Creating and managing forms

Creating and managing forms

Administrators build and manage forms in Drupal Canvas Forms within the Drupal Canvas editor. Define the submission table, its fields, and its policy here. The React component that visitors access is generated separately from the table. This document provides instructions how to open Drupal Canvas Forms, create a form, add and configure fields, and set form options.

Prerequisites

• Ensure that you have the Administer Drupal Canvas Forms permission to create, edit, and delete forms.

  For more information, visit Managing permissions.

Accessing Drupal Canvas Forms

To access Drupal Canvas forms:

1. Open Drupal Canvas.
2. In the Drupal Canvas editor, open a page.

3. In the left toolbar, select the Drupal Canvas Forms icon.

   The interface displays the most recent form. If no forms exist, the interface displays a welcome page. 

A navigation panel opens for each form. The panel includes the Submissions, Connect, Webhooks, Logs, and Settings options. The Privacy option is at the bottom of the panel. To open an existing form, click the list at the top of the navigation panel and select the form.

Creating a form

To create a form:

1. Open Drupal Canvas forms.
2. At the top of the navigation panel, click the form selector dropdown.
3. Select + New form.
4. In the dialog box, select a template from the following options:
   • Blank form: This template contains no predefined fields.
   • Contact form: This template contains fields for a name, an email address, and a message.
   • Newsletter signup: This template contains a single field for an email address.
5. In the Form name field, enter a name.
6. (Optional): Drupal Canvas Forms derives an API name from the form name. Next to the API name, select Edit to change the machine name. The machine name identifies the form, keys submissions, and appears in the submission endpoint URL. The machine name is immutable after creation. 
7. Select Create form.

The system creates the submission table and opens the form. The form opens to the Submissions page, which displays submissions as rows and the form fields as columns.

Adding a field

To add a field to a form:

1. Open Drupal Canvas forms.
2. Open the form to which you want to add a field.
3. Select + Add field.

4. From the menu, select a field type.

   Options include: Text, Email, Number, Long text, Checkbox, Date, Single select, Multiple select, File upload, or Consent (GDPR).

   For type details, visit  Field types.

5. In the field panel on the right, enter a label in the Field label field.

6. Configure the options for the field. 

   For more information, visit Managing fields.

   The system adds the field as a new column and saves the changes automatically. 

The system does not require a separate save step for fields. Repeat these steps for each field the form requires.

Configuring a field

To modify field behavior, database keys, or privacy settings:

1. Open Drupal Canvas forms.
2. Do one of the following:
   1. Select the column header of the field on the Submissions page.

   2. Open the options menu of the field in the header, and select the Edit.

      The right panel opens and displays the following controls:

Field types

The field type determines the input control in the generated form and how the value is validated and stored.

Consent fields

A Consent field records durable proof of consent for GDPR obligations. After a visitor accepts the terms, Drupal Canvas Forms stores the exact consent text displayed on the form, a hash of that text, and the acceptance timestamp. The configured consent text seeds the generated form component. The system stores the exact text that the visitor views to serve as proof. The system rejects a submission that lacks consent text. 

File upload fields and private storage

The system stores uploaded files in private storage rather than a publicly accessible location. Only a user with the View form submissions permission can download a stored file. Alternatively, a time-limited signed URL provides access after a webhook delivers the submission.

File upload fields require a configured private file system on the site because uploads use private storage. The system disables file uploads if the private file system is unavailable. In this scenario, the generated form displays file fields as unavailable, and the site status report displays an error. Ensure that the private file system is configured for the site before a user publishes a form with a file field.

Configuring form settings

To configure form settings:

1. Open Drupal Canvas forms.
2. Open the form and select Settings.
3. In the Form name field, change the display name if required. This does not edit the machine name of the form.

4. Toggle to enable Store submitter IP addresses.

   Note

   If you disable this option, the system uses the IP to enforce rate limits, but does not store the IP with submissions or send it to webhooks.

