Feature Request: Automatic Unrequiring Hidden Fields

  • SunbridgeInstitute
    Asked on December 4, 2015 at 2:34 PM

    Can you please automate the process of unrequiring fields that are not showing? This gets to be very confusing to code properly, and makes a lot of unnecessary conditions, and it takes a lot of extra time. Nobody in his right mind would require a field that he is trying to hide, so this functionality doesn't make any sense whatsoever, to have the ability to have a required AND hidden field at the same time.

    If there's one complaint I have about JotForm, which Formstack has nailed already, it is this one thing--automation of requiring a field only when it is showing, and unrequiring when it is hidden.

    Thank you for considering it!

  • jonathan
    Replied on December 4, 2015 at 3:57 PM

    This is possible already in JotForm.

    In Preferrences / Advance Settings you can set Clear Hidden Field Values to ON.

    Feature Request: Automatic Unrequiring Hidden Fields Image 1 Screenshot 30

     

     Then just create Condition Rules that will unrequire empty fields

    Feature Request: Automatic Unrequiring Hidden Fields Image 2 Screenshot 41

     

    You can try this test form https://form.jotform.me/53376233213449? to see how it works.

    Let us know your thought on this.

    Thanks.

  • SunbridgeInstitute
    Replied on December 7, 2015 at 9:43 AM

    I personally think this is a very clunky and unintuitive solution for something that should happen automatically in the background. It still requires understanding of this preference (which I have seen but did not understand until now), and it still requires a lot of unnecessary conditions to be created.

    Not only that, but this solution could cause the form to misbehave. For example, if a user clears out the email field manually, or if it is empty from the start, then the field is no longer required. So the question is not gathering the necessary information that I need it to.

     

    Formstack has this perfected--they know that nobody is going to want to "require" a field that is hidden. So they handle all of the logic in the background so that the form-builders do not have to manage it at all. There is some kind of automatic code over everything that says "if a field is hidden, unrequire it."

    Can Jotform please do something like this? I absolutely LOVE your platform; it is SOOO much better than Formstack. But this one thing is going to drive me crazy. Every single form I have (over 20 of them) has many hidden fields that I will have to require when it shows, and unrequire when it's hidden. I can't possibly be the only one who wants an automation like this!

    Thank you so much!

    Tamara

  • kingkest
    Replied on December 7, 2015 at 10:23 AM

    I think it is already in place.

     

    Check out this form, enter an email and you will see a required field has no bearing upon the form once its hidden

     

    https://form.jotform.com/53404121676955

     

    Edit: the only condition on  the form is to hide the 1 box.

  • beril JotForm UI Developer
    Replied on December 7, 2015 at 10:40 AM

    Thank you for your kind comments.

    As far as i understand from your thread if it is hidden field you want to unrequre it automatically.

    Click on properties of field than click on Manage Multiple Fields.

    Feature Request: Automatic Unrequiring Hidden Fields Image 1 Screenshot 30

    Then click  Unrequire.

    Feature Request: Automatic Unrequiring Hidden Fields Image 2 Screenshot 41

  • SunbridgeInstitute
    Replied on December 7, 2015 at 11:43 AM

    Hi Beril, 

    Thank you for your response. If I am understanding this correctly, the solution you are recommending will permanently unrequire the fields that I select in this "Multiple Fields" area. This is not exactly what I am trying to accomplish.

    Here is a different URL to illustrate what I am trying to do (since the previous form is a bit misleading):

    http://www.jotform.com//?formID=53374278337968#

    There are several times when I will ask a question, and based on the answer, more questions will appear. I want these appearing fields to be dynamic...they should be unrequired when hidden, and required when they appear.

    The only way that I've figured that I can accomplish this is to make the field itself required, and then to use some logic (the logic that makes the field appear) to cause the field to be unrequired while it is hidden. This is very cumbersome and I never had to do this in Formstack. It is the ONLY complaint that I have about Jotform.

    Thank you so much if you can help!

  • Ashwin JotForm Support
    Replied on December 7, 2015 at 12:39 PM

    Hello SunbridgeInstitute,

    Can you please let me know which hidden question of your form is still required even if the field itself.

    Please be noted that required field validation is triggered only when the field is visible. If a required field is hidden, the required field validation for that field will not trigger.

