My form has performance issues specially when completing the last 2 fields

  • johnoutler
    Asked on May 14, 2015 at 5:31 PM

    Survey takers are complaining of very slow response when entering text in two text fields at the end of the form.

    I have tested the survey in Chrome, Firefox and IE, and am able to replicate and verify these complaints. 

    Feedback from survey takers -- emphasis added.

    "This questionnaire is a nightmare when attempted on the session, especially when trying to type text for the last two entries."

    "There are two questions at the end that require a typed response. The survey bogged down at that point and it was extremely difficult to provide input. I keep going back to the survey in as my typed input appears only after several minutes of waiting. Not sure if it is my system or if others will have the same experience."

    Please advise what we can do about this issue. 

    Thank you!

  • raul
    Replied on May 14, 2015 at 7:11 PM

    I made a few tests using a cloned version of your form and noticed that you included a lot of unlabeled text boxes that were configured to be auto-filled with the value of the field below.

    My form has performance issues specially when completing the last 2 fields Image 1 Screenshot 20

    I'm not sure the purpose of this text boxes since all of them were controlled by the same condition, so I started by removing those fields and conditions and the performance of the form was improved.

    So, you may consider not using those fields/conditions if they are not necessary or if you could let us know the purpose of them we can see if there's another approach that can be used to achieve the same result without impacting the performance since your form already have 62 pages which is quite long.

    You can find here: http://form.jotformpro.com/form/51336996217968 the form I created for this testing. You can also clone it to your account to check it further.

  • johnoutler
    Replied on May 14, 2015 at 7:24 PM

    Thanks for your response.

    The purpose of the unlabeled text boxes is to keep the name of the survey subject in front of the survey taker. The survey is a personality assessment of that person, and each "page" is a separate statement about that person, which takes the form of a complete sentence using the person's name, which is populated by an administrator, and the follow-on text of the statement. The survey taker then responds to the question via one of the radio buttons.

    If there is another way to build this form so that we achieve the same construction of the individual list items -- Joe Participant... ... eats with his mouth full. -- please advise. 

    If page count is an issue, we could consider having two items per page, but that is not our first choice.

    Also, why would we have not seen this performance problem several weeks ago, and are only experiencing it now? Can it be related to the total number of submissions in our account? 

    Thank you for your assistance; we urgently need to resolve this issue.

    JohnO

  • Ashwin JotForm Support
    Replied on May 15, 2015 at 12:42 AM

    Hello JohnO,

    If I understand your requirement correctly, you want to display the value of hidden field in multiple pages of your form. Is that correct?

    You do not have to create so many conditions in your form. There is a better way to achieve your requirement. You should find the field name of your hidden field and just display that in a text field. Please check the screenshot below:

    My form has performance issues specially when completing the last 2 fields Image 1 Screenshot 30

     

    You need to repeat the above step in all the pages of your form where ever you want to display the name. It will display the value of the hidden text box. Please check the screenshot below:

    My form has performance issues specially when completing the last 2 fields Image 2 Screenshot 41

     

    Please take a look at the following cloned form where I did all the required changes and see if this works as expected:  http://form.jotformpro.com/form/51339416460958 

    Feel free to clone this form for a closer look. The following guide should help you in form cloning:  http://www.jotform.com/help/42-How-to-Clone-an-Existing-Form-from-a-URL 

    Hope this helps.

    Do get back to us if the issue persists.

    Thank you!

  • johnoutler
    Replied on May 15, 2015 at 8:52 AM

    Ashwin, thank you very much for providing help on issue. Your suggestion helps -- mostly -- with some caveats!

    I had tried something like what you recommended before but it is key to note that the field name {administratorEnter398} must be selected and copied from the "Name" field in the Properties form while it is "gray", where the left and right curly brackets will copy with the name. In other words the field name selected in "edit mode" from this field, with manually added curly brackets does not do the job!

    What is more, when duplicated, a text field populated with the {administratorEnter398} field name will show the field name with curly brackets. The "automatic" text field must be propagated through a process of duplication and replacement of the field name with an identical "looking" field name but one that has the "magic" curly brackets copied from the source and pasted in via clipboard.

    These are subtle but important details. Thank you for showing me! This is an example where a picture is worth a thousand word.

    I have completely re-engineered the form based on these suggestions, and have also deleted all conditional parameters. But please note that the long text fields at the end, while better, are still slow to receive keyboard input. What else, if anything, can I do to improve the performance of these fields so that the user has a "normal" experience keying input?

    Thank you!

    JohnO

  • Ashwin JotForm Support
    Replied on May 15, 2015 at 10:26 AM

    Hello JohnO,

    Well it should be a valid field name but you can copy the name and add the curly braces manually. That should work just fine. I am not sure why it did not work earlier for you but I am glad to know that it is working fine now.

    I did test this and it seems you need to actually edit the text field and then click on the complete button of the text editor. Please check the screenshot below:

    My form has performance issues specially when completing the last 2 fields Image 1 Screenshot 30

     

    Anyway, I will go ahead and further test this issue. Coming back to your question related to long text field:

    I did test my cloned form and also your form and I am unable to replicate the issue you are having. The textarea field receives the input almost instantly. Please check the screenshot below:

    My form has performance issues specially when completing the last 2 fields Image 2 Screenshot 41

     

    Do your mean to say that it still takes time for the input data to be visible in the text area field? Can you please clear your browser cache and see if that helps you in any way? The following guide should help you on how to clear your browser cache:  http://www.wikihow.com/Clear-Your-Browser's-Cache 

    We will wait for your response.

    Thank you!