Table Questions

A Table question is one of the question types that can be added to a Form action. This article discusses Table questions in more detail.

NOTE: Familiarity with Form actions is recommended to better understand this article. For more information, see Form Action.

Table of Contents

• What is a Table Question?
• Sub-Question Types
• Setting Up a Table Question
  • To Add a Sub-Question (Other than Lookup)
  • To Add a Lookup Sub-Question
  • To Edit a Sub-Question
  • To Delete a Sub-Question
• Advanced Options

What is a Table Question?

When used in a Form action, a Table question displays a list of sub-questions on the User Application.

A typical Table question in a Form action, as it appears in the User Application, is shown below. The Table question in the example shows two (2) Text sub-questions, with the first asking for the customer's name and the second asking for the email address.

After answering the sub-questions, click the Add button just below the form to save the answers as a single row in the table shown at the bottom. In the screenshot, two rows have already been added to the table.

At the bottom of the sub-questions are the minimum and maximum number of records that can be added to the table (discussed under the Advanced Options section of this article). These numbers are shown as a guide to users.

You can edit, view, or delete a record from the table, if needed, by clicking the appropriate buttons to the right of a record.

Only the answers to the first sub-question of the Table question are shown on the table. To view the answers to all sub-questions, you will need to click the View icon to the right of a record.

What happens to the list of records in the Table question depends on the next Action in the workflow. For example, using the square bracket for a Table question, you can:

• Display the records in a Page, Email, or Auttodoc action. For more information, see Table Square Brackets.
• Use AUTTO's Run for Table feature to add columns to the table. For more information, see Getting Started with Run for Table.
• Filter the table with a Table Builder Action. For more information, see Table Builder Action.

Sub-Question Types

While the types of sub-questions that can be added to Table questions are similar to the question types available for Form actions (see Types of Questions), there are some slight differences between them, especially in the Advanced Options available for each. There are also more question types available for use in Form actions.

Sub-questions in Table questions are classified into the following types:

• Text: Displays a text box where users can enter their answer.
• Rich Text: Displays a multi-line text box where users can enter their answer in rich text format.
• Email: Displays a text box where users can enter their email address.
• Number: Displays a box where users can enter their answer in numeric format.
• Yes/No: Displays Yes/No buttons that users can click as their answer to the sub-question.
• Dropdown: Displays a list of answer/s to the sub-question. One or more choices may be selected, depending on the settings. If a user makes a mistake during selection, they can deselect an answer by clicking the x button shown on the answer. More than eight (8) answers can be added to a dropdown sub-question.
• Multiple Choice: Displays several choices together. Users can select from among the choices as their answer/s to the question. One or more choices may be selected, depending on the settings. If a user makes a mistake during selection, they can deselect an answer by clicking it again. Unlike a dropdown sub-question, a multiple choice sub-question can only accommodate up to eight (8) answers.
• Address: Displays a box where users can enter their addresses. Users can either look up and select their address from a global address database, or enter the address manually.
• Country: Displays a box where users can select a country from either a global country database or a list of select countries, depending on the settings.
• Date: Displays a Calendar from which users can select a date.
• Time: Displays a Time control where users can enter the time.
• Rating: Displays a series of numbers from which users can select a rating.
• Lookup: Allows lookup of records from one or more columns in a data table.
• File: Displays a box that accepts a file attachment. Users are allowed to attach multiple files in any of the 11 supported formats (see Supported File Types).

Setting Up a Table Question

To add a Table question to a Form action, select it from the list on the Action Editor. You can then start setting up the Table question. For more information, see Setting Up a Form Action.

To Add a Sub-Question (Other than Lookup)

A Table question always comes with sub-questions.

NOTE: The procedure for adding Lookup sub-questions to a Table question differs slightly from this procedure. If you are adding either a Lookup sub-question, see To Add a Lookup Sub-Question.

