Using QR Codes to send a form with pre-populated fields

By using anonymous forms, you can leverage build to create a feedback form with pre-populated fields that can be sent out to gather information from users. For example, imagine that a seminar was held and you want to use Build to gather feedback from those who attended. You can create a QR Code to easily distribute the link to the form, and by allowing anonymous submissions, you can pre-populate some of the values and allow anyone who attended to submit their feedback. 

• Set up the form
• Create the URL

Set up the form

Start by establishing the form you would like to use to gather the data.

Note: When pre-populating data for a form, it will only work when used with a Short Text, Long Text, and Email gadget at this time.

When establishing the fields to pre-populate, you will need to ensure that they contain a unique JSON key to refer to.  For example, if you want to be able to send information such as the Presentation Title or the Presenter's Name, you might set up these fields as short text fields with unique JSON keys. 

To add a unique JSON key: 

• After adding the field to the form, review the gadget settings panel to the right. 
• Locate the field Edit unique JSON key, and enable the toggle.
• Provide a unique JSON key.
  • Using lower case letters and avoid spaces is recommended; but ensure that they are specific enough that no two fields share the same key.

In order for the pre-population of the fields to work, the form will have to be set up to allow for anonymous submissions. If your form uses gadgets that pull information from the Kuali Users and Groups area or from an external integration, that information will not be available to an anonymous user for security reasons. Form submitters must login to the form to view that information.

To set your form to allow anonymous submissions:

• After creating the form and workflow, Publish the form.
• Select the Share Form option and check Allow anonymous submissions.

Create the URL 

Once the form has been created and set up to allow anonymous submissions, you are ready to create the URL that will be used to pre-populate fields. 

To create the URL: 

• Copy the anonymous shareable link to the form. For example, https://[institution].kualibuild.com/app/[appId]/start

• After the start in the URL, add a question mark so that it now shows /start? at the end

• Add the unique JSON key for the field you to want to put data into, followed by the = and then the data you want in the field.
  • For any spaces that may be in the data, replace them with a plus symbol (+).
  • For example, to pass in the title of 'Why Sharks Matter' into the Presentation Title field, I would add presentation_title=Why+Sharks+Matter to the end of the URL.
• For each additional field, add an ampersand followed by the next field and data. For example, if I also want to pass the presenter's name, I would add &presenter=Matt+Hooper 
• Your full URL should now resemble something like this: https://[institution].kualibuild.com/app/[appId]/start?presentation_title=Why+Sharks+Matter&presenter=Matt+Hooper

Once you have created the URL, you can now use a QR Code generator to create a QR Code that references the URL. Here is an example of such a QR Code in action!