How to share the answer from the smart template with the assets being dynamically inserted

About this article

This article will explain the benefit of sharing values between questions from the response form and how to use it in smart templates.

Prerequisites

What is the purpose of the Share value check box in the questions of the response form

When working with smart templates and dynamically inserting a text element into a document, or dynamically inserting a slide into a presentation, you might be utilizing the same question in the document or presentation itself as well as in the text element or the slide being dynamically inserted. Utilizing the Share value option will allow utilizing the same question in the response form of dynamic text elements or dynamic slides that would be inserted when generating a document or a presentation. The answer to this question will be reused to avoid prompting the user with redundant questions. 

In the example below, we are taking the example of text elements being dynamically inserted into a smart document, the same can be applied with slides being dynamically inserted into a smart presentation. The Date question is required in the document, the text element 1, and the text element 2. Using the Share value checkbox in the document and the text elements questions will allow the Date question to appear only once in the response form the end-user will be prompted with, and to populate all three smart fields linked to the Date into the generated document. If the Share value checkbox wouldn't be used in this scenario, the Date question would be presented three times in the response form displayed to the end-user, each time requiring an answer, which could lead to different answers and inconsistent results.

How to share the answer from the smart template with the assets being dynamically inserted

When creating or editing a Text, a Number, a Dropdown, a Flexible dropdown, a Checkbox, or a Date question, the Share value checkbox will be visible when accessing the options available in Advanced.  Keep in mind that the Share value checkbox must be enabled on the questions from the template and the assets that will be dynamically inserted. 

How do we determine which one of the questions 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

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