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.

   

2. Once you have opened your process, select the form you want to work on (so that the Edit Form button is shown).

   In this example, a Performance Plan form within an Employee Appraisal Process has been selected:

   

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.

   

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:

   

6. A New field - Link dialog box will automatically open, giving you options for your new Link field.

   

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 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:

   

   The user will then be able to view this help text by clicking on the question mark icon next to the Link field title:

   

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:

How to edit, move and delete Link fields

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 ).

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

   

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).

   

To move a Link field, simply:

1. Select the Link field’s 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:

   

To delete a Link field from your form:

1. Select the Link field (by either clicking on its title or its drag handle button ).
2. Click on the Bin/Trash button .
3. Click on OK to confirm.

How to view and edit Link control Field properties

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 ).

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.

   

   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 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 . You will always have the option to revert back to previous versions of your form by clicking the Design Version History button in the top right corner.

User tips

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

Now that you’ve learned about Link controls, find out more about the other types of Action fields you can add to Kianda forms:

• Button controls
• Image controls
• Signature controls