Storing Action Network Form Responses In Custom Fields
There are two slightly different methods for capturing Form responses in Custom Fields in Action Network. It depends on if you are creating a reusable Question for use in the Question Library, or within the Form Builder itself. Here we'll go through examples for both. It's worth noting that different Question types have different settings, and different ways of storing values, so always consider which option is best for you.
Questions Added To The Question Library
1. To create your Question click on DETAILS in the Start Organising menu, hover over Questions & Custom Fields and click on the plus (+) icon that appears.
2. In this example we'll use a Text Field for our Question. To do this we just select Text Field from the drop-down menu.
3. We'll then complete the remaining fields. The following fields should be completed:
- Administrative Title: This is the name of the Question as it will appear in the Question Library, and should clearly show the function of the Question to support other admins when adding this to a Form.
- Name: This is the name of the Custom Field in which responses to this Question will be stored, and should be unique.
- Label: This is the label that will appear alongside the Question in your Action Network form. In essence the label is the question you wish to ask.
- Placeholder: This is text that will appear in the form field before an Activist completes it. You can leave it blank, add a suggested value or add something like "Add your comments here".
4. Once you're happy with your Question click on the button marked CREATE QUESTION and your Question will be saved and available to use in any form you subsequently edit or create.
In this example the response from an Activist would be stored in the Favourite_Biscuit field. The name of which is taken from the NAME field we completed in step 3 above. Assuming a respondent answered the Question with the response Jammie Dodgers then their response would appear like this:
Remember to add a note to any Question or Custom Field you create. You can find out how here: Tips On Tag & Field Management.
Questions Created Within The Form Builder
1. From within the Form Builder select the type of Question you wish to use and drag it into your Form. In this example we'll choose a Checkbox Question.
2. Click anywhere in the Question you've just added to open the Question options. The first field you should complete is the Name. This will form the root of your Custom Field names if you don't define one for each option.
3. Add a Label, this is the text your respondents will see.
4. Now add in your options. As each option will be stored in a separate Custom Field there are two values you should set- the response value that your respondents will see, and the name of the Custom Field the values will be added to. This should be entered in format Value|Custom_Field_Name.
5. Once you've added each of your options click the button marked SAVE.
When using Checkbox Questions the value that's stored is always 1. So in this example should a respondent choose both Jammie Dodger, and Garibaldi it will be stored on their Activist Record like this:
If you don't set a value for the field name for each option (in Step 4), then the value will be stored in a Custom Field made up of the Name value you created in Step 2 and the option name. So a respondent selecting Jammie Dodgers would have their response stored like this:
This can be useful for grouping responses together, as they're sorted alphabetically on an Activist Record. So instead of entering Jammie Dodgers|Jammie_Dodgers you'd simply enter Jammie Dodgers, creating the field Biscuit_Preference_Jammie Dodgers.
Now it's time to create your first Form- check out these guides for inspiration:
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