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Form Elements

The characteristics of each Caspio Bridge form element are described here.

Not all these elements may be used in Mobile Forms. Elements available in Mobile Forms are marked with .

Form Element

Description and Options

Text Field

Text Field is the most common form element and allows for a single-line text input. It is the default form element for most data types.

Required **	If checked user must provide a value before the form can be submitted. By default an asterisk (*) is displayed next to the field label in the resulting DataPage. The Required option is turned on automatically for unique fields and cannot be modified.
Show as password	If checked characters entered by the user are replaced by asterisks (*).
Calendar popup	If checked an icon is displayed next to the field that, when clicked, opens a calendar letting user specify the date with a click. Applies to Text and Date/Time data types only, and is turned on automatically for Date/Time fields. Not available in Mobile Forms.
Field width	Physical width of the field, in characters.
Character length	Maximum and minimum number of characters allowed in the field.
Repeat for Confirmation **	If checked user must enter the value of the field twice to ensure correct entry. A separate label can be provided for the confirmation field.
If left blank *	Applies only to text fields in search forms. By default the field is ignored in search when it is left blank. This broadens the search. To avoid this behavior, select Match blank entries instead. This option narrows the search to those records that have no value in the corresponding field.

Applies to: Text, Number, Date/Time, AutoNumber *, File *

* Search forms only.

** Submit forms only.

Text Area

A text area is a rectangular box that offers a multi-line space for text entry.

Required **	If checked user must provide a value before the form can be submitted. By default an asterisk (*) is displayed next to the field label in the resulting DataPage.
Field width	Enables you to specify the number of characters per line before text is wrapped to the next line.
Field height	Enables you to specify the number of visible lines.
If left blank *	Applies only to text areas in search forms. By default the field is ignored in search when it is left blank. This broadens the search. To avoid this behavior, select Match blank entries instead. This option narrows the search to those records that have no value in the corresponding field.

Applies to: Text (unique *), File *

* Search forms only.

** Submit forms only.

Radio Buttons

Radio buttons offer choices out of which only one can be selected.

To add radio button options enter a label in the Display field, edit the value in the Value field if desired, and click New. Use the Up and Down buttons to re-order options. To designate a default value, select a desired option and click the button with the check on it.

If Multiple options per line is selected all your radio button options are displayed on one line. Otherwise they are displayed, one per line, in a vertical list.

Required **

If checked user must provide a value before the form can be submitted. By default an asterisk (*) is displayed next to the field label.

Display

This is the label user sees next to the control.

Value

This is the value that is stored in the table when the option is selected. Normally Display and Value are the same.

To provide an All Records option in Search Forms of Search and Report DataPages, leave the Value field of All Records blank. Example .

Applies to: Text (unique *), Number (unique *), Date/Time, AutoNumber *, File *, Yes/No *

* Search forms only.

** Submit forms only.

Checkbox

Checkboxes are used when there are only two options available: yes and no.

Required **

If checked user must select the checkbox before the form can be submitted. By default an asterisk (*) is displayed next to the field label. Not available in Mobile Forms.

Display Text

This is the label user sees next to the control.

Value when checked

This value is entered into the table when the option is checked by the user. Only available when the field data type is not Yes/No. For Yes/No fields Yes is recorded when checked and No is recorded when not checked.

Applies to: Text (unique *), Number (unique *), Date/Time, Yes/No, File *

* Search forms only.

** Submit forms only.

Dropdown

A dropdown provides a number of choices out of which only one can be selected.

Options in dropdown can be Custom Values (entered manually), come from a table or view (Lookup Table), or are a combination of both.

Custom values

For each option enter its Display (what the user sees) followed by Value (what is stored in the table). Normally they are the same. Click New to add additional options. To designate one of the options to be selected by default, select it and click the button with the check on it.

Lookup table or view

First choose a Table or view from the list. Select the Field for display that contains the text to display followed by the field that contains Field for value. Normally they are the same. Sort by option allows sorting based on either Display or Value of the dropdown. The Sort button allows the entries in the dropdown list to be sorted either in ascending or descending order. Checking Distinct options ensures that each displayed choice is unique. This is useful if your lookup tables field chosen for use in the dropdown has duplicate entries.

Both

You can create a dropdown with options derived from both a lookup table or view and custom values. Configure each tab as described above.

You can give a search form dropdown an option to return all records. See how .

Applies to: Text, Number, Date/Time, AutoNumber *, File *, Yes/No *

* Search forms only.

Many mobile devices display dropdowns as a group of radio buttons.

Cascading Dropdown

Cascading Dropdown can be configured in a Web Form and Search & Report DataPages. This control will dynamically fill in the values of a “child" field based on the selection in its "parent" field.

Parent Field

To set up cascading fields, you first configure the "parent" as you regularly would as standard dropdown or listbox. Then configure the dynamic "child" field by setting the form element to Cascading dropdown and select its conditional Parent.

Lookup table or view

Reference the Table or view which contains the relationship and then select the parent field to Filter by and the child’s Field for display/value.

Select the Field for display that contains the text to display followed by the field that contains Field for value. Normally they are the same. Sort by option allows sorting based on either Display or Value of the dropdown. The Sort button allows the entries in the dropdown list to be sorted either in ascending or descending order. Checking Distinct options ensures that each displayed choice is unique. This is useful if your lookup tables field chosen for use in the dropdown has duplicate entries.

