Link edit link button to open the Edit link dialog box.

    Note: You can click on the Add link button to add more link buttons to the Link widget. You will be able to edit the options relating to each of these individual link buttons by clicking on their title or on their Edit link button.

  7. Select the options you want for this link button in your Link widget in the Edit link dialog box.

    Dashboard Link widget Edit link dialog box

    The options available for your Link widget include:

    • Link text - You can insert the text you want to appear on your Link widget button.

    • New Process/ Dashboard/ External - You can select whether you want the Link widget to link to a new instance of an existing Kianda process, to an existing dashboard or to an external website.

      • If you select to link to a New Process:

        1. Click on the down arrow in the Target process field to open a drop-down list of Kianda processes.

        2. Select the Kianda process that you want to open when the user clicks on the Link widget. You can type the start of a process name into the field so the drop-down list is filtered to show processes starting with that letter or word.

          In our example, we will select the ‘Annual leave request and approval process’ as the Target process for our new Link widget; this will mean that a new instance of the ‘Annual Leave request form’ will open when the user clicks on the ‘Start New Process’ Link widget button on the dashboard.

        3. If you want the process to open in a pop-up dialog box without the user leaving the dashboard page, select the Show in dialog? checkbox. Otherwise, the user will be brought directly into the first form in the process that you have linked to.

      • If you select to link to a Dashboard, the option below it changes to Target dashboard’:

        1. Click on the down arrow in the Target dashboard field to open a drop-down-list of Kianda processes.

          Dashboard Link widget linking to a dashboard

        2. Select the Kianda dashboard that you want to open when the user clicks on the link button.

      • If you select to link to an External website, two options display below it - URL and ‘Open in new window?’:

        Dashboard Link widget linking to an External website

        1. Insert the URL you want the user to be brought to when they click on the Link widget.
        2. Select the ‘Open in new window?’ checkbox if you want the external website to open in a new window.
    • QueryString parameters - QueryString parameters can be added to the URL of the destination selected. You must define a process or dashboard as a destination to add a QueryString to the URL. To learn more about query strings, visit Query Strings.

      • Append Query - there are two ways the append query works, that depends whether it redirects you to a Process or a Dashboard. When redirecting to a process, you should always check this box as the query will not automatically append to your URL. When redirecting to a dashboard and the checkbox is checked, the query will append to the existing query string. But if the checkbox is unchecked, the query string will be overwritten. This is useful when working when passing query string parameters through multiple dashboards.

        As an example, let’s say that when the user clicks on the link in the Link widget, you want the First Name field of the new Annual Leave Request form they are brought to to be pre-populated with the name ‘John’.To do this, insert the unique name of that field, as well as the value you want that field to be pre-populated with into the QueryString parameters box - in this case that will be ‘firstName=John’. [The grey text that appears in the QueryString parameters field when you open the dialog box - param1=value1 is just placeholder text.]

        Dashboard Link widget query string parameters example

      • Note: The unique name of a field can be found by selecting the field in the form it is in and clicking on the Edit field button. The field’s unique name can then be copied from the Name (Unique) field.

        In our example, the unique name of the ‘First Name’ field in the ‘Leave Request’ form is ‘firstName’:

        Dashboard Link widget example of field unique name

      • For our query string parameter example to work, we now need to add an On load Set form field rule (that is, a rule that is executed when the form is opened that will run a query string to automatically populate a field in the form).

        To do this, we go to Designer, and add a Set form field rule to execute when the form is loaded. In our example, the rule will set the ‘First Name’ field when the form is loaded:

        Dashboard Link widget query string form on load rule example

        Once the rule has been saved, it can be viewed in the On load rules section of the right side menu when the process is opened:

        Dashboard Link widget query string on load rule example

        To learn more about the Set form field rule, go to Set form field rule or to learn more about Rules in general, see Rules.

    • Link icon - You can choose the icon you want to appear on your Link widget button. Click on the down arrow and select the icon you want to use from the large number of options available.

      Dashboard Link widget link icon

    • Text colour - You can choose the colour of the text that appears on the Link widget button. For example, if we choose orange, our Link widget button could look like this:

      Dashboard Link widget button example with orange text

    • Link size - You can choose the width of the Link widget button, from 1 column wide to 12 columns wide. Change the width by clicking on the blue bar.

    • Link visible to administrators only? - Select Yes if you want to limit the visibility of this particular link button in the Link widget to Kianda Administrators only.

    • Link security (optional) - You can limit visibility of this link button - the ‘Start New Process’ link, in our example - in the Link widget by selecting the user(s) and/or group(s) you want to be able to see it on the dashboard.

      If you choose ‘Yes’ to the ‘Link visible to administrators only’ option, you could then add in other users (in addition to administrators) who you want to be able to see the link button using this ‘Link security’ option.

      Note: If you have multiple button links in your Link widget, you can limit the users/groups who can view each of the link buttons within that Link widget.

  8. Click on the OK button when you are finished choosing the options you want for your Link widget (or click on Close to exit the Edit link dialog box without saving).

  9. Your Link widget will now be displayed on your dashboard. Click on Save Dashboard Save button in the dashboard top menu to save the insertion of the new widget.

    Dashboard Link widget example

To edit a Link widget on a dashboard:

  1. In the dashboard, click on the Edit current page button Edit button in the top menu to view the page in Dashboard Edit mode (in which the Widget menu, Settings button Settings and Bin/Trash button Bin trash button are available).

  2. Click on the Link widget’s Update configuration (Edit) button Dashboard update configuration button.

    Select Dashboard Link widget Update configuration button

  3. The Edit button links dialog box opens, enabling you to make whatever changes you want to the link button(s) in the Link widget using the same range of options as outlined in Step 6 of How to get started.

  4. Making the changes you want and then click OK.

  5. The updated Link widget will be shown on the Dashboard. Click on Save Dashboard Save button in the dashboard top menu to save the changes you’ve made.

To move a Link widget on a dashboard:

  1. On your dashboard, click on the Edit current page button Edit button in the top menu to go into Dashboard Edit mode.
  2. Select the widget’s drag handle button Dashboard widget drag handle button.
  3. Drag and drop the widget where you want it to go on your dashboard.
  4. Click on Save Dashboard Save button in the dashboard top menu to save the changes you’ve made.

In our example, we could move the new Link widget to the top left of the dashboard:

Move a Dashboard Link widget

To delete a Link widget from your dashboard:

  1. On your dashboard, click on the Edit current page button Edit button in the top menu to go into Dashboard Edit mode.

  2. Click on the widget’s Remove widget (Bin/Trash icon) button Bin icon.

    Delete Dashboard Rich Text widget

  3. A Delete widget dialog box will open. Click on OK to delete the widget (or click on Cancel if you wish to cancel the deletion).

    Dashboard Delete widget dialog

  4. Click on Save Dashboard Save button in the dashboard top menu to save the changes you’ve made.

To update or edit your Link widget settings:

  1. On your dashboard, click on the Edit current page button Edit button in the top menu to go into Dashboard Edit mode.

  2. Click on the Update widget settings (Cog) button Dashboard Update widget settings button.

    Dashboard Update widget settings button

  3. The Edit widget dialog box will open, enabling you to make changes to any of the available options (the same options as were available in the Add widget dialog box discussed in Step 4 of How to get started).

    Dashboard Link widget Edit widget dialog box

    In our example, we could choose to reduce the width of the Link widget to be 4 columns wide, by clicking to the left of the existing blue bar.

  4. Click on OK to confirm the changes you’ve made to the widget settings (or click on Close if you don’t want to retain any changes).

  5. The updated Link widget will display on your dashboard. Click on Save Dashboard Save button in the dashboard top menu to save the changes you’ve made.

Saving changes

Make sure to save any changes you make to your Link widget by clicking on the Save button Dashboard Save button in the dashboard top menu. If you leave the dashboard without saving the changes you have made to a widget, the next time you visit the dashboard it won’t include any of the changes made to it since the dashboard page was last saved.

What’s next Idea icon

Now that you’ve learned about the Dashboard Link widget, find out more about the other types of Dashboard widgets you can add to your Kianda dashboard:

5.8 - Walk-through widget

A dashboard Walk-through widget can be used to walk a user through the features of a dashboard or steps in a process by displaying a series of prompts.

For example, if you have a Procurement dashboard page that displays key information relating to your procurement process (using Chart widgets, Tile widgets, a Link widget and a List widget), it could be useful to insert a Walk-through widget that can bring a new user through the various features of the page or through steps in the procurement process.

How to get started

To add a Walk-through widget to a dashboard:

  1. Open the relevant dashboard page. To learn how to create your first dashboard page, go to How to create a dashboard page.

    For this example, we’ll open a dashboard page called ‘All Procurement’ that has several widgets on it displaying various information relating to a procurement process.

    Annual Leave dashboard page example 2

  2. Click on the Edit current page button from the top dashboard menu to go into Dashboard Edit mode (in which the Widget menu, Settings button Settings, Bin/Trash button Bin trash button and Add layout container button Dashboard Add layout container button are available):

    Click Edit current page button to go into Edit mode

  3. Click on the Walk-through widget button in the Dashboard Widget menu.

    Select the Rich Text button in the Dashboard Widget menu

  4. The Add widget dialog box opens with a range of options for your new Walk-through widget.

    Dashboard Add widget dialog box

    Choose the options you want:

    • Title - You can insert the title you want for your Walk-through widget (instead of the default title shown). In our example, we’ll call it ‘Procurement Walk through’.

    • Layout columns - You can choose how wide you want your Walk-through widget to be. You can choose from 1 to 12 columns in width by clicking on the blue bar. For example click half-way across the blue bar to create a widget that is 6 columns wide, or click to the very end of the bar to create a column that is 12 columns wide.

    • Colour scheme - You can choose from six colour options for the header of the widget (Navy, Green, Blue, Amber, Red or White), if you choose to display it.

    • Show header - You can choose whether or not you want the header of your Dashboard widget to be shown. This checkbox is not selected by default, so select it if you want the widget header to be displayed.

    • Visible to - You can choose who will be able to see the Walk-through widget. You can select single or multiple Users or Groups, or a combination of the two. Use the menu on the right to filter the drop-down list by Users or Groups. To find out more about pre-defined Groups on Kianda, go to Users & Groups.

      • Note - Dashboard page security: When a dashboard page is first created, the users(s)/group(s) who will be able to view the dashboard are selected in the ‘Visible to’ option in the Create dashboard page dialog box (see Step 3 in How to create a Dashboard page).

        You can also edit or update this setting at any point to change who has permission to view a particular dashboard page. This higher dashboard-level security setting will take precedence over the security settings (‘Visible to’) that are applied to the individual widgets within the dashboard (such as the Walk-through widget, in this case).

        See Dashboard security and Widget security for more information.

    • Layout container: This option will only display if you have already created layout containers for your Dashboard page. Here, you can select the layout container you want to place your new Walk-through widget in.

      A layout container is a simple way to organise, arrange and move the widgets you add to your dashboard. To learn more about layout containers, go to How to add layout containers to a Dashboard page.

      In this example, we can select to place our new Walk-through widget into one of three layout containers - Top, Middle or Bottom:

      Dashboard Add widget dialog box select Layout container

    • Device visibility - You can choose what devices and types of internet connections the dashboard Walk-through widget will be visible on - select all the options you want from Desktop, Tablet, Mobile, Wi-Fi and Flight mode as to when the device can view the dashboards. By default, all options are selected.

      Device visibility

  5. Click on OK when you’ve completed the Add widget dialog box.

  6. A Walk-through steps dialog box automatically opens showing the options for the Walk-through widget:

    Dashboard Link widget Edit button links dialog box

    Select the options you want for your Walk-through widget:

    • Title - You can give your Walk-through a title. In our example, we’ll call it ‘Procurement Walk-through’.

    • Walk-through steps - This is where you can add all of the individual walk-through steps that you want to bring the user through.

      To add your first walk-through step:

      1. Click on the Add step Dashboard Walkthrough widget Add step button button.

      2. The Edit step dialog box opens, allowing you to choose from a range of options for your walk-through step.

      3. Once you’ve completed the options in the Edit step dialog box, click OK to add the step to the Walk-through steps dialog box.

        Repeat these three steps to add as many steps as you want to your Walk-through widget.

        Dashboard Walkthrough widget Edit step dialog box

        The options for the first step in your Walk-through widget in the Edit step dialog box include:

      • Title - Insert a title for this walk-through step. In our example, we’ll title our first step ‘Welcome step’.

      • Step type - You have a choice of three step types: Popup, App Navigation and Element click.

        a. A Popup step is a pop-up dialog box containing whatever content you choose to display (including texts, links or pictures).

        b. An App Navigation step brings the user to a new URL - for example, it could bring them into the first form of a process.

        c. An Element click step shows the result of clicking on one of the elements in the dashboard.

        If you choose Popup as the step type, you can then complete the Popup content box to insert the content you want to appear in the pop-up walk-through step, including text, images or links.

        You can choose from an wide array of styles and formats, including: Style, Colour, Bold, Underline, Remove font style, Font size, Font family, Unordered list, Ordered list, Paragraph, Table, Link, Picture, Code view (which allows you to switch to a code view of the step content) and Help (which displays a range of shortcut keys for different formatting options).

        In our example, we will make the first step of our walk-through a Popup and will insert the content we want to appear:

        Dashboard Walkthrough widget Popup step example

        Example - Pop-up step

        This first Popup walk-through step could look like this to the end user when they click on the Procurement Walk-through widget:

        Dashboard Walkthrough widget Popup example

        The Element selector field at the bottom of the Edit step dialog box can be used if you want an element on the page to be highlighted, to show the user where they need to click.

        We could add a second step in our walk-through to be another pop-up that explains that the user should click the ‘New Procurement Process’ button to start a new procurement process. This time we can add an Element selector so that the button is highlighted during this step.

        Dashboard Walkthrough widget element selector example

        How to find the name of an element to insert
        1. Right-click on the element on the page that you want to higlight.

          In our case, we right-click on the New Procurement Process link button on the dashboard (as this is what we want to highlight during this step of the walk-through).

          Dashboard Walkthrough widget Element selector inspect

        2. Click Inspect.

        3. Copy the element you want to be highlighted in this walk-through step. In our case, we copy the element relating to the New Procurement Process link button:

          Dashboard Walkthrough widget element example

        4. Paste the name of the element into the Element selector box in the Edit step dialog box. You can choose the position of the pop-up text in relation to the element being highlighted from the Position drop-down menu.

          Example - Element Selector

          This Popup step that includes an Element selector could look like this to the end user as the second step in the walk-through:

          Dashboard Walkthrough widget Element selector example Step 2

        App Navigation steps

        If you choose App Navigation as the step type, complete the Destination URL field that appears.

        In our example, we will make the third step of our walk-through an App Navigation step type and will title it ‘Go to Procurement form’. The URL inserted as the Destination URL will bring the user into the first form of the Procurement process.

        Dashboard Walkthrough widget App Navigation example

        Example - App Navigation

        This third App Navigation step in our walk-through example could look like this to the end user - the user is brought to the website we insered as the ‘Destination URL’:

        Dashboard Walkthrough App Navigation example

        Element click steps

        If you choose Element click as the step type, complete the Element selector field that appears - see How to find the name of an element to insert to find out how to find the code to insert in order to show different clickable elements of the dashboard or process.

    • Auto-start - Select Yes if you want the Walk-through widget to automatically launch when a user opens the dashboard page.

    • On tour end return to starting page - Select Yes if you want the user to be returned to the dashboard page once the Walk-through steps have been completed.

      You can delete any of the walk-through steps you added to the Walkthrough steps dialog box by simply clicking on the Bin/Trash button to the right of the step.

      Dashboard Walkthrough widget delete a walkthrough step

  7. Once you have completed the Walk-through steps dialog box - by choosing the options and adding the steps you want - click on OK (or click on Close to exit the dialog box without saving).

    The completed Walk-through steps dialog box for our simplified example could look like this:

    Dashboard Walkthrough widget completed Walkthrough steps dialog box

  8. Click on the Save button Dashboard Save button in the top dashboard menu to save the insertion of the new Walk-through widget to the dashboard.

  9. Your new Walk-through widget will now be shown on your dashboard.

    • Our ‘Procurement walk-through widget could look like this on our All Procurement dashboard:

    Dashboard Walkthrough widget example

How to edit Walk-through widgets

To edit a Walk-through widget on a dashboard:

  1. In the dashboard, click on the Edit current page button Edit button in the top menu to view the page in Dashboard Edit mode (in which the Widget menu, Settings button Settings, Bin/Trash button Bin trash button and Add layout container button Dashboard Add layout container button are available).

  2. Click on the Walk-through widget’s Update configuration (Edit) button Dashboard update configuration button.

    Select Dashboard Walkthrough widget Update configuration button

  3. The Walk-through steps dialog box opens, enabling you to make whatever changes you want to the Walk-through widget using the same range of options as outlined in Step 6 of How to get started but also showing the walk-through steps you created.

  4. Making the changes you want and then click OK.

  5. The updated Walk-through widget will be shown on the Dashboard. Click on Save Dashboard Save button in the dashboard top menu to save the changes you’ve made.

How to move Walk-through widgets

To move a Walk-through widget on a dashboard:

  1. On your dashboard, click on the Edit current page button Edit button in the top menu to go into Dashboard Edit mode.
  2. Select the widget’s drag handle button Dashboard widget drag handle button.
  3. Drag and drop the widget where you want it to go on your dashboard.
  4. Click on Save Dashboard Save button in the dashboard top menu to save the changes you’ve made.

In our example, we could move the new ‘Procurement Walk-through widget to the top right section of the dashboard:

Move a Dashboard Link widget

How to delete Walk-through widgets

To delete a Walk-through widget from your dashboard:

  1. On your dashboard, click on the Edit current page button Edit button in the top menu to go into Dashboard Edit mode.

  2. Click on the widget’s Remove widget (Bin/Trash icon) button Bin icon.

    Delete Dashboard Rich Text widget

  3. A Delete widget dialog box will open. Click on OK to delete the widget (or click on Cancel if you wish to cancel the deletion).

    Dashboard Delete widget dialog

  4. Click on Save Dashboard Save button in the dashboard top menu to save the changes you’ve made.

How to edit Walk-through widget settings

To update or edit your Walk-through widget settings:

  1. On your dashboard, click on the Edit current page button Edit button in the top menu to go into Dashboard Edit mode.

  2. Click on the Update widget settings (Cog) button Dashboard Update widget settings button.

    Dashboard Update widget settings button

  3. The Edit widget dialog box will open, enabling you to make changes to any of the available options (the same options as were available in the Add widget dialog box discussed in Step 4 of How to get started).

    Dashboard Link widget Edit widget dialog box

    In our example, we could change the width of the Walk-through widget to be 6 columns wide (the same width as the tiles beside and below it on the dashboard), by clicking on the blue bar.

  4. Click on OK to confirm the changes you’ve made to the widget settings (or click on Close if you don’t want to retain any changes).

  5. The updated Walk-through widget will display on your dashboard. Click on Save Dashboard Save button in the dashboard top menu to save the changes you’ve made.

Saving changes

Make sure to save any changes you make to your Walk-through widget by clicking on the Save button Dashboard Save button in the dashboard top menu. If you leave the dashboard without saving the changes you have made to a widget, the next time you visit the dashboard it won’t include any of the changes made to it since the dashboard page was last saved.

What’s next Idea icon

Now that you’ve learned about the Dashboard Walk-through widget, find out more about the other types of Dashboard widgets you can add to your Kianda dashboard:

5.9 - Custom dashboard widgets

There are currently seven pre-defined dashboard widgets that you can add to your dashboard page. However, you can also create and use your own customised dashboard widgets.

Custom dashboard widgets will only be available to add to your dashboard page from the widget menu if custom widgets have been created by an Administrator or Designer in your Kianda workspace.

How to get started

To add a Custom widget to a Kianda dashboard:

  1. Open the relevant dashboard page. To learn how to create your first dashboard page, go to How to create a dashboard page.

    For this example, we’ll open a dashboard page called ‘Annual Leave’ that currently has a Rich Text widget and List widget on it:

    Annual Leave dashboard page example 2

  2. Click on the Edit current page button from the top dashboard menu to go into Dashboard Edit mode (in which the Widget menu, Settings button Settings, Bin/Trash button Bin trash button and Add layout container button Dashboard Add layout container button are available):

    Click Edit current page button to go into Edit mode

  3. Click on the down arrow button in the Dashboard Widget menu to view the available Custom dashboard widgets.

    Select the Rich Text button in the Dashboard Widget menu

    In this example, there are two custom dashboard widgets available - the ‘Expenses dashboard’ widget and ‘Welcome Banner’. We will use the Welcome Banner custom widget for our example.

    Note: This eighth type of dashboard widget will only be available to you if Custom dashboard widgets have been created by Administrators or Developers in your Kianda workspace.

  4. The Add widget dialog box opens with a range of options for your new Custom dashboard widget.

    Dashboard Add widget dialog box

    Choose the options you want:

    • Title - You can insert the title you want for your Custom dashboard widget (by replacing the default title shown). In our example, we’ll call it ‘Welcome’.

    • Layout columns - You can choose how wide you want your Custom widget to be. You can choose from 1 to 12 columns in width by clicking on the blue bar. For example, click half-way across the blue bar to create a widget that is 6 columns wide, or click to the very end of the bar to create a column that is 12 columns wide.

    • Colour scheme - You can choose from six colour options for the header of the widget (Navy, Green, Blue, Amber, Red or White), if you choose to display it.

    • Show header - You can choose whether or not you want the header of your Custom widget to be shown in the dashboard. In our example, we will de-select the ‘Show header’ option so that the header is not shown.

    • Visible to - You can choose who will be able to see the Custom widget. Select single or multiple Users or Groups, or a combination of the two. You can use the menu on the right to either filter the drop-down list by Users or Groups. To find out more about pre-defined Groups on Kianda, go to Users & Groups.

      • Note - Dashboard page security: When a dashboard page is first created, the users(s)/group(s) who will be able to view the dashboard are selected in the ‘Visible to’ option in the Create dashboard page dialog box (see Step 3 in How to create a Dashboard page).

        You can also edit or update this setting at any point to change who has permission to view a particular dashboard page. This higher dashboard-level security setting will take precedence over the security settings (‘Visible to’) that are applied to the individual widgets within the dashboard (such as a Custom dashboard widget, in this case).

        See Dashboard security and Widget security for more information.

    • Layout container - This option will only display if you have already created layout containers for your Dashboard page. Here, you can select which layout container you want your new Custom widget to be placed in.

      A layout container is a simple way to organise, arrange and move the widgets you add to your dashboard. To learn more about layout containers, go to How to add layout containers to a Dashboard page.

      In this example, we can select to place our new Custom dashboard widget into one of three layout containers - Top, Middle or Bottom:

      Dashboard Add widget dialog box select Layout container

    • Device visibility - You can choose what devices and types of internet connections the dashboard Custom widget will be visible on - select all the options you want from Desktop, Tablet, Mobile, Wi-Fi and Flight mode as to when the device can view the dashboards. By default, all options are selected.

      Device visibility

  5. Click on OK when you’ve completed the Add widget dialog box.

  6. An Edit widget dialog box automatically opens showing the options you can choose for that particular Custom dashboard widget. The options available will be dependent on the functionality of the custom widget.

  7. Click on the OK button when you are finished choosing the options you want (or click on Close to exit the Edit widget dialog box without saving).

  8. Your Custom widget will now be displayed on your dashboard. Click on Save Dashboard Save button in the dashboard top menu to save the insertion of the new widget.

    Our example of the ‘Welcome banner’ custom dashboard widget could look like this when inserted and moved to the top of the dashboard page:

    Dashboard Custom widget Welcome banner example

How Custom dashboard widgets are created

A Kianda Administrator or Developer can create Custom dashboard widgets by opening the Administration menu from the left-side menu and clicking on Developer:

Create a Custom field by clicking on Developer from the Administration menu

The Developer resources page opens and displays all of the Custom widgets that have been created - these include Custom field widgets, Custom rule widgets and Custom Dashboard widgets.

Create new Custom widget Developer resources page

Note: Only Custom dashboard widgets will be shown in the Custom drop-down list in the Widget menu on dashboard pages.

To create a new Custom dashboard widget, a Developer/Administrator needs to:

  1. Click on the New widget button New widget button.

  2. An Edit widget dialog box opens, in which they can choose the Title, Unique ID, Widget icon and Widget type for the new custom widget.

    To create a new Dashboard Widget, the Developer/Administrator must choose ‘Dashboard widget’ as the Widget type, as shown in this example:

    Edit widget dialog box

  3. Once the Developer/Administrator has completed the Edit widget dialog box and clicks on OK, a workspace opens where they can create their Custom dashboard widget (and a pop-up message displays saying ‘Success saving the widget’):

    Custom widget workspace

    The two workspaces that are shown, Widget UI and Widget Code, show the default code that the Developer/Administrator can then add to this in order to create a dashboard widget with the functionality they want.

  4. When they have finished working on the new custom dashboard widget, they need to click on the Update button and a pop-up message will say ‘Widget updated’.

  5. Click on the Close button to close the custom dashboard widget workspace.

    The new custom dashboard widget will now be listed in the Widgets screen in the Developer section:

    Custom dashboard widget listed in Widgets in Developer

    Designers will now be able to see and use the new custom dashboard widget from the Custom section of the Dashboard Widgets menu when they are adding widgets to dashboard pages.

    Custom dashboard widget example in the widget menu

    To learn more about how to create Custom dashboard widgets, go to Creating a custom Dashboard widget.

How to edit Custom dashboard widgets

To edit a Custom dashboard widget on a dashboard page:

  1. In the dashboard, click on the Edit current page button Edit button in the top menu to view the page in Dashboard Edit mode (in which the Widget menu, Settings button Settings and Bin/Trash button Bin trash button are available).

  2. Click on the Custom dashboard widget’s Update configuration (Edit) button Dashboard update configuration button.

    Select Dashboard Link widget Update configuration button

  3. The Edit widget dialog box opens, enabling you to make whatever changes are available to you for that particular custom dashboard widget (this will depend on the range of options and functionality the Developer/Administrator who created it gave it). These will be the same options as were outlined in Step 6 of How to get started.

  4. Making the changes you want and then click OK.

  5. The updated Custom dashboard widget will be shown on the Dashboard. Click on Save Dashboard Save button in the dashboard top menu to save the changes you’ve made.

How to move Custom dashboard widgets

To move a Custom widget on a dashboard page:

  1. On your dashboard, click on the Edit current page button Edit button in the top menu to go into Dashboard Edit mode.

  2. Select the Custom dashboard widget’s drag handle button Dashboard widget drag handle button.

    Custom dashboard widget drag handle

  3. Drag and drop the widget where you want it to go on your dashboard.

How to delete Custom dashboard widgets

To delete a Custom dashboard widget from your dashboard:

  1. On your dashboard, click on the Edit current page button Edit button in the top menu to go into Dashboards Edit mode.

  2. Click on the widget’s Remove widget (Bin/Trash icon) button Bin icon.

    Delete Dashboard Rich Text widget

  3. A Delete widget dialog box will open. Click on OK to delete the widget (or click on Cancel if you wish to cancel the deletion).

    Dashboard Delete widget dialog

How to edit Custom dashboard widget settings

To update or edit your Custom dashboard widget settings:

  1. On your dashboard, click on the Edit current page button Edit button in the top menu to go into Dashboards Edit mode.

  2. Click on the Update widget settings (Cog) button Dashboard Update widget settings button.

    Dashboard Update widget settings button

  3. The Edit widget dialog box will open, enabling you to make changes to any of the available options (the same options as were available in the Add widget dialog box discussed in Step 4 of How to get started).

    Dashboard Link widget Edit widget dialog box

    In our example, we could choose to reduce the width of the Custom dashboard widget to be 4 columns wide, by clicking to the left of the existing blue bar.

  4. Click on OK to confirm the changes you’ve made to the widget settings (or click on Close if you don’t want to retain any changes).

  5. The updated Custom dashboard widget will display on your dashboard. Click on Save Dashboard Save button in the dashboard top menu to save the changes you’ve made.

