Auto-populate fields with URLs

Auto-populate fields in a web form or start an instance page with dynamic data using a custom URL. For example, you can create a custom URL per region and dynamically populate defaults for each region.

During setup of an action or Workflow, you can already easily set defaults for each field. For added customization you can create a custom URL.

Examples of use

• Reduce error rate in a web form by auto-populating the departments of each web form recipient.
• Auto populating the regional office and e-mail address fields in a web form based on user information from a data table.

How to auto-populate fields with a custom URL

You can auto-populate a form with defaults by appending a custom value to the end of a web form URL. Here is an example of a url that would auto-populate the department field with sales.

example.pushbot.com/forms/webform?field-department=sales

Auto-populate one field with a default value

Each default value follows the same format: ?field-fieldname=default, whether you’re setting the default for a text, integer, single choice, or any other field. field- is added before all field names.

If the field name you are auto populating has any spaces or special characters, replace those with a - symbol. For example, for the field What is your name? the reference in the url would be ?field-what-is-your-name-=default

If your web form has a “Department” text field and you want the field to auto-populate with “Sales”, you would reference that field and format by adding: ?field-department=sales to the URL. Here is a step by step process:

1. Start with the normal web form URL:
   • example.pushbot.com/forms/webform
2. Append a default value:
   • example.pushbot.com/forms/webform?field-department=sales

Auto-populate multiple fields with unique default values

To add more than one default value, add each additional value with the syntax: &field-fieldname=default. Each value after the first uses the & character in place of the ?

1. Start with a URL with one default value:
   • example.pushbot.com/forms/webform?field-department=sales
2. Append an additional default value with an & in place of the ?:
   • example.pushbot.com/forms/webform?field-department=sales&field-fieldname2=True
3. Continue adding more default values in the same fashion:
   • example.pushbot.com/forms/webform?department=sales&field-fieldname2=True&field-fieldname3=12&field-fieldname4=2018-05-14

note

• Note: Since the information is stored in the URL, this shouldn’t be used for sensitive or confidential data. These auto-populated values are visible to any user with access to the url.

Example default values

For each field type, a specific format is required. For example Choose Multiple items must be separated by commas without spaces.

💡   Tip: This format is case insensitive. If you have configured a Single Choice field with options [Apple, Orange, and Pear ] where the first character is capitalized, a custom url with the format ?field-fieldname=apple will correctly set the [Apple] option.