To add a sub-question to a Table question:

1. Click Add Sub-Question.
   
   
   
   
2. Select a sub-question type from the list.
   
   
   
   
3. On the Sub-Question window, enter the question as you want it to appear to your users. You may use the Rich Text Editor to format the question and make it more appealing to your users, or you can enter it as simple text.
   
   
   
4. Optionally, enter a description for the question. Like the question in Step 3, you may use the Rich Text Editor to format the question, if required.

NOTE: Unlike the questions that can be added to a Form action, Square Brackets cannot be used in both the Sub-Question and Description boxes. Other than this distinction, questions and sub-questions share most of each other's characteristics.

5. To save the answer to the question in a square bracket, enter a name for the answer. With a square bracket, the answer will be available for use later in the workflow. For more information, see Working with Square Brackets.
6. If required, set up the options for the question type by clicking Advanced Options.

NOTE: Advanced options may differ depending on the question type. For more details, see Types of Questions.

7. Click Done to close the Sub-Question window. On the Action Editor, the sub-question you just added now appears on the list of sub-questions. To add more sub-questions, repeat Steps 1-7.

NOTE: In case you make a mistake ordering the sub-questions, position your cursor over the icon on the sub-questions, then drag them into the desired place within the Table question.

To Add a Lookup Sub-Question

The procedure for adding a Lookup sub-question to a Table question is slightly different from adding other sub-questions.

NOTE: If you are adding a different sub-question type, see To Add a Sub-Question (Other than Lookup).

To add a Lookup sub-question to a Table question:

1. Click Add Sub-Question.
   
   
2. Select Lookup from the list of sub-questions.
   
   
3. On the Sub-Question window, enter the question as you want it to appear to your users. You may use the Rich Text Editor to format the question and make it more appealing to your users, or you can enter it as simple text.
   
   
   
4. Optionally, enter a description for the question. Like the question in Step 3, the description can also be formatted using the Rich Text Editor, if required.

NOTE: Unlike the questions that can be added to a Form action, Square Brackets cannot be used in both the Sub-Question and Description boxes. Other than this distinction, questions and sub-questions share most of each other's characteristics.

5. Select either a data table, or a table created earlier in the workflow. The data tables that appear on this list are set up under Data Tables on the Main Menu. For more information, see Managing Data Tables.
   
   
6. Click Update, then Confirm.
7. Select a dropdown column for looking up records from the data table. For example, if you have a Customer data table, you can select the Customer Name column as your dropdown column. In your workflow, this will look up customer records by their names, then retrieve the specific customer record, including all the available information about the customer.
8. Under the Outputs section, select the columns you need from the record that will be retrieved and save them for later use by giving them square bracket names. For example, if you want to use the customer name and birthdate later, you can save those columns into their own square brackets. For more information, see Working with Square Brackets.
   
   
9. Click Done.

To Edit a Sub-Question

To edit a sub-question:

1. Position your cursor over the icon on the top-right of the sub-question, then click Edit.
2. Make your changes to the sub-question, then click Done.

To Delete a Sub-Question

To delete a sub-question:

1. Position your cursor over the icon on the top-right of the sub-question, then click Delete.
2. Click Delete again to confirm the operation.

Advanced Options

Under a Table question's Advanced options section, you can set up the following:

• Min No. of sub-questions: The minimum number of records that can be added to the Table. The default is 1. This number will be shown on the User Application and serves as a guide to workflow users.
• Max No. of sub-questions: The maximum number of records that can be added to the Table. The default is unlimited. This number will be shown on the User Application and serves as a guide to workflow users.
• Button name: Form actions are set to be non-scrollable by default, meaning you have to click a button at the bottom of each Question page to go to the next question. The button name is set to Continue by default. You can set a new name for the button here.
• Conditional Questions: Each question type you can use in a Form action can be set to include Conditional Questions, if required. With Conditional questions, a question can be made to appear or disappear, depending on certain conditions. For more information, see Conditional Questions.