Saving changes

Make sure to save any changes you make to your Custom dashboard widget by clicking on the Save button Dashboard Save button in the dashboard top menu. If you leave the dashboard without saving the changes you have made to a widget, the next time you visit the dashboard it won’t include any of the changes made to it since the dashboard page was last saved.

What’s next Idea icon

Now that you’ve learned about Custom dashboard widgets, find out more about the other types of Dashboard widgets you can add to your Kianda dashboard:

5.10 - Conditions

Conditions allow you to make forms and dashboards fully dynamic. They are easy to configure in the Kianda platform, using natural language to create triggers for rule execution.

Conditions can be applied to Tile, List, Chart Chat v2 and Filter widgets.

How to get started

  1. Make sure you are in Edit mode on your dashboard page by clicking on the Edit button Edit button in the top menu.

    Pen button in a widget

  2. Click on the Update configuration or Pen button for any of the above mentioned widgets.

  3. In the edit dialog box of the Tile, List and Chart widgets, click on the Conditions button Conditions button after it opens.

    • To add conditions in the Filter widget, visit Filter.

    • To add conditions to Chart v2, visit Chart v2.

  4. Click on Add a conditions group Add conditions button button to add a condition.

  5. The Edit conditions dialog box opens.

    Edit conditions

    Click into the first empty field to choose a field to filter on. This field can be a Common field or a Design field as found in a form. Click on the + symbol to drill down to the relevant fields to use. Click on a field to use, for example the Common field, ‘Status’. If you want to replace the field with a different one, click on the X beside the field name.

  6. Click on the operator field and choose from a relevant operator to apply, for example Equals, Contains, Is blank, Matches pattern and so on.

    Condition operators

    If a time-based field is chosen then a drop-down list of time-related operators become available, for example Is Today, Is Between Days, Is Before Today and so on.

  7. Depending on the operator chosen, then a value field may be visible where you can either a) type in a value that you want to hone in on, or b) click into the field to drill down to a design field as found in a form. In the example below, we are looking for a particular value called ‘completed’ against the Common field, ‘Status’.

    Condition applied

  8. Click on Add condition to add further conditions and group together into an expression using the drop-down list of Boolean operators a) And or b) Or

    Conditions

    Then add further condition groups using the Add a conditions group Add conditions button button to add and apply the radio buttons of Boolean operators a) And or b) Or to tie groups together.

  9. Delete conditions by clicking on the Bin/Trash button Bin button.

  10. Click on the OK button to save your changes or click on Close to exit the dialog box without saving.

  11. Click on OK button again for the Edit widget dialog box to apply the changes or click on Close to exit the dialog box without saving.

Saving changes

Make sure to save any changes you make to your dashboard by clicking on the Save button Dashboard Save button in the dashboard top menu. If you leave the dashboard without saving the changes you have made, the next time you visit the dashboard it won’t include any of the changes made to it since the dashboard page was last saved.

What’s next Idea icon

Now that you’ve learned about the Conditions that can be applied to Tile, List and Chart widgets, find out more about all of the types of Dashboard widgets you can add to your Kianda dashboard:

5.11 - Query Strings

What is a Query String?

Before we explain how and where you can use query strings within Kianda, you’ll need to understand what a query string is, to help your understanding of how to use them. To put it simply, a query string is a set of characters that gets appended onto the end of a URL path beginning with a question mark ?.

A query string contains parameters also know as a key and value pair. Each key and value is separated by an equal sign =. An example of such query string with a single parameter is:

?name=John

where name is the key or object and John is a particular value assigned to name.

You can have multiple parameters within a query string and those parameters are separated by an ampersand & for example:

?firstName=John&lastName=Rea

A full example of a URL and a query string would for instance look like this:

https://green-itr.kianda.com/some/ulr/path?firstName=John

or

https://green-itr.kianda.com/some/ulr/path?firstName=John&lastName=Rea

Both of the examples above classify as a query string, the only difference is the amount of parameters they hold, for example the latter holds two parameters which are a) firstName=John and b) lastName=Rea.

Query Strings in Kianda

By using query string in Kianda, you are able to transfer information and data easily within different areas of the platform such as Dashboards pages and Processes. Query strings allow you to pass data from a dashboard page into a processes or vice versa if required depending on your needs. How query strings are used in both areas are explained as follows:

How to use Query Strings in Dashboard pages

When working with query strings in Kianda dashboard pages, we need to create a query string and append it to the URL. Once a query string is created and appended onto the URL, you can then use them in Processes or other Dashboard pages.

You can create query strings in a dashboard by utilising the Filter and Link widgets which you can then use to navigate from a dashboard to a process or from a dashboard to another dashboard, while keeping the query string in order to use its parameters. Read more on specific widgets under Link Widget Query Strings and Filter Widget Query Strings.

Within the Link widget, we create parameters and assign them values which are then added into the URL creating a query string. To learn what a query string is, go to What is a Query String.

To create a query string using the Link widget, first, you need to create the Link Widget in your dashboard, to do so follow steps 1 - 6 under How to get started so that the Edit link dialog opens as shown in the image below.

Dashboard Link widget Edit link dialog box

The QueryString parameters textbox in the Edit link dialog box is where you can create parameters and assign them values. For example we want to create a country parameter with a value of Ireland, our QueryString parameters textbox will look like this: Dashboard Link widget Edit link dialog box

Once we click on the link in our link widget, our URL will be updated to https://{website-domain}/some/ulr/path?country=Ireland.

The Append query? checkbox is used when you want to have the ability for the link to add another parameter with its value to the query string. We’ll explain this concept in two examples, an unchecked version and checked version.

Append query Unchecked

Dashboard Link widget Edit link dialog box

When the Append query checkbox is unchecked we have two ways the functionality will work:

  • If the URL does not contain a query string, the click of the link will create a new query string with the given parameter and value. For example if the URL looks like this before clicking the link: https://{website-domain}/some/ulr/path. Then after the link is clicked, the URL will look like this: https://{website-domain}/some/ulr/path?country=Ireland. The question mark is added automatically by the system so there is no need to add it into the textbox.

  • If the URL already contains a query string, the existing query string will be overwritten. This means that, for example, if the URL already holds parameters in the query string such as this:

    https://{website-domain}/some/ulr/path?firstName=John&lastName=Rea.

    After the link is clicked, the URL will be overwritten to: https://{website-domain}/some/ulr/path?country=Ireland

Append query Checked

Dashboard Link widget Edit link dialog box

When the Append query checkbox is checked we have two ways the functionality will work:

  • If the URL does not contain a query string, the click of the link will create a new query string with the given parameter and value. For example if the URL looks like this before clicking the link: https://{website-domain}/some/ulr/path. Then after the link is clicked, the URL will look like this: https://{website-domain}/some/ulr/path?country=Ireland. The question mark is added automatically by the system so there is no need to add it into the textbox.
  • If the URL already contains a query string, the parameter with its value will be appended to the query string. For example, if the URL already holds parameters in the query string such as this: https://{website-domain}/some/ulr/path?firstName=John&lastName=Rea. After the link is clicked, the URL will be updated to: https://{website-domain}/some/ulr/path?firstName=John&lastName=Rea&country=Ireland

By using the link to navigate to a process, you can then use the query string parameters by populating their values into a process field, to learn how to do so, visit Expression builder Query Strings.

Filter Widget Query Strings

To create a query string using the Filter widget, first, you need to create the Filter Widget in your dashboard, to do so follow steps 1 - 6 under How to get started so that the Edit link dialog opens as shown in the image below. You can use a query string with the Dropdown list, Radio list and Free text Filter types.

To add a query string to your filter, you must check the Enable query string? checkbox. This will allow you to specify a parameter in the textbox with the place holder text that says “Parameter name”. In the example below a parameter called ‘name’ is used which will have the values ‘Paul’, ‘John’ or ‘David’ assigned to it by user interaction.

Filter widget query string example

The Auto update URL checkbox is used to automatically update URL in real time when an option is selected and therefore it is recommended if other dashboard widgets require query strings based on the input of the filter.

When working with a Dropdown or a Radio list filter type, the specified parameter name will hold the value of the option you select. For example if the parameter name is name and the option John is chosen, the query string will be ?name=John

Filter widget query string example

When working with a Free text filter type, the idea of the parameter name is exactly the same as explained when working with Dropdown or Radio list, the only difference is that the value of your parameter will be the text you type into the filter search bar. The URL will be updated when you click away from the filter search bar which signals the system to update the query string parameter:

Free text filter widget query string example

How to use Query Strings in Processes

To use query strings in a process, you first need to create query strings from a dashboard and pass parameters from your dashboard into a process, to learn more on how create query strings in a dashboard, see How to use Query Strings in Dashboard pages above.

You can use query strings within a process in a number of ways namely:

a) retrieve the query string parameters from the URL within a process using an expression builder which is explained in more detail under Expression builder Query Strings

b) create query string parameter from a process and pass it on into a dashboard using the Close rule available from the Form actions set of rules. Passing query strings using the close rule is explained in more detail under Close rule Query Strings.

Expression builder Query Strings

Expression builder

To retrieve a query string parameter from the URL, you can use the expression builder which is available for use using the Set form field. Typically the retrieval of a query string parameter is done using in the Onload rules section of a process so that the query string parameter will automatically (onload of a process) load the parameters value into a desired process field. To achieve this follow the steps below:

  1. Attach a Set form field into the Onload rules and select a form field from your process in the From field to set dropdown.
  2. Open the expression builder using the Ellipsis button:

Expression builder

  1. In the Expression builder dialog box click on the Reference button reference buttonto open a menu of reference to functions available in the expression builder.

  2. Copy the QueryString(‘parameter’) function and paste it into the expression text box.

  3. Replace the ‘parameter’ text within the brackets of the function with the query string parameter you want to retrieve. For example if your URL contains a name parameter like this: Expression builder. Then to retrieve the value, the expression textbox will look as follows:

    Expression builder

  4. Click on OK in the expression builder dialog box.

Close rule Query Strings

Return to dashboard option

You can create query strings using the Close rule available from the Action forms set of rules. The close rule query strings are typically used when navigating to a dashboard when a process instance is completed and submitted. The idea is that when you’re navigated to a dashboard after completing a process, you can pass some information from the process into a dashboard to display certain data in that dashboard. You can also use the close rule to start a new process and pass some data from the process itself to populate process fields that you’re starting. Passing parameters in both scenarios works the same:

  1. In the On form close navigate to option, select Return to a dashboard or Go to process.

  2. In the dropdown above the Query string parameters option, select the respective dashboard or process you wish to navigate to. To learn more about the close rule, visit Close rule.

  3. In the Query string parameters dropdown/textbox you can select a process field as a parameter. This will force the system to use the fields unique name as a parameter name and the value of that field will be the value of the parameter. For example, when a fields unique name is firstName and the value of that field is John, the final URL will look something like this: https://green-itr.kianda.com/some/ulr/path?firstName=John. See image below for the setup of the example:

    Query string and close rule example

6 - Data connectors

The Data sources function is found under Administration in the left-hand side menu, and provides an easy way to create connections to ERP, CRM and IT systems. These connections allow you to combine multiple sources of data in one place and from there Kianda processes can use and update the data to creative effective workflows.

Predefined data connectors

Connecting to data in Kianda is a breeze. You can quickly connect to a data source, for example data in Salesforce, and use this data in Kianda forms and dashboards. The connection is called a data connector and Kianda comes with a predefined set of data connectors, these include:

Click on each of the links above to find out more about each data connector.

If you have a data source that is not on the list above, you can use SOAP or REST to easily connect to your data source, go to SOAP or REST for more information.

If you are an experienced developer, you can also create your own Custom connector customising pre- and post-processing of queries, see Custom connector.

Viewing existing data sources

Only those with the role Administrator or Manage data sources have access to the Datasource management function. To view any existing data sources:

  1. Go to Administration > Data sources in the left-hand side menu.

  2. Any existing data sources that have been created for your workspace are shown in the main view under Datasource management.

    Existing data connectors

    Data sources are listed by: Name, Type and icon, Modified (as in the date the connector was last modified), Modified By (the person who last made changes) and the Status, for example ready means the connection has been tested and is working, while incomplete means that more details still need to be added.

  3. To search for a data source, type in the name or type of data source in the search box.

  4. To delete a data source, click on the Bin/Trash button Bin/Trash button beside the name of the datasource. You will receive a popup asking to you to confirm deletion by clicking OK, or you can exit the deletion by clicking on Cancel.

  5. To see the details of a data source, click on the name of the Data source and from there you are brought to the Data source details page:

    Data source details example

  6. The details will vary depending on the data source, but there are some common elements:

    • Display name - the name of the data source as it will display in your system. Choose something meaningful, as you will use this name in process design to connect your forms to your data source.
    • Information about the data source - this could be a URL, Server name, Client ID, root folder path etc.
    • Authentication details - this could be a username, password, client secret etc.
    • Option to use Kianda Cloud Connect. This software allows you to connect a local system for example a file system, to Kianda. If you enable this feature and download a zip file, you can install the software on your server, allowing the Kianda system to reach your server and get access to data, for example SQL Server, making system integration quick and efficient.
    • Test connection - all data source detail pages will allow you to test your connection using this button to ensure data exchange can happen.
    • Save - at any time you can save details, even if some parameters need to be completed, allowing you to return to the configuration at any point.
    • Security - all data sources can have different levels of security set up, including administrators for the connection, and users of the connection, see Setting security for data sources for more details.
    • Close - allows you to exit from the data source details page.

Creating a datasource

The video below demonstrates how to create a datasource for SharePoint. The procedure shown is similar for other data connectors. Click on the links in Predefined data connectors to read more on how to connect to different data sources.

Connecting to SharePoint Data (On-premises or Online) example

There is also an option to create a customised data connector using the Kianda Developer Custom Connector.

Kianda Cloud Connect

Kianda Cloud Connect (KCC) is available with the following data sources, allowing you to streamline data system integration:

  • Active Directory
  • Email
  • File System
  • FTP
  • MySQL
  • Oracle
  • PowerShell
  • REST
  • SAP
  • SharePoint
  • SQL Server
  • SOAP

You can enable KCC when you add a new data source from the main by datasource management page:

  1. Fill out details for your data source in the data source details page.
  2. Check the checkbox beside Kianda Cloud Connect.
  3. A link appears to Download Kianda Cloud Connect. Click on this link to download the software.
  4. Click on the setup file in the zip package and step through the wizard to install Kianda Cloud Connect.

​ For more information go to Kianda Cloud Connect.

Setting security for data sources

All data sources can have security added at different levels, for example at a role level and even database query level.

To enable security for datasources:

  1. From the left-hand side menu, go to Administration > Data sources.

  2. Click on an existing data source name or click on Add new to create a new data source.

  3. In the data source details screen, click on the Security button.

  4. The Security settings dialog box opens.

    Security settings for data sources

  5. Fill out the details:

    • Connection administrators - click on the dropdown list to choose from Users and/or Groups who can edit the connection settings. If left blank any user with the role Administrator can edit the connection. See Users and groups for more details on how to add users and groups to the workspace.
    • Connection users - click on the dropdown list to choose from Users and/or Groups who are allowed to query data using this connection. If left blank any user can query data using the datasource.
    • Enable B2B - if you check the checkbox, this allows B2B external users to query the connection. The Enable partner default query parameters checkbox appears.
  6. Check/Uncheck Enable partner default query parameters. If you check the checkbox, you can define default query parameters that are applied to any partner originated query. Parameters defined here take precedence over any design time queries. Click on Add mapping to choose a query type and table/operation as follows:

    • Query type - choose from Create, Read, Update, Delete (CRUD). These CRUD operations allow you to create, read, update and delete records within your datasource.

    • Table/Operation - click on Select a table to select a resource within the data connector. Click on OK when you are finished editing, or Close at any time to exit the dialog box.

    • Query parameters - when a datasource resource is chosen, for example a SharePoint list called ‘Countries’ below, then you will have an option to set conditions for filtering data.

      Query parameters

      Click on Filter conditions to open an Edit conditions dialog box and from there click on Add a conditions group.

  7. If you choose to set conditions using the steps above, then in the Edit conditions dialog box, you can set conditions based on data source parameters, operators and form fields.

    • The parameter on the left comes from the data source, for example for SharePoint, there are 18 possible values listed in SharePoint parameters. See Data sources for information about other data connectors.

    Edit conditions dialog box in Security settings

    • Within this dialog box you can also use different operators, for example Equals as shown above. See Conditions for more details on using conditions in Kianda.

    • The right-most field relates to the B2B Portal and B2B User. There are standard options listed below:

      • Main Contact Name – the first name and last name of the Partner
      • Main Contact Email – the email of the Partner
      • Partner Company Name – the Partner organisation of the Partner
      • Partner Current User Name – the user within the B2B Portal that is accessing the datasource
      • Partner Current User Email – the user’s email within the B2B Portal that is accessing the datasource

      B2B form parameters

    • When you have added conditions click on OK, or click on Close at any time to exit the dialog box.

  8. When you are finished editing the security settings dialog box, click on OK, or click on Close at any time to exit the dialog box.

What’s next Idea icon

We have introduced the data sources management function within Administration. Now let’s look at each of the data connector types in more detail:

6.1 - Active Directory

One of the data connectors within Kianda that you can connect to is Active Directory (AD) also known as Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS). AD is a logical and hierarchical structured data store of objects which are mostly accounts. Accounts such as Users, Computers, Groups and other objects such as Printers or Group Policy Objects (GPO). For example, you can store information about user accounts within an AD such as Name, Email, Manager name, Password, Job title and Permissions.

The Kianda AD connector uses Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) allowing users to query Active Directory libraries for example to retrieve properties for users. For more information on LDAP go to https://ldap.com/ or https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lightweight_Directory_Access_Protocol.

When to use

Having an AD connector will allow you to access and update information that is stored in your AD database from your Kianda subscription. You will be able to use User-related AD functions which will allow you to use the connector when manipulating users within your AD. For example creating users, updating their permissions, moving them between groups or removing them from the directory. To use the AD functions, you can use the Data rules that are predefined within Kianda.

Before you get started

Before you can create a connection with your Active Directory and your Kianda subscription, you need to

a) download Kianda Cloud Connect

b) create a specific user for the connector, defined in your Active directory database

Kianda Cloud Connect

Kianda Cloud Connect is a piece of software that establishes a connection between your local machine and your Kianda subscription. This lightweight app will sit on your PC or server where files reside that you need to use in Kianda processes, and therefore is an on premise function .

Kianda Cloud Connect allows data to travel from your local machine to the Kianda Cloud Connect service, and then the Kianda Cloud Connect service sends data to your Kianda subscription. This data transfer works both ways depending on what operation you are performing for example Deleting a file or Creating one.

User account for the connection

You must create an account in your AD service which will serve as the connector administration account for the data connector, and this account must be a global administrator in order to allow access to functions.

this account must correspond. Note that this account can only be used to manage the connector for one subscription and cannot be used in more than one Kianda subscriptions as Kianda Cloud Connect will not be able to tell which subscription you want to connect to.

To learn more about how to download and create a connection between your Kianda subscription and Kianda Cloud Connect go to Kianda Cloud Connect.

How to get started

  1. From the Kianda home page, click on Administration > Data sources.

  2. Click on + Add new button Add new data connector button and choose Active Directory from the list of data sources provided.

  3. You will be automatically brought to the Active Directory details page, where you can start setting up the connection.

    File system detail page

    Choose from the edit options:

    • Display name - type in the name for your PowerShell connector. The display name is used to identify your connector.
    • Directory path - enter in the path to the directory. The path must be LDAP or GC (Global Connector).
    • AD User - enter in the domain and user that you want to connect to. To specify the domain and user correctly use the following format: <domain>/<username>
    • Password - enter in the password used to login for the desired user.
    • Use Kianda Cloud Connect - by default this option is enabled, the cloud connect is used to create a connection between the Active Directory connector and Kianda itself. To learn more about Kianda Cloud Connect and how to create a connection between Kianda and your PC, go to Kianda Cloud Connect.
      • Connectors - displays all available connector PC’s that have a connection established with your Kianda subscription. This option is used to select the PC connection that is running the Active Directory server.
    • Status - represents the current status of the connection.
      • incomplete - means that the details of the connector were not fully completed.
      • test failed - means that the details of the connector are incorrect and the connection has failed.
      • ready - means that the connector has successfully connected and its ready to be used.

    Here is an example of a completed AD connector page, where the directory path is LDAP and this connector is connecting to LAB2 where the AD database resides.

    LDAP AD connector examples

  4. When you have added the necessary details, you are ready to test your connection and add security. At the bottom of the PowerShell Connector page, click on Test connection button Test connection for REST Service and if the service has been correctly configured, then you should receive a notification saying Connection test succeeded.

  5. Click on Save Save connection button to save the connection and you will receive a notification saying Details saved successfully.

  6. Add Security settings by clicking on the Security button, go to Setting security for data sources for more details.

  7. Click on Close to close the details page and return to the data source management main view.

Active Directory Remote Procedures

Active Directory functions are User-related remote procedures and to use them you have to use the Data rules that are predefined within Kianda. The remote procedures that are available are listed below. To give you an idea of how they work, some of these procedures are detailed on other pages, click on the links below to find out more.

Active Directory list of functions

  • FindUsers - allows you to look for a user within your directory by defining a user attribute as a means of searching for them.
  • IsMemberOf - allows you to see if a user is a member of a group. You need to specify both a user and a group.
  • CreateUser - allows you to create a user within your directory. You need to specify a username, first name, last name, email and password to create a user successfully.
  • UpdateUser - allows you to update user attributes. You need to specify what user to update by providing their sAMAccountName and distinguishedName (DN).
  • AddUserToGroup - allows you to add a user to a group by providing the group name and both the distinguishedName and sAMAccountName of the user.
  • RemoveUserFromGroup - allows you to remove a user from a group by providing the group name and both the distinguishedName and sAMAccountName of the user.
  • Enable User - allows you to enable or disable a user by providing the enable parameter and both the distinguishedName and sAMAccountName of the user. The enable parameter is either true or false.
  • MoveUser - allows you to move a user to a specific path in your directory by providing the destination path and both the distinguishedName and sAMAccountName of the user.

Create User Function example

Lets take the CreateUser function as an example to show how these functions work. As mentioned earlier, we need to use the Data rules to use these functions and for this example we use the Create item rule which is available from the Data rules.

  1. When creating a user in Active Directory, there are some required properties that we need to provide. Those properties are a username, givenName (first name), surname (last name), email and password. There are also extra properties that can be provided by expanding a properties tab within the function:

    Active Directory list of functions

  2. We need to create at least five fields that will be used to provide a value as the required properties. We will use a text box field for each one:

    Required fields for the required properties

  3. Use the create item rule to use the function. We need to map the text box fields to the appropriate properties as follow:

    Mapping the required fields to create item rule

You can apply the create item rule to a button, for example, the submit button. This will result in a user being created in your AD whenever the submit button will be clicked.

AD Use case example - User synchronisation

Using AD you can perform user synchronisation for user groups in Kianda. For example by creating a specific group in Kianda, we can allow Group member synchronisation for that group, by choosing the option shown in the image below with, using the AD data connector. See Groups for more details on group creation.

Group member sync

In the example above, the Kianda environment is synchronised with AD, so that any users added to or deleted from the AD database will be added to or removed from the users of the group ‘Company Users’. This kind of user synchronisation is also possible with Office 365, SharePoint as well as AD.

By clicking on the Filter button Filter buttonwithin Groups, an LDAP Filter can be applied. The LDAP filter is an open format that allows you to perform queries with AD. For example the query below is used to query for users in the IT department with an account that is not disabled (=2).

LDAP filter example

LDAP queries and more information on LDAP can be found in many pages such as:

https://ldap.com/ldap-filters/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lightweight_Directory_Access_Protocol

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/windows/desktop/ldap/ldap-reference

What’s next Idea icon

When you have created your Active Directory connector you can start to use the connector data in processes. To find out more about how to design processes, go to Designer.

6.1.1 - Active Directory

One of the data connectors within Kianda that you can connect to is Active Directory (AD) also known as Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS). AD is a logical and hierarchical structured data store of objects which are mostly accounts. Accounts such as Users, Computers, Groups and other objects such as Printers or Group Policy Objects (GPO). For example, you can store information about user accounts within an AD such as Name, Password, Job title and Permissions.

When to use

Having an AD connector will allow you to access information that is stored there within your Kianda subscription. You will be able to use User related AD functions which will allow you to use the connector when manipulating users within your AD. For example creating users, updating their permissions, moving them between groups or removing them from the directory. To use the AD functions, you can use the Data rules that are predefined within Kianda.

Before you get started

Before you can create a connection with your Active Directory and your Kianda subscription, you need to download Kianda Cloud Connect. Kianda Cloud Connect is a piece of software that establishes a connection between your local machine and your Kianda subscription. This lightweight app will sit on your PC or server where files reside that you need to use in Kianda processes. It allows the data to travel from your local machine to the Kianda Cloud Connect service, and then the Kianda Cloud Connect service sends data to your Kianda subscription. This data transfer works both ways depending on what operation you are performing for example Deleting a file or Creating one.

To learn more about how to download and create a connection between your Kianda subscription and Kianda Cloud Connect go to Kianda Cloud Connect.

How to get started

  1. From the Kianda home page, click on Administration > Data sources.

  2. Click on + Add new button Add new data connector button and choose Active Directory from the list of data sources provided.

  3. You will be automatically brought to the Active Directory details page, where you can start setting up the connection.

    File system detail page

    Choose from the edit options:

    • Display name - type in the name for your PowerShell connector. The display name is used to identify your connector.
    • Directory path - enter in the path to the directory. The path must be LDAP or GC.
    • AD User - enter in the domain and user that you want to connect to. To specify the domain and user correctly use the following format: <domain>/<username>
    • Password - enter in the password used to login for the desired user.
    • Use Kianda Cloud Connect - by default this option is enabled, the cloud connect is used to create a connection between the Active Directory connector and Kianda itself. To learn more about Kianda Cloud Connect and how to create a connection between Kianda and your PC, go to Kianda Cloud Connect.
      • Connectors - displays all available connector PC’s that have a connection established with your Kianda subscription. This option is used to select the PC connection that is running the Active Directory server.
    • Status - represents the current status of the connection.
      • incomplete - means that the details of the connector were not fully completed.
      • test failed - means that the details of the connector are incorrect and the connection has failed.
      • ready - means that the connector has successfully connected and its ready to be used.
  4. When you have added PowerShell details, you are ready to test your connection and add security. At the bottom of the PowerShell Connector page, click on Test connection button Test connection for REST Service and if the service has been correctly configured, then you should receive a notification saying Connection test succeeded.

  5. Click on Save Save connection button to save the connection and you will receive a notification saying Details saved successfully.

  6. Add Security settings by clicking on the Security button, go to Setting security for data sources for more details.

  7. Click on Close to close the details page and return to the data source management main view.

Active Directory functions

Active Directory functions are Users related and to use them you have to use the Data rules that are predefined within Kianda. The functions that are available are:

Active Directory list of functions

  • FindUsers - allows you to look for a user within your directory by defining a user attribute as a means of searching for them.
  • IsMemberOf - allows you to see if a user is a member of a group. You need to specify both a user and a group.
  • CreateUser - allows you to create a user within your directory. You need to specify a username, first name, last name, email and password to create a user successfully.
  • UpdateUser - allows you to update user attributes. You need to specify what user to update by providing their sAMAccountName and distinguishedName (DN).
  • AddUserToGroup - allows you to add a user to a group by providing the group name and both the distinguishedName and sAMAccountName of the user.
  • RemoveUserFromGroup - allows you to remove a user from a group by providing the group name and both the distinguishedName and sAMAccountName of the user.
  • Enable User - allows you to enable or disable a user by providing the enable parameter and both the distinguishedName and sAMAccountName of the user. The enable parameter is either true or false.
  • MoveUser - allows you to move a user to a specific path in your directory by providing the destination path and both the distinguishedName and sAMAccountName of the user.

Lets take the CreateUser function as an example to show how these functions work. As mentioned earlier, we need to use the Data rules to use these functions and for this example we use the Create item rule which is available from the Data rules.

