import/export

Release note for Import/Export feature in form builder

Exporting and re-importing form definition is an important features, for instance when translating a form outside the platform.

This new feature allows exactly that.

Screenshot of the import export tool. Clicking on "show latest only" will filter the grid and only show latest export for each language

Exporting Data

Exporting data is the first step. Form editor need to press the prepare a new export button, which opens the following dialog, for choosing the type of export and the language:

Export Dialog. For the time being, we only have one type of export for form localization

Once the export completed, the application download the export file. A new row appears on the Export/Import grid, with a link to download the same export file again. Other information related to the export like language, export status.

For the time being, we only have one type of export available: localize, which prepares a json file used to externalized form translation. This file contains all fields that need to be translated, along with their respective values in the form primary language. It also contains a series of metadata values, used to validate and guide data import process.

Importing data

The export file can be re-imported into the application once necessary updates have been integrated, for instance having translated the appropriate fields.

For this, the form editor need to switch from export to import mode, using the following tab:

Switching from export to import mode

This will display an upload field in which files to be re-imported can be dropped

The application will check whether the import tentative is valid and only accept the file if it is the case. For instance, it will make sure the file is a result of a previous export, or if it correspond to the form currently being edited.

Once successfully imported, status of the file item is modified on the grid (from exported to stored), and some information about import is added to be visible for the form editor, like date and name of the user performing the import.

Processing the import

Once data of the imported file is copied into the database, the application still need to process it. For a localize import/export, this involves copying the translated text back to the form definition for the respective language.

Once processing the import is successfully completed, status on the grid changes from stored to synced.

Processing localize import is done automatically for the latest export. Otherwise (for instance when a new export was done later on for the same language), the form editor need to manually initiate processing the import.

This is done by clicking on the grid row to expand it and pressing the process import button.