Experiential Learning Cloud's Form Builder gives you a lot of control over how your forms look and behave. This article walks you through building your first Pro form, from an empty canvas to a published form your programs can use.

Before you begin: You need the Program Setup role, and you need to have already created your form record and filled in its Number, Name, Use in documents for, and Document type fields. If you haven't done that yet, start with Getting Started with Form Builder.

Watch the Walkthrough

The video builds a complete Placement Application from scratch. It covers:

• Creating the form record and adding an extra linked table
• Adding your logo, title, and section headers
• Autofilling a field with a context variable
• Autofilling fields from a linked database table
• Adding list, phone number, and radio button fields
• Setting up conditional logic to show a field based on an answer
• Adding a checkbox field with an "Other" option and multiple columns
• Adding a signature and locking fields
• Previewing and publishing

Two topics go beyond this article: extra linked tables are covered in Getting Started with Form Builder, and conditional logic in Dataflow and Form Logic.

Open the Form Builder

From your form's detail page, click Open Form Builder (#7). The builder opens with several menus around a blank form canvas.

For your first form, you only need the Forms Toolbar across the top. Everything else can wait.

Tip: If something you added doesn't appear correctly on the canvas, click Refresh View inside the Form Builder. This is not your browser's refresh button.

Add your logo and title

Most forms start with your institution's logo and a title.

1. Drag the Image icon from the Forms Toolbar onto the form.
2. With the image selected, open View Item Properties on the right and choose Use Customer Logo.
   • Set both Max height and Max width to 25%. Logos look best at this size.
3. Drag a Text/Heading field onto the form, below the image.
4. In View Item Properties, enter your form's title and format it the way you would in a word processor.
   • Best Practice for Titles: Use 24pt font, Bold the text, and center it

You can add more Text/Heading fields anywhere on the form to give instructions or explain a section.

Add your first fields

Interactive fields are called nodes, and they live on the left end of the Forms Toolbar.

The full set includes text boxes, dates, checkboxes, radio buttons, lists, containers, signatures, and uploads. Starting out, you only need four: text box, date, list, and signature.

1. Click and drag a node from the toolbar onto the form.
2. Watch the placement arrow as you drag — it shows where the node will land.
3. Release to drop the node into place.

To remove a node, select it and click the trash can icon. If the form has not been published yet, also click the small x next to the node's name in the Data Library to delete it completely.

Set field properties

Every node has two property menus on the right side of the screen.

Data Properties
Controls what the node is. Every node needs a Name (what you see in the Data Library) and a Label (what your users see on the form). You can also mark a node required, add hover text, or connect it to a context variable.

View Item Properties
Controls how the node looks — label position, field size, and whether list options display as a dropdown or stay visible on the form.

Tip: You can ignore most of View Item Properties. Standard formatting is applied automatically and follows best practice.

For a list node, use Data Properties to enter the options that will appear in the list.

Context variables

Context variables pull information Experiential Learning Cloud already has, so your users don't retype it. Common ones include:

• document.staff — the person the document is about, such as the student whose assignment it is
• now — the current date
• form.author — the person completing the form

Add signatures

Signatures are how Experiential Learning Cloud marks a form complete, so every form should have at least one.

1. Drag the pen icon onto your form.
2. In Data Properties, give the signature a name and label.
3. Mark it required if users should not be able to skip it.
4. Under Signatures, choose the signer tag for whoever should sign. A student signature uses the student signer tag.
5. In Locked nodes, choose which fields become uneditable once the form is signed.
   • Leave it empty and the signature locks every node on the form.
   • Select specific fields and only those lock. Everything else stays editable for later signers.

Caution: Signature order matters. The order of signature nodes determines the order the form is routed from person to person. You set that order through Locked nodes: each signature must lock the signature that comes before it. So if a student signs first and an instructor signs second, the instructor's signature node must list the student's signature under Locked nodes.

Preview and publish

1. Click the More Settings menu and choose Preview on Desktop.
2. Fill out the form as if you were one of your users. Click into the fields and test them.
3. Go back and adjust anything that needs it.
4. When the form is ready, click Publish Changes.

Caution: A form cannot be added to assignments or tasks until it is published. Once published, that version can no longer be edited — so be sure the form is ready before you publish. To change a form that is already live, see Editing Published Forms.

Related articles

• Getting Started with Form Builder
• Form Builder: Menus & Options
• Form Builder: Node (Field) Types
• Form Builder: Signature Lines and Signer Tags
• Form Builder: Dataflow and Form Logic
• Form Builder: Adding Tables
• Form Builder: Editing Published Forms
• How to Build a Rubric