    Please check the screenshot below:

    Feature Request: Automatic Unrequiring Hidden Fields Image 1 Screenshot 30

     

    You may also like to know that you can "Clear Hidden Field Values" when the submit button is clicked by setting the form preferences. Please check the screenshot below:

    Feature Request: Automatic Unrequiring Hidden Fields Image 2 Screenshot 41

    Hope this helps.

    Do get back to us if you meant to ask something else.

    We will wait for your response.

    Thank you!

  • SunbridgeInstitute
    Replied on December 7, 2015 at 1:20 PM

    These are some of the fields that are still required when hidden: 

    -When and Where?

    -Where are you studying?

    -Expected Graduation Date

    What happens is, I set up the logic to make these fields hidden, but they will not actually hide on the preview unless I set up additional conditions to make them unrequired. It seems like the "Required" feature on the field is preventing me from Hiding the field.

    I have already solved this problem on this particular form. I am looking for a simpler solution because I have 20 more forms to build, and I'm hoping to make it easier.

    Thank you!

  • Sammy
    Replied on December 7, 2015 at 1:46 PM

    At the present the require/unrequire property can only be set using form conditions.

    I can forward a feature request to our development team to consider including the option to require/unrequire fields when they are hidden.

    However I wont be able to give and estimate of when the requested feature will be made available.

     

     

  • SunbridgeInstitute
    Replied on December 7, 2015 at 2:20 PM

    Thank you; please do submit this as a feature request. This is the one thing that Formstack did really well, so I would love to have this feature now that I'm on Jotform.

    Here is a good summary of what my request would be: 

    Please allow a required field to be hidden, and if it is hidden, make it unrequired unless the logic causes it to be showing. 

    Can you please confirm that it has been submitted as a feature request?

    Thank you!

  • David JotForm Support
    Replied on December 7, 2015 at 3:54 PM

    By default, fields that are not shown in the form are not required.  I am able to submit the form without any of the hidden required fields being filled.  I removed the payment field and disabled all the conditions that removed field requirements for testing purposes.  Here is my test form:

    https://form.jotform.com/53406391049960

    There are no errors stating that any of the hidden fields need to be filled.  Required fields can be hidden and are not required unless shown.  Here is a basic form showing exactly that:

    https://form.jotform.com/53405708819966

    The blank form can be submitted even though there is a required email field hidden.  It does not trigger the validation.

  • SunbridgeInstitute
    Replied on December 8, 2015 at 10:42 AM

    I think this question is muddled by the fact that the thread is so long and also because I provided an example form that was causing confusion about my question. The problem I am having is not that the fields continue to be required when they are hidden--it is that they won't hide properly unless I unrequire them.

    After some playing, I have figured out that it makes a difference whether I use "show" or "hide" in my conditional questions (that is, the ones that should be showing after the submittor gave a certain answer previously).

    I was using "show" on the fields that I wanted to hide until they should appear. I chose this option because I did not want the field to hide AFTER an option was selected; I wanted it to hide initially, and then unhide after a certain option was selected. I thought that "show" would accomplish this because of the way that Formstack worked (which was simpler and more intuitive, although not as robust I'm sure).

    In Jotform this seems to be the wrong approach. It seems that it is better to use "hide" as a matter of default for these types of dynamic situations. My forms are working much better, with fewer conditions, using this approach. The only problem is that I have to set a default answer on the previous question so that the next field hides initially.

    I guess another approach would be to hide the subsequent fields initially, and then apply "show" logic with certain answers. Anyway, it took me a bunch of playing to figure all this out.

     

    Thank you for all your attempts at helping with this issue. I'm sorry for both of us that it was so confusing. This ticket can be closed now.

  • David JotForm Support
    Replied on December 8, 2015 at 12:12 PM

    No worries at all.  I agree that it can be rather confusing.  It gets even worse if you manually try to hide a field then show it conditionally.  There are still some quirks to be ironed out but we should be able to help you with anything like this that you run in to. 

     

     

  • SunbridgeInstitute
    Replied on December 8, 2015 at 12:30 PM

    Uh oh--I just went into my two forms and redid all the logic by initially hiding the (required) fields, and then showing them conditionally as needed. It seems to work on the preview okay. Am I going to run into trouble with this set-up?

  • David JotForm Support
    Replied on December 8, 2015 at 12:35 PM

    If it is working properly you shouldn't have any issues.  It seems to be working properly from my testing.  Much work has been done on conditions recently and the old bug I was thinking of has been sorted.  My apologies for the scare.