Writing custom Submit action for adaptive forms writing-custom-submit-action-for-adaptive-forms

Adaptive forms require submit actions to process user-specified data. A Submit action determines the task performed on the data that you submit using an adaptive form. Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) includes OOTB Submit actions that demonstrate custom tasks you can perform using the user-submitted data. For example, you can perform tasks, such as sending email or storing the data.

Workflow for a Submit action workflow-for-a-submit-action

The flowchart depicts the workflow for a Submit action that is triggered when you click the Submit button in an adaptive form. The files in the File Attachment component are uploaded to the server, and the form data is updated with the URLs of the uploaded files. Within the client, the data is stored in the JSON format. The client sends an Ajax request to an internal servlet that massages the data you specified and returns it in the XML format. The client collates this data with action fields. It submits the data to the final servlet (Guide Submit servlet) through a Form Submit action. Then, the servlet forwards the control to the Submit action. The Submit action can forward the request to a different sling resource or redirect the browser to another URL.

XML data format xml-data-format

The XML data is sent to the servlet using the jcr:data request parameter. Submit actions can access the parameter to process the data. The following code describes the format of the XML data. The fields that are bound to the Form model appear in the afBoundData section. Unbound fields appear in the afUnoundDatasection. For more information about the format of the data.xml file, see Introduction to prepopulating adaptive form fields.

<?xml ?>
<afData>
<afUnboundData>
<data>
<field1>value</field2>
<repeatablePanel>
    <field2>value</field2>
</repeatablePanel>
<repeatablePanel>
    <field2>value</field2>
</repeatablePanel>
</data>
</afUnboundData>
<afBoundData>
<!-- xml corresponding to the Form Model /XML Schema -->
</afBoundData>
</afData>

Action fields action-fields

A Submit action can add hidden input fields (using the HTML input tag) to the rendered form HTML. These hidden fields can contain values that it needs while processing form submission. When submitting the form, these field values are posted back as request parameters that the Submit action can use during submission handling. The input fields are called action fields.

For example, a Submit action that also captures the time taken to fill a form can add the hidden input fields startTime and endTime.

A script can supply the values of the startTime and endTime fields when the form renders and before form submission, respectively. The Submit ActionScript post.jsp can then access these fields using request parameters and compute the total time required to fill the form.

File attachments file-attachments

Submit actions can also use the file attachments you upload using the File Attachment component. Submit action scripts can access these files using the sling RequestParameter API. The isFormField method of the API helps identify whether the request parameter is a file or a form field. You can iterate over the Request parameters in a Submit action to identify File Attachment parameters.

The following sample code identifies the file attachments in the request. Next, it reads the data into the file using the Get API. Finally, it creates a Document object using the data and appends it to a list.

RequestParameterMap requestParameterMap = slingRequest.getRequestParameterMap();
for (Map.Entry<String, RequestParameter[]> param : requestParameterMap.entrySet()) {
    RequestParameter rpm = param.getValue()[0];
    if(!rpm.isFormField()) {
        fileAttachments.add(new Document(rpm.get()));
    }
}

Forward path and Redirect URL forward-path-and-redirect-url

After performing the required action, the Submit servlet forwards the request to the forward path. An action uses the setForwardPath API to set the forward path in the Guide Submit servlet.

If the action doesn’t provide a forward path, the Submit servlet redirects the browser using the Redirect URL. The author configures the Redirect URL using the Thank You Page configuration in the Adaptive Form Edit dialog. You can also configure the Redirect URL through the Submit action or the setRedirectUrl API in the Guide Submit servlet. You can also configure the Request parameters sent to the Redirect URL using the setRedirectParameters API in the Guide Submit servlet.

Submit action submit-action

A Submit action is a sling:Folder that includes the following:

Creating a custom Submit action creating-a-custom-submit-action

Perform the following steps to create a custom Submit action that saves the data in the CRX repository and then sends you an email. The adaptive form contains the OOTB Submit action Store Content (deprecated) that saves the data in the CRX repository. In addition, CQ provides a Mail API that can be used to send emails. Before using the Mail API, configure the Day CQ Mail service through the system console. You can reuse the Store Content (deprecated) action to store the data in the repository. The Store Content (deprecated) action is available at the location /libs/fd/af/components/guidesubmittype/store in the CRX repository.