Creating a Kuali Build Form

The Kuali Build form builder screen has three panels:

  • The left panel is a list of gadgets you can add to your form. Gadgets are anything you might put in your form: questions, sections to group those questions together, and text such as a heading or instructions that you might want in the form.
  • The middle panel is where you create and preview your form. To build your form, you will drag and drop gadgets from the left panel to this middle panel.
  • The right panel has configuration options to customize each gadget. To edit a gadget, you will click a gadget you’ve added to your form in the middle panel and edit the options in this righthand configuration panel.

The Kuali Build homescreen is divided into 3 panels for gadgets, a form preview, and gadget configuration

When you want to create a new form in Kuali Build, you’ll create a new app, which will create a blank form and take you to the form creation screen.

Tip: By default, Tufts users will need to log in with their Tufts username and password before responding to your form. Unless you have set up your form to allow anonymous responses (see Configuring Access to Your Kuali Build App), you don’t need to add a Tufts login screen to the beginning of your form – it’s already there!

  1. In your Dashboard view, Click New App icon.
    The New App icon is a plus sign under My Apps
  2. A panel that appears prompting you to name your app, select an icon, and select a color. These can be changed at any point in the future.
    Type in an app name, select an icon, and select a color.
    Note:Be sure to select the correct color for your app:
    Green = Live; Red = Retired, inactive, demo purposes; Grey = Test; Yellow = Development
    You can select any icons, but choose one of the four colors
  3. Click Create.
  4. You’re taken to a blank form page.

Important: You must first add add at least one section gadget to your form. A section gadget holds all other gadgets (e.g. multiple choice questions). Any non-section gadgets that you add to your form but don’t put in a section will not be displayed to users!

A section gadget holds all other gadgets (e.g. multiple choice questions). Any non-section gadgets that you add to your form but aren’t placed in a section will not be displayed to users! You can have multiple sections, but you must have at least one.

  1. To add a section gadget, select the Section gadget on the left.
    Section is the first gadget in the gadget list under layout
  2. Drag the Section gadget to the form in the middle panel. As you drag the gadget over the form, a blue rectangle will highlight to show it will drop in the middle of the form.
    Drag and drop from the gadget name to the form
  3. Drop the section into the middle panel to the form. The right panel will populate with configuration options for the section.
    Gadget configuration options include gadget name and visibility
  4. This section is labeled “New Section” by default. This section label is seen by users filling out your form.
    The gadget title appears over the gadget in the form
    You can either change this wording or hide the section label.
    • To change the wording, select the section. In the right panel, edit the Gadget Label/Question.
      Editing the gadget title is the first configuration option
    • To hide the section label, select the section. In the right panel, click the toggle button Hide Gadget Label on Form. The section will still be labelled for your organizational purposes, but users filling out your form will not see it.
      Hide section gadget label is the second option in the configuration panel
Important: You must first add at least one section gadget to your form, which is a gadget designed to hold groups of questions. Any non-section gadgets that you add to your form but aren’t placed in a section will not be displayed to users!

The left panel is a list of gadgets that you can drag and drop into your form, such as multiple choice questions, read-only text (for example, to add instructions), or section containers (to hold groups of similar questions).

  • Note: If a form is setup for 'anonymous responses', the data lookup gadgets are disabled automatically. To learn more about adding data lookup gadgets, see the page Connecting Kuali Build to Tufts Systems.

To add a gadget to your form:

  1. Select a gadget on the left.
    Gadgets are sections, short text questions, checkbox questions, and more
  2. Drag the gadget to the form in the middle panel. As you drag the gadget over the form, a blue rectangle will highlight to show potential locations for the gadget. Gadgets can go above, below, or next to other gadgets – anywhere on the form.
    Drag the gadget from the left panel to the form
  3. Drop the gadget in the location you desire.
    • Tip: If you would like to move the gadget to a different place in the form, click and hold the gadget to drag and drop it to a new location.
  4. Once you place the gadget in the form, the right panel will show configuration options to customize the gadget.
    • Tip: If you don’t see options for your gadget, click the gadget so it is highlighted in blue.
      Configurations change for each gadget
  5. As you change configuration options, the form preview will update automatically.
    Click into the gadget if your form doesn't update

Any time you’d like to edit a gadget, you’ll work in the righthand configuration panel. If you make changes to a form in an app that’s already published, these changes will not be live immediately. You will need to re-publish your form for your changes to be live (see Publishing and Distributing Your Kuali Build Form).

