Page Comparison

Overview

Creating a PDF online form template is just a matter of following the instructions from Creating PDF templates, and then, optionally, adding text to the field names to make certain fields required or subject to validation conditions. Any template designed according to the normal instructions for creating PDF templates is already usable as an online form, but none of the fields will be required or subject to validation conditions; however, because a form like this is likely to be filled out improperly and thus to require more processing effort, it's recommended to make fields required and to enforce validation conditions.

Follow this general format for form field names: (merge field):(required or not required):(validation type). Here are some examples.

Merge field	Required	Validation	Example of a text field name	Notes
			patientBirthdate:req:date
			patientGivenName:req	Everything after "req" can be omitted.
			patientAltContactPostalCode::zip	The "nonreq" designation can be omitted, as that is the default. The colons must be kept.
			insuredEmployerSchoolName	Everything after the merge field can be omitted, as, by default, the field is not required and there is no field validation.
			text1:req:date	Since no merge field is being used, any text can be put before the first colon; it is best to set this so as to ensure that all the form fields have unique names.
			text2:req	Since no merge field is being used, any text can be put before the colon; it is best to set this so as to ensure that all the form fields have unique names. Also, everything after "req" can be omitted, as, by default, there is no field validation.
			text3::date	Since no merge field is being used, any text can be put before the first colon; it is best to set this so as to ensure that all the form fields have unique names. Also, the "nonreq" designation can be omitted, as that is the default. The colons must be kept.
			text4	Since no merge field is being used, any text can be used for the field name. Also, as, by default, the field is not required and there is no field validation, there is no need for the colons or the "nonreq" or validation designation.

Part 1: merge field name

If you wish to use a form field as a merge field, the first part of the form field's name should be the merge field name, i.e., the name of the merged data that should be pulled into (and later, poss updated by) the field. If merge data exists for the chosen field, it will populate in the form field; if the patient edits that form field, then a Blueprint OMS user's processing the form will make the patient file reflect the new data entered in the form field. You can find the full list of available merge fields at the template tool on the Blueprint Solutions website.

If a form field is not meant to be used as a merge field for merging Blueprint OMS data, enter any text for this part of the field name, and make sure that the fields on the form have unique names.

Part 2: req or nonreq

After the first part of the field name, enter a colon and then "req" to make the field a required field, or "nonreq" (or alternatively, nothing, since "nonreq" is the default) to not make the field a required field.

Non-text fields such as checkboxes, radio groups, and drop-down menus can also be made required using the "req" designation.

Part 3: validation

The third part of the form field's name is the type of validation that will be enforced by the field. This third part only applies to text fields and can be omitted for other types of form fields and for text fields that don't require any specific format for the input.

Here are the options you can enter:

• date, optionally date(format)

  Info
  title Enforcing a date format
  Anchor date date If no format is used, the system's default date format will be used. To enforce a format, use the following designators, as well as any other characters: d for numeric day of the month, with no leading zero dd for numeric day of the month, with a leading zero m for numeric month, with no leading zero mm for numeric month, with a leading zero yy for the last two digits of the year yyyy for all four digits of the year Tip title Example The m/d/yy format can populate a date like 2/3/99, for February 3rd, 1999. Note In online forms, the format set in the Format tab of the Text Field Properties dialog will not be taken into account.

  
  

• email
• tel
• zip
• postal

• letters_only, optionally letters_only(min length|max length)
  

  Tip
  title Example: middle initial
  Setting the min length and the max length to 1 allows only one letter to be entered as the field's input. This could be used for a middle initial field.

  
  

• numbers_only, optionally numbers_only(min length|max length)

  Tip
  title Example: certain health card numbers
  In British Columbia, the Personal Health Number is ten digits long.

  
  

• To create custom validation conditions, use the following guide by W3Schools: https://www.w3schools.com/tags/att_input_pattern.asp

  Tip
  title Example, certain health card numbers
  In Ontario, the health card number is ten digits followed by two letters.