Any recommendations for third party form builders with advanced date field functionality?

Margaret Griffin
Margaret Griffin ✭✭✭✭

I'm looking for a third party form builder that integrates well with Smartsheet, and provides additional functionality around date fields. We need to be able to easily restrict dates based on pre-set deadlines (i.e. report requests cannot be made for any date less than 12 business days in the future). Ideally we'd like report requesters to be able to view a calendar and only see the dates that meet certain criteria (i.e. more than 'x' days in the future and less than 'x' # of requests assigned to each analyst). Any suggestions?

Answers

  • Paul Newcome
    Paul Newcome ✭✭✭✭✭✭

    I am not sure if Google forms has the functionality you are looking for, but it does integrate very easily with Smartsheet.

  • Andrée Starå
    Andrée Starå ✭✭✭✭✭✭
    edited 07/28/21

    Hi@mgriffin

    I hope you're well and safe!

    To add to Paul's excellent advice/answer.

    There are some workarounds that maybe could work in Smartsheet without any 3rd party service. I'd recommend starting to explore if it could be structured to work in that way.

    Can you describe your process in more detail and maybe share the sheet(s)/copies of the sheet(s) or some screenshots? (Delete/replace any confidential/sensitive information before sharing) That would make it easier to help. (share too,[email protected])

    What do you think?

    I hope that helps!

    Be safe and have a fantastic week!

    Best,

    Andrée Starå| Workflow Consultant / CEO @WORK BOLD

    了我的帖子(s)帮助或回答哟ur question or solve your problem? Please support the Community bymarking it Insightful/Vote Up or/and as the accepted answer. It will make it easier for others to find a solution or help to answer!

    SMARTSHEET EXPERT CONSULTANT & PARTNER

    Andrée Starå| Workflow Consultant / CEO @WORK BOLD

    W:www.workbold.com| E:[email protected]| P: +46 (0) - 72 - 510 99 35

    Feel free to contact me about help with Smartsheet, integrations, general workflow advice, or something else entirely.

  • Brett Wyrick
    Brett Wyrick ✭✭✭✭

    I think there's not many Form services out there that integrate with Smartsheet because, well, Smartsheet also does forms, so that's competition! I did a little searching and it looks like a few Form services can do this.

    形式tack can handle Date Field logic based on today's date, and it looks like形式tack has a direct integration with Smartsheet. If you're looking for something direct to work with Smartsheet, I think this is your winner.

    Google Forms can do it,but it appears it'll require someone tech-savvy working with the Google Forms API and some coding/scripting. Itdirectly integrates with Smartsheettoo.

    JotForm also does date limiting, including a "dynamic" way of doing it with a simple "today+7" to add a week, but does not allow for a direct integration with Smartsheet. However, a third-party connector service could be used (details below).

    You're may be best off setting something up with an app-to-app connector to do something like, "When the form is completed, insert a row in Smartsheet". You can do this with third-party tools like Microsoft's underratedPower Automate(formerly known as Flow),Integrately, or the stable service ofZapier.

    In fact, if your organization has a Microsoft E3 license, you likely already have access toPower Automate.

    Keep in mind, however, that most of the app-to-app automation services allow fairly generic updates to Smartsheet - that is, simple things like "When the form is completed, insert a row" which then inserts to the top or bottom of the sheet of your choice. If you're looking for something more specific, I do offer some services that can do things like inserting a row under particular headers (i.e., an item with a title of "Phase" goes under another row with the name "Project Plan"), adding form responses as comments based on dynamic text found in particular columns, etc. Contact info below.

    I hope this gives your organization a better overview of what's available, and helps you to make a decision on a Form service! Wish you the best!

    If this answer answers your question, please press "Yes" above - it helps the community (and those random Googlers out there ) find solutions like yours faster.

    Brett Wyrick;your friendly neighborhood freelance consultant & Smartsheet helper.Connect with me on LinkedIn.

  • Paul Newcome
    Paul Newcome ✭✭✭✭✭✭

    @Brett WyrickThanks for the details on the different form functionalities! A lot of good info there.