Both

You can create a dropdown with options derived from both a lookup table or view and custom values. Configure each tab as described above.

Applies to: Text, Number, Date/Time, AutoNumber *, File *, Yes/No *

* Search forms only.

Listbox

Listboxes are similar in functionality to dropdowns and are configured in the same way.

Visible options enables the designer to specify how many choices are visible to the user without scrolling.

Allow multi-select: User can multi-select to search several criteria on the same field. The default Match any (OR) will return the records that meet any of the selected items, and Match all (AND) will return only the records that meet all of the selected items.

Applies to: Text, Number, Date/Time, AutoNumber *, File *

* Search forms only.

Cascading Listbox

Cascading Listbox can be configured in a Web Form and Search & Report DataPages. This control will dynamically fill in the values of a "child" field based on the selection in its "parent" field.

Parent Field

To set up cascading fields, you first configure the "parent" as you regularly would as standard dropdown or listbox. Then configure the dynamic "child" field by setting the form element to Cascading listbox and select its conditional Parent.

Lookup table or view

Reference the Table or view which contains the relationship and then select the parent field to Filter by and the child’s Field for display/value.

Select the Field for display that contains the text to display followed by the field that contains Field for value. Normally they are the same.

Sort by option allows sorting based on either Display or Value of the dropdown. The Sort button allows the entries in the dropdown list to be sorted either in ascending or descending order. Checking Distinct options ensures that each displayed choice is unique. This is useful if your lookup tables field chosen for use in the listbox has duplicate entries.

Both

You can create a listbox with options derived from both a lookup table or view and custom values. Configure each tab as described above.

Applies to: Text, Number, Date/Time, AutoNumber *, File *, Yes/No *

* Search forms only.

Hidden

A hidden field is not visible to the user but carries a value that is entered into the database through submit forms, or is used in the search in search forms.

Default value

The value provided is used to record or search when form is submitted.

Authenticated field value

This option is only available when the DataPage is in a password protected folder. Allows you to assign a value from the authentication table to the field. Useful for stamping new submissions with their owner's username.

Insert Special**

This option is only available if Advanced Options is enabled for the DataPage. You can insert special values in the Advanced tab for text fields:

User IP Address
DataPage Host

DataPage Host may be the Complete URL (including parameters), Page URL (no parameters), or Domain name.

Applies to: Text (unique *), Number (unique *), Date/Time, Yes/No, AutoNumber *

* Search forms only.

** Only available for Text fields on the Advanced tab of Search and Report forms

Email

A special form element type that ensures only valid email addresses are submitted. Other properties are similar to Text Fields.

Applies to: Text in submit forms.

TimeStamp

The TimeStamp element is a hidden field that automatically receives the current time and date in the time zone specified by the localization.

Applies to: Date/Time and Virtual fields in submit forms.

File

A File element type is used to let user Upload new file from their computer or Select from file list one of the files already in your Caspio Bridge account.

Select from file list

Specify the Source folder by clicking the Browse button and browsing to the desired location, or typing the folder name in. On the resulting DataPage, a dropdown will display the list of files from your selected Caspio Bridge account file folder. Checking Include sub-folders includes any files contained in the sub-folders of the selected folder.

Upload new file

Specify the Save to folder by clicking the Browse button and browsing to the desired location, or typing the folder name in. Two options are available when an uploaded file name is similar to a file already present in your destination folder: let Caspio Bridge Automatically create a unique name, or Overwrite existing file. A limit in between 10 KB and 15 MB can be set as the Maximum allowed size of uploaded files.

Applies to: File in submit forms.

PageViewIncrement

The PageViewIncrement element is a hidden field that Caspio Bridge increments by one each time the Details Page is viewed, regardless of whether it is updated or not.

Applies to: Number in Details Pages.

View Counter

The View Counter element is a hidden field is incremented by one each time the update form is viewed, regardless of whether it is submitted or not.

Applies to: Number in update forms.

Display Only

Makes the field non-editable. The contents displayed can be formatted to improve visual presentation of your DataPage.

Applies to: all data types in all DataPages, except for Mobile Forms receiving new submissions.

AutoValue

The AutoValue element is available for hidden fields that are in Text, Number, or Virtual formats in submit and update forms. It allows you to automatically insert special values such as random numbers, unique IDs, passwords or User IP Addresses, or DataPage Hosts.

For number fields, the following special values are allowed:

Random Number – Inserts a random number of a specific length or range. Applies only to non-unique number fields.
Random Unique Id – Inserts a random unique value of a specific length or range.

You have the option to add a Prefix to these values. Note that the length of an AutoValue includes the length of the Prefix.

For text fields, the following special values are allowed:

Random Unique Id – Inserts a random unique value of a specific length or range. You may select format as For Human Use or For Application Use (128-bit value GUID) and other configurations.
Random Password – Inserts a random password. You may specify the password's strength and length, Choose password components from characters, digits, special characters such as symbols, or a mixture of all.
User IP Address – Inserts the IP Address where the form is submitted. Available only to non-unique text fields.
DataPage Host – Inserts the DataPage Host URL of where the form is submitted. You have the option to insert a Complete URL (including parameters), Page URL (no parameters) or Domain name. Available only to non-unique text fields.