Connecting the fields on your forms to the appropriate fields in ChurchSuite
Introduction to smart links?
Form fields typically collect isolated response data that can only be used within the form's context and is unconnected to a respondent's personal details. However, by using Smart links you can elevate a standard form field so that invited respondents see their existing smart-linked details pre-populated in their form; and for a public form being accessed by a non-invited respondent, smart-linked field responses can be used to update a person's existing details in ChurchSuite or to add new people to the Address Book or Children module using the smart-linked response data. Essentially smart-linking is all about mapping fields on a form to the fields in a module, which reduces the need to manually re-key response data.
Smart-linking isn't required for every field on a form - it's entirely possible to collect response data that isn't being mapped to a field on someone's profile.
Types of form items
When building forms you can choose from a wide range of fields and form items, accessible from the panel on the left of the form Setup tab. Each field type can be expanded to reveal the related fields available or collapsed if not relevant to your form.
Smart links are established when adding or editing items on a form. When a Standard field (see Types of form items, above) is added to a form, the Smart link field is initially empty...
The Smart link options are based on which standard field is used and the Primary Response Type.
However, if a Person field, Contact field, Child field or Contact/Child Custom field is added to a form (see Types of form items, above), a Smart link is assumed and the Name of the field is auto-filled with the Smart-linked field name. You can further customise a field Name if you wish, and add your own Help text to further explain to form users the field's purpose or your use of that data.
You can choose a different Smart link option if your wish, or choose to remove the smart linking entirely - response data collected in a non-smart-linked field will be standalone data that is not mapped to any personal details field in ChurchSuite.
Form validation prevents the addition of more than one instance of a smart-linked field to a form. For example, if a form field is smart-linked to the Address Book contact Mobile field, you cannot add another smart-linked Mobile field because an Address Book contact only has one Mobile field on their profile. Smart-linked fields are disabled in the field list on the left of the screen to prevent them from being re-used.
Finally in this section, notice how smart linking is visually distinguished with an icon when viewing the form on the Setup tab in ChurchSuite.
Top Tip - When to smart link?
Consider the following Public form scenarios:
- Form 1 is created using only standard fields with no smart link fields. It includes fields for First & Last Name, Email, Mobile and Address
- Form 2 is created using smart linked fields for First & Last Name, Email, Mobile and Address.
These forms appear to be collecting the same data, but each behaves differently, as follows:
- Anyone using the public form page URL to complete the form will see no visual difference between Form 1 and Form 2 - the form will show empty, ready to be completed by the respondent. However, unlike Form 1, Form 2 responses can be used to update a person's existing details (when the response is later linked to an existing person) or to add a new person using the smart-linked data
- Invitees to Form 1 would see also an empty form with no pre-filled data because there are no smart links
- Invitees to Form 2 would see their smart-linked personal details pre-populated into their form. They can make changes to the data, or leave the pre-filled details as they are
If the fields on Form 1 are subsequently edited and smart links added, Form 1 would then behave like Form 2, and new and existing invitees who have not previously responded would now see their smart-linked personal details pre-filled in the form.
In the same way, subsequently editing Form 2 to remove the smart links, would prevent previously-smart-linked personal details from being pre-filled in the form for those invitees who have not yet responded.