  1. When creating a user in Active Directory, there are some required properties that we need to provide. Those properties are a username, givenName (first name), surname (last name), email and password. There are also extra properties that can be provided by expanding a properties tab within the function:

    Active Directory list of functions

  2. We need to create at least five fields that will be used to provide a value as the required properties. We will use a text box field for each one:

    Required fields for the required properties

  3. Use the create item rule to use the function. We need to map the text box fields to the appropriate properties as follow:

    Mapping the required fields to create item rule

You can apply the create item rule to a button, for example, the submit button. This will result in a user being created in your AD whenever the submit button will be clicked.

What’s next Idea icon

Your Active Directory connector is now set up and ready to be used in your processes. To find out more about how to design processes go to Designer.

6.1.2 - Active Directory

The Find Users remote procedure allows you to look for a user within your directory by defining a user attribute as a means of searching for them.

When to use

Having an AD connector will allow you to access information that is stored within your Kianda subscription. You will be able to use User related AD functions which will allow you to use the connector when manipulating users within your AD. For example creating users, updating their permissions, moving them between groups or removing them from the directory. To use the AD functions, you can use the Data rules that are predefined within Kianda.

Before you get started

Create a data connector to your AD database by following the steps detailed in the Active Directory data connector page .

Remote procedure inputs

  1. From the Kianda home page, click on Administration > Data sources.

  2. Click on + Add new button Add new data connector button and choose Active Directory from the list of data sources provided.

  3. You will be automatically brought to the Active Directory details page, where you can start setting up the connection.

    File system detail page

    Choose from the edit options:

    • Display name - type in the name for your PowerShell connector. The display name is used to identify your connector.
    • Directory path - enter in the path to the directory. The path must be LDAP or GC.
    • AD User - enter in the domain and user that you want to connect to. To specify the domain and user correctly use the following format: <domain>/<username>
    • Password - enter in the password used to login for the desired user.
    • Use Kianda Cloud Connect - by default this option is enabled, the cloud connect is used to create a connection between the Active Directory connector and Kianda itself. To learn more about Kianda Cloud Connect and how to create a connection between Kianda and your PC, go to Kianda Cloud Connect.
      • Connectors - displays all available connector PC’s that have a connection established with your Kianda subscription. This option is used to select the PC connection that is running the Active Directory server.
    • Status - represents the current status of the connection.
      • incomplete - means that the details of the connector were not fully completed.
      • test failed - means that the details of the connector are incorrect and the connection has failed.
      • ready - means that the connector has successfully connected and its ready to be used.
  4. When you have added PowerShell details, you are ready to test your connection and add security. At the bottom of the PowerShell Connector page, click on Test connection button Test connection for REST Service and if the service has been correctly configured, then you should receive a notification saying Connection test succeeded.

  5. Click on Save Save connection button to save the connection and you will receive a notification saying Details saved successfully.

  6. Add Security settings by clicking on the Security button, go to Setting security for data sources for more details.

  7. Click on Close to close the details page and return to the data source management main view.

Active Directory functions

Active Directory functions are Users related and to use them you have to use the Data rules that are predefined within Kianda. The functions that are available are:

Active Directory list of functions

  • FindUsers - allows you to look for a user within your directory by defining a user attribute as a means of searching for them.
  • IsMemberOf - allows you to see if a user is a member of a group. You need to specify both a user and a group.
  • CreateUser - allows you to create a user within your directory. You need to specify a username, first name, last name, email and password to create a user successfully.
  • UpdateUser - allows you to update user attributes. You need to specify what user to update by providing their sAMAccountName and distinguishedName (DN).
  • AddUserToGroup - allows you to add a user to a group by providing the group name and both the distinguishedName and sAMAccountName of the user.
  • RemoveUserFromGroup - allows you to remove a user from a group by providing the group name and both the distinguishedName and sAMAccountName of the user.
  • Enable User - allows you to enable or disable a user by providing the enable parameter and both the distinguishedName and sAMAccountName of the user. The enable parameter is either true or false.
  • MoveUser - allows you to move a user to a specific path in your directory by providing the destination path and both the distinguishedName and sAMAccountName of the user.

Lets take the CreateUser function as an example to show how these functions work. As mentioned earlier, we need to use the Data rules to use these functions and for this example we use the Create item rule which is available from the Data rules.

  1. When creating a user in Active Directory, there are some required properties that we need to provide. Those properties are a username, givenName (first name), surname (last name), email and password. There are also extra properties that can be provided by expanding a properties tab within the function:

    Active Directory list of functions

  2. We need to create at least five fields that will be used to provide a value as the required properties. We will use a text box field for each one:

    Required fields for the required properties

  3. Use the create item rule to use the function. We need to map the text box fields to the appropriate properties as follow:

    Mapping the required fields to create item rule

You can apply the create item rule to a button, for example, the submit button. This will result in a user being created in your AD whenever the submit button will be clicked.

What’s next Idea icon

Your Active Directory connector is now set up and ready to be used in your processes. To find out more about how to design processes go to Designer.

6.1.3 - Active Directory

One of the data connectors within Kianda that you can connect to is Active Directory (AD) also known as Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS). AD is a logical and hierarchical structured data store of objects which are mostly accounts. Accounts such as Users, Computers, Groups and other objects such as Printers or Group Policy Objects (GPO). For example, you can store information about user accounts within an AD such as Name, Password, Job title and Permissions.

When to use

Having an AD connector will allow you to access information that is stored there within your Kianda subscription. You will be able to use User related AD functions which will allow you to use the connector when manipulating users within your AD. For example creating users, updating their permissions, moving them between groups or removing them from the directory. To use the AD functions, you can use the Data rules that are predefined within Kianda.

Before you get started

Before you can create a connection with your Active Directory and your Kianda subscription, you need to download Kianda Cloud Connect. Kianda Cloud Connect is a piece of software that establishes a connection between your local machine and your Kianda subscription. This lightweight app will sit on your PC or server where files reside that you need to use in Kianda processes. It allows the data to travel from your local machine to the Kianda Cloud Connect service, and then the Kianda Cloud Connect service sends data to your Kianda subscription. This data transfer works both ways depending on what operation you are performing for example Deleting a file or Creating one.

To learn more about how to download and create a connection between your Kianda subscription and Kianda Cloud Connect go to Kianda Cloud Connect.

How to get started

  1. From the Kianda home page, click on Administration > Data sources.

  2. Click on + Add new button Add new data connector button and choose Active Directory from the list of data sources provided.

  3. You will be automatically brought to the Active Directory details page, where you can start setting up the connection.

    File system detail page

    Choose from the edit options:

    • Display name - type in the name for your PowerShell connector. The display name is used to identify your connector.
    • Directory path - enter in the path to the directory. The path must be LDAP or GC.
    • AD User - enter in the domain and user that you want to connect to. To specify the domain and user correctly use the following format: <domain>/<username>
    • Password - enter in the password used to login for the desired user.
    • Use Kianda Cloud Connect - by default this option is enabled, the cloud connect is used to create a connection between the Active Directory connector and Kianda itself. To learn more about Kianda Cloud Connect and how to create a connection between Kianda and your PC, go to Kianda Cloud Connect.
      • Connectors - displays all available connector PC’s that have a connection established with your Kianda subscription. This option is used to select the PC connection that is running the Active Directory server.
    • Status - represents the current status of the connection.
      • incomplete - means that the details of the connector were not fully completed.
      • test failed - means that the details of the connector are incorrect and the connection has failed.
      • ready - means that the connector has successfully connected and its ready to be used.
  4. When you have added PowerShell details, you are ready to test your connection and add security. At the bottom of the PowerShell Connector page, click on Test connection button Test connection for REST Service and if the service has been correctly configured, then you should receive a notification saying Connection test succeeded.

  5. Click on Save Save connection button to save the connection and you will receive a notification saying Details saved successfully.

  6. Add Security settings by clicking on the Security button, go to Setting security for data sources for more details.

  7. Click on Close to close the details page and return to the data source management main view.

Active Directory functions

Active Directory functions are Users related and to use them you have to use the Data rules that are predefined within Kianda. The functions that are available are:

Active Directory list of functions

  • FindUsers - allows you to look for a user within your directory by defining a user attribute as a means of searching for them.
  • IsMemberOf - allows you to see if a user is a member of a group. You need to specify both a user and a group.
  • CreateUser - allows you to create a user within your directory. You need to specify a username, first name, last name, email and password to create a user successfully.
  • UpdateUser - allows you to update user attributes. You need to specify what user to update by providing their sAMAccountName and distinguishedName (DN).
  • AddUserToGroup - allows you to add a user to a group by providing the group name and both the distinguishedName and sAMAccountName of the user.
  • RemoveUserFromGroup - allows you to remove a user from a group by providing the group name and both the distinguishedName and sAMAccountName of the user.
  • Enable User - allows you to enable or disable a user by providing the enable parameter and both the distinguishedName and sAMAccountName of the user. The enable parameter is either true or false.
  • MoveUser - allows you to move a user to a specific path in your directory by providing the destination path and both the distinguishedName and sAMAccountName of the user.

Lets take the CreateUser function as an example to show how these functions work. As mentioned earlier, we need to use the Data rules to use these functions and for this example we use the Create item rule which is available from the Data rules.

  1. When creating a user in Active Directory, there are some required properties that we need to provide. Those properties are a username, givenName (first name), surname (last name), email and password. There are also extra properties that can be provided by expanding a properties tab within the function:

    Active Directory list of functions

  2. We need to create at least five fields that will be used to provide a value as the required properties. We will use a text box field for each one:

    Required fields for the required properties

  3. Use the create item rule to use the function. We need to map the text box fields to the appropriate properties as follow:

    Mapping the required fields to create item rule

You can apply the create item rule to a button, for example, the submit button. This will result in a user being created in your AD whenever the submit button will be clicked.

What’s next Idea icon

Your Active Directory connector is now set up and ready to be used in your processes. To find out more about how to design processes go to Designer.

6.1.4 - Active Directory

One of the data connectors within Kianda that you can connect to is Active Directory (AD) also known as Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS). AD is a logical and hierarchical structured data store of objects which are mostly accounts. Accounts such as Users, Computers, Groups and other objects such as Printers or Group Policy Objects (GPO). For example, you can store information about user accounts within an AD such as Name, Password, Job title and Permissions.

When to use

Having an AD connector will allow you to access information that is stored there within your Kianda subscription. You will be able to use User related AD functions which will allow you to use the connector when manipulating users within your AD. For example creating users, updating their permissions, moving them between groups or removing them from the directory. To use the AD functions, you can use the Data rules that are predefined within Kianda.

Before you get started

Before you can create a connection with your Active Directory and your Kianda subscription, you need to download Kianda Cloud Connect. Kianda Cloud Connect is a piece of software that establishes a connection between your local machine and your Kianda subscription. This lightweight app will sit on your PC or server where files reside that you need to use in Kianda processes. It allows the data to travel from your local machine to the Kianda Cloud Connect service, and then the Kianda Cloud Connect service sends data to your Kianda subscription. This data transfer works both ways depending on what operation you are performing for example Deleting a file or Creating one.

To learn more about how to download and create a connection between your Kianda subscription and Kianda Cloud Connect go to Kianda Cloud Connect.

How to get started

  1. From the Kianda home page, click on Administration > Data sources.

  2. Click on + Add new button Add new data connector button and choose Active Directory from the list of data sources provided.

  3. You will be automatically brought to the Active Directory details page, where you can start setting up the connection.

    File system detail page

    Choose from the edit options:

    • Display name - type in the name for your PowerShell connector. The display name is used to identify your connector.
    • Directory path - enter in the path to the directory. The path must be LDAP or GC.
    • AD User - enter in the domain and user that you want to connect to. To specify the domain and user correctly use the following format: <domain>/<username>
    • Password - enter in the password used to login for the desired user.
    • Use Kianda Cloud Connect - by default this option is enabled, the cloud connect is used to create a connection between the Active Directory connector and Kianda itself. To learn more about Kianda Cloud Connect and how to create a connection between Kianda and your PC, go to Kianda Cloud Connect.
      • Connectors - displays all available connector PC’s that have a connection established with your Kianda subscription. This option is used to select the PC connection that is running the Active Directory server.
    • Status - represents the current status of the connection.
      • incomplete - means that the details of the connector were not fully completed.
      • test failed - means that the details of the connector are incorrect and the connection has failed.
      • ready - means that the connector has successfully connected and its ready to be used.
  4. When you have added PowerShell details, you are ready to test your connection and add security. At the bottom of the PowerShell Connector page, click on Test connection button Test connection for REST Service and if the service has been correctly configured, then you should receive a notification saying Connection test succeeded.

  5. Click on Save Save connection button to save the connection and you will receive a notification saying Details saved successfully.

  6. Add Security settings by clicking on the Security button, go to Setting security for data sources for more details.

  7. Click on Close to close the details page and return to the data source management main view.

Active Directory functions

Active Directory functions are Users related and to use them you have to use the Data rules that are predefined within Kianda. The functions that are available are:

Active Directory list of functions

  • FindUsers - allows you to look for a user within your directory by defining a user attribute as a means of searching for them.
  • IsMemberOf - allows you to see if a user is a member of a group. You need to specify both a user and a group.
  • CreateUser - allows you to create a user within your directory. You need to specify a username, first name, last name, email and password to create a user successfully.
  • UpdateUser - allows you to update user attributes. You need to specify what user to update by providing their sAMAccountName and distinguishedName (DN).
  • AddUserToGroup - allows you to add a user to a group by providing the group name and both the distinguishedName and sAMAccountName of the user.
  • RemoveUserFromGroup - allows you to remove a user from a group by providing the group name and both the distinguishedName and sAMAccountName of the user.
  • Enable User - allows you to enable or disable a user by providing the enable parameter and both the distinguishedName and sAMAccountName of the user. The enable parameter is either true or false.
  • MoveUser - allows you to move a user to a specific path in your directory by providing the destination path and both the distinguishedName and sAMAccountName of the user.

Lets take the CreateUser function as an example to show how these functions work. As mentioned earlier, we need to use the Data rules to use these functions and for this example we use the Create item rule which is available from the Data rules.

  1. When creating a user in Active Directory, there are some required properties that we need to provide. Those properties are a username, givenName (first name), surname (last name), email and password. There are also extra properties that can be provided by expanding a properties tab within the function:

    Active Directory list of functions

  2. We need to create at least five fields that will be used to provide a value as the required properties. We will use a text box field for each one:

    Required fields for the required properties

  3. Use the create item rule to use the function. We need to map the text box fields to the appropriate properties as follow:

    Mapping the required fields to create item rule

You can apply the create item rule to a button, for example, the submit button. This will result in a user being created in your AD whenever the submit button will be clicked.

What’s next Idea icon

Your Active Directory connector is now set up and ready to be used in your processes. To find out more about how to design processes go to Designer.

6.2 - Coins Connector

A data connector available within Kianda is the Coins connector. Coins provide general construction management solutions from budgeting and time management, to communications logs and operations management. This data connector allows you to seamlessly integrate your Coins data within your Kianda process, to increase workflow productivity from one central Kianda workspace.

Before you get started

In advance of using the Coins data connector, you must have an account with Coins which is used to obtain information for a successful connection.

How to get started Add new data connector button

  1. From the Kianda home page, click on Administration > Data sources.

  2. Click on + Add new button Add new data connector button and choose Coins from the list of data sources provided.

  3. You will be automatically brought to the Coins details page, where you can start setting up the connection.

    PICTURE HERE

    Choose from the edit options:

    • Display name - type in the name for your Coins connector. This is used to distinguish between different data connectors on your platform.

Coins parameters

When you use the Coins datasource, there are default parameters invoked from the files that you can access. For example when you create a list filed in a Kianda form and use Coins as its datasource, these Coins parameters will appear in Display field, Value field and Sort by field in the Edit field dialog box, see Name for example in the image below:

PICTURE HERE

What’s next Idea icon

Your Coins service is now set up and ready to be used in your processes. To find out more about how to design processes go to Designer.

6.3 - DocuSign

One of the data connectors within Kianda that you can connect to is DocuSign. DocuSign enables organisations to manage electronic agreements by offering electronic signatures also know as eSignatures. eSignatures are a way to sign different types of documents electronically on many different devices.

When to use

You can use the DocuSign data connector when a process you have created requires you to send individual documents or envelopes to get them signed electronically. With the connector, you can access different types of templates that you have created within your DocuSign account, download documents, and access already existing envelopes to see their status or summary.

Before you get started

In advance of using the DocuSign data connector, you must have an account with DocuSign. This account is used to authorise a connection between your Kianda subscription and your DocuSign account itself, so that the DocuSign Application Programming Interface (API) can be used. There are two types of accounts that you can create in DocuSign. An ordinary account and a developer account. Take note which account you have created as this information will be used to create a different connection within Kianda.

How to get started

  1. From the Kianda home page, click on Administration > Data sources.

  2. Click on + Add new button Add new data connector button and choose DocuSign from the list of data sources provided.

  3. You will be automatically brought to the DocuSign details page, where you can start setting up the connection.

    DocuSign details page

    Choose from the edit options:

    • Display name - type in the name for your DocuSign connector. This is used to distinguish between different data connectors on your platform.

    • DocuSign Environment - indicates which environment you have your account created in. There are two types of accounts that you can create in DocuSign. A developer account and an ordinary account. If you have an ordinary account and you are trying to connect to DocuSign, you need to select the Live option, and if your account is a developer account, then select the Demo option. This is important as the authentication of the account is different for those two types of account.

      • Demo - indicates that your DocuSign account is a developer account.

      • Live - indicates that your DocuSign account is an ordinary account.

    • Authorize - allows you to authorize the connection with your DocuSign account and Kianda. When you click this button, a DocuSign window will open allowing you to log in into your DocuSign to authenticate your account.

  4. When you have added File system details, you are ready to test your connection and add security. At the bottom of the File system details page, click on Test connection button Test connection for REST Service and if the service has been correctly configured, then you should receive a notification saying Connection test succeeded.

  5. Click on Save Save connection button to save the connection and you will receive a notification saying Details saved successfully.

  6. Add Security settings by clicking on the Security button, go to Setting security for data sources for more details.

  7. Click on Close to close the details page and return to the data source management main view.

DocuSign functions

When you use the DocuSign data connector within Kianda, there are default functions that are invoked from DocuSign’s API. These functions enable you to access a number of DocuSign’s functionalities. You can use each DocuSign function by using the Data set of rules, to learn more about Data rules go to Data rules. With each DocuSign function you use, data needs to be passed into the function know as payload and data is also returned, known as response. When using the Data rules, you are presented with Input mapping which is equivalent to the payload. This is used to pass data into the function, for example when you need a document signed, you need to pass in a document file to be signed, in other words, the document file you pass in is the payload. The Results mapping is equivalent to the response, this is used to populate your form fields when a DocuSign function returns data, for example status of an envelope.

Here is a list of all functions available when using the DocuSign data connector. To learn more about the payload and response for the available functions go to the DocuSign API Reference.

  • sendDocument - allows you to send one or more documents to a recipient to get them signed.
  • sendEnvelope - allows you to send a document to a recipient using one of your DocuSign templates.
  • listTemplates - retrieves the templateID and templateName of all templates from your DocuSign account.
  • getEnvelope - retrieves information from an envelope using an envelopeID.
  • getEnvelopeSummary - retrieves a summary of an envelope using an envelopeID.
  • listEnvelopeDocuments - retrieves any documents that are contained within an envelope using an envelopeID.
  • downloadDocument - allows you to download a specific document using a documentID from an envelope using an envelopeID.
  • listTemplateSigners - retrieves the name, role and recipientID of all signers from a template using a templateID.
  • getSigningUrl - retrieves a URL to a signature made on an envelope using an envelopeID.

Example use case of DocuSign function

Take the function listTemplates as an example. The listTemplates function returns (response) an ID and the Name of all templates that you have created in your DocuSign account. To use this function effectively, you can use the Find items rule in combination with the table input. The Find items rule will access all templates and map the results into the table. For each template in your DocuSign account, the Find items rule will add a table row with the appropriate Template IDs and Template Names of each template.

To showcase the functionality explained above, we will apply the Find items rule to a button; however, it can be applied to a form field, a form or a process (the rule will be executed when the process loads). Each time we press this button, a table will be populated with a list of Template IDs and Template Names from our DocuSign account.

  1. Create a button in your process, to learn how to create a button go to Button control.

  2. Create a table with two columns and call them ID and Name. To learn how to create a table and add columns go to Table control.

  3. Apply the Find items rule to the button by following the steps from Find items rule. When following the steps of the Find items rule, make sure to do the following:

    • Select the Map results to table option and select the table you created. This way the Find items rule will create as many rows as there are templates in your DocuSign account.
    • The listTemplates function does not require any payload (Input mapping), so delete all fields from the input mapping section.
    • Select listTemplates as your data source from your DocuSign connector.
    • Select the appropriate column field from your table and results field from your data source in the Results mapping section.

    Find items rule

What’s next Idea icon

Your DocuSign service is now set up and ready to be used in your processes. To find out more about how to design processes go to Designer.

6.4 - Dropbox

A Dropbox data system connector allows you to the Dropbox cloud file system as a data source for your Kianda forms or dashboards. Dropbox is a personal cloud based file system with many subscriptions including team subscriptions. This allows you to store files online and share them with your team or use it as a backup. This means that as your processes are running they will use the information from the cloud file system or depending on the process, update or delete information at the Dropbox cloud file system.

When to use

You can use the Dropbox connector when you want a process within your Kianda subscription to have access to your Dropbox cloud file directory. You can extract files from Dropbox into Kianda by using a List field control. Set the datasource of the List field to be your Dropbox connector allowing you to access files from you Dropbox account, to learn more about the List field go to List control. You can also use the Dropbox data connector within the Data set of rules, these rules allow you to perform Create, Read, Update and Delete (CRUD) operations. To learn more about the Data rules, go to Data rules.

Before getting started

In advance of using the Dropbox data connector, you must have an account with Dropbox. The account is used to authorise a connection between your Kianda subscription and your Dropbox account.

How to get started

  1. From the Kianda home page, click on Administration > Data sources.

  2. Click on + Add new button Add new data connector button and choose Dropbox from the list of data sources provided.

  3. You will be automatically brought to the Dropbox data connector page, where you can start setting up the connection.

    File system detail page

    Choose from the edit options:

    • Display name - type in the name for your Dropbox connector. This is used to distinguish between different data connectors on your platform.
    • Authorize - allows you to authorize the connection with your Dropbox account and Kianda. When you click this button, a Dropbox window will open allowing you to log in into your Dropbox to authenticate your account.
    • Status - represents the current status of the connection.
      • incomplete - means that the details of the connector were not fully completed
      • test failed - means that the details of the connector are incorrect and the connection has failed.
      • ready - means that the connector has successfully connected and its ready to be used.
  4. A Dropbox authentication window will open. Enter your login details to authenticate the connection.

  5. When you have added the Dropbox details, you are ready to test your connection and add security. At the bottom of the Dropbox details page, click on Test connection button Test connection for REST Service and if the service has been correctly configured, then you should receive a notification saying Connection test succeeded.

  6. Click on Save Save connection button to save the connection and you will receive a notification saying Details saved successfully.

  7. Add Security settings by clicking on the Security button, go to Setting security for data sources for more details.

  8. Click on Close to close the details page and return to the data source management main view.

Dropbox parameters

When you use the Dropbox datasource, there are default parameters invoked from the files that you can access. For example when you create a list filed in a Kianda form and use Dropbox as its datasource, these Dropbox parameters will appear in Display field, Value field and Sort by field in the Edit field dialog box, see Name for example in the image below:

File system parameters

The Dropbox parameters that appear in those three dropdown fields are:

  • Name - name of the file including the extension.
  • NameNoExtension - name of the file without the extension.
  • Path - displays the full path to the file.
  • Extension - displays just the extension of the file.
  • Modified - displays the date and time when the file was last modified.
  • Created - displays the date and time when the file was created.
  • ParentFolderName - name of the folder that contains the file.
  • ParentFolderPath - path of the folder that contains the file.

What’s next Idea icon

Your Dropbox connector is now set up and ready to be used in your processes. To find out more about how to design processes go to Designer.

6.5 - Email connector

In your company’s Kianda platform you can connect an emailing service such as Outlook or Gmail. This allows you to send automated emails from a specified email account such as support@ or info@. The email connector feature It is mostly used when applying the Send email rule, which allows you to set a From field. For example setting up a payroll Email connector would be used to send automated emails to employees with their payslips attached. To learn more about send email rule go to Send email.

How to get started

  1. From the Kianda home page, click on Administration > Data sources.

  2. Click on + Add new button Add new data connector button and choose Email from the list of data sources provided.

  3. You will be automatically brought to the Email connection details page where we can start setting up the email connector.

    Sharepoint datasources

  4. Choose a Display name for your email connector. This is used to distinguish between different email connectors on your platform.

  5. In the following example we will use an outlook office 365 IMAP to set up the connector. Fill in the following details:

    • IMAP server - the IMAP server address of your provider. outlook.office365.com in this example
    • IMAP server port - the IMAP port your provider listens to. Port number is 993 in this example.
    • Use SSL - IMAP security of your provider. Outlook uses SSL therefore we need to enable it.
    • Username / email - the email provider credentials. In this example we are creating a support@ connector.
    • Password - the password to access your email account.
    • Enable mail send from - allows you to fill in details used to send emails.

    To learn more about IMAP settings and how to obtain them, go to IMAP settings.

    IMAP settings

  6. If you select Yes in the Enable mail send from, you are prested with SMTP details. Fill out the following:

    • SMTP server - the SMTP server address of your provider. In this example it is smtp.office365.com.
    • SMTP server port - the SMTP port your provider listens to. In this example it’s port 587.
    • Use SSL - IMAP security of your provider. Outlook uses SSL therefore we need to enable it.
    • Email Address - Used to send test email to ensure emails are delivered.
    • Use same credentials as above
      • Yes - selecting this will ensure to use the same credentials as stated in the above IMAP settings.
      • No - selecting this will enable you to use different credentials for the SMTP server.

    To learn more about IMAP settings and how to obtain them, go to SMTP settings.

  7. When you have added Email details, you are ready to test your connection and add security. At the bottom of the Email details page, click on Test connection button Test connection for REST Service and if the service has been correctly configured, then you should receive a notification saying Connection test succeeded.

  8. Click on Save Save connection buttonto save the connection and you will receive a notification saying Details saved successfully.

  9. Add Security settings by clicking on the Security button, go to Setting security for data sources for more details.

  10. Click on Close to close the details page and return to the datasource management main view.

IMAP settings

Internet Message Access Protocol, or IMAP, is a standard email retrieval (incoming) protocol. It stores email messages on a mail server and enables the recipient to view and manipulate them as though they were stored locally on their device(s). These settings are needed to connect to your emailing service and authentication of ownership. In order to activate your email connector we need to fill out the following:

Note: some email providers need IMAP settings enabled as they are disabled by default.

  • IMAP server - IMAP server is an address for a given mailing service, it usually comes in the form of imap.yourdomain.com. For example Google’s IMAP is imap.gmail.com. To access your IMAP address, contact your email provider or email server.
  • IMAP server port - Indicates which port your IMAP server listens to. The IMAP server typically listen to a well known port 143 or 993 with SSL/TSL functionality. The port information can be found by contacting your email provider.
  • Use SSL - Secure Socket Layer (SSL) is a standard technology for keeping the internet connection secure and safeguarding. Contact your email provider to find out if SSL is required when accessing IMAP server.
  • Username/ email - The credentials used to access your emailing account. Indicates which email will be used to send mail.
  • Password - The credentials used to access your emailing account.
  • Enable mail send from - With this option you can choose the ability to send email OUT to others using the connected emailing service. If you choose Yes, you need to fill in SMTP details. To find out more got to SMTP detail.