5. Select a Submission retention option:
   • Retain forever: Keeps submissions until manual deletion.
   • Delete after a period: Permanently deletes submissions and their webhook delivery logs on a daily schedule after the specified number of days.
   • Anonymize after a period: Redacts personal data from submissions after the specified number of days while retaining non-personal data.
6. For Delete after a period or Anonymize after a period, enter a value from 1 to 3650 in the Keep submissions for field.

Deleting a form

To delete a form:

1. Open Drupal Canvas forms.
2. Open the form and select Settings.
3. In the Delete this form, select the delete action.
4. When prompted to confirm, select Yes, delete.

Creating a form

To create a form:

1. Open Drupal Canvas forms.
2. At the top of the navigation panel, click the form selector dropdown.
3. Select + New form.
4. In the dialog box, select a template from the following options:
   • Blank form: This template contains no predefined fields.
   • Contact form: This template contains fields for a name, an email address, and a message.
   • Newsletter signup: This template contains a single field for an email address.
5. In the Form name field, enter a name.
6. (Optional): Drupal Canvas Forms derives an API name from the form name. Next to the API name, select Edit to change the machine name. The machine name identifies the form, keys submissions, and appears in the submission endpoint URL. The machine name is immutable after creation. 
7. Select Create form.

The system creates the submission table and opens the form. The form opens to the Submissions page, which displays submissions as rows and the form fields as columns.

Adding a field

To add a field to a form:

1. Open Drupal Canvas forms.
2. Open the form to which you want to add a field.
3. Select + Add field.

4. From the menu, select a field type.

   Options include: Text, Email, Number, Long text, Checkbox, Date, Single select, Multiple select, File upload, or Consent (GDPR).

   For type details, visit  Field types.

5. In the field panel on the right, enter a label in the Field label field.

6. Configure the options for the field. 

   For more information, visit Managing fields.

   The system adds the field as a new column and saves the changes automatically. 

The system does not require a separate save step for fields. Repeat these steps for each field the form requires.

Configuring a field

To modify field behavior, database keys, or privacy settings:

1. Open Drupal Canvas forms.
2. Do one of the following:
   1. Select the column header of the field on the Submissions page.

   2. Open the options menu of the field in the header, and select the Edit.

      The right panel opens and displays the following controls:

Field types

The field type determines the input control in the generated form and how the value is validated and stored.

Consent fields

A Consent field records durable proof of consent for GDPR obligations. After a visitor accepts the terms, Drupal Canvas Forms stores the exact consent text displayed on the form, a hash of that text, and the acceptance timestamp. The configured consent text seeds the generated form component. The system stores the exact text that the visitor views to serve as proof. The system rejects a submission that lacks consent text. 

File upload fields and private storage

The system stores uploaded files in private storage rather than a publicly accessible location. Only a user with the View form submissions permission can download a stored file. Alternatively, a time-limited signed URL provides access after a webhook delivers the submission.

File upload fields require a configured private file system on the site because uploads use private storage. The system disables file uploads if the private file system is unavailable. In this scenario, the generated form displays file fields as unavailable, and the site status report displays an error. Ensure that the private file system is configured for the site before a user publishes a form with a file field.

Configuring form settings

To configure form settings:

1. Open Drupal Canvas forms.
2. Open the form and select Settings.
3. In the Form name field, change the display name if required. This does not edit the machine name of the form.

4. Toggle to enable Store submitter IP addresses.

   Note

   If you disable this option, the system uses the IP to enforce rate limits, but does not store the IP with submissions or send it to webhooks.

5. Select a Submission retention option:
   • Retain forever: Keeps submissions until manual deletion.
   • Delete after a period: Permanently deletes submissions and their webhook delivery logs on a daily schedule after the specified number of days.
   • Anonymize after a period: Redacts personal data from submissions after the specified number of days while retaining non-personal data.
6. For Delete after a period or Anonymize after a period, enter a value from 1 to 3650 in the Keep submissions for field.

7. Click Save settings.

   Retention runs automatically in the background.

Deleting a form

To delete a form:

1. Open Drupal Canvas forms.
2. Open the form and select Settings.
3. In the Delete this form, select the delete action.
4. When prompted to confirm, select Yes, delete.

Stores every selected option as a list.