Share value for form fields

About this article

In this article, we will explain the benefit of sharing values for form fields and how to use it. 

What is the purpose of the Share value check box in form fields? 

When working with dynamic text insertion into a dynamic document, you might be needing the same form field in the document itself as well as in the text element being dynamically inserted into the document. Utilizing the "Share value" checkbox in the form fields will allow you to avoid having the same form field showing up twice for the end-user. 

In the example below, we can see that the Name form field is required in the document, in text element 1, and in text element 2. Using the "Share value" checkbox in both the document and the text elements form fields will allow the Name form field to show up only once in the dynamic form the end-user will be prompted with. If the "Share value" checkbox wouldn't be used in this scenario, the Name form field would show up three times in the dynamic form displayed to the end-user.

How to enable Share value? 

1. Go to the Dynamics Designer
2. Click the Form tab
3. Either create the required form field or select an existing one
4. Tick the checkbox Share value

4. Click Save
5. Repeat steps 1-5 for the template and all required text elements

How do we determine which one of the "Share value" form fields will be displayed to the end-user? 

• The first form field appearing in the document form will be displayed
• The most restrictive options from all form fields combined will be applied to the form field displayed to the end-user
  • Required field
  • Maximum length
  • Lines
• All other additional options will be taken from the first form field appearing in the document form
  • Placeholder
  • Default Value
  • Spacing before/after
  • Helptext prefix/postfix

Example 1

The form field Name being a shared value with the template and text element 1.

Name form field from the template will be displayed to the end-user, because this is the first form field appearing in the Dynamics wizard	Name form field from text element 1 will be displayed to the end-user, because this is the first form field appearing in Dynamics wizard

Example 2

You have a letterhead text element that you use for multiple templates. In this text element, if you set a default value for e.g. the form field Subject, this would affect all templates. What if you want to use a unique default subject for each individual template? This can be achieved by following these steps:

1. Both the letterhead text element and all templates must have a form field named Subject 
2. In the letterhead text element and all templates tick the checkbox Share value and save the form field
3. In each template set the subject you want to use for that template in the Default Value field

Even though all templates use the same letterhead text element, now each individual template will show the default subject that applies to that template. 

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