SMTP details

Simple Mail Transfer Protocol or SMTP, is a standard email outgoing (sending) protocol. It is used for sending email messages from one email account to another via the internet. The SMTP server checks whether the two emails are valid and proceeds with sending of the email. To be able sending of email using your email provider, the following details need to be filled out:

  • SMTP server - SMTP server is an address for a given mailing service, it usually comes in the form of smtp.yourdomain.com. For example Google’s SMTP is smtp.gmail.com. To access your IMAP address, contact your email provider or email server.
  • SMTP server port - Indicates which port your SMTP server listens to. The SMTP servers typically listen to port 25 if unencrypted or 465 with SSL encryption. The port information can be found by contacting your email provider.
  • Email address - Used to send test email to ensure emails are delivered.
  • Use same credentials as above - By choosing Yes, you will be using the same credentials to log into your SMTP server as you are to the IMAP server. If your SMTP server credentials are different, select No to be presented with:
    • SMTP Username - The credentials used to access your SMTP provider.
    • Password - The credentials used to access your SMTP provider.

Setting up a Global SMTP mail connector

As mentioned above, you can create multiple Email connectors and use them to send emails using different email accounts such as support@ or info@. You can also choose to ignore all email connectors as well as the no-reply@kianda.com emails by enabling one Global SMTP connector which forces all sent email to come from one single connector. To set a Global SMTP connector, you need Administrator rights in your Kianda platform.

Note: to set up a global SMTP mail connector, you need to have an Email connector set up, see the steps under How to get started on how to set up an email connector.

  1. From the Kianda home page, click on Administration > Subscription > Subscription Details.

  2. Under General settings, select Yes on the Enable Global SMTP Main Connector option.

  3. A SMTP Email connector dropdown box appears. Select your desired email connector.

  4. In the Enable save to “Sent Items” option select Yes if you want your email to save all emails sent and select No to not save. If you select Yes, the emails will be saved in the Sent Items folder in your email.

    Global settings

6.6 - File system

A File system data connector allows you to use your local file system as a data source for your Kianda forms or dashboards. This means that as your processes are running, they will use the information from the local file system or depending on the process, update or delete information at the local file system location. Kianda has the ability to extract files, navigate subfolders and write new files into the directory, this includes local file and internet file systems.

Using this type of datasource is useful when you want Kianda to have access to your directory, to extract and read files as well as writing files to the directory.

How to get started

  1. From the Kianda home page, click on Administration > Data sources.

  2. Click on + Add new button Add new data connector button and choose File system from the list of data sources provided.

  3. You will be automatically brought to the File system details page, where you can start setting up the connection.

    File system detail page

    Choose from the edit options:

    • Display name - type in the name for your file system connector. This is used to distinguish between different data connectors on your platform.
    • Root folder path - type in manually the file path to the folder of your connector, for example C:\Documents\GreenITR. The connector will be able to access data only in this folder and folders within.
    • File search pattern - this options can be used to limit the type of files for interaction, by using file extensions. For example typing in *.txt will only output the .txt files within the folder path, it will ignore all other path endings and will not display them. To set pattern you need to type in * followed by .extenstion for example *.txt , *.docx or *.pdf
    • Search options - this only allows you to search the files of the top directory that is set in the Root folder path or all other files of other directories within.
      • For example selecting if Top Directory Only is selected, you will be able to see only the files that are in Root folder path while ignoring folders, meaning that no subdirectories can be navigated.
      • If All Directories is selected, you will be able to see files that are in Root folder path and all files from within each folder, or subfolders.
    • Use Kianda Cloud Connect - by default this option is enabled and cannot be changed, the cloud connect is needed to create a connection between the local file system and Kianda itself. This lightweight app will sit on the PC or server where the files reside. To learn more about Kianda Cloud Connect and how to create a connection between Kianda and your PC, go to Kianda Cloud Connect.
    • Connectors - displays all available connector PC’s that have a connection established with your Kianda website. You must choose the correct PC connection which contains the folder specified in the Root folder path, otherwise the connection will fail.
  4. When you have added File system details, you are ready to test your connection and add security. At the bottom of the File system details page, click on Test connection button Test connection for REST Service and if the service has been correctly configured, then you should receive a notification saying Connection test succeeded.

  5. Click on Save Save connection button to save the connection and you will receive a notification saying Details saved successfully.

  6. Add Security settings by clicking on the Security button, go to Setting security for data sources for more details.

  7. Click on Close to close the details page and return to the data source management main view.

File system parameters

When you use a File system datasource, there are default parameters invoked from the files. For example when you create a list in a Kianda form using a File system datasource, these File system parameters will appear in Display field, Value field and Sort by field in the Edit field dialog box, see Name for example in the image below.

File system parameters

The File system parameters that appear in those three dropdown fields are:

  • Name - name of the file including the extension.
  • NameNoExtension - name of the file without the extension.
  • Path - displays the full path to the file.
  • Extension - displays just the extension of the file.
  • Modified - displays the date and time when the file was last modified.
  • Created - displays the date and time when the file was created.
  • ParentFolderName - name of the folder that contains the file.
  • ParentFolderPath - path of the folder that contains the file.

What’s next Idea icon

Your File system service is now set up and ready to be used in your processes. To find out more about how to design processes go to Designer.

6.7 - FTP

One of the data connectors that you can connect to is File Transfer Protocol (FTP). FTP is a standard communication protocol used for the transfer of computer files from one system to another over the internet.

The FTP data connector allows you to use an online file system as a data source for your Kianda forms or dashboards. This means that as your processes are running they will use the information from the online file system or depending on the process, update or delete information at in the online file system location. Kianda has the ability to extract files, navigate subfolders and write new files into the online directory. Any operation performed using the FTP data connector will directly change files within the online file system.

When to use

You can use the FTP connector when you want access or modify data or files within any folder in your FTP server. You can perform Create, Read, Update and Delete (CRUD) operations on any files within the FTP server that you have access to.

How to get started

  1. From the Kianda home page, click on Administration > Data sources.

  2. Click on + Add new button Add new data connector button and choose FTP from the list of data sources provided.

  3. You will be automatically brought to the FTP details page, where you can start setting up the connection.

    File system detail page

    Choose from the edit options:

    • Display name - type in the name for your FTP connector. This is used to distinguish between different data connectors on your platform.

    • FTP Server - the server name of the server you want to access or the IP address where the server is hosted. When you are running a local server on your machine you can use your own IP address as the server.

    • FTP root folder - name of the root folder that is specified in your server. Note that the root folder that you specify here must be exactly the same as on the FTP server. For example If your root folder on the FTP server is /Files, you must also specify that the FTP root folder is /Files. It is possible to successfully connect the FTP connector if you specify a different FTP root folder than on the server but you will not be able to access the files properly.

    • FTP port - enter the port on which your server listens on.

    • Use SSL - check this box if your FTP server has SSL security.

    • FTP username - enter the username you use to connect to your FTP server.

    • FTP password - enter the password you use to connect to your FTP server.

    • Use Kianda Cloud Connect - by default this option is disabled, the cloud connect is used to create a connection between a locally run FTP server and Kianda itself. To learn more about Kianda Cloud Connect and how to create a connection between Kianda and your PC, go to Kianda Cloud Connect. Check this option if you want to connect to a server that is running on your local machine. When Use Kianda Cloud Connect is enabled, a Connectors option appears.

      • Connectors - displays all available connector PC’s that have a connection established with your Kianda subscription. This option is used to select the PC connection that runs the local FTP server that you want to connect to.

        Test connection for REST Service

  4. When you have added File system details, you are ready to test your connection and add security. At the bottom of the File system details page, click on Test connection button Test connection for REST Service and if the service has been correctly configured, then you should receive a notification saying Connection test succeeded.

  5. Click on Save Save connection button to save the connection and you will receive a notification saying Details saved successfully.

  6. Add Security settings by clicking on the Security button, go to Setting security for data sources for more details.

  7. Click on Close to close the details page and return to the data source management main view.

FTP parameters

When you use a FTP datasource, there are default parameters invoked from the files. For example when you create a list in a Kianda form using a FTP datasource, these FTP parameters will appear in Display field, Value field and Sort by field in the Edit field dialog box, see Name for example in the image below.

File system parameters

The FTP parameters that appear in those three dropdown fields are:

  • Name - name of the file including the extension.
  • NameNoExtension - name of the file without the extension.
  • Path - displays the full path to the file.
  • Extension - displays just the extension of the file.
  • Modified - displays the date and time when the file was last modified.
  • Created - displays the date and time when the file was created.
  • ParentFolderName - name of the folder that contains the file.
  • ParentFolderPath - path of the folder that contains the file.

What’s next Idea icon

Your FTP service is now set up and ready to be used in your processes. To find out more about how to design processes go to Designer.

6.8 - Google Drive

A Google Drive data system connector allows you to have access to the Google Drive cloud file system as a data source for your Kianda forms or dashboards. Google Drive is a personal cloud based file system with many subscriptions including team subscriptions. This allows you to store files online and share them with your team or use it as a backup. This means that as your processes are running they will use the information from the cloud file system or depending on the process, update or delete information at the Google Drive cloud file system.

When to use

You can use the Google Drive connector when you want a process within your Kianda subscription to have access to your Google Drive cloud file directory. You can extract files from Google Drive into Kianda by using a List field control. Set the datasource of the List field to be your Google Drive connector allowing you to access files from you Google Drive account, to learn more about the List field go to List control. You can also use the Google Drive data connector within the Data set of rules, these rules allow you to perform Create, Read, Update and Delete (CRUD) operations. To learn more about the Data rules, go to Data rules.

Before getting started

In advance of using the Google Drive data connector, you must have an account with Google. The account is used to authorise a connection between your Kianda subscription and your Google Drive account.

How to get started

  1. From the Kianda home page, click on Administration > Data sources.

  2. Click on + Add new button Add new data connector button and choose Google Drive from the list of data sources provided.

  3. You will be automatically brought to the Google Drive data connector page, where you can start setting up the connection.

    Google Drive details page

    Choose from the edit options:

    • Display name - type in the name for your Google Drive connector. The display name is used to identify your connector.
  4. Click on the Authorize button.

  5. A Google Drive authentication window will open. Select the account you want to use when authenticating the connection.

    Google drive authentication window

  6. Google Drives security will block the access to Kianda when trying to authenticate and you will be presented with similar window as shown below. In the window, click on Advanced.

    Google drive authentication window

  7. In the advanced options, click on Go to kianda.com(unsafe).

    Google drive authentication window

  8. This will now bring you to a web page in which you will be able to allow the connection. Click on Allow.

    Google drive authentication window

  9. When you have successfully authenticated your Google Drive account, the system will test your connection automatically. If that has not been done, at the bottom of the Google Drive details page, click on Test connection button Test connection for REST Service and you should receive a notification saying Connection test succeeded.

  10. Click on Save Save connection button to save the connection and you will receive a notification saying Details saved successfully.

  11. Add Security settings by clicking on the Security button, go to Setting security for data sources for more details.

  12. Click on Close to close the details page and return to the data source management main view.

Google Drive parameters

When you use the Google Drive datasource, there are default parameters invoked from the files that you can access. For example when you create a list filed in a Kianda form and use Google Drive as its datasource, these Google Drive parameters will appear in Display field, Value field and Sort by field in the Edit field dialog box, see Name for example in the image below:

File system parameters

The Google Drive parameters that appear in those three dropdown fields are:

  • Name - name of the file including the extension.
  • NameNoExtension - name of the file without the extension.
  • Path - displays the full path to the file.
  • Extension - displays just the extension of the file.
  • Modified - displays the date and time when the file was last modified.
  • Created - displays the date and time when the file was created.
  • ParentFolderName - name of the folder that contains the file.
  • ParentFolderPath - path of the folder that contains the file.

What’s next Idea icon

Your Dropbox connector is now set up and ready to be used in your processes. To find out more about how to design processes go to Designer.

6.9 - Kianda Cloud Connect

Kianda Cloud Connect is a piece of software that establishes a connection between your local machine and your Kianda subscription. This lightweight app will sit on your PC or server where files reside that you need to use in Kianda processes. It allows the data to travel from your local machine to the Kianda Cloud Connect service, and then the Kianda Cloud Connect service sends data to your Kianda subscription. This data transfer works both ways depending on what operation you are performing for example Deleting a file or Creating one.

Kianda Cloud Connect authenticates with a user created in Kianda, see User management for more details on users, and sends information to and from Kianda using port 80. See details below on how to set up the connection.

Downloading Kianda Cloud Connect

You can download Kianda Cloud Connect software in any details page of data source that might use it, for example in a File system data connector:

  1. From the Kianda home page, click on Administration > Data sources.

  2. Click on + Add new button Add new data connector button and choose File system from the list of data sources provided.

  3. You will be automatically brought to the File system details page, where you can click on Download Kianda Cloud Connect at the bottom of the screen.

    File system detail page

  4. Clicking on Download Kianda Cloud Connect will automatically download a zipped folder. Extract the contents of the folder and open the Kianda Cloud Connect Windows Installer Package. You will need administrative privileges on your device in order to install the application.

    Cloud Connect package

  5. Click on the Windows Installer Package CloudConnect.msi file.

  6. Security on the device may prevent you from installing the app. If the below window appears click on the More Info link and then click Run Anyway.

    Windows Defender message

  7. In the Welcome to Kianda Cloud Connect Setup Wizard, follow the installation wizard to install the application. Click Next.

  8. In the Select Installation Folder window, pick a folder where you want to install the software. Click Next.

  9. In the Confirm Installation window, click Next.

  10. Click on Yes in the administrator dialog box to give Kianda Cloud Connect access to your PC.

  11. In the Installation Complete window click on Close. Once installed the application will be available on your desktop as an app.

    Kianda Cloud Connect app

  12. Double-click the icon to open the application, then follow the steps below to connect your PC to Kianda Cloud Connect.

Connecting your PC to Kianda Cloud Connect

To establish a connection between your Kianda subscription and your local machine, you need to login using a Kianda username (email) and password. Note that the user you are trying to establish a connection with must be an administrator and needs to be a unique username (email). The username you want to establish the connection with cannot be used in more than one Kianda subscriptions as Kianda Cloud Connect will not be able to tell which subscription you want to connect to.

To open Kianda Cloud Connect on your PC, open the Kianda Cloud Connect app installed on your PC, and the dialog box below will open. Note the version of Cloud Connect is visible in this dialog box, in this example 2.11.5.

Kianda Cloud Connect

  1. To establish a connection fill out the following:

    • Machine Identity - automatically sets the identity using the name of your local PC or server that the application has been installed on. This field is an un-editable value that cannot be changed.
    • Kianda Username - type in the username/email of the user from your Kianda subscription you want to establish a connection with. This username must be unique across all Kianda subscriptions and must be an administrator. For example you cannot establish a connection with a connector@domain.com if this email is used in more than one subscription, as Kianda Cloud Connect will not be able to determine which subscription to make a connection with. For more information on users go to Users and groups.
    • Kianda Password - type in the password used to login, for the user in the Kianda Username field.
    • Status - the colour shown denotes if the connection is active, as a green colour, or inactive as a red colour.
    • Enable Local Server - this allows Kianda to pass through the current server and connect to a local server or offline server/PC. Click the checkbox to enable this, followed by the ellipsis button to continue. Then add in the Local URL and click on OK.
  2. Once the username and password have been entered, click on the Login button to establish a connection. It is recommended to have a specific user account that is used solely for the purpose of connecting the data connector to the Kianda subscription.

  3. If the connection succeeded, in the Cloud Connection dialog box, click OK to complete the connection. Once the connection has been made the log in the dialog box will be populated with messages confirming the login has occurred. A dialog box will open confirming that the connection has been successfully established. When the connection has been established successfully, Kianda Cloud Connect will automatically connect to your subscription when the PC is turned on therefore you do not need to login when the PC is turned on.

    Cloud connection established successfully

  4. Click on Clear to clear the connection log in the body of the dialog box.

  5. All established connections will be visible in the Kianda Cloud Connect Connector section in any of the datasource connectors that use it, for example File system or SQL Server.

Kianda Cloud Connect Connectors section

The connector is now established and can be used when designing processes.

What’s next Idea icon

To find out more about how to build processes go to Application Designer.

6.10 - MySql

One of the datasources available in Kianda is a MySQL Server datasource. MySQL is a relational database management system (RDBMS) used to manage structured collections of data. This data can consist of anything from a simple to do list to a more complex organisation network. Using the MySQL server as your datasource, you can perform any Create, Read, Update and Delete (CRUD) operations using the Data rules provided in the Kianda platform, to learn more about data rules go to Data rules. Using the MySQL server connector, you have access to all tables within your database from your server, keep in mind that you can perform CRUD operations on data within a table of the database, but you cannot create or delete tables themselves.

When to use

You can use the MySQL Server connector when you want access or modify data within a table in your MySQL server. You can connect the MySQL server connector to a List field as its datasource, meaning you can access information from a table and display the information that is stored in the table. For example if your MySQL server contains tables such as Employees, Purchases and Standing Orders, you will be able to connect the list field to one of those tables giving you CRUD access to its data.

Take a table Employees as an example, if this employee table contains data about the employees in your company such as name, phone number, email address and home address. You can create a new employee by providing necessary information, you can read (display) employee data, update employees information for example when a home address has changed and you can delete an employee from the table. Those are the CRUD operations you can perform on MySQL server through a process within Kianda.

Before getting started

When establishing a connection using MySQL data connector, you are creating a connection with a Database from a server, not the server itself. Before continuing make sure that your MySQL server has a database you can connect to. A database can represent any type of data you want to access, and within this database, you need to create a table representing the actual data you will have CRUD access to. For example creating a database of your company name such as GreenITR, and within this database you can create tables to represent your Employees, Purchases and Standing Orders.

How to get started

  1. From the Kianda home page, click on Administration > Data sources.

  2. Click on + Add new button Add new data connector button and choose MySQL from the list of datasources provided.

  3. Fill out fields in the MySQL Server details screen.

    SQL Server details page

    Choose from the edit options:

    • Display name - type in the name for your MySQL server connector. This is used to distinguish between different data connectors on your platform.
    • Server - the name of the server you want to access or the IP address where the server is hosted. When you are running a local server on your machine you can use localhost as the server name. If you are connecting to a public server, enter in the name of the server.
    • Database - the name of the database from your server that you want to connect to.
    • User - username used to log into the server.
    • Password - password used to log into the server.
    • Use Kianda Cloud Connect - by default this option is disabled, the cloud connect is used to create a connection between a locally run MySQL server and Kianda itself. To learn more about Kianda Cloud Connect and how to create a connection between Kianda and your PC, go to Kianda Cloud Connect. Check this option if you want to connect to a server that is running on your local machine. When Use Kianda Cloud Connect is enabled, a Connectors option appears.
      • Connectors - displays all available connector PC’s that have a connection established with your Kianda subscription. This option is used to select the PC connection that runs the local MySQL server that you want to connect to.
    • Status - represents the current status of the connection.
      • incomplete - means that the details of the connector were not fully completed
      • test failed - means that the details of the connector are incorrect and the connection has failed.
      • ready - means that the connector has successfully connected and its ready to be used.
  4. When you have added the MySQL server details, you are ready to test your connection and add security. At the bottom of the MySQL Server details page, click on Test connection button Test connection for REST Service and if the service has been correctly configured, then you should receive a notification saying Connection test succeeded.

  5. Click on Save Save connection button to save the connection and you will receive a notification saying Details saved successfully.

  6. Add Security settings by clicking on the Security button, go to Setting security for data sources for more details.

  7. Click on Close to close the details page and return to the data source management main view.

What’s next Idea icon

Your MySQL Server connector is now set up and ready to be used in your processes. To find out more about how to design processes go to Designer.

6.11 - Office 365

One of the datasources available in Kianda is a connector to Office 365. Kianda has the ability to read users’ profiles, extract data, update users and groups and enable Single Sign-On (SSO). The Office 365 datasource can be used for example to automatically import users using a scheduled task within Kianda or with individual Kianda processes to update the configuration of users and groups within Office 365.

When to use

If you have an Office 365 subscription, you can create an Office 365 data connector so that Kianda can access data and manipulate data at that data source.

Note: To create this datasource you need to have an Administrator or Manage datasources role in Kianda. You also need to be an administrator in Office 365.

How to get started

An Office 365 data connector can be configured by users with the role Administrator or Manage datasources. These users can access the datasource management function, found under Administration > Data sources.

  1. From the Kianda home page, click on Administration > Data sources.

    Opening data sources from Administration

  2. In the main view you will see any existing data sources that have been created. From this view, you can click on the name of a data source to see details or delete a data source by clicking on the Bin/Trash button Bin/trash button.

  3. Click on + Add new button Add new data connector button and a range of data source connectors will appear.

    Data source list

  4. Click on Office 365.

  5. The Office 365 data connector screen opens.

    Office365 data connector

  6. Fill in the first set of fields:

    • Display name – this is the name of the data source. Use an appropriate name, as this will be used within your process(es).

    • Read all users’ full profiles – by default, this is enabled and cannot be disabled. This allows Kianda processes to read all user profiles that exist in Office 365.

    • Read and write users & groups - by checking this option it will allow Kianda the rights to read users and group information and update information, performing ‘write operations’ in Office 365, such as assigning a user license and adding users to groups.

    • Enable Azure OpenID Connect Single-Sign-On - checking this checkbox enables a user to sign into Kianda using their Office 365 login. For more details see the SSO page.

    After these details have been completed, you will need to Authorize the connection as the datasource will have a status of incomplete until authorised. When authorized for use, the status will be ready.

Authorize the connection

  1. Before the datasource can be used it will need to be authorised. Click on the Authorize button Authorize button.

  2. A pop up appears asking you to sign in to your Office365 account. You must be an administrator in Office 365 to complete authorization.

    Office 365 Login

  3. Enter your email and click on Next.

  4. Then enter your password and click on Sign in.

    Office365 password

  5. Click on Yes to Stay signed in.

  6. If your details are correct and you are an administrator, then you should receive a notification saying Connection test succeeded and the status changes to ready.

    Office 365 connector ready

    The Authorize button changes to Re-Authorize. If authorization is removed from within Office 365, the datasource will need to be re-authorized from within Kianda. In addition, Microsoft security policy requires the connection to Office 365 to be re-authorized every 6 months. To re-authorize, click on the Re-Authorize button and repeat steps 2 to 5 above.

  7. Click on Save Save connection buttonto save the connection and you will receive a notification saying Details saved successfully.

  8. Add Security settings by clicking on the Security button, go to Setting security for data sources for more details.

  9. Click on Close to close the details page and return to the datasource management main view.

Office 365 parameters

When you use an Office 365 datasource, there are default options that can be passed as parameters, for example when using conditions with Office 365 data connectors. These are:

  • User List
  • Group List
  • Find Users
  • Find Groups
  • Create Group
  • Add User to Group
  • Remove User From Group
  • Licence Plan List
  • Assign Licence to User
  • Remove Licence from User

What’s next Idea icon

Your Office 365 connector is now set up and ready to be used in your processes. To find out more about how to design processes go to Designer.

6.12 - Oracle database

One of the datasources available in Kianda is an Oracle datasource. Oracle is a relational database management system (RDBMS) used to manage structured collections of data. This data can consist of a collection of data from a simple to do list to a more complex organisation network. The Oracle database is a structured format consisting of rows and columns. Using the Oracle connector as your datasource, you can perform any Create, Read, Update and Delete (CRUD) operations using the Data rules provided in the Kianda platform, to learn more about data rules go to Data rules. Using the Oracle connector, you have access to all tables within your database from your server, keep in mind that you can perform CRUD operations on the data from a table of the database, but you cannot create or delete tables themselves.

How to get started

  1. From the Kianda home page, click on Administration > Data sources.

  2. Click on + Add new button Add new data connector button and choose Oracle from the list of datasources provided.

  3. Fill out fields in the Oracle details screen.

    SQL Server details page

    Choose from the edit options:

    • Display name - type in the name for your Oracle server connector. This is used to distinguish between different data connectors on your platform.
    • Data Source - this field is used to provide the name of your host that you want to connect to. When accessing a public Oracle server, the host name must follow a URL style format, for example https:/{host}:{port}. When connecting to a server that is run on your local machine, you can use localhost as well as the Kianda Cloud Connect .
    • Schema - the name of the database from your server that you want to connect to.
    • User - username used to log into the server.
    • Password - password used to log into the server.
    • Use Kianda Cloud Connect - by default this option is disabled, the cloud connect is used to create a connection between a locally run Oracle server and Kianda itself. To learn more about Kianda Cloud Connect and how to create a connection between Kianda and your PC, go to Kianda Cloud Connect. Check this option if you want to connect to a server that is running on your local machine. When Use Kianda Cloud Connect is enabled, a Connectors option appears.
      • Connectors - displays all available connector PC’s that have a connection established with your Kianda subscription. This option is used to select the PC connection that runs the local Oracle server that you want to connect to.
    • Status - represents the current status of the connection.
      • incomplete - means that the details of the connector were not fully completed
      • test failed - means that the details of the connector are incorrect and the connection has failed.
      • ready - means that the connector has successfully connected and it is ready to be used.
  4. When you have added the Oracle details, you are ready to test your connection and add security. At the bottom of the Oracle details page, click on Test connection button Test connection for REST Service and if the service has been correctly configured, then you should receive a notification saying Connection test succeeded.

  5. Click on Save Save connection button to save the connection and you will receive a notification saying Details saved successfully.

  6. Add Security settings by clicking on the Security button, go to Setting security for data sources for more details.

  7. Click on Close to close the details page and return to the data source management main view.

What’s next Idea icon

Your Oracle database connector is now set up and ready to be used in your processes. To find out more about how to design processes go to Designer.

6.13 - PowerShell

One of the data connectors within Kianda that you can connect to is PowerShell. PowerShell is a command-line interface (CLI) based tool that allows to automate tasks and configurations using code. With PowerShell you are able to create scripts and functionality to automate tasks within your organisation and the PowerShell connector allows you to call those PowerShell scripts from within Kianda. You can call your scripts with the Data rules that are available, use input mapping to pass parameters to your PowerShell script and receive the outcome of the script using results mapping. To learn more about input and result mapping visit one of the Data rules, for example Create Item.

When to use

You can use the PowerShell connector when you want run a PowerShell script from within your Kianda subscription. Any data that you to be passed into a script can be passed in using the input mapping functionality from Data rules. This allows you to have dynamic usage of your PowerShell scripts as you can have different value each time you call a script from Kianda.

Before you get started

In advance of using the PowerShell data connector, there are a couple of prerequisites to establish a working connection between your PowerShell scripts and Kianda.

  1. Downloading Kianda Cloud Connect
  2. Creating a new local PowerShell user
  3. Changing user rights assignment
  4. Changing Execution Policy for the new user
  5. Running Kianda Cloud Connect as PowerShell user

Downloading Kianda Cloud Connect

Kianda Cloud Connect is a piece of software that establishes a connection between your local machine and your Kianda subscription. This lightweight app will sit on your PC or server where files reside that you need to use in Kianda processes. It allows the data to travel from your local machine to the Kianda Cloud Connect service, and then the Kianda Cloud Connect service sends data to your Kianda subscription. This data transfer works both ways depending on what operation you are performing for example Deleting a file or Creating one.

To learn more about how to download and create a connection between your Kianda subscription and Kianda Cloud Connect go to Kianda Cloud Connect.

Creating a new local PowerShell user

We need to create a local user on your computer and designate it when running the Kianda Cloud Connect app on your computer. On the newly created local user, we will enable the ability to run PowerShell scripts and use this user as a link between Kianda Cloud Connect and your PowerShell scripts. Follow the steps bellow:

  1. Go to start, search and open Computer Management.

  2. Go to System Tools > Local Users and Groups > Users

    New User dialog

  3. In the Users screen, right click your mouse and select New User…

  4. Fill out the New User dialog box. Uncheck User must change password at next login and check Password never expires.

  5. Click Create and then Close. The new user should be added to the list.

    New User dialog

Changing user rights assignment

In order for PowerShell and Kianda Cloud Connect to work successfully, we need to add our new user to the Rights Assignment list.

  1. Go to Start on your computer, search and open Window Administrative Tools.

  2. In the Window Administrative Tools, search and open Local Security Policy.

  3. In the left-hand pane go to Local Policies > User Rights Assignment.

  4. In the right-hand pane of User Rights Assignment, search and double left-click Log on as a service.

    Local Security Policy

  5. In the Log on as a service Properties dialog box, click on Add User or Group…

  6. In the Select Users or Groups dialog box, under the Enter the object names to select text box, enter your new user and click on Check Names.