  • Margaret Griffin
    Margaret Griffin ✭✭✭✭

    Yes, thanks@Brett Wyrick! I will definitely look into Formstack, and will reach out if we need a more customized solution.

  • Joachim Mund
    Joachim Mund ✭✭✭✭✭✭
    edited 08/02/21

    @Margaret GriffinI believehttps://www.appsheet.com/will do the job and works perfekt with smartsheet. Costs are depending on your google workspace plan. It seems to be free for testing, we have google workspace enterprise and it is included.

    Hope this helps!

  • Andrée Starå
    Andrée Starå ✭✭✭✭✭✭

    @Brett Wyrick

    Yes, I agree. Great info! Thanks!

    I'm actually a Formstack Partner, and it's really powerful, and the integration with Smartsheet is excellent.

    SMARTSHEET EXPERT CONSULTANT & PARTNER

    Andrée Starå| Workflow Consultant / CEO @WORK BOLD

    W:www.workbold.com| E:[email protected]| P: +46 (0) - 72 - 510 99 35

    Feel free to contact me about help with Smartsheet, integrations, general workflow advice, or something else entirely.

  • Brett Wyrick
    Brett Wyrick ✭✭✭✭

    @Margaret GriffinI just found an announcement made like 30 minutes ago from Smartsheet:New! Add real-time validation to fields on your form — Smartsheet Community

    But sadly, the available validations are only for the following:

    You can now add real-time validation to Text/Number fields to help collect error-free numbers, percentages, email addresses, and phone numbers. Email validation is also available for Contact fields.

    I commented that this was great, but now we need MORE! And then added in that I was involved in this discussion. Anyone who wants dynamic date validation should also comment!

    If this answer answers your question, please press "Yes" above - it helps the community (and those random Googlers out there ) find solutions like yours faster.

    Brett Wyrick;your friendly neighborhood freelance consultant & Smartsheet helper.Connect with me on LinkedIn.

  • I am creating a Training Request Intake Form to book / schedule live training sessions - the user will fill out the form with the pertinent details, including the date (that field works) they are requesting the training to be booked, and the start time/end time for the training session. What do I need to do to allow the user to select the start time / end time and timezone for the training session?

