Best practices of data from form

This is a pretty generic topic, so there's a lot that could be said about this. Do you have a particular scenario in mind that we could help with or an issue that you are encountering? Also, if you are new to Appian, I'd highly recommend checking out Appian Academy. This site contains many videos and examples for how to set up data on forms.

At a high level though, the best way to capture data on a form is to (1) create a rule input for the data you want to save (2) add a component such as a text field and use the "saveInto" parameter to save a value into the rule input and (3) create a process and reference the form you created to capture the form data. Please let me know if there is a particular step you are struggling with.

Hi Pete,

First of all, I love the training videos and I took a bunch already and you do an awesome job presenting them.

I think I have the form creation down and you did a great job explaining it, I am struggling with the create a process and reference the form created to capture the form data. After form is submitted where can I retrieve the data from the form?

I have about 10 years of Salesforce Admin experience and their database is kind of built on the fly and you can easily retrieve the data because it does get stored in their db... I am struggling with that concept in Appian to be honest with you. I know that there is a good learning curve with Appian.

antoniom0004 said:

After form is submitted where can I retrieve the data from the form?

In general there are 2 different methods you should plan to use depending on the scenario.

1) use the data on a subsequent form within the same process instance: in this case you would only need to pass data out of the first form into process variables (pv!total, etc), and pass these values back into a subsequent form.

2) use the data later / in a separate process / in a record / on a report: before the process model ends, store the data in the database using the Write to Data Store Entity node.

In the real world you'll very commonly see both of these used together depending on the particular use case.

antoniom0004 said:

After form is submitted where can I retrieve the data from the form?

In general there are 2 different methods you should plan to use depending on the scenario.

1) use the data on a subsequent form within the same process instance: in this case you would only need to pass data out of the first form into process variables (pv!total, etc), and pass these values back into a subsequent form.

2) use the data later / in a separate process / in a record / on a report: before the process model ends, store the data in the database using the Write to Data Store Entity node.

In the real world you'll very commonly see both of these used together depending on the particular use case.

And just to add onto what Mike said, I also want to confirm - have you been able to get the data from your form into the process to populate process variables? This step is required before you can do either of the two steps that Mike mentioned.

If you're having trouble getting the data from your form into the process, there are two basic ways to achieve this:

1) Use a Start Form - A start form is a form that shows in the first step of the process. You can capture the data by using the Forms tab in your process properties. Once you connect your form, you can map variables to capture the data you need: https://docs.appian.com/suite/help/latest/process-model-object.html#process-start-form-tab

2) Use a User Input Task - This displays a form as a task for a user and can occur in any step of the process. This is similar to a start form, but you must map both node inputs and the form. See here for more details on connecting a user input task: https://docs.appian.com/suite/help/latest/Configuring_the_User_Input_Task.html

Peter,

I have been able to do all of this and I did use the Expense report form example you guys added.

 I am able to trigger the task, however my question is:

• Where is that data being stored?
• Is it stored on a table where I am able to click on it and review it as many times as I want?
• The data will always be related to a particular user/member/first last name id

I hope I makes sense...

I did create a WTDSE and I am getting a warning...

That error message just means that your WTDSE node is not properly placed within the process flow.  Everything other than an end node needs an exit flow.

Error solved