  7. Click on OK.

  8. In the Log on as a service Properties dialog box, click Apply and then OK.

Changing Execution Policy for the new user

With our new user created, we also need to allow PowerShell scripts to be executed by it and therefore we need to change Execution Policy for our newly created user. This will allow Kianda Cloud Connect to run scripts using the user that was created.

  1. Log in to your computer as your new PowerShell user.

  2. Go to Start and search for Windows PowerShell.

  3. Right-click on Windows PowerShell and select run as administrator.

    Windows PowerShell run as admin

  4. In the PowerShell window run the following command: Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned -Scope CurrentUser

  5. Answer yes to change of policy question by entering y into the PowerShell console.

  6. You can now close the PowerShell console and log back into your original user.

Running Kianda Cloud Connect as PowerShell user

Now when we have our user created, the rights and policy have been changed, we need to set up our Kianda Cloud Connect service to run as our newly created user. Log into your original user and follow the steps below:

  1. Go to Start, search and open Services.

  2. Look for Kianda Cloud Connect.

    Local Security Policy

  3. Right click on the Kianda Cloud Connect service and open the properties.

  4. In the Kianda Cloud Connect Properties (Local Computer) dialog box, go to Log on tab.

    Local Security Policy

  5. Select This account radio button.

  6. Click on Browse.

  7. In the Select User dialog box, in the Enter the object names to select text box, enter the name of your user and click Check Names.

  8. Click on OK.

  9. In the Kianda Cloud Connect Properties (Local Computer) dialog box, enter the password for your user, click Apply and then OK.

  10. Your Kianda Cloud Connect should be logged on as your new user. You can see this in the Log on as tab in the Services window. In the Services window, stop and start Kianda Cloud Connect.

    Local Security Policy

How to get started

  1. From the Kianda home page, click on Administration > Data sources.

  2. Click on + Add new button Add new data connector button and choose PowerShell from the list of data sources provided.

  3. You will be automatically brought to the PowerShell details page, where you can start setting up the connection.

    File system detail page

    Choose from the edit options:

    • Display name - type in the name for your PowerShell connector. The display name is used to identify your connector.
    • Use Kianda Cloud Connect - by default this option is enabled, the cloud connect is used to create a connection between the PowerShell connector and Kianda itself. To learn more about Kianda Cloud Connect and how to create a connection between Kianda and your PC, go to Kianda Cloud Connect.
      • Connectors - displays all available connector PC’s that have a connection established with your Kianda subscription. This option is used to select the PC connection that contains your PowerShell scripts and config.json file
    • Status - represents the current status of the connection.
      • incomplete - means that the details of the connector were not fully completed.
      • test failed - means that the details of the connector are incorrect and the connection has failed.
      • ready - means that the connector has successfully connected and its ready to be used.
  4. When you have added PowerShell details, you are ready to test your connection and add security. At the bottom of the PowerShell Connector page, click on Test connection button Test connection for REST Service and if the service has been correctly configured, then you should receive a notification saying Connection test succeeded.

  5. Click on Save Save connection button to save the connection and you will receive a notification saying Details saved successfully.

  6. Add Security settings by clicking on the Security button, go to Setting security for data sources for more details.

  7. Click on Close to close the details page and return to the data source management main view.

Adding new PowerShell scripts to your connector

When installing Kianda Cloud Connect, a folder called PowerShellScripts should be located at:

C:/Program Files (x86)/Kianda Technologies

This folder will be used to store your a config.json. The config.json file is used to define new PowerShell scripts in the Scripts array. Import to note is to put the correct path to your script in the Path parameter of your script object and to set the Enabled parameter to true. In the image below, you can see an example of a config.json file that contains one Script Object in the Scripts array. To define more scripts in the array, simply add another Script Object to your array by separating them with a , (comma).

config.json file:
{
  "Notes": "This is the PowerShell manifest file. System administrators can define new PowerShell scripts under the 'Scripts' array",
  "Scripts": [
    {
      "Description": "Sample PowerShell module used to add days to now date",
      "Name": "AddDaysToNow",
      "Path": "C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Kianda Technologies\\PowerShellScripts/AddDaysToNow.ps1",
      "Enabled": true,
      "Parameters": [
        {
          "Description": "",
          "Name": "Days",
          "Type": "NUMBER",
          "Value": 2
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

The Parameters array is used to define dynamic parameters for example to pass in values from Kianda into your PowerShell script. Taking the above config.json file and the below AddDaysToNow.ps1 file as an example:

AddDaysToNow.ps1 file:
Param([int]$Days = 2)
$Now = Get-Date
$Date = $Now.AddDays($Days)
$Date.ToString("dd/MM/yyyy")

In our Script Object of our config.json file we have a parameter called Days. We also define a Days parameter in our AddDaysToNow.ps1 file. This allows us to then access the Days parameter from a Kianda process. We will use a Create Item rule and its input and results mapping to assign a value to the Days parameter and return an Outcome of the script.

Here we have a simple Kianda process that uses the PowerShell connector and uses the config.json file and AddDaysToNow.ps1 script from above to add a number of days to todays date.

In the form we have Date field to specify todays date, a Number field to specify how many days we want to add to todays date, and a Text box field to see the Outcome of the script, see the video below:

6.14 - Procore Connector

A data connector available within Kianda is the Procore connector. Procore provide a widely used construction management software to streamline project communication, documentation and analysis. Procore also has project management and financial features, as well as tender management and builder information modelling (BIM) designers. Kianda allows you to connect to Procore as a data connector, providing an easy and seamless way of integrating all your Procore data gathered from these features into your Kianda process. For more information, see Procore Developer Documentation.

Before you get started

In advance of using the Procore data connector, you must have an account with Procore which is used to obtain information for a successful connection.

When to use

You can use the Procore connector when you want a process within your Kianda subscription to have access to your Procore data. You can perform Create, Read, Update and Delete (CRUD) operations on your Procore data once the connection has been established and configured.

How to get started Add new data connector button

  1. From the Kianda home page, click on Administration > Data sources.

  2. Click on + Add new button Add new data connector button and choose Procore from the list of data sources provided.

  3. You will be automatically brought to the Procore details page, where you can start setting up the connection.

    Procore connection details

    Choose from the edit options:

    • Datasource Name - type in the name for your Procore connector. This is used to distinguish between different data connectors on your platform.

    • Procore Company Id - type in the Company ID that is assigned to your Procore account. When you enter your Procore Company ID, the Authorize button authorize button will appear. This allows you to authorize the connection with your Procore account and Kianda. When you click this button, a Procore window will open allowing you to log in into your Procore to authenticate your account.

      Procore log in window
    • Procore Environment - select one of the three radio buttons to choose your desired Procore Environment. The options are:

      • Live - live feed of Procore data.
      • Monthly Sandbox - refreshed with current production data on a regularly scheduled basis once each month. Data you create, update, or manipulate within a Monthly Sandbox environment will never affect the original production data and will exist solely in the context of that environment.
      • Developer Sandbox - automatically generated for third-party developers in their Developer Portal account and includes seed project data that can be used for testing purposes. The Development Sandbox environment does not refresh with production data at any time.
    • Use Kianda Cloud Connect - by default this option is disabled, the cloud connect is used to create a connection between your local device and Kianda itself. To learn more about Kianda Cloud Connect and how to create a connection between Kianda and your PC, go to Kianda Cloud Connect. When Use Kianda Cloud Connect is enabled, a Connectors option appears.

      • Connectors - displays all available connector PC’s that have a connection established with your Kianda subscription. This option is used to select the PC connection that runs the Procore account that you want to connect to.
    • Status - represents the current status of the connection.

      • incomplete - means that the details of the connector were not fully completed.
      • test failed - means that the details of the connector are incorrect and the connection has failed.
      • ready - means that the connector has successfully connected and its ready to be used.
    • When you have added the Procore account details, you are ready to test your connection and add security. At the bottom of the Procore datasource details page, click on the Test connection button Test connection for REST Service and if the service has been correctly configured, then you should receive a notification saying Connection test succeeded.

    • Click on Save Save connection button to save the connection and you will receive a notification saying Details saved successfully.

    • Add Security settings by clicking on the Security button, go to Setting security for data sources for more details.

    • Click on Close to close the details page and return to the data source management main view.

Procore parameters

When you use the Procore datasource, there are default parameters invoked from the files that you can access. For example when you create a list filed in a Kianda form and use Procore as its datasource, these Procore parameters will appear in Display field, Value field and Sort by field in the Edit field dialog box, see Name for example in the image below:

PICTURE HERE - NEED PROCORE CONNECTION TO BE ESTABLISHED TO CAPTURE THIS IMAGE

What’s next Idea icon

Your Procore service is now set up and ready to be used in your processes. To find out more about how to design processes go to Designer.

6.15 - Salesforce

One of the data connectors that you can connect to is Salesforce. Salesforce provides customer relationship management software and applications focused on sales, customer service, marketing automation, and analytics. The Salesforce data connector allows you to access information from your Salesforce account which can then be used within your Kianda subscription.

Before you get started

In advance of using the Salesforce data connector, you must have an account with Salesforce which is used to obtain information for a successful connection. If you have an account with Salesforce, all you need to create within the Salesforce application is a Connected App. These connected apps within Salesforce enable external applications to integrate together using its APIs. The connected app will provide you with a Consumer Key and a Consumer Secret. These consumer information are used to establish the connection between your Connected app in Sales force and your Kianda subscription, to learn how to acquire the Consumer Key and Consumer Secret go to Acquiring Consumer Key and Consumer Secret. In order to successfully connect your Connected App and Kianda, the settings of the Connected App in your salesforce account need to be configured, to learn how to configure your Connected App in Salesforce go to Configuring Salesforce Connected App.

When to use

You can use a connected app to integrate external applications with the Salesforce API, such as a process that pulls in order status data from your Salesforce organisation into your Kianda subscription.

How to get started

  1. From the Kianda home page, click on Administration > Data sources.

  2. Click on + Add new button Add new data connector button and choose Salesforce from the list of data sources provided.

  3. You will be automatically brought to the Salesforce details page, where you can start setting up the connection.

    File system detail page

    Choose from the edit options:

    • Display name - type in the name for your Salesforce connector. This is used to distinguish between different data connectors on your platform.

    • Client Id - used to identify the Connected App created in your salesforce account. In salesforce this Client ID is called Consumer Key and can be found in your Connected App settings. To learn more about on how to find the Consumer Key in sales force go to Finding Consumer Key and Consumer Secret.

    • Client Secret - used to identify the Connected App created in your salesforce account. In salesforce this Client ID is called Consumer Secret and can be found in your Connected App settings. To learn more about on how to find the Consumer Secret in Salesforce go to Finding Consumer Key and Consumer Secret.

    • Salesforce Environment - indicates which environment you have your account created in. There are two types of accounts that you can create in Salesforce. A developer account and an ordinary account. If you have an ordinary account and your trying to connect a salesforce app, you need to select the Live option and if your account is a developer account, then select the Sandbox option.

      • Live - indicates that your Salesforce account is an ordinary account.

      • Sandbox - indicates that your salesforce account is a developer account.

    • Authorize - allows you to authorize the connection with your Connected App and Kianda. When you click this button, a Salesforce window will open allowing you to log in into Salesforce to authenticate your account.

  4. When you have added Salesforce details, you are ready to test your connection and add security. At the bottom of the Salesforce details page, click on Test connection button Test connection for REST Service and if the service has been correctly configured, then you should receive a notification saying Connection test succeeded.

  5. Click on Save Save connection button to save the connection and you will receive a notification saying Details saved successfully.

  6. Add Security settings by clicking on the Security button, go to Setting security for data sources for more details.

  7. Click on Close to close the details page and return to the data source management main view.

Acquiring Consumer Key and Consumer Secret

  1. Log into your Salesforce account.
  2. On the top right-hand side of the screen, click on the cogwheel and select Setup.
  3. In the left-hand pane go to Apps > App Manager.
  4. From the list of apps, find your Connected App that you want to connect with Kianda and click on the drop-down list on the right-hand side. Select View.
  5. Under API (Enable OAuth Settings), click on Manage Consumer Details. A Verify Your Identity window opens.
  6. Enter in the Verification code that was sent to your email that you used to sign up to Salesforce.
  7. Click on Verify.
  8. Once verified, your will be brought to a page where you can find the Consumer Key and Consumer Secret.

Configuring Salesforce Connected App

Before starting going through the steps below you must ensure that you have a Connected App created in your Salesforce account, to learn how to do that go to Create a Connected App.

  1. Log into your Salesforce account.

  2. On the top right-hand side of the screen, click on the cogwheel and select Setup.

  3. In the left-hand pane go to Apps > App Manager.

  4. From the list of apps, find your Connected App that you want to connect with Kianda and click on the drop-down list located on the right-hand side. Select View.

  5. From your Connected App screen, click on Edit.

  6. Scroll down to API (Enable OAuth Settings). Check the Enable OAuth Settings checkbox.

  7. In the Callback URL text box enter https://app.kianda.com/index.html.

  8. On a second line of the Callback URL text box enter https://{company}.kianda.com/index.html where company is the name of your company’s subscription, for example https://green-itr.kianda.com/index.html. The Callback URL should look as follows when the company’s name is green-itr:

    Callback textbox

  9. In the Selected OAuth Scopes section, move all of the scopes from Available OAuth Scopes to Selected OAuth Scopes window by selecting them and clicking Add. Here you can add scopes that you want your Connected App to have access to from within Kianda.

  10. From your Connected App screen, click on Manage.

  11. From the manage connected app screen, click on Edit Policies.

  12. In the OAuth Policies section, go to Permitted Users and select All users may self-authorize.

  13. In the IP Relaxation select the Relax IP restrictions option.

  14. Click on Save.

What’s next Idea icon

Your Salesforce service is now set up and ready to be used in your processes. To find out more about how to design processes go to Designer.

6.16 - SAP connector

One of the datasources available in Kianda is a SAP datasource. SAP is an enterprise resource planning software which allows you centralises data between all areas of your business and manage them in one SAP system.

Data in the SAP system are represented with schemas and tables. Each schema represents an area of your business and tables represent data within that business area. Using SAP as your datasource, you can perform Create, Read, Update and Delete (CRUD) operations on tables within your SAP system using the Data rules provided in the Kianda platform. When using the SAP connector, keep in mind that you can perform CRUD operations on data within a tables of the system, but you cannot perform CRUD operations on tables themselves, this mean are unable to create or delete tables.

SAP connector also has the ability to use Business Application Programming Interface (BAPI) functions through Kianda. This allows you to perform particular business tasks in your SAP system by calling BAPI functions using the Data rules provided.

When to use

You can use the SAP connector when you want access or modify data within a standard SAP or custom table in your SAP system. You can connect the SAP connector to a List field as its datasource, meaning you can access information from a table and display the information that is stored in the table. Take a standard SAP table MARA as an example, using this table you can display information on your Kianda forms using the data within the MARA table. You can also display information of your custom made tables within your SAP system.

Before getting started

You need to create a Kianda Cloud Connect connection with your device which will be used in the settings when filling out the SAP connector settings. To learn how to create a connection with you device using Kianda Cloud Connect, visit Kianda Cloud Connect.

How to get started

  1. From the Kianda home page, click on Administration > Data sources.

  2. Click on + Add new button Add new data connector button and choose SAP from the list of datasources provided.

  3. Fill out fields in the SAP system details screen.

    SAP Details page

    Choose from the edit options:

    • Application server - enter in the IP address that your SAP system is run on.

    • Instance number - enter in the Instance number that you want to connect to from your SAP server.

    • System ID - enter in the ID of your SAP system. A system ID has three characters.

    • Client - enter in the Client your want to connect to from your SAP system.

    • Username - enter a username used to connect to your SAP system.

    • Password - enter in the password used to connect to your SAP system.

    • SAP BAPIs - enter in BAPI functions that you want access too when performing BAPI functionalities on your SAP system. Each BAPI must be on a separate line with no spaces, see image below:

      SAP BAPIs

    • SAP Tables - enter in SAP tables you want to have access to when performing CRUD operations from your SAP system. Each table must be on a separate line with no spaces, see image below:

      SAP tables

    • Use Kianda Cloud Connect - by default this option is disabled, the cloud connect is used to create a connection between your local device and Kianda itself. To learn more about Kianda Cloud Connect and how to create a connection between Kianda and your PC, go to Kianda Cloud Connect. This option must be enabled to successfully establish a connection between a SAP system and Kianda.

      • Connectors - displays all available connector PC’s that have a connection established with your Kianda subscription.
    • Status - represents the current status of the connection.

      • incomplete - means that the details of the connector were not fully completed
      • test failed - means that the details of the connector are incorrect and the connection has failed.
      • ready - means that the connector has successfully connected and its ready to be used.
  4. When you have added the SAP system details, you are ready to test your connection and add security. At the bottom of the SAP system details page, click on Test connection button Test connection for REST Service and if the service has been correctly configured, then you should receive a notification saying Connection test succeeded.

  5. Click on Save Save connection button to save the connection and you will receive a notification saying Details saved successfully.

  6. Add Security settings by clicking on the Security button, go to Setting security for data sources for more details.

  7. Click on Close to close the details page and return to the data source management main view.

SAP Table parameters

When you use a SAP datasource, unlike some of the other data connectors in Kianda, SAP does not have default parameters. When you connect a SAP connector as your datasource, you can choose which Table or BAPI you want to use when performing CRUD operations. For example when connecting a SQL datasource to a List field and selecting a table you want to use, the parameters will depend on what data are present in the tables. Take standard SAP Table MARA as an example. We have an Employee table which we select when connecting a datasource to a List field, to learn how to a datasource to a list field go to List control, see image below:

Connecting MARA table to list field

The list of parameters displayed in the the Display field, Value field and Sort by field will match the columns that we have in the Employee table, see image below:

columns in a table

SAP BAPI functions

In order to use BAPI functions from your SAP system effectively, the Data rules within Kianda can be used. Data rules allow you to send data as well as receive it. For example if your BAPI function needs data when calling it, you can use any of the Data rules for example Create item rule to send data using the input mapping section or when receiving data you can use the on success mapping.

Take a BAPI function which retrieves a list from your SAP system as an example. You can use the on success mapping to store the list in a Kianda field. If for example this BAPI function takes an argument where you want to specify how many items from the list it retrieves, you can input that information in to the input mapping section of the data rules. To learn more about on success mapping go to On Success Mapping.

What’s next Idea icon

Your SAP system connector is now set up and ready to be used in your processes. To find out more about how to design processes go to Designer.

6.17 - SharePoint connector

A SharePoint data connector allows you to use SharePoint data sources as part of your Kianda forms or dashboards. This means that as your processes are running they will use the information at the data source or depending on the process, update information at a data source location.

How to get started

  1. From the Kianda home page, click on Administration > Data sources.

  2. Click on + Add new button Add new data connector button and choose SharePoint from the list of datasources provided.

  3. Fill out fields in the SharePoint details screen.

    Sharepoint datasources

    Choose from the edit options:

    • Display name - the name of the data source, for example SharePoint HR

    • Site URL - this is the link to your SharePoint data

    • SharePoint version - choose from a) SharePoint Online (also known as SharePoint in Microsoft 365) b) SharePoint 2016 or c) SharePoint 2013

    • Scope - choose from a) Site for example a particular SharePoint website or b) Site Collection, a collection of SharePoint sites

    • Authentication mode - options are a) SharePoint Online Authorisation and b) System User Credentials

      If you choose a) SharePoint Online Authorisation then click on Authorize button Authorize button in this instance you will need SharePoint administration rights

      If you choose b) System User Credentials then fill out your username and password. In this instance you do not need SharePoint administration rights.

  4. When you have added SharePoint details, you are ready to test your connection and add security. At the bottom of the SharePoint details page, click on Test connection button Test connection for REST Service and if the service has been correctly configured, then you should receive a notification saying Connection test succeeded.

  5. Click on Save Save connection buttonto save the connection and you will receive a notification saying Details saved successfully.

  6. Add Security settings by clicking on the Security button, go to Setting security for data sources for more details.

  7. Click on Close to close the details page and return to the datasource management main view.

SharePoint parameters

When you use a SharePoint datasource, there are default parameters invoked from SharePoint. For example when you create a list in a Kianda form using a SharePoint datasource, these SharePoint parameters will appear in Display field, Value field and Sort by field in the Edit list dialog box, see Title for example in the image below.

SharePoint parameters

The SharePoint parameters that appear in those three dropdown fields are:

  • ID
  • Content Type
  • Title
  • Modified
  • Created
  • Created By
  • Modified By
  • Version
  • Server Relative URL
  • Item Child Count
  • Folder Child Count
  • Label setting
  • Retention label
  • Retention label Applied
  • Label applied by
  • App created By
  • App modified By
  • Compliance Asset ID
  • Telephone Code

All custom columns in the datasource will also appear at the bottom of this list. For example in a SharePoint list, a column named Location will also be listed in the Display, Value and Sort by fields.

SharePoint list example

This customised name ‘Location’ appears in the dropdown list, for example the Display field for the list.

Customised column name example in SharePoint

What’s next Idea icon

Your SharePoint service is now set up and ready to be used in your processes. To find out more about how to design processes go to Designer.

To see how SharePoint parameters are used in a form, for example with a list field, go to List control.

6.18 - SOAP

One of the datasources available in Kianda is a connector to Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) messaging services. Kianda has the ability to execute a command within the service whatever the function may be.

When to use

You will want to create a SOAP Service datasource when you want Kianda to have access to your SOAP Service operations and execute them.

How to get started

A SOAP Service data connector can be configured by users with the role Administrator or Manage datasources. These users can access the datasource management function, found under Administration > Data sources.

  1. From the Kianda home page, click on Administration > Data sources.

    Opening data sources from Administration

  2. In the main view you will see any existing data sources that have been created. From this view, you can click on the name of a data source to see details or delete a data source by clicking on the Bin/Trash button Bin/trash button.

  3. Click on + Add new button Add new data connector button and a range of data source connectors will appear.

    Data source list

  4. Click on SOAP Service.

  5. Fill out the details in the SOAP Service details page:

    SOAP service detais

    Note: The status of the datasource will be incomplete until it has been fully configured. When set up it will be ready.

    • Display name - this is the name of the data source. Use an appropriate name, as this will be used within your process(es).

    • Service URL - this will be the URL of the service.

    • Service WSDL URL - this will be the URL of the service including the Web Services Description Language (WSDL). WSDL describes the structure, contents and limitations of the elements of XML passed between the web service and client.

    • Authentication Mode - there are three options available:

      • Anonymous - the message initiator is anonymous and the responder is authenticated, no credentials needed.

      • Basic - provides basic authentication and requires credentials to be entered.

      • Windows - provides authentication using Windows login and requires credentials to be entered.

        Windows authentication

  6. When you have added SOAP service details, you are ready to test your connection and add security. At the bottom of the SOAP service details page, click on Test connection button Test connection for REST Service and if the service has been correctly configured, then you should receive a notification saying Connection test succeeded.

  7. Click on Save Save connection buttonto save the connection and you will receive a notification saying Details saved successfully.

  8. Add Security settings by clicking on the Security button, go to Setting security for data sources for more details.

  9. Click on Close to close the details page and return to the datasource management main view.

What’s next Idea icon

Your SOAP Service is now set up and ready to be used in your processes. To find out more about how to design processes go to Designer.

6.19 - SQL Server connector

One of the datasources available in Kianda is a Structured Query Language (SQL) Server datasource. Using the SQL server as your datasource, you can perform any Create, Read, Update and Delete (CRUD) operations using the Data rules provided in the Kianda platform, to learn more about data rules go to Data rules. Using the SQL server connector, you have access to all tables within your database from your server. Keep in mind that you can perform CRUD operations on data within a table of the database, but you cannot create or delete tables themselves.

When to use

You can use the SQL Server connector when you want access, modify or retrieve data within a table in your SQL server. When connecting a SQL server datasource to a List field, you can only connect and display information from a table, not the information of the server itself. For example if your SQL server contains tables such as Employees, Purchases and Standing Orders, you will be able to connect the list field to only one of those tables giving you CRUD access.

Before getting started

When establishing a connection using the SQL data connector, you are creating a connection with a Database from a server, not the server itself. Before continuing make sure that your SQL server has a database you can connect to.

In order to successfully establish this connection with your server, a user is needed to access the server by logging in. This user that you use to connect to the server must be a sysadmin.

How to get started

  1. From the Kianda home page, click on Administration > Data sources.

  2. Click on + Add new button Add new data connector button and choose SQL Server from the list of datasources provided.

  3. Fill out fields in the SQL Server details screen.

    SQL Server details page

    Choose from the edit options:

    • Display name - type in a name for your SQL server connector. This is used to distinguish between different data connectors on your platform.
    • Server - the name of the server you want to access or the IP address where the server is hosted. When you are running a local server on your machine you can use localhost as the server name.
    • Database - the name of the database from your server that you want to connect to.
    • Trusted connection - enable windows trusted connection. Only available when using with Kianda cloud connector, enabling this will automatically enable the Use Kianda Cloud Connect option. This option will use the connector service credentials to connect to the destination datasource. Having this option enabled will automatically hide the User and Password fields.
    • User - username used to log into the server. Note that in order to log into a server with a username and password, the user must be a system admin for the connection to be successful.
    • Password - password used to log into the server.
    • Use Kianda Cloud Connect - by default this option is disabled, the cloud connect is used to create a connection between a locally run SQL server and Kianda itself. To learn more about Kianda Cloud Connect and how to create a connection between Kianda and your PC, go to Kianda Cloud Connect. Check this option if you want to connect to a server that is running on your local machine. When Use Kianda Cloud Connect is enabled, a Connectors option appears.
      • Connectors - displays all available connector PC’s that have a connection established with your Kianda subscription. This option is used to select the PC connection that runs the local SQL server that you want to connect to.
  4. When you have added the SQL server details, you are ready to test your connection and add security. At the bottom of the SQL Server details page, click on Test connection button Test connection for REST Service and if the service has been correctly configured, then you should receive a notification saying Connection test succeeded.

  5. Click on Save Save connection button to save the connection and you will receive a notification saying Details saved successfully.

  6. Add Security settings by clicking on the Security button, go to Setting security for data sources for more details.

  7. Click on Close to close the details page and return to the data source management main view.

Connecting to a local server

Here we will go step by step on how to create a connection between your locally run SQL Server and your Kianda subscription. Follow the steps below to create this connection:

Test connection for REST Service

  1. Connect to a SQL server using localhost as the name of the server.
  2. Open the SQL details page by following steps 1 and 2 from How to get started.
  3. Choose a Display name.
  4. In the Server text box type in localhost.
  5. In the Database text box type in the name of your database you want to connect from your server. For this example we will connect to a GreenITR database from our server.
  6. Enable the Trusted connection checkbox.
  7. Enable the Use Kianda Cloud Connect checkbox.
  8. In the Connectors radio checklist, select the PC that you are running the local server on. For this example we are using PC31. To establish a connection between your Kianda subscription and your PC go to Kianda Cloud Connect.
  9. Click on Test connection.
  10. A notification Connection test succeeded shows up. Now you are ready to use the SQL connector that is run on your local machine.

SQL Server parameters

When you use a SQL Server datasource, unlike some of the other data connectors in Kianda, SQL Server does not have default parameters. When you connect a SQL server as your datasource, you can choose which table you want to use when performing CRUD operations. For example when connecting a SQL datasource to a List field and selecting a table you want to use, the parameters will depend on what columns are present in the table. Take GreenITR database from the Connecting to a local server example. We have an Employee table which we select when connecting a datasource to a List field, to learn how to a datasource to a list field go to List control, see image below:

Connecting employee table to list field

The list of parameters displayed in the the Display field, Value field and Sort by field will match the columns that we have in the Employee table, see image below:

columns in a table

What’s next Idea icon

Your SQL Server connector is now set up and ready to be used in your processes. To find out more about how to design processes go to Designer.

6.20 - REST Web Service

One of the datasources available in Kianda is a connector to a REST API. Kianda has the ability to perform GET, POST, PUT and DELETE operations if they are supported by the webservice. The REST API datasource can support multiple REST methods, all of which can be called independently. Data from the webservice can be pulled into your Kianda workspace and manipulated, or data from Kianda can be pushed to the webservice to be used by other systems.