Sounds about right. Are you looking for some kind of guidance on a specific issue?<\/p>"}]}},"status":{"statusID":3,"name":"Accepted","state":"closed","recordType":"discussion","recordSubType":"question"},"bookmarked":false,"unread":false,"category":{"categoryID":343,"name":"Add Ons and Integrations","url":"https:\/\/community.smartsheet.com\/categories\/apps-and-integrations","allowedDiscussionTypes":["discussion","question"]},"reactions":[{"tagID":3,"urlcode":"Promote","name":"Promote","class":"Positive","hasReacted":false,"reactionValue":5,"count":0},{"tagID":5,"urlcode":"Insightful","name":"Insightful","class":"Positive","hasReacted":false,"reactionValue":1,"count":0},{"tagID":11,"urlcode":"Up","name":"Vote Up","class":"Positive","hasReacted":false,"reactionValue":1,"count":0},{"tagID":13,"urlcode":"Awesome","name":"Awesome","class":"Positive","hasReacted":false,"reactionValue":1,"count":0}],"tags":[]},{"discussionID":104380,"type":"question","name":"Questions about Bridge from a potential newbie","excerpt":"We are considering upgrading to Advance, and I have questions about Bridge capabilities: Our project blueprint includes multiple reports that pull entries from master logs based on the job number. This means that our admins have to add the job number to every single new report filter when they set up a project. Can Bridge…","snippet":"We are considering upgrading to Advance, and I have questions about Bridge capabilities: Our project blueprint includes multiple reports that pull entries from master logs based…","categoryID":343,"dateInserted":"2023-04-24T16:40:19+00:00","dateUpdated":"2023-04-24T17:41:23+00:00","dateLastComment":"2023-08-10T13:32:30+00:00","insertUserID":126351,"insertUser":{"userID":126351,"name":"Julie Fortney","title":"","url":"https:\/\/community.smartsheet.com\/profile\/Julie%20Fortney","photoUrl":"https:\/\/aws.smartsheet.com\/storageProxy\/image\/images\/u!1!hZje4WgcMyQ!en9eZ1QFHfo!MFtz_rjuwYj","dateLastActive":"2023-08-11T13:16:34+00:00","banned":0,"punished":0,"private":false,"label":"✭✭✭✭✭✭"},"updateUserID":126351,"lastUserID":157551,"lastUser":{"userID":157551,"name":"joaolima","url":"https:\/\/community.smartsheet.com\/profile\/joaolima","photoUrl":"https:\/\/aws.smartsheet.com\/storageProxy\/image\/images\/u!1!wjEmP-PDuHo!29cn_0Oa5bo!j4rsSRTRcJb","dateLastActive":"2023-08-12T18:02:31+00:00","banned":0,"punished":0,"private":false,"label":"✭✭"},"pinned":false,"pinLocation":null,"closed":false,"sink":false,"countComments":6,"countViews":265,"score":null,"hot":3374032369,"url":"https:\/\/community.smartsheet.com\/discussion\/104380\/questions-about-bridge-from-a-potential-newbie","canonicalUrl":"https:\/\/community.smartsheet.com\/discussion\/104380\/questions-about-bridge-from-a-potential-newbie","format":"Rich","tagIDs":[369],"lastPost":{"discussionID":104380,"commentID":390004,"name":"Re: Questions about Bridge from a potential newbie","url":"https:\/\/community.smartsheet.com\/discussion\/comment\/390004#Comment_390004","dateInserted":"2023-08-10T13:32:30+00:00","insertUserID":157551,"insertUser":{"userID":157551,"name":"joaolima","url":"https:\/\/community.smartsheet.com\/profile\/joaolima","photoUrl":"https:\/\/aws.smartsheet.com\/storageProxy\/image\/images\/u!1!wjEmP-PDuHo!29cn_0Oa5bo!j4rsSRTRcJb","dateLastActive":"2023-08-12T18:02:31+00:00","banned":0,"punished":0,"private":false,"label":"✭✭"}},"breadcrumbs":[{"name":"Home","url":"https:\/\/community.smartsheet.com\/"},{"name":"Get Help","url":"https:\/\/community.smartsheet.com\/categories\/get-help"},{"name":"Add Ons and Integrations","url":"https:\/\/community.smartsheet.com\/categories\/apps-and-integrations"}],"groupID":null,"statusID":3,"attributes":{"question":{"status":"accepted","dateAccepted":"2023-04-26T14:21:28+00:00","dateAnswered":"2023-04-26T02:30:08+00:00","acceptedAnswers":[{"commentID":373252,"body":"

Hey @Julie Fortney<\/a> <\/p>

I'll answer what I can and shout out to @Brian_Richardson<\/a> for back up. <\/p>

#1 Report Filters- To my knowledge there isn't a direct Report Filter update however I wondered if the column was a dropdown list - if so, Bridge can update dropdown lists and if the filter was set to select all it made me wonder if the filter would pick it up new selections. (Datashuttle also updates dropdown lists if this method works)<\/p>

#2 I've had problems with a slow sheet erroring out in Bridge. The sheet was massive and Bridge would time-out. Bridge did not help this sheet (it might have been too large for anything to help)<\/p>

#3 -I don't have any experience with Control Center, so sorry, I can't answer those questions<\/p>

My fav Bridge solutions?<\/p>

-Capturing Approver Names in approval workflows<\/p>

-Adding rows - same sheet, different sheets, Child rows to Parents, On a weekly cadence, Adding New rows of acquired data to a status update sheet which feeds into a dashboard report<\/p>

-Translating Employee Ideas from their native tongue to English<\/p>

-Checking FedEx Tracking Status on a sheet's worth of shipments<\/p>

I hope this helps<\/p>

Kelly<\/p>"},{"commentID":373322,"body":"

