Linked Sections (Repeated Sections / Related Lists)

Introduction to Linked Sections

Use Linked Sections (AKA Repeating Sections) in a form template to create a set of questions that repeat. Examples of use cases where this would be useful might be:

• A user needs to fill out a form and add many Contacts, including each Contact’s First Name, Last Name, and Email Address
• A user needs to fill out a form and collect information about many inventory items on a shelf in front of them, including Product Name, Quantity, and Price.
• A user needs to fill out a form and create observations for multiple welds on a single piece of equipment. 

Repeated sections allow a user to create/update multiple records in Salesforce at once, as if they are updating information in a related list.

Before being able to use Linked Sections, be sure all of the following requirements are satisfied:

• Enable “Show Smart Features” in the Form Template Editor.

• Create a Lookup Relationship/Field on the desired object to the Form object. For example, if the intention is to have a form that has repeating questions related to Contacts, a lookup relationship must exist on the Contact object to the Form object.

Adding Linked Sections to Form Templates

After satisfying the above requirements, drag the Linked Section button down to the canvas. At this point, you can name the section, as well as select which object this section is intended for. Again, if the intended object is not displayed when selecting the Link Section Object, revisit the Object Manager in setup and ensure that a lookup relationship exists from that object to the Form object.

Now is also the time to start thinking about how many of these records you expect to see in a form. Setting the Expected Maximum Number of Records will help Youreka determine when your template could be encroaching upon the maximum number of questions, and warn you while you're building your template.

After creating the Linked Section, click Save, and begin to drag questions to the section. As you drag questions into the Linked Section, they will default as Field Links to the Linked Section Object that you defined for the Linked Section. From here you can select which field on the object you wish to map the data to. For example, if your Linked Section object is Contacts, you can begin to drag and drop fields such as First Name, Last Name, and Title to the canvas.

Optionally, when adding a question to a Linked Section, you can move the question type from being a field link to a non-field link question. Data from these questions won't be mapped to your Linked Section object, but instead, will simply exist as Answers in the form.

Additionally, consider adding free text, images, and spaces to Linked Sections.

Filling in Linked Sections

When filling out forms, end users can select the “Add+” button to create new records in the Linked Section. This will allow them to generate a list of, in this case, Contacts, all of which will be inserted/updated in Salesforce when the form is submitted by the end user.

Linked Section Compact View

Optionally, when creating form templates with Linked Sections, admin users can enable Linked Section Compact Cards, which simplifies the way Linked Sections are displayed for users as they fill out forms. With Compact Cards enabled, users can see a simple list of each record in the Linked Section at first. To view more information, they can tap into a single section and view more fields.

To enable the Compact view, click the pencil icon on the Linked Section in the Form Template editor. Select the Linked Section Icon tab to add a Linked Section Icon. Also, use the Compact View Icons on the right side of each question in the Linked Section to select which questions will be shown in the Compact View, and which questions will be shown in the full view. Blue icons indicate the questions that are visible in Compact View, and grayed-out icons indicate the questions that are hidden.

Additional Consideration for Linked Sections

• There are additional considerations for Form Template Import/Export, as described in the Form Import section of this document. When importing a template with Linked Section, both the linked Object and the relationship field to the Form__c Object must exist prior to the import.
• Questions inside of a Linked Section cannot respond to Conditional Display Logic if the controlling question is outside of the Linked Section.