FormBuilder Admin

FormBuilder is a University of Illinois web application for creating customizable forms, surveys, and event registration workflows. The admin interface is at appserv7.admin.uillinois.edu/FormBuilderAdmin.

Key Concepts

FormBuilder organizes work in a hierarchy: Unit > Form Group > Form. Each form has periods (time windows when the form is active), phases (workflow steps), sections (content containers), and questions (data fields). Phases are connected by routing triggers that move form responses through the workflow when conditions are met.

There are three phase types: Data Collection (where users fill out the form), Review Approval (where admins review responses), and Archive (final storage). Only one Data Collection and one Archive phase are allowed per form.

Forms can be Standard or Event Registration (which adds event sessions, guest questions, and registration management). Event registration has two modes: Standard Mode (automatic registration on submit) and Advanced Mode (registration controlled by routing triggers). This choice is irreversible.

Navigation

The admin URL pattern is: appserv7.admin.uillinois.edu/FormBuilderAdmin/Unit/{unitId}/FormGroup/{groupId}/Form/{formId}/...

Key pages append to the Form URL:

• /Contents — Form contents editor (questions, sections)
• /Contents/PaymentInformation — Payment line items
• /Lifecycle — Workflow diagram
• /Phases — Phase list and settings
• /RoutingTriggers — Routing trigger list
• /Properties — Form properties (title, authentication, payment details)
• /Periods — Period management
• /Periods/EventSessions?periodId={id} — Event sessions for a period
• /EventSessionCategories — Event session categories (form-level)

Important: Breadcrumb navigation sometimes fails in this application. Prefer direct URL navigation by constructing the URL from the known base path. Use the sidebar hamburger menu (☰) for top-level navigation.

Core Workflows

For detailed procedures on each area, see the reference files:

• Questions and Sections: See references/form-contents.md for adding/editing questions, question types, sections, and question triggers.
• Event Sessions: See references/event-sessions.md for session categories, creating sessions, and linking sessions to questions and payments.
• Payments: See references/payments.md for enabling payments, adding payment line items, and CFOAPAL configuration.
• Workflow and Lifecycle: See references/workflow-lifecycle.md for phases, routing triggers, conditional statements, and routing actions.
• Authentication and Access: See references/authentication-and-access.md for local user self-registration, security groups, periods, and form access.
• Troubleshooting: See references/gotchas.md for known pitfalls and hard-to-discover fixes.

Safety Guidelines

• Always confirm destructive actions with the user before executing (deleting triggers, phases, questions, or responses).
• Edit triggers before deleting phases. If a routing trigger references a phase and you delete that phase first, the trigger will have a broken reference. Always update or remove trigger references to a phase before deleting it.
• Work step by step. For multi-step changes (especially workflow modifications), execute one step at a time and verify with the user before proceeding.
• Maintain a change log. When making multiple changes, keep a running list of what was changed so the user can audit and revert if needed.
• Archive rather than delete questions when possible. Archiving (setting Is Active to unchecked) preserves historical data while hiding the question from the form.
• Test in Test Email Mode before going live. When Test Email Mode is on, all emails route to the form group's testing email address instead of real recipients.

UI Interaction Patterns

The admin interface uses a left-panel/right-preview layout on the Form Contents page. Key patterns:

• Global Settings panel (left side): Select the active phase, view payment info, and add phases/sections.
• Form Preview panel (right side): Shows the form as it appears to users. Click a section or question to select it, then use the Form Contents panel to edit/add.
• Gear icon (⚙): Used on many list pages (Phases, Routing Triggers, Event Sessions) to access Edit/Delete options via dropdown.
• Blue "EDIT" buttons: Direct edit access on list items.
• "+ ADD NEW..." buttons: Appear in section headers to add new items.
• Save Changes / Save button: Always at the bottom of editing panels. Changes are NOT auto-saved.
• Sidebar editing panels: When editing questions, triggers, or line items, a panel slides in from the left or opens inline. Scroll down within this panel to see all fields.