Hey @Julie Fortney<\/a> !<\/p>

  1. In general you cannot update reports with bridge or the API, you can only get report information and details. So unless you are able to come up with a different solution you may be out of luck. Although, if this is a control center program, you may be able to use \"Dynamic Reports\" which adds new sheets to reports every time a project is provisioned (and removes as projects are archived). <\/li>
  2. Maybe using JavaScript in bridge would help, hard to say. <\/li>
  3. Unfortunately not.. You can not programmatically retrieve a form link (Big functionality gap in my opinion). We have begged Smartsheet to dynamically update forms with control center. Also you can not update the contents of widgets in dashboards with bridge or the api.<\/li>
  4. You could definitely set up a solution to achieve this. It would involve using a summary sheet in your blueprint where the link to your template sheets is profile data on your summary sheet. From there you can get the sheet id for each project in bridge, loop through them and make updates.<\/li><\/ol>"},{"commentID":373373,"body":"

    @Kelly Moore<\/a> thanks for the shout out :-) but I'm not sure I can help more than what's already been posted. <\/p>

    @Julie Fortney<\/a> in general Bridge is an API tool. You can setup multi-branched workflows in Bridge with pre-set API calls and utilities. You can also do custom HTTP calls to any API that you have access to in the cloud. So anything you can do with API calls you can do with Bridge. It also, importantly, allows you to run Javascript code using the results of your API calls, and to trigger workflows on changes to Smartsheet content or on any other webhook that you can receive from other tools.<\/p>

    There's a fair amount of Smartsheet API methods that are prebuilt into Bridge, but not all of them. So if you're looking at the Bridge documentation for Smartsheet<\/a> integrations and not finding what you need, you can also look at the Smartsheet API documentation<\/a> to see if there's something there to help you out. If you find an API method to use that's not already pre-built as an integration, then you can use the Custom HTTP Call step to directly call the API. You just have to provide the Smartsheet API with an API token, which you can assign to yourself in your Personal Settings.<\/p>

    It looks like your specific questions were answered pretty comprehensively by Kelly and Samuel but here's my 2c:<\/p>

    1. Because you cannot adjust report filters using the Smartsheet API, you cannot do this with Bridge. Here's the Reports methods<\/a>. You might want to consider a workaround for the process of having reports hand-updated with new job numbers. Perhaps leverage a creation date or flag new items with a checkbox that's cleared once the conditions are met that would cause the project to fall back off the report? You can also explore the \"contact has any of current user\" filter to pick up specific jobs for the viewer?<\/li>
    2. You could definitely use Bridge to read one sheet on a schedule or trigger, perform calculations using Javascript or the included utilities, and post the results. It may be faster and more stable than a huge number of formulas in Smartsheet, but I'm not 100% sure it would be. I would probably first explore using Data Mesh, which is setup to do this in a much more friendly way. If you don't already use Data Mesh, it's basically a batch index\/match tool. <\/li>
    3. As Samuel said, there's no API for updating widgets on a dashboard or retrieving a form URL. Also, I tested copying a dashboard and sheet in a common folder, where the form link was embedded in the dash, and unfortunately it does not update the form link. Seems like a gap and would be a good enhancement request. You could potentially work around this by having a common sheet with the form to capture entries, have a dropdown in that form for the project name that you can keep updated with Bridge, do a lookup to the sheet ID that the entry should go to on a sheet that Bridge maintains, and then copy the form responses into the individual project sheets using Bridge. I know that's pretty roundabout.<\/li>
    4. As Samuel and Kelly said, you can push dropdown updates through Bridge, it works better than Data Shuttle. You wouldn't need to maintain a separate lookup sheet though, if you create a report that contains the dropdown columns across your various created sheets, and then read that report with Bridge, the return from the API includes the source sheet ID and column ID for each report row. You can then leverage that to point Bridge at the right columns across your sheets without having to maintain a separate lookup.<\/li><\/ol>

      At Iron Mountain we use Bridge for a variety of use cases, here's the most effective ones:<\/p>