When to use

You can create a REST API datasource when you want your Kianda processes and forms to have access to a REST API.

How to get started

A REST API data connector can be configured by users with the role Administrator or Manage datasources. These users can access the datasource management function, found under Administration > Data sources.

  1. In the left-hand side menu, go to Administration > Data sources.

  2. In the main view you will see any existing data sources that have been created. From this view, you can click on the name of a data source to see details or delete a data source by clicking on the Bin/Trash button Bin/trash button.

    Data sources main view

  3. To create a new data source, click on the Add new in the main view. A range of data source connectors will appear.

    Data source list

  4. To add a REST Service data source click on REST Service.

  5. The REST Service details screen opens.

REST Service details

  1. Fill in the first set of fields:

    • Display name – This is the name of the data source. Use an appropriate name, as this will be used within your process(es).

    • Rest server base URL – This is the base URL of the REST API. Ensure there are no trailing characters, for example “(https:)//api.mywebsite.com”

    • Enable Certificate Authentication – By default this option is set to No. By Selecting Yes this will display two new fields:

      • Certificate (.pfx) – This is a file field which you can use to upload your authentication certificate.

      • Certificate password – Enter the password of the certificate here so the Kianda platform will be able to use it.

Enable Certificate Authentication

  1. Under the Service details section, is a the REST Methods section. If there are any existing methods created, for example to find and retrieve particular information using HTTP GET, the method will be listed here. Go to REST Methods to find out more about how to add a method. To find out more about Kianda REST APIs, go to APIs.

  2. Under the REST Methods on the REST Service details page, there is a check box to Use Kianda Cloud Connect? If you check this checkbox it gives you an option to Download Kianda Cloud Connect. Click on Download Kianda Cloud Connect to download a zip file.

    Kianda Cloud Connect

  3. When you have added REST Service details, you are ready to test your connection and add security. At the bottom of the REST Service details page, click on Test connection button Test connection for REST Service and if the service has been correctly configured, then you should receive a notification saying Connection test succeeded.

    Connection test succeeded message

    In the event of an error, you will receive a message that relates to the error, for example a null or incorrect URL as shown in the example below:

    REST test connection error

  4. Click on Save Save connection buttonto save the connection and you will receive a notification saying Details saved successfully.

  5. Add Security settings by clicking on the Security button, go to Setting security for data sources for more details.

Here is an example of a data connector for a REST Service called ‘Cat facts’. We will use this example to create a REST method, see section below.

REST Service example

REST Methods

A list of current REST Methods that have been created in Kianda will appear, listed by Name, Path and HTTP Method, where:

  • Name - is the name of the method, for example to get a list of course attendees, which could be called ‘Course Attendees’

  • Path - is the address that allows you to access the API, also called endpoints, for example /instances or /processes are endpoints for Kianda REST APIs that allow you to perform methods on process instances and process designs respectively.

  • HTTP Method - is the type of operation that can be performed on the data, namely POST (create), GET (read). PUT (update). PATCH (partial update) and DELETE (delete).

    These details are shown in the example below, a data connector called ‘REST Service for HR’.

    Existing REST Methods

You can edit details of the existing REST Methods by clicking on the Edit/Pen button Edit REST Methods or delete a method by clicking on the Bin/Trash button Delete REST Method.

How to add a new REST Method

  1. Click on the +Add REST Method button. The REST Method editor dialog box appears.

REST Method editor

  1. Fill out the fields:

    • Display Name – this is the name you want to attribute to the REST Method.

    • HTTP Method – this is the HTTP Method of the REST Method.

    • Url Path – this is the rest of the URL that will be concatenated with the Rest server base URL. For example /rest/GetUserDetails.

    • Request headers – Request headers can be manually added here that need to be sent as part of the request, for example, Authorization. These values can be hard coded or passed into the Request header from the process. Click on Add header to add a request header.

    • Request body – This section is for the Request body that will be used during the request. These values can be hard coded or passed into the Request body from the process.

    • Content type – Here you can define the Content type of the body. The options are JSON and Form Data.

    • Response headers – Here you can define any response headers you wish to capture in the response that you want to use in Kianda. Click on Add header to add a response header.

    • Response body – Here you can define the response body that the request will receive. Include or remove fields as needed.

  2. When you are finished editing the dialog box click on OK to save your changes, or click on Close at any time to exit.

See Example of REST Method use in Kianda below which can be used as a service with the connection.

Example of REST Method use in Kianda

Take an example of https://catfact.ninja/fact a well-known API that provides an endpoint to retrieve random facts about cats.

If a simple GET method is used to retrieve facts using an API client, then parameters are returned showing the ‘fact’ and the ’length’ of the fact as shown below.

Catninja GET example

Knowing what parameters are available we can use the steps in How to add a new REST Method,:

  1. Click on +Add REST Method Add REST Method from the REST Service details page, and add in details using the REST Method editor where:

    • Display Name - this is the name of your method that will be called upon in a process, for example ‘Cat fact’

    • HTTP Method - GET is used to retrieve values

    • Url Path - the path that is attached to the base URL, for example /fact

    • Click on Add Header Add Header button to add request headers, for example for authentication.

    • Request body - this is the part of the request that is sent to a function where a function processes the request and sends back the Response body. For our ‘catfact ninja’ example we will use the parameters ‘fact’ and ’length’ for mapping values to form fields in Kianda processes:

      Catfact ninja response body

    • Click on OK to save the details and then click on Save Save button in the REST Service details screen to save the connection.

The method will appear under REST Methods in the details screen.

REST Method example

The next section shows how data at the data source can be used in a Kianda process.

Using a REST Method in a Kianda process

To see how ‘catfacts’ are mapped into Kianda processes, create a new process, add fields and a rule that uses the REST Method created above.

  1. To create a new process by going to the left-hand side menu > Administration > Designer and click on Add new Add new button and fill out details for the process, such as a Title and Description. Click on OK when complete.

  2. Kianda Designer opens and in the first form, form1, add in a new text box by going to the left-hand pane and click on Controls > Input > Text box. This field will hold the value of the ‘fact’ from catfacts. To read more about Input controls go to Input controls.

  3. Add a button to initiate the call from catfacts by going to the left-hand pane Controls > Actions > Button. Give the button a title for example ‘Get Cat Fact’, and choose No for Show in form body so the button appears at the bottom of the form. To read more about Action controls go to Actions.

    Get cat fact button

  4. To dynamically populate the textbox with a fact, we need a rule. Click on ‘Get cat fact’ button to add a rule. Then go to Rules > Data > Find items.

  5. Give the rule a title, and under Action, click on Select data source to select the data source created using the steps in How to get started. Select the method ‘Cat fact’ created using the steps above in Example of REST Method use in Kianda.

    Selecting datasource example catfact

  6. Click on OK to close the dialog box.

  7. If you want to add headers to the request use the Input mapping for example requests headers for authentication, otherwise click on the Bin/Trash button to delete the input mapping fields.

  8. Under Results mapping select the textbox from your form for the Form field and under Data source field or text navigate to ‘fact’ from the responseBody as shown below.

    Results mapping example for ‘facts’

  9. Add Error mapping if desired. Click on the links to read more about Error mapping and Find items rule.

  10. Save the process by clicking on the Save button Save button and preview the process by clicking on Preview Preview button. In the previewed instance, click on the ‘Get Cat Fact’ button to populate the textbox.

What’s next Idea icon

Your REST Service is now set up and ready to be used in your processes. Check out the following article on how to implement a REST Service in order to refresh an Access token.

To read more about APIs, go to APIs.

To read more about processes and forms, go to Application designer.

6.20.1 - REST Service and Access Token refresh

Introduction

When creating a REST Service datasource that uses OAuth for authentication, you may want to create a ‘refresh functionality’ within Kianda. This is achieved by creating a process and scheduling the process to run before the Access Token expires.

How to get started

Create a datasource

First you will need to create the datasource to connect to the application, for example, creating a REST Service with two REST Methods. The method titled Get/Refresh Auth Token will be used to refresh the Access Token with the scheduled task. For more information on how to create REST Services go to the REST Service page.

Sample REST service

There are five parameters to pass into the request body: grant_type, client_id, client_secret, redirect_url and refresh token, shown below as follows:

Get/Refresh Auth Token

These parameters need to be ‘held’ in a process, see Create a process below.

Create a process

Once a datasource is created, a process is created which will contain fields for the parameters for the request body, and will hold fields from the response parameters.

As shown in the image above there are five parameters in the request body which need to be populated, and each of these parameters must correspond to a field in a process.

In the response body there are five parameters : access_token, token_type, expires_in, refresh_token and created_at, although only access_token, expires_in and created_at is needed. You can obtain the Access Token via the Developer console so details can be entered into Designer directly.

A form is created using Kianda Designer with textbox fields as well as a button called Refresh as follows:

Response parameters corresponding to form fields to hold values

Form rules are applied to fields in the form in the next section.

Form rules

Rules are applied to both the AccessToken textbox field and the Refresh button as follows:

  1. On the Refresh button add a Data rule > Set Form Field which will be used to clear the AccessToken field. Give the rule a title for example ‘Clear Access Token’ and map a ‘blank’ value to the Access Token field by ‘pressing space bar key’ as shown below:

    Set form field rule to Clear Access Token field

  2. On the Refresh button add a Data rule > Create item which will be used to invoke the REST Service to get a new token and map the response back to the process.

    • Within the rule, click on Select data source and select the datasource created within Create a datasource, in the example on this page, ‘Sample Rest Service’.

    • Then select the ‘Get/Refresh Auth Token REST Method’ as shown below.

      Selecting Get/Refresh Auth Token REST Method in Sample REST Service data source

    • Under Input mapping map the values from the process into the request body. The left-hand column, Form field or text, represents the fields within the process or hard coded values. The right-hand column, Data source field, represents the values within the REST Service, be it the request header, request body, response header or response body**.** For example choose the form field such as grant_type and then in the data source field drill down to the value you want from the REST method.

      Selecting data source field
    • In addition to the parameters defined with the REST Service the urlPath can be defined in the process and passed into the datasource. Map the form fields grant_type, client_id, client_secret, redirect_url and refresh token, into the form fields.

      Create item rule to get a new token and map response back to a Kianda process
    • The On Success Mapping section is used to map the result from the API call back into the process. Map access_token, refresh_token, expires_in and created_at, to the relative form fields.

  3. In addition to the parameters defined with the REST Service the urlPath can be defined in the process and passed into the datasource.

  4. On the Refresh button add a Form action rule > Save form so that the details from the process are saved to the system database. The rule order then is as follows:

Finally; run the Process in preview mode, ensure the details you want to pass into the REST Service are correct and save the process. Take note of the Process ID as this will be needed for setting up the Scheduled Task

Create the Scheduled Task

The final step will be to create the scheduled task that will run before the refresh token expires. Navigate to the Scheduled tasks within the Administration section in the site. Click on the Schedule a task button and fill in the dialog box.

  1. Enter a name for the task in the Task Name field.

  2. Under Schedule select the Minutes option. In the Every Minutes field enter a numerical value. For example, if the Access Token expires every 60 minutes, enter 55, meaning the schedule will run every 55 minutes.

  3. Leave the Expire checkbox blank as this schedule should never stop.

  4. Under Process Design select the name of the process that you created in the step above. This will expose a new field called Select the field or rule to trigger on schedule.

  5. In Process ID enter the ID of the process that you created in preview mode.

  6. In Select the field or rule to trigger on schedule select the Refresh button.

  7. Click OK to save.

The Schedule is now set up and will refresh the access token as frequently as the time entered in the minutes field.

Next Steps

The Schedule is now set up and will refresh the access token as frequently as the time entered in the minutes field. This will run indefinitely until a user chooses to delete the schedule.

The datasource is now available to used and the Access Token is being kept current. The Access Token can be pulled into different Processes and used to send further REST APIs. Check out the articles below on how to build processes:

[Using Kianda Designer](/docs/platform/administration/users/#view-and-edit-existing-user-details)

7 - B2B Portals

B2B Portals are a means of connecting your clients to your Kianda subscription through their own subscription. This provides a means of allowing your clients to interface with processes you have already created. This could involve updating existing processes, deleting processes or creating processes. Access to the B2B Portal can be controlled by your own administrator and each B2B Portal can have multiple users for your clients.

Your client’s subscription will need to be configured by Kianda so please reach out to your Account Manager or Kianda Support to arrange the set up.

B2B Portals can be configured by users with the role Administrator or Manage partners. These users can access the function, found under Administration > Invite Partner.

What’s next Idea icon

We have briefly introduced the concept of B2B Portals within Administration. Now let’s look at the following areas in more detail:

7.1 - Shared processes

Introduction

A Shared Process is a process which you create within your own subscription with the intention to share with your B2B Portal. This process, as with all processes, can be used to review data, create new instances, update or delete instances.

Within a shared process, you can also create a Shared Dashboard which is a dashboard created within your own subscription with the intention to share with your B2B Portal. This dashboard, as with all dashboards, can be used to review data, access Shared Processes by creating new instances, updating or deleting instances.

When to use

Using the Shared Process feature will allow users within the B2B Portal to have access to a process you have created. By sharing this process you will give your partner the opportunity to work on the process by updating, creating and deleting instances.

It terms of dashboards, it is necessary to share your dashboard with your B2B Portal when sharing processes and dashboard widgets with your Client. Before you can share a dashboard you must first create one. This dashboard can be one that you have already created, however, we recommend creating a unique dashboard that will be used specifically for sharing with B2B Portals. Go to Dashboards to learn more about how to create dashboards.

The following sections will step through how to share a process (steps 1-3) and share a dashboard (step 4) and how to conclude and update partners (steps 5-6).

How to get started

Log into your subscription and navigate to the Invite Partner section located within Administration. Your role needs to be Administrator or Manage partner to view Invite Partner. Using one of these roles:

  1. Navigate to Invite Partner within the Administration section.

    Invite partner function

  2. In the Shared processes section, click on the Share a process button Share a process button.

  3. The Create a Shared Process dialog box opens.

    Edit Shared Process dialog box

    Populate the fields as desired:

    • Title - provide a title for the shared process

    • Instructions for partner - provide instructions for the selected partner

    • Click on the plus symbol Add shared process to add a selected process design to share. Then click on the dropdown list to search for a process to share.

    • Click on the tick symbol Edit selected shared  process to add the selected shared process. To change the selected shared process properties by clicking on the Cog/Settings button Edit selected shared process properties or delete the selected shared process by clicking on the Bin/trash button Bin button for shared processes.

      Edit selected shared process properties

      • If you click on the Cog/Settings button Edit selected shared process properties a Process properties dialog box appears, as shown above, for example Training Request properties. You can check radio buttons for:

        • Allow partner to create a new process instance - choose from Yes or No. If you choose Yes, then you are allowing invited partner(s) to create new process instances from the chosen shared process design.

        • A field Partner user group allowed to create new instances appears, where you can define the group(s) in the partner organisation, that can create these new process instances. This is the first level of security for processes and dashboards. If you leave the field blank, then anyone in the partner organisation can create process instances.

        • Allow partner delete a process instance - choose from Yes or No. If you choose Yes, then you are allowing invited partner(s) to delete new process instances from the chosen shared process design.

        • Partner process form visibility mode - choose from Assigned or All forms. If you choose Assigned, then the invited partner(s) can view only assigned form versus all forms, if All forms is chosen.

        • When you are finished editing the dialog box, click on OK, or else click on Close to exit the dialog box at any stage.

        • If you click on the Bin/trash button Bin button for shared processes then a pop-up appears to Confirm removal, choose from OK or Cancel.

        Confirm removal of selected shared process

        • Click on the Tick symbol Edit selected shared  process to add further selected processes to share.

        • Click on the Add partner group button to add one or more partner groups. Click on the Bin/trash button Bin button for shared processes to delete partner groups.

          Information on dashboard parameters under Add partner group is found under the heading below.

Shared dashboards

There are a set of dashboard parameters under the field Add partner group. These are:

  1. Under Dashboard template click on the dropdown list to select an existing dashboards to share with the selected processes. If you choose to share a dashboard then you can select parameters:

    • Dashboard name in partner - choose from Use your company name ‘Name of your organisation’ or Same as selected dashboard

    • Make welcome page - choose from Yes or No. If you choose Yes then the selected dashboard becomes the welcome page for the partner if no other welcome page is configured.

    • Dashboard security - choose from created partner groups within this field to ensure that only users in these partner groups can access the dashboard. This is the method to set security on the dashboard specifically.

  2. When you are finished editing the dialog box, click on OK, or else click on Close to exit the dialog box at any stage.

  3. Once you have completed configuring or modifying the Shared Process you will need to send the shared process to your partner. To do this press the Send Update button which appears in the main view of the Shared processes section.

Send Update

What’s next Idea icon

Once you have successfully creating a shared process and dashboard, these will be available in the B2B Portal for partners, for example when your partner users log into the B2B Portal they will be able to see the newly shared dashboard. From here they will be able to see the widgets within the dashboard and interact with the Processes. Go to the Secure Data Access to read more about security in shared processes and data sources.

7.2 - Partner profile

Introduction

Within the B2B Portal your client’s administrator will be able to create as many Partner Profiles (users) as they wish. By creating these users, they will have the ability to access the B2B Portal and interact with the Dashboards and Processes shared with them. For more information on how B2B Portal users access shared data go to Data access, Shared processes for information on processes, as well as Shared dashboards for information on dashboards.

When to use

Your client will need to add Partner Profiles in order for their employees to have access to the B2B Portal. At this point your subscription will need to have been created and Administrators created. If this has not happened yet, please get in touch with your Account Manager or Kianda Support to begin the process.

How to get started

In order to begin a user with an Administrator role or Manage partner role will need to log into your subscription. Using one of these roles:

  1. Navigate to Invite Partner within the Administration section.

  2. Within this page click on the Invite Partner Button.

  3. In the Invite partner dialog box populate the fields with the details of the person you want to share your Processes and Dashboards with.

    Invite partner dialog box

    The fields in this box are:

    • Partner organisation - provide the name of the partner organisation

    • Contact first name - provide the first name of a contact in the partner organisation

    • Contact last name - provide the surname of a contact in the partner organisation

    • Contact email - provide the email of a contact

    • Shared process selection - in the dropdown list choose a shared process created using the steps listed in How to get started with shared processes.

    • Click on More fields to see more fields these include: Partner country, Partner city, and Partner logo which you can add by clicking on Browse and browsing your PC or network.

  4. When you are finished editing the dialog box, click on OK, or else click on Close to exit the dialog box at any stage. Clicking on OK will save the partner and will result in an invitation being sent to their email address, similar to the one below.

    Invite partner email example

  5. As a partner click on the Accept button. Then you are linked to a greeting page asking you to sign up to Kianda if you don’t have a login. Click on the Sign up button if you don’t have a subscription.

    Accept invite example

Accepting a partner invite without a subscription

  1. If you do have a subscription please continue to the section detailing what to do after when login is clicked Accepting a partner invite with a subscription, otherwise create a subscription, by entering your Firstname, Lastname, your email, a password and a phone number. Click Next when you are ready to continue.

Signin to Kianda as an invited partner example

  1. In the next page configure the name of the subscription for the B2B Portal. Enter your Company name, an Identity that will form the beginning of your URL, the Company Size, Industry, Address, Country and City. Click Start Trial when ready to proceed. This will create and automatically log you into your subscription.

  2. Return back to the email you received. Click on the Accept Invite button again. Now that your subscription is created and you are logged in the invite will be changed and will instead ask you to Accept Invite.

    Accept invite as a partner example

  3. Click on the Accept Invite button. You will be redirected to the Home page of the Subscription. You will now see the contents of the Shared Process.

    Shared process example

Accepting a partner invite with a subscription

If you already have a subscription you can choose to Login instead of Signing up. By logging in you can log into your subscription and you will be given the option to accept the invite. Please note that you will need to be an administrator in your portal in order to accept the invite.

  1. Click on the Accept Invite button.

    Accept invite example

  2. You will be redirected to the Home page of the Subscription. You will now see the contents of the Shared Process.

What’s next Idea icon

Within your subscription you will be able to see if an invited partner has accepted their invitation based on the status. Pending means they have not accepted the invite, active means they have accepted the invite.

Invite partner status

Once an invite is accepted, your client’s/invited partner’s employees can now access the B2B Portal and interact with the Dashboards and Processes that have been shared with them. For more information on how B2B Portal users access shared data go to Data access, as well as Shared dashboards for information on dashboards, and Shared processes for information on processes.

7.3 - Secure Data Access

Introduction

Access to the B2B Portal is controlled through standard user and group creation, dashboard security and through how the Shared Processes and Dashboards are defined.

When to use

B2B Portals are a means of connecting your clients to your Kianda subscription through their own subscription. This provides a means of allowing your clients to interface with processes you have already created, be it through updating existing processes, deleting processes or creating processes. Access to the B2B Portal can be controlled by your own administrator and each B2B portal can have multiple users for your clients.

How to get started

To share data with B2B portal users, there are a number of steps involved starting with:

a) Creating users and groups

b) Create dashboards to share

c) Create shared processes and attach dashboards to share

These steps are covered within the headings below. In addition you can manage data access at a datasource level, click on the link to see more details.

Create users and groups for the B2B portal

  1. To begin create Users and Groups for the B2B portal. If you are an administrator, navigate to the Administration section in the left-hand side menu and click on Users.

  2. Within this page you will be able to view all existing Users and Groups in the portal. In the left-hand side, under Users you can see user names, emails, role and if they are active or not. All existing Groups can be seen in the right-hand side of the screen. Here you can see group names and the number of members.

    Users main view

  3. For full details on how to create, edit and delete users and groups go to Users.

Create dashboards to share

  1. Within your own portal you may then wish to create Dashboards to share. Dashboards provide a convenient way to gain insights into how your business processes are performing. They offer easy reporting, permissions management, quick build, condition-based filtering amongst other features. For details on how to get started with dashboards go to Dashboards.

Create shared processes and attach dashboards to share

  1. When the dashboard that you want to share within your B2B portal has been created, then you can control access by two means: a) Using the Shared Processes feature within Invite partner within Administration and b) within the B2B portal itself.

  2. To implement a) go to Administration > Invite partner and within the Shared processes section, click on Share a process.

  3. Type in a Title and Instructions for partner, click on the plus symbol Add shared process to add a selected process design to share.

  4. Then click on the dropdown list to search for a process to share.

  5. Click on the tick symbol Edit selected shared  process to add the selected shared process.

  6. Click on the Add partner group button to add a group from step 3 and click on Dashboard template to add the desired Dashboard (from step 4) to share. Security can be set on this dashboard so that only a defined group can see the dashboard - click on the field under Dashboard security to add in a named ‘partner group’ to enable access to this group only.

    Edit Shared Process dialog box

  7. Add as many shared dashboards and partner groups as needed using the previous instructions. In addition the level of access for each shared process can be controlled through system settings. Click on the on the tick symbol Edit selected shared  process to change the shared processes details, and then click on the Cog/Settings button Edit selected shared process properties and edit the details within the Process properties dialog box, for example as shown for a Training Request process below.

    Edit selected shared process properties

  8. Within the Process properties dialog box you can check radio buttons for:

    • Allow partner to create a new process instance - choose from Yes or No. If you choose Yes, then you are allowing invited partner(s) to create new process instances from the chosen shared process design. A field Partner user group allowed to create new instances appears, where you can define the group(s) in the partner organisation, that can create these new process instances. If you leave the field blank, then anyone in the partner organisation can create process instances.
    • Allow partner delete a process instance - choose from Yes or No. If you choose Yes, then you are allowing invited partner(s) to delete new process instances from the chosen shared process design.
    • Partner user group allowed to create new instances- choose from the Partner user groups that you created previously. By selecting a group here this dictates who can enter the process. Thus, defining a sub set of your B2B Portal users which can interact with that specific process.
    • Partner process form visibility mode - choose from Assigned or All forms. If you choose Assigned, then the invited partner(s) can view only assigned form versus all forms, if All forms is chosen.
  9. When you are finished editing the dialog box, click on OK, or else click on Close to exit the dialog box at any stage.

Data access at a datasource level

When a process is shared within the B2B portal, you may choose to include one or more of your datasources. You may not wish to share all records from the datasource within the B2B portal, so you can limit access within the datasource itself. B2B Security can be enabled with the following datasources:

  • Active Directory
  • Docusign
  • Dropbox
  • Email
  • File system
  • FTP
  • Global Payments
  • Google Drive
  • MySQL
  • Office 365
  • Oracle
  • PowerShell
  • REST Service
  • Salesforce
  • SAP
  • SharePoint
  • SQL Server
  • SOAP Service
  1. Go to Administration > Data sources.

  2. From the Datasource management main view, click on a data source that has already been created with a status of ready, by clicking on the name of the data source, or create a new Data source by clicking on Add new, see Data sources for more details.

    Datasource management view

  3. In the Data source details screen, click on the Security button Security button.

  4. In the Security settings dialog box, complete the fields as shown on screen, starting with Connection administrators.

    Security settings dialog box

    Connection administrators - only users or groups listed here are allowed to modify the connection settings. Click on the dropdown list to choose Users and/or Groups. If you leave the field blank, all Administrators and those users with the Manage datasources role can edit the connection.

  5. Complete the field for Connection users. Only users or groups listed here are allowed to query data using this connection. Click on the dropdown list to choose Users and/or Groups. If you leave the field blank, any user can query data within the datasource.

  6. Check/Uncheck Enable B2B. If you check the checkbox, this allows B2B external users to query the connection. The Enable partner default query parameters checkbox appears.

  7. Check/Uncheck Enable partner default query parameters. If you check the checkbox, you can define default query parameters that are applied to any partner originated query. Parameters defined here take precedence over any design time queries. Click on Add mapping to choose a query type and table/operation as follows:

    • Query type - choose from Create, Read, Update, Delete (CRUD). These CRUD operations allow you to create, read, update and delete records within your datasource.

    • Table/Operation - click on Select a table to select a resource within the data connector. Click on OK when you are finished editing, or Close at any time to exit the dialog box.

    • Query parameters - when a datasource resource is chosen, for example a SharePoint list called ‘Countries’ below, then you will have an option to set conditions for filtering data.

      Query parameters

      Click on Filter conditions to open an Edit conditions dialog box and from there click on Add a conditions group.

  8. If you choose to set conditions using the steps above, then in the Edit conditions dialog box, you can set conditions based on data source parameters, operators and form fields.

    • The parameter on the left comes from the data source, for example for SharePoint, there are 18 possible values listed in SharePoint parameters. See Data sources for information about other data connectors.

    Edit conditions dialog box in Security settings

    • Within this dialog box you can also use different operators, for example Equals as shown above. See Conditions for more details on using conditions in Kianda.

    • The right-most field relates to the B2B Portal and B2B User. There are standard options listed below:

      • Main Contact Name – the first name and last name of the Partner
      • Main Contact Email – the email of the Partner
      • Partner Company Name – the Partner organisation of the Partner
      • Partner Current User Name – the user within the B2B Portal that is accessing the datasource
      • Partner Current User Email – the user’s email within the B2B Portal that is accessing the datasource

      B2B form parameters

    • When you have added conditions click on OK, or click on Close at any time to exit the dialog box.

  9. When you are finished editing the security settings dialog box, click on OK, or click on Close at any time to exit the dialog box.

What’s next Idea icon

To read more about User and group management, go to Users.

To read more about Dashboards, go to Dashboards.

To read more about Conditions, go to Conditions.

To read more about data source parameters, go to Connectors and from there navigate to the different predefined data connectors.

8 - Administration

The Administration menu contains all the functions you need to maintain your Kianda workspace.

The menu is found in the left-hand side pane when you log in to Kianda, or on the top right toolbar depending on the chosen orientation. This menu will only appear if you have a certain role, for example Administrators will see all items shown in the image below.

Administration menu

Other roles like Developer, or Design business process role will have access to the Administration menu, but will only see role-related items within the menu. For example a Developer will only see Developer within Administration, while a person with a Design business process role will only see Designer within Administration. User roles are set by Administrator who will have access to the Users function within administration, see Users and Groups for more information.

