Buttons & wizard steps

Buttons in a nutshell

A button is an action you drop into the layout, the same way you drop in a heading or a divider. It isn't a question and doesn't store an answer; it makes something happen when it's clicked. You add one from the Layout tab, give it a label, and choose what it does.

What each button does

When Data Maker adds a button for you

The rule is simple: Data Maker only adds a button when you didn't add that one yourself.

• A single-page form with no buttons gets an automatic Submit so people can send it in. Add any button of your own and that automatic Submit disappears, so you're in charge of the actions now.
• A multi-page form gets automatic Back and Next buttons (and Submit on the last page). If you place your own Back, Next, or Submit on a page, the matching automatic one steps aside for that page so you never see two of the same.

Looks

Every button uses one of three styles (Primary, Secondary, or Subtle) whose colours, borders, and hover effects you set once under Look & feel. The automatic Back uses Secondary and the automatic Next/Submit use Primary, so your own nav buttons match them out of the box. You can also give a single button its own colours, an icon, or a small image.

Wizard steps (multi-page forms)

A step is a page of a longer form. Add a second step and your form becomes a wizard: people see one page at a time, with a numbered bar across the top showing where they are and a Back/Next to move along. It's a great way to break a long form into bite-sized pieces.

Checking answers as people move along

• Next checks the current page. If something required is missing or wrong, the move is blocked and the problem is pointed out, so people fix it, then carry on.
• Back never blocks. Going to an earlier page never re-checks anything.
• Submit checks everything. On the final page, Submit validates the whole form and jumps straight to the first page that still has a problem.
• Hidden questions are skipped. A question hidden by a smart rule isn't required, so it never holds up a step.

Copying a step

Copying a step duplicates its layout (the sections, rows, headings, dividers, and buttons) as a fresh page right after the original. The questions themselves are not copied, because each question belongs to one place on the form and can't appear twice. So a copied step gives you the same skeleton to drop new questions into, not a duplicate set of fields.

Deleting a step

Deleting a step removes that page and everything arranged on it. A form always needs at least one step, so the last remaining one can't be deleted.

Adding & reordering

Add a step from the step strip at the top of the Layout tab; it appears as a new empty page. Rename a step inline, and drag steps along the strip to put them in the order you want.