  1. In the form preview in the middle panel, click a gadget you’ve added to your form. The gadget will highlight in blue.
    You can click any gadget
  2. The right panel will show configuration options to customize the gadget. These options will differ depending on the type of gadget selected.
    Configurations change for each gadget
  3. As you change configuration options, the form preview will update automatically.
    Click into the gadget if your form doesn't update

Important: There is no undo! Gadgets that are deleted are unrecoverable.

  1. In the form preview in the middle panel, click a gadget you’ve added to your form. The gadget will highlight in blue.
    Click the gadget in the form preview
  2. At the very bottom of the right configuration panel, click Remove Gadget.
    Remove gadget is at the very bottom of the gadget configuration panel

Important! Basic (question) gadgets must be in a section gadget to your form. Any gadgets that you add to your form but aren’t put in a section will not be displayed to users!

  1. In the form preview in the middle panel, click the gadget you’d like to move.
    Click a gadget in the middle form panel
  2. Drag the gadget around the form preview. As you drag the gadget over the form, a blue rectangle will highlight to show potential locations for the gadget. Gadgets can go above, below, or next to other gadgets – anywhere on the form.
    Gadgets can be dragged and dropped anywhere in the form
  3. Drop the gadget in the location you desire.
    Drop the gadget where you'd like it to go

You can hide gadgets from the submitter of the form but keep it visible to reviewers (approvers, acknowledgers, etc) with the Office Use Only setting.

Note: You do not need to add questions such as ”Do you approve this form?” When you create an approval step in your workflow, Kuali Build will automatically show approvers their options outside of the form.

For example, you might build this:
A form might have a top section everyone sees but a bottom section only reviewers see

This setting is available per section, not for individual questions. You will first create a section that you set to Office Use Only, then place all reviewer-only questions, subsections, and other gadgets within that section. You can create as many Office Use Only sections as you’d like.

To create an office use only section:

  1. Add a new section to hold all questions you’d like to make office use only. Select the Section gadget on the left.
    section is the first gadget in the left panel
  2. Drag the Section gadget to the form in the middle panel. As you drag the gadget over the form, a blue rectangle will highlight to show it will drop in the middle of the form. You can place the section anywhere in the form.
    Bring the section gadget to the desired form location
  3. Drop the section into the form. The right panel will populate with configuration options for the section.
    The right configuration panel will appear when you place the section
  4. Configure the section as you normally would, such as renaming the gadget label/question.
  5. In the right configuration panel, select the toggle Office Use Only.
    Office Use Only is the fourth option in the section configuration panel
  6. Add all gadgets you would like to display only to form approvers/reviewers to this section. No special options need to be configured on any these gadgets.
    An office use only section can have information gadgets or question gadgets

Important: If the gadgets you add require input from the reviewer (such as administrative notes, an e-signature, or additional information e.g. “List any concerns you have about approving this research”), additional action is required to allow reviewers to edit the form. See the accordion Setting Sections to be Editable by Reviewers below.

To allow reviewers to add input to the form:

  1. Go to your app’s Workflow tab in the top right of any screen of your app.
    Workflow is between Form and Publish
  2. Click an Approval, Task, or Acknowledge step of your workflow that you would like reviewers to be able to edit sections of, so it highlights in gray.
    Workflow steps are individual boxes
  3. In the configuration panel on the right side, scroll down to toggle Make individual form sections at this step hidden or editable to enabled.
    The toggle turns dark blue when enabled
  4. You will be shown a list of form sections. For any form sections reviewers at this workflow step should be able to edit, toggle that section’s row to Edit.
    Edit is the last option, after hide and view
  5. Click outside of the configuration panel, in the blank space to the left, to save your setting. While saved, this will not take effect until you publish (or re-publish) your app.
  1. Go to your app’s Workflow tab in the top right of any screen of your app.
    Workflow is between Form and Publish
  2. Click an Approval, Task, or Acknowledge step of your workflow that you would like reviewers to be able to edit sections of, so it highlights in gray.
    Workflow steps are individual boxes
  3. In the configuration panel on the right side, scroll down to toggle Make individual form sections at this step hidden or editable to enabled.
    The toggle turns dark blue when enabled
  4. You will be shown a list of form sections. For any form sections reviewers at this workflow step should be able to edit, toggle that section’s row to Hide.
    Hide is the first option in a section's row
  5. Click outside of the configuration panel, in the blank space to the left, to save your setting. While saved, this will not take effect until you publish (or re-publish) your app.