If you have full administration access then you will see nine functions by default within administration. These are:

  • Designer - users with the Designer business process role and administrators can access this function to design business processes. Designer is the main feature that allows you to create processes, forms, add fields and business rules all using an easy-to-use graphical user interface, without the need for coding.

  • App Store - administrators can access predefined process templates within the App Store, and use these templates to create business processes. There are 20 predefined templates that can be imported and used at the click of a button and cover areas like: IT Support Helpdesk, Purchase Order Approval, Employee Appraisal, Change Request Process, Inspection Checklist and Expense report.

  • Subscription - administrators can update an organisation’s subscription details, including Single Sign On, workspace look and feel, mobile app login design and regional settings.

  • Data sources - users with the Manage datasources role and administrators can access this function to connect a workspace to external data sources such as SAP, SharePoint and Oracle databases. These connectors can be used to retrieve data for processes and processes can automate the update and manipulation at the data source location.

  • Scheduled tasks - administrators can access this function to schedule tasks which can be full processes or parts of a process, for example to execute a rule, and schedule these tasks for a desired period or on demand. Within this function you can also view all existing scheduled tasks that could be rules executing within a process such as scheduled reminders.

  • Recycle bin - administrators can access deleted processes, tasks and process instances in the recycle bin and restore them to their original location.

  • Users - administrators can manage user accounts using this function for example setting roles, profile properties, creating and deleting groups.

  • Invite partner - users with the Manage partners role and administrators can access this function to invite business partners to view processes.

  • Look and Feel - this provides a shortcut to the Look and Feel section of Subscription to allow developers make changes to areas like global CSS file for a customised environment.

  • Developer - developers and administrators can access this function to create customised field, rule and dashboard widgets.

What’s next Idea icon

We have briefly introduced each of the nine functions within Administration, including the shortcut Look and Feel also found within Subscription. Now let’s look at each of these functions in more detail:

8.1 - Designer

Kianda Designer is available to administrators and those users with the role Design business process. Designer is found in the left-hand side pane, or on the top right toolbar depending on the chosen orientation, under Administration. The Designer function allows you to create processes and forms using the intuitive easy-to-use no-code interface. Within Designer, you can create forms, add controls and add rules to create processes to work the way you want.

How to get started

Using your Administration or Design business process role, start creating or editing a process so that Kianda Designer will open:

  1. Click on Administration in the left-hand side pane and then click on Designer.

  2. You can view any existing created processes in the main Process design view.

    Process view

  3. Processes may be arranged in folders or groups. Click on the folder name to see processes within that group, for example a group like Training as shown in the image.

    Training folder of processes

  4. You can search for a specific process or process group by typing into the process design Search bar, found above the list of processes. Click on the cancel button Cancel button to clear your search query.

    Searching for a process

  5. Click on a process name to see the process design. You are then brought into Kianda Designer, see Designer view details below.

  6. To import a process created for example in another workspace, click on Import Import button. Also note that from the main process view you can also export processes listed here for use in another workspace, by clicking on Export Export process.

  7. To create a process using a predefined template, click on the App Store.

  8. To create a new process, click on the Add new button Add new button.

  9. The Add new process dialog box appears where you can fill out details for your new process.

    New process view

    In this dialog box fill out the following fields:

    • Title - give the new process a title
    • ID - the Unique ID field is autofilled from the title field. Note that this ID is unique for each process.
    • Description - a short description that describes the new process
    • Group - choose an existing group/folder to add the new process to, or type in a new group name to create a new group of processes
    • Administrators - choose from Users, Groups or a mix of both users and groups for people who will be administrators of this process. The process administrator(s) is the only person/people who can edit draft process designs. Once the process design is published, workspace administrators will be able to access the process design.
  10. Once a process is opened, you are brought straight into Kianda Designer, see Designer view below.

Designer view

Kianda Designer allows you to create forms within your process, add in fields, rules and set out exactly how you want your form to appear, for example mandatory fields, help text, connection to a data source that pulls in information into the form as well as using settings to control who has access to forms and fields.

Kianda Designer is made up of three panes.

Designer view

  1. In the left-hand pane, you will find the Controls and Rules as well as buttons to Save, Preview and Publish processes, as well as exiting Kianda Designer to return to the main process view.
  2. In the centre pane, also called the canvas, you can view form details and manipulate form fields.
  3. In the right-hand pane, you can view and edit process and field properties as well as viewing rules assigned to fields, forms and processes.

What’s next Idea icon

To read more about Designer in detail and how to use the interface to create forms go to Application Designer.

To find out about help and support, go to Help.

8.2 - Subscription

The Subscription function is available to administrators and is found in the left-hand side pane or on the top right toolbar depending on the chosen orientation, under Administration. This function allows you to update the look and feel of your workspace, set regional, mobile and single sign-on settings and design the login page.

For developers who wish to customise and style their Kianda workspace and processes, there are options to support you in achieving a high level of design that is instantly recognisable for users. These options include creating a custom branding style, customised login page and option to control how your platform will look on mobile devices.

How to get started

To view, use the Subscription function as an administrator:

  1. Click on Administration in the left-hand side pane and then click on Subscription.

  2. The main Subscription page opens.

    Subscription view

    In this view you can typically make changes to six areas:

    • Look and Feel allows you to change the look and feel for your workspace, for example adding company logos.
    • Design Login Page allows you to design the login page for your workspace, for example to change background and font colours and add taglines.
    • Regional Settings allows you to set your operational time zone and regional settings, such as English Ireland for language.
    • Mobile Settings allows you to customise how the Kianda workspace will appear as a mobile app.
    • Subscription Details allows you to view your company details and enable a Global SMTP Mail connector for sending automated emails.
    • Storage Files allows you upload, delete and view public and private files within your subscription. You can also create folders to organise your files.

    These areas are covered in more detail in the sections below.

  3. Click on a particular area to edit details or click on the Open Wizard Open wizard button button to use a wizard to edit Look and Feel, Design Login Page, Regional Settings, and Mobile Settings.

Details on each area are available below.

Look and Feel

You can access this section by clicking on Open Wizard > Look and Feel or by clicking on Look and Feel in the main Subscription page.

Alternatively you can access this section by clicking on the Look and Feel shortcut found in the Administration menu.

Look and feel

Note: Logo sizes are 200 x 65px for a full-sized logo and 45 x 45px for a collapsed logo. You can also select a colour scheme under Themes and preview the results under Workspace preview on the right.

Details for each of the areas within the page - Logos, Layout, Themes and CSS are available below. Make sure to click on Save Changes Save changes button to save any changes made.

Logos

To add a logo for your company:

  1. Click on Browse beside Logo Url to browse for a logo to add from your PC or network. The recommended size is 200px x 65px.
  2. To add a logo that will appear when the left-hand side menu is collapsed, click on Browse beside Collapsed Logo URL to browse for a logo to add from your PC or network. The recommended size is 45px x 45px.

Layout

The options for your workspace layout are:

  • Boxed - moving the slider across to enable a boxed layout, that is the workspace appears in a box in the browser, with space appearing around the box and content is centred.

    Boxed layout

  • RTL - moved the slider across to enable a right-to-left (RTL) layout, that is text, layout, icons and so on are right-hand based.

  • Disable Zoom on Mobile - move the slider across to enable the ‘disable zoom on mobile’ option, which means that the zooming option is disabled on mobile web pages.

  • Welcome page - click on the Change button Change button to change the Welcome page for users of your Kianda workspace. The Update welcome page dialog box opens where you can click on the drop-down list under New welcome page to choose a new welcome page, from the Home page and dashboards.

    Update welcome page dialog box

    Click on OK to save changes or Close to exit the dialog box at any time.

Themes

Click on a Theme of choice. Options range from two-tone layouts, to those with a dark left-hand side menu as shown in the middle of the image below.

Themes

CSS

In this section you can modify the Global CSS File to make changes to the look and feel of the site as well as processes. If you have an existing CSS file, you can access the existing CSS details by clicking on the on the ellipsis button Ellipsis button to open a CSS Editor and add to those details, or click on Browse to browse for a CSS file to add in customised styling. See Global CSS file for more details.

Make sure to click on Save Changes Save changes button to save any changes made and click on Back to go back to the Subscription page.

Design Login Page

This section allows you to design the login page, choose background and font colours and complete fields for Taglines.

Design login page

On this page you can make the following changes:

  • Login Page Logo Url - add/change a logo for the login page to Kianda by clicking on Browse to browse for a logo on your PC or network.

  • Background Color - to create a background colour for the login page, you can either click on the colour itself and select a colour in the main view, or using the slider, or type in an RGB, HSL or HEX value in the fields above, or click in the box beside it to add in a HEX value for a colour, for example #BFBFBF.

    Background Color

  • Font Color - as with the Background Color, to create a font colour, choose an appropriate colour using the colour box itself or type in a value in the field beside the colour.

  • Tagline 1 - type in the first tagline that will appear under your company logo on the login page. A maximum of 25 characters is recommended.

  • Tagline 2 - type in the second tagline that will appear under your company logo on the login page. A maximum of 20 characters is recommended.

    Taglines

When you are finished making changes click on Save Changes Save changes buttonto save any changes made and click on Back to go back to the Subscription page.

Regional Settings

Here you can set your operational time zone and regional settings, such as English Ireland, from the dropdown.

Regional settings

On this page you can make the following changes:

  • Regional settings - choose a language setting from the drop-down list.
  • Time zone - choose a time zone from the drop-down list.

When you are finished making changes click on Save Changes Save changes button to save any changes made and click on Back to go back to the Subscription page.

The chosen options are reflected in the text below the fields, for example date and time format.

Mobile Settings

Here you can customise how the Kianda workspace will appear to users on mobile devices. You can choose your App name, App short name, Splash Screen Colour, and Theme Colour and upload a mobile size icon (note the icon size is 512 x 512 px).

Mobile settings

On this page you can make the following changes:

  • App name - add/change a name to set a custom app name for your app/workspace that reflects your business. A maximum of 45 characters is recommended.

  • App short name - add/change a shortened name for your app/workspace, for user in areas without space for longer text strings. A maximum of 12 characters is recommended.

  • Splash Screen Color - to set the introductory screen colour that appears while your application loads (splash screen), you can either click on the colour itself and select a colour in the main view, or using the slider, or type in an RGB, HSL or HEX value in the fields above, or click in the box beside it to add in a HEX value for a colour, for example #037dd3.

    Splash screen color

  • Theme Color - as with the Splash Screen Color, choose an appropriate colour for the mobile app theme font using the colour box itself or type in a value in the field beside the colour.

  • Mobile Icon - click on Browse to browse for a logo to add from your PC or network. This will be displayed on the home screen of your users’ mobile devices. The recommended size is 512px x 512px.

When you are finished making changes, click on Save Changes Save changes buttonto save any changes made and click on Back to go back to the Subscription page.

Subscription Details

General settings include details like your company name, subscription ID, renewal date and business identity (your workspace URL, for example, green-itr.kianda.com). You can also enable a Global SMTP Mail Connector to enable email flow to/from your Kianda workspace.

Within general settings, administrators can set who the Global Administrator is, or the main administrator for the workspace.

Subscription details

Company details

In this section you can make the following changes:

  • Company Name - add in your company name.
  • Business identity - the business identity for your company workspace is automatically added in.
  • Country - choose a country from the drop-down list.
  • City - enter a city into the text field
  • Address - add in your company address.
  • Renewal date - your subscription renewal date is automatically added in.
  • Subscription Id - your company subscription identity is automatically generated. This is needed when you need to perform authorisation to use Instance API.
  • Plan Id - your plan Id is automatically added in. For example free, premium and enterprise.

General settings

In this section you can make the following changes:

  • Enable Global SMTP Mail Connector - click on Yes to set a global Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) connector used to send emails.

    The global connector will ignore all other connectors and will no longer use no-reply@kianda.com as a sender. To enable this you must have an email connector set up in advance. To learn more about email connectors go to Email connector.

    In addition you can choose Yes for Enable save to Sent Items so that sent email are automatically saved in a ‘Sent items folder’.

    Enabling Global SMTP Mail Connector

  • Show administration menu on top menu? - selecting ‘Yes’ positions the administration menu on the top right toolbar beside the My profile section, and is then removed from the left hand navigational pane.

    new admin menu
  • Load widgets offline first? - selecting ‘Yes’ will prompt the platform to load widgets in offline mode first. This is an optional flag that enables dashboard and process widgets to be loaded faster from the offline cache. It can be useful if you consistently interact with your environment when you are in areas of poor network connectivity.

  • Global Administrator - change the global administrator of your company’s Kianda platform from the list of users that are in it.

  • Global JavaScript - allows you to create a JavaScript file with custom functions as helper or action functions allowing you to perform any functionality you may want. The file is accessible globally and will load when the application first starts. Go to Global JavaScript file for more details.

When you are finished making changes click on Save Changes Save changes buttonto save any changes made and click on Back to go back to the Subscription page.

Storage files

You can access this section by clicking on Storage Files in the main Administration > Subscription page. Here you can see all public and private files that are in your platforms storage. You can search for files using the search box and navigate between Public and Private files using the provided tabs.

Single Sign-On Details

Upload file(s)

To upload a file to Storage files, click on the upload file button.

upload file

A file explorer will open in which you can select multiple files to upload to you platform.

Create folder

To create a folder, click on the upload file button.

create folder

The folder will appear alphabetically in the main view where you can see all your files. To upload a file into folder, first, you need to click on the folder name to open it and then click on upload file button.

At any time, you can go to left-hand side menu and click on Subscription to edit any of the settings for the headings above.

What’s next Idea icon

To read more about how to create processes and forms go to Application Designer.

To find out about help and support, go to Help.

8.3 - Data sources

Introduction

The Data sources function is available to administrators and those users with the role Manage datasources. Data sources is found in the left-hand side pane, or on the top right toolbar depending on the chosen orientation, under Administration. The data sources function allows you to connect your processes to external data sources like SharePoint, Salesforce or SAP.

Connecting your data sources in this way allows real-time scalability, so as your organisation and data grows, the processes created in Kianda will continue to operate with these data sources, providing sustainable, flexible growth.

Kianda comes with 19 predefined data connectors allowing you to connect to these data sources. These are listed below:

  • Active Directory
  • DocuSign
  • Dropbox
  • Dynamics CRM
  • Email
  • File system
  • FTP
  • GlobalPayments
  • Google Drive
  • MySQL
  • Office 365
  • Oracle database
  • PowerShell
  • Salesforce
  • SAP
  • SharePoint
  • SOAP Service
  • SQL Server
  • REST Service

If you are a developer and want to connect to a datasource that is not included in the predefined set, you can use SOAP or REST to create your own API for data transfer.

How to get started

To start viewing existing data sources:

  1. To see the datasource management function, select Administration from the left-hand side pane and then click Data sources.

  2. Any existing data sources that have been created for your workspace are shown in the main view under Datasource management.

    Existing data connectors

    Data sources are listed by:

    • Name - assigned title
    • Type and icon - assigned data connector type and icon image
    • Modified - the date the connector was modified
    • Modified By - the person who last made changes
    • Status - for example ready means the connection has been tested and is working, while incomplete means that more details still need to be added.
  3. To search for a data source, type in the name or type of data source in the search box.

  4. To delete a data source, click on the Bin/Trash button Bin/Trash button beside the name of the datasource. You will receive a popup asking to you to confirm deletion by clicking OK, or you can exit the deletion by clicking on Cancel.

  5. To see the details of a data source, click on the name of the Data source and from there you are brought to the Data source details page:

    Data source details example

  6. The details will vary depending on the data source, but there are some common elements:

    • Display name - the name of the data source as it will display in your system. Choose something meaningful, as you will use this name in process design to connect your forms to your data source.
    • Information about the data source - this could be a URL, Server name, Client ID, root folder path etc.
    • Authentication details - this could be a username, password, client secret etc.
    • Option to use Kianda Cloud Connect - you enable this feature and download a zip file which you can install on your server, allowing the Kianda system to reach your server and get access to data, for example SQL Server, making system integration quick and efficient.
    • Test connection - all data source detail pages will allow you to test your connection using this button to ensure data exchange can happen.
    • Save - at any time you can save details, even if some parameters need to be completed, allowing you to return to the configuration at any point.
    • Security - all data sources can have different levels of security set up, including administrators for the connection, and users of the connection, see Setting security for data sources for more details.
    • Close - allows you to exit from the data source details page.

How to create a new datasource

The following uses SharePoint as an example when creating a new datasource. The main steps for any datasource will be similar, that is: click on the Add new button, fill out the datasource details page, test the connection, save and add security.

  1. From the main datasource management view, click on + Add new button Add new data connector button and then one of 19 data connectors that appear, for example SharePoint.

  2. Fill out fields in the SharePoint details screen.

    Sharepoint datasources

    Choose from the edit options:

    • Display name - the name of the data source, for example SharePoint HR

    • Site URL - this is the link to your SharePoint data

    • SharePoint version - choose from a) SharePoint Online (also known as SharePoint in Microsoft 365) b) SharePoint 2016 or c) SharePoint 2013

    • Scope - choose from a) Site for example a particular SharePoint website or b) Site Collection, a collection of SharePoint sites

    • Authentication mode - options are a) SharePoint Online Authorisation and b) System User Credentials

      If you choose a) SharePoint Online Authorisation then click on Authorize button Authorize button in this instance you will need SharePoint administration rights

      If you choose b) System User Credentials then fill out your username and password. In this instance you do not need SharePoint administration rights.

  3. When you have added SharePoint details, you are ready to test your connection and add security. At the bottom of the SharePoint details page, click on Test connection button Test connection for REST Service and if the service has been correctly configured, then you should receive a notification saying Connection test succeeded.

  4. Click on Save Save connection button to save the connection and you will receive a notification saying Details saved successfully.

  5. Add Security settings by clicking on the Security button Security button, go to Setting security for data sources for more details.

  6. Click on Close to close the details page and return to the datasource management main view.

Once the data connector is created, this can be used with controls like lists and rules, for example in the image below, a SharePoint data connector called ‘SharePoint Training Test’ has been setup within the datasources function. Lists within SharePoint can then be linked to list fields in Kianda, by clicking on Datasource in the Edit list dialog box. In the example below, a list called Companies is the data source for the list.

Datasource

What’s next Idea icon

To read more about data connectors and how to use them, go to Data Connectors.

To find out about help and support, go to Help.

8.4 - Scheduled tasks

The Scheduled tasks function is available to administrators and is found in the left-hand side pane, or on the top right toolbar depending on the chosen orientation, under Administration. The Scheduled tasks function allows you to schedule a task, that could be a process or a rule for example to send reminder emails.

How to get started

To use the Scheduled tasks function:

  1. Click on Administration in the left-hand side pane and then click on Scheduled tasks.

  2. You can view scheduled tasks via this function in the Task automation main tasks view. The current tasks listed is a subset of all tasks, see Step 4 below.

    Scheduled tasks view

    In this main view you can see:

    • the Name of the task
    • the Schedule for example weekly or monthly
    • when the task was last run
    • when the task will next run
    • the status of the task such as ‘Complete’
    • the name of the associated process and process instance where relevant, and
    • who is the administrator of the task/who has created the task.

    The buttons beside each task are:

    • Trigger task manually Trigger task manually - clicking on this button instantly creates a new process instance/record by executing the task or process. This process instance can be viewed in a list widget in a dashboard.
    • Show task history Show task history - when you click on this button, a dialog box opens showing a list of all the past executions of the task, listed by date and time and status, for example if there was an error or if the task completed.
    • Delete task Delete task - to delete a task from the list, click on this button. A popup will appear asking you to confirm if you want to remove the task or not. To continue with the deletion click on OK, otherwise click on Cancel.
  3. Click on the name of a task to see the details of the task.

  4. To see a complete list of scheduled tasks click on Show All Show All button. This list will include all tasks that are running as a result of processes, for example scheduled reminders that are running as a result of rules in a process. Each item listed is a process instance related to a process, for example as shown in the image below. The process instances can be viewed in a list widget in a dashboard.

    Scheduled tasks list

    To see the shorter list again of tasks created via this function, click on Show All again.

Scheduling a task

  1. To schedule a new task, click on the Schedule a task button Schedule a task button.

  2. In the Schedule a task dialog box, select a Task name for the task and then a schedule choosing from One time, or a periodic schedule from: Minutes, Hourly, Daily, Weekly, Monthly or On demand.

    Scheduled tasks view

  3. Depending on which option you choose, different time modes or ways of scheduling the task will be presented:

    • One time - choose from Absolute or Relative from now as shown in the image above. Choosing Absolute means the time starts at the date and time entered into the date and time field, choosing Relative from now means you can choose that the schedule starts in X number of days, hours and mins.

    • Minutes - enter a numeric value into the minutes box

    • Hourly - enter a numeric value into the minutes and Every field, to set a recurring schedule, see image below:

      Hourly schedule option

    • Daily - enter a time in the At field, a numeric value in the Every field, to set a recurring schedule and check the checkbox for Week days only to only schedule the task on weekdays.

    • Weekly - enter a day of the week in the Week day field, a time in the At field, and a numeric value in the Every field.

    • Monthly - enter a numeric value in the Day field to set what day of the month, or choose values to set when the task should happen for example, the First Monday of a month, as shown in the image below. Also select a time in the At field, and a numeric value in the Every field.

      Monthly schedule option

    • On demand - if you choose this option then a Task Webhook URL field will appear. If you click on OK the URL is generated by the system. This will send a POST request to the generated URL to trigger the task on demand. If you add an optional instanceID parameter you can run the task on a specific instance.

  4. For each time mode chosen, you can check the Expire checkbox, and from there set if you want the schedule to end By a particular date and time or After a set number of occurrences.

    Set task expiry

  5. For each time mode chosen, select a process from the Process design dropdown list.

  6. For each time mode chosen, for Process ID leave the field empty if it is a new task or enter the process ID for a given record/process instance.

  7. When you have finished editing the Schedule a task dialog box, click on OK or click on Close at any time to exit the dialog box.

What’s next Idea icon

To read more about how to create processes and forms go to Application Designer.

To find out about help and support, go to Help.

8.5 - Recycle bin

Introduction

The Recycle bin function is available to administrators and is found in the left-hand side pane, or on the top right toolbar depending on the chosen orientation, under Administration. The recycle bin holds deleted process instances, dashboard pages and process designs. Deleted items are held for 30 days and are permanently deleted after this time.

How to get started

To view items in the Recycle bin:

  1. Click on Administration in the left-hand side pane and then click on Recycle bin.

  2. Search for an item by typing in key words into the Search items box for example ‘Office’.

  3. You can view existing deleted items in the Recycle bin main view.

    Recycle bin main view

    Deleted items are listed by:

    • Item type - this is the type of deleted item, for example a widget, process instance, datasource or page.
    • Item details - the name of the deleted item, for example the name of a process instance and the unique name (ID) for that process
    • Deleted date - the date the item was deleted
    • Deleted by - the name of the user who deleted the item.

    In the example above there is one process design, four dashboard pages and three process instances.

  4. To restore an item click on the Restore item button Restore recycle bin button beside the item name.

  5. When you click on the button you will get a pop-up confirmation asking you to confirm that you want to restore that item.

    Restore item

  6. Click on OK if you wish to restore the item or Cancel to exit. If you click on OK the item is restored, for example a datasource appears again within the Datasource management main view when you click on Administration > Data sources in the left-hand pane. To learn more about this, see Data sources.

    Datasource restored

What’s next Idea icon

To read more about how to create processes and form go to Application Designer.

To read about other parts of the platform go to Administration.

To find out about help and support, go to Help.

8.6 - Users & Groups

Introduction

The Users function is available to users with the Administrator role and is found in the left-hand side menu, or on the top right toolbar depending on the chosen orientation, under Administration. This function allows you to manage users and groups in your Kianda workspace.

How to get started

To access the Users function:

  1. Click on Administration in the left-hand side pane and then click on Users.

  2. You can view any existing users and groups that have been created in the main view pane.

    Users main view

    The two main areas are 1. Users and 2. Groups. These two areas are explained in more detail below.

Users

Existing users appear within this section, showing the name of the user, email, role and whether they are active or not in the system.

User management main user view

From this main view, you can:

Click on each of the links above to read more about each function. In addition to the above administrative functions, you can also set passwords and delete users from this main view as follows:

  • To reset a password for a user, click on the Reset password/key button Reset password/key button beside a user name. This will open the reset password dialog box where you can type in a new password for the user.

    Reset password dialog box

    When you are finished adding the new password, click on OK, or click on Close to exit the dialog box.

  • To view the user’s platform history, click on the User History button user history button beside a user name. This will open up a dialog box displaying a list of all actions carried out by that user, as well as successful/unsuccessful login attempts, when an admin user changes what group they are in, and other useful information when debugging and auditing.

    User history

    As well as this, you can search the user’s history by type or detail. Click on the Close button to return to the users and groups page.

  • To delete an existing user, click on the Bin/Trash button beside a user name.

    Delete an existing user

  • Then click on OK.

Licenses

Before managing the user accounts on your platform, you will need to understand the concept of Licenses. Depending on your subscription type, you will be allocated a certain number of licenses, which allow your users to be active on your platform.

A single license is used by each individual active user within your platform, for example if your platform has 250 total licenses and you have 19 activated accounts, you will have 231 remaining licenses. If a user license is issued, the total number of licenses will decrease, and if a user license is revoked, the total number of licenses will increase. If there are no more remaining licenses, new users will be deactivated. You can get more licenses by deactivating users or purchasing additional licenses.

Licenses image

View and edit existing user details

  1. Click on the name of a user and the user details appear.

    User details view

  2. In the details box you can edit a user’s:

    • First name - user’s first name
    • Last name - user’s last name
    • Display name - how their name will display in the system. The display name is autofilled based off of the user’s entered first and last names, which can be changed if necessary.
    • License activation status - Checking this box will create the user as active. This will consume a license from your subscription. If you are out of licenses you will be prompted to purchase an additional license.
    • Primary role - click on More roles to see additional roles and choose from six system defined roles.
      • User - lowest level of access where users with this role can access dashboards and forms, Help and Account details

      • Administrator - highest level of access where users with this role can access all functions under Administration such as Designer and Developer.

      • Manage partners - users with this role can access the same areas as User as well as the Invite partners function under Administration to create shared processes for business partners.

      • Design business process - users with this role can access the same areas as User as well as the Designer function under Administration to create and manage processes and form designs.

      • Manage datasources - users with this role can access the same areas as User as well as the Data sources function under Administration to create and manage data sources such as connections to SAP, Dropbox, SharePoint and Salesforce.

      • Developer - users with this role can access the same areas as User as well as the Developes function under Administration to create custom widgets for fields/controls, rules and dashboards.

    • Profile picture URL - click on Browse to browse for a profile picture on a laptop or network drive to add a profile photo for the user.
    • Profile properties - click on this option to see additional properties that you can define, see Modify profile attributes.
    • Group membership - click on this option to see the groups that a user is added to. Click on the red x button Red x to remove a user from a group.

    As well as this, you can view:

    • User Id - this string is useful for applying user security and for low code development applications.

    • Last Active - the date and time that this user was last active within the platform.

  3. When you are finished editing a user’s details, click on OK, or click on Close to exit the dialog box.

Create a new user

  1. Click on the Create new user button Create new user button.

  2. Complete the fields as listed in Step 2 in View and edit existing user details above. If additional profile properties have been set for the workspace, add in details for those properties. These properties can be set by clicking on the Profile attributes button, see Modify profile attributes section.

  3. Check the Send welcome email check box if you wish to have a system generated email sent to the new user.

  4. Click on Group membership to view a user’s group membership, see Groups for more details.

  5. When you are finished editing a user’s details, click on Save, or click on Close to exit the dialog box.

    User profile properties and group membership

  6. When the user is created they will appear in the main Users view.

Modify profile attributes

As an administrator you can set profile attributes for workspace users within your organisation. For example if your organisation uses particular grade levels for roles, then these can be set using this feature. To modify attributes:

  1. Click on the Profile attributes button in the main Users section.Profile attributes button

  2. In the Modify user attributes dialog box, any existing attributes will be listed under Property. To remove an attribute, click on the Bin/Trash button Bin/Trash button.

    Modify user attributes

  3. To add a new attribute, click on the Add attribute button Add attribute button, then type in the name of the new attribute.

