Relationships on Forms

Relationships can be displayed on standard forms as dropdown menus or tables, where end users can search for and/or create new objects through that relationship, depending on the element's settings. Before the relationship element can be added to a form, it must be added to the object type as a component. Read more here: Add Relationships to an Object Type.

Format & Display Options

By default, relationships are added to the form canvas as a dropdown menu, displaying its name (not the long name). However, you can configure the element to choose the relationship's display, available functionality, and which form displays when creating a new object. 

Format options include: 

  • Enable Search: End-users can search for and view existing objects to add to the relationship.

    Searching is limited to the object's name, description, or unique ID.
  • Include Archived Data in Search Results: Admins can control archived objects' visibility when end-users are searching for existing objects from the relationship element. Enable Search must be selected, or this option will not be visible.

  • Enable Create: End-users can create new objects and add them to the relationship.

  • Enable Unlink: End-users can remove objects from the relationship on the form and unlink them from the relationship object.

  • Enable Advanced: End-users can search for, select, or create objects from a palette after clicking Add Existing [Object] or Create New links on the form.

    The highlighted reference table demonstrating how the advanced display appears on a form, whereas the reference above is displaying the default interface

Display options include:

  • Dropdown: The relationship is shown as a dropdown menu. 
    A relationship dropdown menu.
  • Table: The relationship is shown as a table. The objects are displayed in descending order based on their Unique IDs
    Relationships displayed as a table with search and advanced options enabled.
  • Map: A map is shown with pins representing any recorded locations of the originating object and/or relationship objects. If location data isn't enabled or recorded, the map will not display any data. Read more here: Locations.

To configure a relationship on a standard form:

  1. If needed, open the form you wish to add the relationship element to by clicking theicon in the top bar > Configurable Forms > Views section, then selecting a form.
  2. Add the relationship element to the form, hover your cursor over the relationship on the canvas, then click the icon to open the Edit Component Display window.
  3. Click Display ‘Long Name’ to show the relationship’s long name on the form. By default, Display 'Name' is selected. To add or edit a long name, open the Edit Object Type page for the form's object type, click the Relationships tab, then click the relationship to open the Edit Relationship palette and make changes as required.
  4. Select one or more of the following options:
    • Enable Search: End-users can search for existing relationship objects.
    • Include Archived Data in Search Results: End-users can search for or view archived objects through the form element. This option won't be visible unless the Enable Search option is enabled. See the Archived Data section for more information. 
    • Enable Create: End-users can create new objects through the relationship.
    • Enable Unlink: End-users can remove objects from the relationship on the form and unlink them from the relationship object.
    • Enable Advanced: Displays the advanced user interface for the relationship on a form. When this option is enabled, clicking Add Existing [Object] will open a palette that allows users to search for and select one or more objects or assessment objects (if any) to add to the relationship.
  5. To display the relationship as a dropdown menu, leave Dropdown selected under View Relationship as: This option is selected by default.
  6. To display the relationship as a table:
    1. Select Table under View Relationship as: then click to select the properties and fields from the relationship's object type(s) that you want to include on the table as columns. The columns will appear on the table in the order they were selected in the Build the Relationship Table settings.
      Selecting the properties and fields that will appear on the relationship table as columns.
      Relationship tables with more than 10,000 rows of data will not load correctly. For larger data sets, it's recommended that a Form Action element is added to a form to redirect users to view the data in a report.
    2. Optional: Select the Display colored cells as ovals checkbox to show formula or select list cells as text with colored circles. When this option is not selected, cells are displayed with text and full background color, if any.
  7. To display the relationship as a map, select Map under View Relationship as: Selecting this option will display a map with pins representing any recorded locations of the originating object and/or relationship objects. If location data isn't enabled or recorded, the map will not display any data. See the Locations section for more details.
    Selecting the Map option disables the Enable Create and Enable Advanced format options.
  8. For both the dropdown and table options, below Object Type Forms, select the form(s) the users will complete if they're creating new objects through the relationship. 
    Selecting the configurable form that will be displayed when an end-user creates a new object through a relationship.
    If no configurable form(s) has been created for the object type(s) in the relationship, the default form(s) will be selected automatically.
  9. Click Close when finished.