  4. When you are finished editing attributes, click on OK, or click on Close to exit the dialog box.

Importing and exporting users

In addition to clicking on the Create new user button Create new user button, you can import users using an Excel file by clicking on the Bulk import users button Bulk import users. The Import users dialog box opens.

Import users dialog box

In the Import users dialog box you can:

  • Click on Browse User Import Excel File to browse for a file of users to add.
  • Click on Download sample user import Excel file to see the file structure needed to import users. The key user fields here are: Email, First Name, Last Name, Display Name and optional is Telephone number.

You can export a list of users by clicking on the Export to csv button Export to csv. The resulting file will list users by:

  • Display name
  • Email
  • Primary role
  • Groups - they are members of
  • Active - if the user is active and is currently using a license
  • Last active - when the user was last active in the platform

Seen below is an example CSV output in excel:

exported csv image

Groups

When you create predefined groups, you can use these group names in a myriad of ways, for example to create a set of finance managers who can then be listed as form owners to edit forms in process instances for procurement, or a set of contractors in an SSO bypass group who can go the workspace login page to login to Kianda.

Groups in User Management

Existing groups appear within the Groups section of the User management page, showing the name of the group and the number of members.

From this main view you can:

Viewing and editing group members

  1. Click on the radio button beside the group name in the main view to see the group members.

    Group membership

  2. From this view, you can remove a user from the group by checking the checkbox beside a user name and click on Remove user(s) from group.

  3. You can also change users from the current group to another group by clicking on the dropdown list of group names, by choosing a group, checking the checkbox beside the username.

    Add user to group

  4. Click on Add user(s) to group.

    Note: You can only add users to groups, if you yourself are an administrator for the group, see next section.

Viewing and editing group details

  1. Click on the group name in the main view to see details for a group.

  2. The Edit group ‘Name’ dialog box appears.

    Edit group dialog box

  3. In this dialog box you can edit:

    • Group name - the name of the group

    • Primary role - the primary role of the group. You can learn more about them here.

    • Group member sync - options are No or Yes. By choosing Yes this allows synchronisation of the Kianda group with Active Directory or other databases connected to Kianda as data sources. As a result of choosing Yes, other parameters appear:

      • Create new user account - If switched on new user accounts will be created for any users that are listed in the data source but not present in Kianda.

        Group member synch

      • Override group members - choose from No or Yes. By choosing Yes, a full synchronisation is enabled between the Kianda group and the data source of users. Any users that are not listed in the data source, will be removed from this group in Kianda.

      • Datasource - choose a data source from the dropdown list. This data source must be already created, see Data connectors for more details.

      • Group name - choose a name for the group if desired.

      • Auto disable previously imported users that are missing on re-import - choose from No or Yes. By choosing Yes, any previously imported users that no longer exist in the data source, will be disabled in Kianda when re-synchronisation is executed. Their account will still exist in the system, but they will no longer be able to login to Kianda.

      • Auto remove previously imported users that are missing on re-import - choose from No or Yes. By choosing Yes, any previously imported users that no longer exist in the data source, will be removed from Kianda when re-synchronisation is executed. They will no longer be able to login to Kianda as their account will be removed from the system.

        Note: When a group is synchronised, a scheduled task is created to import users from the data source group every one hour by default. This can be changed by going to Administration > Scheduled tasks. Go to Scheduled tasks to find out more about different schedules.

    • Group administrators - only Users or Groups listed here can manage the group; if you leave the field blank then Kianda administrators can manage the group.

    As well as this, you can view:

    • Group Id - this string is useful for applying group security and for low code development applications.

    • Member Count - the amount of current members within this group.

Deleting groups

  1. To delete a group, click on the Bin/Trash button Bin/trash button beside the name of the group.

  2. You will receive a popup asking you if you want to delete the particular team. Click on OK to delete the team, or Cancel to cancel the deletion.

Creating new groups

  1. To create a new group, click on the Create new group button in the main view.

  2. In the Add group dialog box, type in details for the group:

    Add group dialog box

    • Group name - the name of the group

    • Primary role - choose a role for the group from User, Administrator, Manage partners, Design business process, Manage datasources and Developer as before, see Role details in Viewing and editing existing user details. In addition there is another role, Design own business process that allows groups to design their own process.

      Group roles

    • Group administrators - add Users and/or Groups to add people who can manage group membership. If you leave the field blank, any Kianda administrator can manage the group. If you specify administrators, as group creator you must add yourself as group administrator.

  3. When you are finished editing the dialog box click on OK to save changes, otherwise click on Close to exit at any time.

What’s next Idea icon

To read more about how to create processes and forms go to Application Designer.

To find out about help and support, go to Help.

8.7 - B2B Portals

B2B Portals is available within the Invite partners function and available to administrators and those users with the role Manage partners. Invite partners is found in the left-hand side pane, or on the top right toolbar depending on the chosen orientation, under Administration. The function allows you to share business processes processes to select business partners as external links.

How to get started

To access B2B portals:

  1. Click on Administration in the left-hand side pane and then click on Invite partners.

  2. You can view any shared processes or invited partners in the main view.

    Invite partner main view

    There are two main areas: Partners and Shared processes, these are explained in more detail below.

Shared processes

Existing shared processes appear within this section in the right-hand side of the main view. Before you invite a partner you must choose a process to share from within this section first.

To share a process

  1. To share a process with a business partner, click on the Share a process button.

  2. In the Edit Shared Process dialog box, fill out the fields.

Edit Shared Process dialog box

The fields in this box are:

  • Title - provide a title for the shared process

  • Instructions for partner - provide instructions for the selected partner

  • Click on the plus symbol Add shared process to add a selected process design to share. Then click on the dropdown list to search for a process to share.

  • Click on the tick symbol Edit selected shared  process to add the selected shared process. To change the selected shared process properties by clicking on the Cog/Settings button Edit selected shared process properties or delete the selected shared process by clicking on the Bin/trash button Bin button for shared processes.

    Edit selected shared process properties

  • If you click on the Cog/Settings button Edit selected shared process properties a Process properties dialog box appears, as shown above, for example Training Request properties. You can check radio buttons for:

    • Allow partner to create a new process instance - choose from Yes or No. If you choose Yes, then you are allowing invited partner(s) to create new process instances from the chosen shared process design. A field Partner user group allowed to create new instances appears, where you can define the group(s) in the partner organisation, that can create these new process instances. If you leave the field blank, then anyone in the partner organisation can create process instances.

    • Allow partner delete a process instance - choose from Yes or No. If you choose Yes, then you are allowing invited partner(s) to delete new process instances from the chosen shared process design.

    • Partner process form visibility mode - choose from Assigned or All forms. If you choose Assigned, then the invited partner(s) can view only assigned form versus all forms, if All forms is chosen.

    • When you are finished editing the dialog box, click on OK, or else click on Close to exit the dialog box at any stage.

  • If you click on the Bin/trash button Bin button for shared processes then a pop-up appears to Confirm removal, choose from OK or Cancel.

    Confirm removal of selected shared process

  • Click on the Tick symbol Edit selected shared  process to add further selected processes to share.

  • Click on the Add partner group button to add one or more partner groups. Click on the Bin/trash button Bin button for shared processes to delete partner groups.

  • Under Dashboard template click on the dropdown list to select an existing dashboards to share with the selected processes. If you choose to share a dashboard then you can select parameters:

    • Dashboard name in partner - choose from Use your company name ‘Name of your organisation’ or Same as selected dashboard
    • Make welcome page - choose from Yes or No. If you choose Yes then the selected dashboard becomes the welcome page for the partner if no other welcome page is configured.
    • Dashboard security - choose from created partner groups within this field to ensure that only users in these partner groups can access the dashboard.
  1. When you are finished editing the dialog box, click on OK, or else click on Close to exit the dialog box at any stage.

To view details of an existing shared process

  1. From the main shared processes view, click on the name of a shared process.

    Shared processes view

  2. An Edit Shared Process dialog box appears with the same parameters as described in the To share a process section.

    Edit shared process dialog box

  3. From the main shared processes view click on the Send Update button if you want to send an update to your partner dashboard. Then in the Confirm shared process update dialog box click on Yes proceed to send the update or Cancel to cancel sending the update.

    Confirm shared process update

  4. Click on the Bin/trash button Bin button for shared processes to delete a shared process.

To invite partners to shared processes go to the Partners section.

Partners

Existing partners appear within this section in the left-hand side of the main view. Before you invite a partner create a shared process as demonstrated in the section To share a process.

To invite partners

  1. To invite partners to view shared processes, click on the Invite partner button.

  2. In the Invite partner dialog box, fill out the fields.

Invite partner dialog box

​ The fields in this box are:

  • Partner organisation - provide the name of the partner organisation

  • Contact first name - provide the first name of a contact in the partner organisation

  • Contact last name - provide the surname of a contact in the partner organisation

  • Contact email - provide the email of a contact

  • Shared process selection - in the dropdown list choose a shared process created using the steps listed in To share a process.

  • Click on More fields to see more fields these include: Partner country, Partner city, and Partner logo which you can add by clicking on Browse and browsing your PC or network.

  1. When you are finished editing the dialog box, click on OK, or else click on Close to exit the dialog box at any stage.

To view details of existing partners

  1. From the main partners view, click on the name of an existing partner from the list of partners or type in the name of a partner in the Search partner search box.

    Partners view

  2. The Partner account details dialog box appears and details can be edited.

    Partner account details

    This dialog box contains same parameters as described in the To invite partners section, in addition to:

    • Partner attributes - any additional partner attributes are listed here. See Partner properties section.
    • Processes shared with partner - any processes shared with the partner organisation, following the steps in the To invite partners section, are listed here.
  3. When you are finished editing the dialog box, click on OK, or else click on Close to exit the dialog box at any stage.

    Confirm shared process update

  4. From the main shared processes view click on the New invite button if you want to invite a partner to a different shared process from the original one. Click on the dropdown list under Shared process selection and select one of the listed shared processes. When you have made your choice, click on OK, or else click on Close to exit the dialog box at any stage.

    Shared process selection

  5. Clicking on OK results in an email invite being sent and the status in the Partners main view for the partner will be Pending until the partner clicks on Accept in the email, as shown in the example below, following by Accept invite in a further screen.

    Invite partner email example

  6. Click on the Bin/trash button Bin button for shared processes to delete a shared process, Then in the Remove partner dialog box click on OK to remove the partner, or Cancel to cancel the removal.

    Remove partner

To edit existing partner properties, go to the Partner properties section.

Partner properties

To add new partner properties click on the Partner properties button in the main Partners view.

  1. When you click on the button, the Partner account custom attributes dialog box opens.

  2. Click on Add attribute and type in a property, for example Partner region as shown in the example below.

    Partner account custom attributes

  3. Click on Add attribute to add further properties, or click on the Bin/trash button Bin button for shared processes to delete a property.

  4. When you are finished editing the dialog box, click on OK, or else click on Close to exit the dialog box at any stage.

    When a new property has been added you will receive a notification Global settings updated and the attribute can be edited for partners when you click on the partner name in the main view and edit the Partner attributes details.

    Partner account details attributes

What’s next Idea icon

To read more about creating process designs in Designer and how to use the interface to create forms go to Application Designer.

To find out about help and support, go to Help.

8.8 - Developer

Kianda Developer is available to administrators and those users with the role Developer. The Developer function is found in the left-hand side pane or on the top right toolbar depending on the chosen orientation, under Administration. The function allows you to create customised field, rule, dashboard and data connector widgets using pre-defined widget UI and code templates that you can add your own code to, to create the effects you want.

You can also quickly use Kianda Developer to add webhooks, providing an efficient way to push GET requests to other applications in real-time as the Kianda process(es) runs and avoiding the need to poll for data.

Kianda uses EmberJS to build widgets, and in particular the Handlebars templating library, to power the application’s user interface. See templating basics to get started.

How to get started

To start using Developer:

  1. Click on Administration in the left-hand side pane or on the top right toolbar depending on the chosen orientation and then click on Developer.

  2. From here you will see the Developer resources page, with six distinct developer sections. Clicking on each of these sections will direct you to the relevant developer resource page.

    Developer view

    Custom Elements

    The first section is Custom Elements, where you can create and edit custom field, rule and dashboard widgets. This powerful feature allows you to enhance your designs with custom elements to further drive your desired logic and creativity.

    custom elements button

    Inside the custom elements page, you will see a list of all current custom widgets within your platform:

    1. You can search for a specific field, rule or dashboard widget by typing into the widget Search bar, found above the list of widgets on the top left. Click on the cancel button Cancel button to clear your search query.

      Searching for a process

    2. From the Developer resources main widget view you can:

      • View the widget creation history by clicking on the Version History button Version History button
      • Edit a widget by clicking on the Edit (Pen) button Edit widget button
      • Delete a widget by clicking on the Bin/Trash button Delete widget button
    3. To create a new widget click on Add New widget Add New widget button. This will open the Edit widget dialog box.

      Edit widget example

      Fill out details as follows:

      • Title - fill out a title for the widget.

      • Unique Id - this is a unique value that is autofilled from the Title.

      • Widget Icon - choose an appropriate icon from the drop-down list.

      • Group - add in a group name to group widgets together in a folder in the main widget view.

      • Widget type - choose from Field, Rule or Dashboard widget.

      Go to EmberJS templating basics to find out more about EmberJS to build widgets.

      When you are finished editing the dialog box click on OK or click on Close at any time to exit.

    4. If you click on OK in the creation dialog, you will be navigated to the widget code editor screen. Alternatively, if you click on an existing widget from the widget list, you will be navigated to the relevant widget’s code editor screen.

      Widget example

    5. In the Widget pane you can:

      • Edit the visual user interface of the widget via HTML and CSS by clicking on the Widget UI code editor tab.

      • Edit the logic of the widget via JavaScript and Ember.js by clicking on the Widget Code code editor tab. As previously mentioned, you can find out more about widget construction on the EmberJS templating basics page.

      • Tidy and nest the code correctly by clicking on the Format button format button.

      • Update existing Widget UI and Widget Code within the editor and then click on the Update button Update button.

    6. When finished, exit the widget and discard changes by clicking on the Close button Update button.

    External Connections

    The second section is External Connections, where you can create and edit customised connectors within your Kianda platform. This is useful if one of the many established Kianda data connectors do not meet your requirements. The custom connectors allow you to customise pre and post-processing of queries between your platform and data source.

    custom elements button

    Inside the external connections page, you will see a list of all current connections within your platform:

    1. To create a new customised connector click on the New Connector button New connector button and populate the four tabs that appear. Details on how to create a customised connector are found at Custom connectors.

    2. You can search for a specific connector by typing into the connector Search bar, found above the list of connectors on the top right. Click on the cancel button Cancel button to clear your search query.

      Searching for connectors

    Web Callbacks

    The third section is Web Callbacks, where you can create and add custom webhooks and callbacks to your processes. This allows for communication between your platform and external applications and for alerts from external services.

    custom elements button

    To create your own web callbacks:

    1. Click on Web Callbacks to configure URLs to respond to process instance create, update and delete events.

      Instance Callback URLs

    2. Move the slider across for each type of operation (Create, Update, Delete) to add in a URL to enable callback.

      • For example, clicking the Enable Deleted Callback slider will enable the URL callback every time a process instance is deleted.
      • HTTP GET with parameters instanceID={instanceID}, processName={processName} and eventType=deleted will be issued to the provided URL.
      • When you are finished editing the dialog box click on OK or click on Close at any time to exit.
    3. When finished, click on OK to apply the changes, or Close to exit and discard the changes.

    Global Styling

    The fourth section is Global Styling, where you can edit your global CSS file, allowing you to fine tune your subscription’s look and feel. This section is different from the Look and Feel section within Subscription as it provides a larger code editing screen amongst other features.

    custom elements button

    Clicking into this page allows you to:

    1. View your code in a large screen code editor, where you can add or remove CSS.

      CSS code editor

    2. Clicking on the Browse button Browse button allows you to browse through your device to select a CSS file to upload to the platform. Note: this will overwrite your current CSS.

      As well as this, you can:

      • Tidy and nest the code correctly by clicking on the Format button format button.

      • Update existing CSS within the editor and then click on the Update button Update button.

    3. When finished, exit the widget and discard changes by clicking on the Close button Update button.

    Global Resources

    The fifth section is Global Resources, where you can edit your global JavaScript file, allowing you to fine tune your subscription’s global functionality. This section is different from the Subscription Details section within Subscription as it provides a larger code editing screen amongst other features.

    custom elements button

    Clicking into this page allows you to:

    1. View your code in a large screen code editor, where you can add or remove JavaScript.

      CSS code editor

    2. Clicking on the Browse button Browse button allows you to browse through your device to select a JavaScript file to upload to the platform. Note: this will overwrite your current JavaScript.

      As well as this, you can:

      • Tidy and nest the code correctly by clicking on the Format button format button.

      • Update existing JavaScript within the editor and then click on the Update button Update button.

    3. When finished, exit the widget and discard changes by clicking on the Close button Update button.

    Developer Docs

    The sixth and final section is Developer Docs, where you can gain access to this Kianda documentation site, where you can learn more about Kianda and how it works.

    custom elements button

    Clicking on this link will open a new tab and navigate you specifically to the Low-Code Development section of the docs.

EmberJS templating basics

With Handlebars you can quickly build web applications that are made up of different components. Handlebar templates contain static HTML and dynamic content inside Handlebars expressions, which are summoned with double curly braces: {{ }}

Dynamic content inside a Handlebars expression is rendered with data-binding. This means if you update a property, your usage of that property in a template will be automatically updated to the latest value.

Helpers

Ember gives the ability to write your helpers, to bring a minimum of logic into Ember templating. For example, let’s say you would like the ability to add a few numbers together, without needing to define a computed property everywhere you would like to do so.

Helper example

Helpers

Conditionals

Statements like if and unless are implemented as built-in helpers. Helpers can be invoked three ways; inline invocation, nested invocation and block invocation. For more details, go to: https://guides.emberjs.com/v2.18.0/templates/conditionals/.

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To read more about Developer and how to use the platform for low-code development, go to Low code development.

To find out about help and support, go to Help.

9 - Document generation

Document generation refers to the use of Kianda Add-ins for Word, and also Excel, that you can use to generate reports within Kianda processes and populate the reports with data captured within each process instance. This could be useful, for example, for inspection reports where a report template can be used to show the information the engineer input to a Kianda form during his inspection. Each time an inspection is performed, a report is generated based on a Word template and the report shows the relevant information that was captured during that particular inspection.

Microsoft Word template with Kianda form fields

MS Word template containing Kianda form fields

In the example above, a report will generate data pulled from a Kianda process instance (record) that contains the date, company and location data within an ‘Inspection Form’ and a ‘Request Form’. To create this kind of template, you can use a Kianda Add-in in Word to link your document to your Kianda process.

Installing Kianda Add-in to Word or Excel

The example below steps through how to install the Kianda Add-in for Word, however the same steps apply to get started with the Kianda Add-in for Excel.

  1. Create a template outline in Microsoft Word.

  2. Click on the Insert tab > Get Add-ins

    Get add-ins

  3. Search for Kianda.

  4. Click on Add, then Continue and click on the Home tab. The Show Kianda Taskpane should be added to your ribbon.

  5. On the right-hand side of the Home tab, click on the Kianda Add-in.

    Kianda button in word

  6. In the Kianda pane log in using your Kianda username and password.

    Kianda add-in login

  7. From the drop-down list under Login to Kianda, select your Kianda subscription and press Continue. Note that all of your subscriptions will be available in the drop-down. Make sure to select the correct one when creating you template.

    Kianda add-in subscription selection

Before you begin using the Kianda add-in for Word or Excel

When you want to use Kianda add-in for both a Word or Excel template, you need to have created a process with one or more forms. The forms need to have different types of fields within them, for example a text box field or a table field. Those fields are used to create smart tags using the Kianda add-in within a Word or Excel template. Smart tags are created when a field is selected from a process using the Kianda add-in task pane, and then inserted into the document. See the image below for a presentation of a smart tag in Excel:

Smart tag explanation

Before you get started, you also need to have the outline of a template ready so that you can import data from your process by using the smart tags. For each instance of a process the smart tags will pull values from that a specific process instance, but the outline of the template will stay the same. For example, if you create a Health & Safety checklist process, the outline of the checklist is always the same but the values may differ for each time the checklist is filled out. A template outline represents the generic outline of what data will be needed in the final generated document, for example, you need the date, the company, location and relevant checks that need to be performed. See image below for an example of a template outline:

Template outline

We have briefly introduced the concept of document generation in Kianda. Now let’s look at the following areas in more detail:

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9.1 - Word document add-in

Introduction

You can generate reports within Kianda processes and populate the reports with data captured within each process instance. This could be useful, for example, when performing a health & safety check on a building site. A template can be used by an inspector to have a generic outline of what needs to be completed when preforming the check. Each time a check is performed, the generated report may contain different data. This data is pulled directly from the each individual check when performed by an inspector.

Before you get started

In advance of creating a template, you need to install Kianda add-in for word. Go to Installing Kianda add-in for Word or Excel and follow the steps of installation. You also need to create an template outline before starting, to learn more about what a template outline is, go to template outline.

Using the Kianda Add-in for Word

  1. On the right-hand side of the Home tab, click on the Kianda Add-in.

    Kianda button in word

  2. In the Kianda pane log in using your Kianda username and password, select your subscription and press Continue.

  3. Click on the process link button Process link button to get a drop-down list of Kianda processes that you have access to.

  4. Select a relevant process and a relevant form that you want to create a template for.

  5. Position your cursor in the Word document at the point where you would like to add in form fields.

  6. Select the Kianda form field you would like to add to the Word template. For example Company field in the Request form as shown below.

    Field select in Kianda add-in

  7. Click on insert button at the bottom of Kianda task pane to add the form field into the template

  8. Repeat steps 9 - 11 for as many form fields as needed and format the document as necessary.

  9. Save the template. You can then add in the template as a File field within the process in Kianda.

List of field types accessible by Word add-in

You can use different types of input controls when creating your template for an Word document, the images below represents the value pulled from the form into a Word document for each of the input controls that are available in Kianda:

Example form with all input controls in Kianda.

Example form representing all input controls of Kianda

Word template used to represent all values from the above form.

Excel template

Word document result for the example values from the above form.

Excel workbook result from a process instance

  • Text box control - retrieves the value from the text box into the place that the smart tag was inserted.

  • List control - retrieves the value from the list field into the place that the smart tag was inserted.

  • Number control - retrieves the value from the number field into the place that the smart tag was inserted.

  • Date control - retrieves the date from the date field into the place that the smart tag was inserted.

  • Table control - retrieves the values for each row inside of the table. Note that when the smart tag is inserted, extra rows will appear with the same smart tags, as shown in the image below:

    Word table smart tag

    You need to delete all extra rows that appear and only leave one, as shown in the image below:

    Word table smart tag

  • File control - retrieves the hyperlink to the file that is stored in the file field. When you click on the file, it will open it in browser.

  • User picker control - retrieves the name of the user as a value.

  • Toggle control - retrieves a No value when the toggle is turned off, and a Yes value when the toggle is turned on.

What’s next Idea icon

With Kianda word add-in you can create templates which can be then used to generate dynamic word documents from the created template, to learn more how to generate a word document go to Generate word document.

There is a Kianda Add-in for Excel that is added in the same way as the Kianda Add-in for Word. Usage is very similar allowing you to connect an Excel spreadsheet to Kianda processes to create a template that can be used within processes. To learn more about adding Kianda to excel go to Excel workbook add-in.

9.2 - Excel workbook add-in

Introduction

You can generate excel workbooks within Kianda processes and populate the workbooks with data captured within each process instance. This could be useful, for example, when working with a lot of table data within Kianda. The add-in will automatically populate excel cells with the data from a table within your process. Each time value changes inside of a table, those values will be reflected in the Excel workbook every time you generate a new workbook.

Before you get started

In advance of creating a template, you need to install Kianda add-in for word. Go to Installing Kianda add-in for Word or Excel and follow the steps of installation. You also need to create a template outline before starting, to learn more about what a template outline is, go to template outline.

Using the Kianda Add-in for Excel

  1. On the right-hand side of the Home tab, click on the Kianda Add-in.

    Kianda button in word

  2. In the Kianda pane, log in using your Kianda username and password, select your subscription and press Continue.

  3. Click on the process link button Process link button to get a drop-down list of Kianda processes that you have access to.

  4. Select a relevant process and a relevant form that you want to create a template for.

  5. Select a cell in the Excel workbook that you want to use to store the data from your process.

  6. Select the Kianda form field you would like to add to the Excel template. For example Population table field in the Generate Excel form as shown below.

    Field select in Kianda add-in

  7. Click on insert button at the bottom of Kianda task pane to add the form field into the template. Note that when you select a Table into the template, only the Title columns appear. This is because the add-in will look for all rows with the specific column name and insert the values into the excel workbook. See below for an example:

    Table example - excel template

    When you add in the above table into Excel as a template smart tag, it will look as follows:

    excel table smart tag

    The resulting excel workbook of the above table and template is shown below:

    excel table smart tag

  8. Repeat steps 9 - 11 for as many form fields as needed and format the workbook as necessary.

  9. Save the template. You can then add in the template as a File field within the process in Kianda.

List of field types accessible by Excel add-in

You can use different types of input controls when creating your template for an Excel workbook, the images below represents the value pulled from the form into an Excel workbook for each of the input controls that are available in Kianda:

Example form with all input controls in Kianda.

Example form representing all input controls of Kianda

Excel template used to represent all values from the above form.

Excel template

Excel workbook result for the example values from the above form.

Excel workbook result from a process instance

  • Text box control - retrieves the value from the text box into the cell that the smart tag was inserted.
  • List control - retrieves the value from the list field into the cell that the smart tag was inserted.
  • Number control - retrieves the value from the number field into the cell that the smart tag was inserted.
  • Date control - retrieves the value from the date field into the cell that the smart tag was inserted.
  • Table control - retrieves the values for each row inside of the table. Note that when the smart tag is inserted, only the column name is presented.
  • File control - retrieves the name of the file that is stored in the file field, not the actual file therefore you cannot view any files that are retrieved from file fields.
  • User picker control - retrieves the name of the user as a value.
  • Toggle control - retrieves a No value when the toggle is turned off, and a Yes value when the toggle is turned on.

What’s next Idea icon

With Kianda Excel add-in you can create templates which can be then used to generate dynamic Excel workbooks, to learn more on how to generate a Excel workbooks go to Generate excel workbooks.

There is a Kianda Add-in for Word that is added in the same way as the Kianda Add-in for Excel. Usage is very similar allowing you to connect a Word document to Kianda processes to create a templates that can pull data from specific process instances. To learn more about adding Kianda to excel go to Word document add-in.

10 - Task Automation with Kianda

Introduction

Automation in Kianda happens at various level and in various ways, all of which you can control using the click of a button, or configuring a parameter. To help you recognise how automation can happen, we’ve broken it down for you into different sections:

  1. Process level automation
  2. Field level automation

Process level automation

Process level automation, means that new process instances are created automatically without requiring a user action to initiate the process.

This can happen in a number of ways:

Scheduled tasks function

As an administrator you can use Kianda to automate any tasks in few simple steps. Tasks could be something like sending reminder emails, having a background check, action with respect data source or scheduling a sub-process.

Scheduled tasks list

Scheduling a task from the left navigation panel in a few simple steps:

  1. Click on ‘Scheduled tasks’ and click ‘Schedule a task’ to create a new task.

    Scheduled task settings

  2. Type in a task name.

  3. Schedule: This field defines when does the schedule run.

  4. Time mode: Choose an Absolute time or define a Relative time from now.

  5. Process design: The process we are looking to automate.

  6. Process ID: If we want to restrict the scheduled task on one particular instance of the process, then we could define the unique process ID of the instance in the Process ID field.

  7. Select the field or rule: Selecting which rule or field to automate.

Re-occurrence

The Kianda schedule tasks can be triggered for re-occurrence. The re-occurrence could be by minutes, hours, days, weeks or months. Further, the schedule tasks could be configured easily to run at a specific minute of the hour, weekdays only, specific day of the week or specific day of the month.